Transcript Castles – power and authority in the Medieval world

William I
– how did he make sure he was
safe after Hastings ?
What did William have to do ?
• William may have won the battle of Hastings,
but it would be very difficult to control a
hostile country with a small force of soldiers
…
• It was difficult to win a battle, but even more
difficult to hold onto it
• But William was used to difficult situations –
he had had to work hard to hold onto
Normandy when younger
• There were three solutions for William …
Solution 1 … build up his army
• He gave gifts of land to
his best supporters, and in
return they gave knights
for William’s army
• Each baron was to give 30
knights in return for their
feudum (land) – he gained
an army of about 6000
men
• The was the beginning of
the Feudal System in
England
How did the feudal system work ?
• The basic principle was a system of
holding land in return for military
service.
• A king would give out land to his
supporters and in return they
would obey him and do military
service for a certain number of
days in a year
• The barons would hand on land to
knights, also in return for services
• The knights would hand on land to
the peasants in return for work on
the land.
• The system looks organised, but
there were lots of people taking
oaths (promises) to each other, and
there was a lot of chances for
quarrels to happen
• What might happen if you had
given an oath to two knights from
different villages and they were
fighting each other ? What would
you do ?
• The system also depended a lot on
the ability and character of the
King at the top of society.
Solution 2 – building strongholds
• William’s knights needed
bases so they could
control the ordinary
Saxons
• Both the knights and
William began to build
castles
• The first castles were
built of wood and
earthen banks – motte
and bailey castles
The building of the first castle at
Hastings, October 1066
Motte and Bailey castles
Tower
Motte
Bailey
Wooden palisade
Motte and Bailey castles
Motte
Stone
Keep
Bailey
Motte and Bailey castles
• The early castles were
built in two stages …
• The often man-made
mound of earth (motte)
with a wooden tower on
top [later stone] – here
lived the knights
• The large yard (bailey)
surrounded by a wooden
palisade – here lived the
animals and servants
What were castles for ?
• A place of defence
• A place of local government
and administration
• A barracks for soldiers
• Centre of local justice
• A place from which to
dominate the local Saxon
population
• A home for the knight
Solution 3 – putting down opponents
• Even in 1069, many English people
refused to obey William in the
north and east
• In January 1069 he sent Robert
Commines to take control of the
north – but he was attacked in
Durham by the ordinary people
and burned to death in the bishop’s
house.
• In September 1069 a Danish fleet
attacked the east coast, the local
Saxons rose and joined with the
Danes to take over York, killing the
local Normans.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle …
‘Soon thereafter three sons of King
Swein with two hundred and forty
ships came from Denmark into the
Humber. There they were met by
Prince Edgar, Earl Waltheof,
Maerleswein and Earl Gospatric with
the Northumbrians and all the
people of the country. Forming an
immense army, riding and marching
in high spirits, they all marched on
York and stormed and destroyed the
castle. They seized countless
treasures in it, slayed many hundreds
of French men and carried off great
numbers to their ships.’
Solution 3 – putting down opponents
• William came north with his
army, marching on York.
• They destroyed villages and
killed the locals as they
passed through.
• Cattle, sheep and pigs were
slaughtered, and stores of
food set on fire.
• Many thousands of people
were killed from the resultant
famine
• William reached York by
December 1069
Orderic Vitalis …
•
‘He [the Conqueror] harried the land and
burnt homes to ashes. Nowhere else had
William shown such cruelty. In his anger
he commanded that all crops and herds,
chattels and food of every kind, should
be brought together and burned to ashes
with consuming fire, so that the whole
region north of the Humber might be
stripped of all means of sustenance.
In consequence, so serious a scarcity was
felt in England, and so terrible a famine
fell upon the humble and defenceless
populace, that more than 100,000
Christian folk of both sexes, young and
old, perished of hunger’
Destroying the North, 1069-70
• Destroying the North was a
terrible revenge for the uprising.
• For nearly a century, the villages
of Yorkshire were like a desert.
• Look at the map opposite to see
the distribution of destroyed
villages …
• The Danish army moved south
to Lincolnshire and joined up
with a Saxon rebel leader …
Hereward the Wake.
Areas laid waste by William, 1069-70
Who was Hereward the Wake ?
• In the fens of East Anglia a man called
Hereward the Wake led a revolt against
William. He was supported by the earls
Morcar and Edwin.
• In 1070 William offered the Danes a
bribe to go home.
• Hereward was based in the marshes
and swamps near Ely, and it would be
hard for William to get at the Saxon
rebels.
• Thanks to the Ely monks, William’s
men managed to round up some of
the rebels, though Hereward managed
to escape.
What happened next ?
• William divided Saxon land
among his followers
• He built castles to keep
control, destroying villages if
necessary
• Saxon earls who had fought
in 1066 were executed or had
their land confiscated
• Saxon noble women were
forced to marry Normans, or
enter the church
Castles in existence by 1086
Domesday Book, 1085-6
• At Christmas 1085 William ordered
a survey of England, to find out
who owned what in order to work
out how much tax he should
demand.
• The survey was completed in 8
months and was an astonishing
achievement
• Two facts were established … all
the land was controlled by only 250
people; all but 2 of the 250 local
nobles were Normans.
• He could now work out how much
each area could afford to pay for
his army.