4. William I and the government and administration of England Flashcards
Courts and Administration
Change
- Major change was personal, gradually trusted Normans began to dominate royal administration
- Language used in documents was changed after 1070 to Latin instead of English
- Change in administration could be seen to be “evolutionary not revolutionary” Hugh Thomas
Continuity
- During reign of Edward, group of royal clerks who wrote documents emerged and became known as the Chancery, William kept this
- Within his household, a number of those who had been involved in Edward’s administration were retained, eg. Regenbald as Chancellor
- Writs were regularly issued during Edward’s reign and were retained by William even thought they had not been previously used in Normandy, they communicated commands to the shires
- Shire courts that worked well were retained, they were still the main instrument of law and order in the localities
- Hundred courts also continued, these met more frequently than shire courts and dealt with land issues
Kingship (can be included in admin)
Change
- Installed the hereditary right and the idea that he king ‘ruled by the grace of God’
- William’s kingship was ‘more powerful and pervasive’ than Edward’s - Carpenter
- William built on the Anglo-Saxon tradition of crown wearing, he instilled the tradition that he would wear his crown publicly at Easter in Winchester, Whitsun at Westminster and Christmas at Gloucester
Continuity
- Role of a king was already established by 1066, the king was the chief law maker, military commander and decider of policy, William made no major changes here and used ancient Anglo-Saxon traditions in the coronation ceremony
- After 1072, William spent 130/170 months in Normandy, showing that effective structures of government already existed
Laws
Change
- Murdrum fine introduced, if a person was found dead, they were assumed to be Norman and it was assumed that the local village was responsible for this death, if they could not prove otherwise the village would be heavily fined
- New forest laws introduced
- System of ordeals added to, William introduced ordeal by battle
- Power of the sheriff over the people was enhanced as they were responsible for imposing these new laws and their strict punishments
Continuity
- Shire courts that worked well under Edward were retained, they continued to be the main instrument of law and order in the localities
- Hundred courts also continued, they met more frequently than shire courts and dealt with land issues
Feudal System
Change
- Knights replaced the thegns and their role was slightly different as a thegns service was not always to do with the military
- The system of military service based on an oath system was previously alien in England
- William was able to use his knights to garrison the large number of castles that he built
- On several occasions, William had to resort to the old Anglo-Saxon fyrd (1068 Exeter rebellion and 1075 rebellion of the earls), this shows that the old system that Harold used in 106 largely survived
Continuity
- The tenants in chief (barons) did not own the land outright, they had to supply soldiers to king, the Domesday Book shows that this land was in the hands of around 280 people, which was a similar situation to that during Edward’s reign
- After the murder of Edwin following the 1071 rebellion, the earldom of Mercia collapsed, Northumbria also lapsed following the 1075 rebellion involving Waltheof
- Smaller earldoms were created in Cheshire and Shropshire as a result of the rebellions
Individuals in power
Change
- By 1076, only two Englishmen, Thurkill of Arden and Colswein of Lincoln held land directly from the king
- William divided up the old Anglo-Saxon earldoms or allowed them to lapse, they were replaced by smaller earldoms such as Cheshire and Shropshire in order to limit the power of Anglo-Saxons
- Normans were placed in charge of various areas (eg. Odo in Kent and William FitzOsbern as Earl of Hereford)
Continuity
- Up until 1069, William adopted a conciliation approach, allowing Earls such as Edwin and Morcar to keep their land in spite of rebellion
Village Life
Change
- New laws introduced, eg. murdrum fine, forestry laws
- Towns got bigger and typically more economically prosperous due to the presence of castles
Continuity
- People’s lives and jobs remained primarily agriculture based
Why was the Church in need of reform?
- William presented Harold as a perjurer and he presented the Church in England as corrupt, this included:
- Simony: the seeking of Church posts
- Nepotism: giving posts to family and friends
- Pluralism: holding more than one office at once
- Clerical marriage: rests were meant to be celibate but many had wives and mistresses
What changes to the Church occurred and what was kept the same?
Kept the same
- Parish priests remained Anglo-Saxon, their role remained unchanged, they had a low social status equivalent to a villien, many remained married despite the reforms
- William adopted an initial policy of conciliation, for instance Archbishop Stigand was allowed to keep his position
- Some bishops eg. Wulstan, Leofric and Siward remained in their roles after 1070, Wulstan assisted William in crushing the revolt of the Norman Earls in 1075
- The King continued to control affairs concerning the Church, eg. cases of disloyal bishops or disputes between high ranking clergy
- Bishops continued to preside over the shire courts which met twice a year to settle disputes relating to land and property
- “William the Conqueror may have accelerated the pace of change but he did not alter the direction” - Golding
Changes
- Diocese were reorganised so that they were based in cities, dioceses were divided into archdeaconries which in turn were subdivided into rural deaneries
- In 1072, all bishops were ordered to appoint archdeacons, who became central figures in the administration of the diocese
- 1076, Lanfranc established the ecclesiastical courts, from then on any case involving the clergy would be held in a Church kurt (synod)
- Number of monasteries increased under the Normans, some Cluniac, others were run by the Augustinians, Cistercians and Gilbertines
- Many English cathedrals were moved to new towns and built in a Romanesque style
- Of the 21 abbots who attended the council of London in 1075, only 13 were English and only 3 of these remained in office at the time of William’s death in 1087
- Lanfranc asserted the primacy of Canterbury
What was the Domesday Book?
- Was compiled in 1085-6 and is our earliest public record and a legal document that is still valid as evidence of title to land
- Was drawn up on the orders of King William and describes the landholdings and resources of late 11th century England in great detail, demonstrating the power of the government during the period
- 913 pages and over 2 million words providing definitive proof of rights to land and obligations to tax and military service, describes more than 13,000 places in England and parts of Wales
What were the three main purposes of the Domesday Book?
Legal
Military
Financial
Law
- In the 20 years after the Battle of Hastings almost all of the Anglo-Saxon ruling class had been dispossessed
- Many areas had seen long drawn out disputes and legal hearings which were still unresolved in 1086
- William wanted to see these disputes settles and as he considered himself the legal heir to Edward the Confessor, he wanted his conquest legalised
Military
- Threat of invasion from Norway and Denmark in 1085 and William’s urgent need for accurate information about the military and other resources at his disposal was another reason for the survey
- He needed to pay for the army and needed to find out who his commanders and soldiers actually were when he required them
- To strengthen the new landowners ties to the crown, William summoned all the major landholders to Salisbury in August 1086 and had them swear an oath of allegiance to him
Financial
- Domesday provided William an exact record of the local contribution to the king’s geld, which was the taxation paid by the entire population
- England was a rich and prosperous kingdom, it was clear that the Norman kings would use this to their benefit if needed
How was the Domesday book compiled?
- Was only possible because England already had a sophisticated administrative system, built up by the Anglo-Saxons, with shire counties, whose boundaries survived with little change until 1974 and a well-functioning tax system
- All major landowners had to send in lists of their manors and tenants which were compared to existing tax records
- Commissioners were then sent out to assess the situation on ground, questioning local juries in detail, each was assigned circuits containing two or more counties
What does it tell us about land ownership?
- Most of the names that appear are those of landowners
- The King and his family held about 17% of the land, bishops and abbots around 26% and around 190 tenants-in-chief held about 54%
- Some holdings were huge, with 12 barons controlling nearly a quarter of the country
