Anglo Saxon and Norman England: 3.2

Question 1

Describe the key changes and continuity to government under William

Answer 1

• continuity:
  [] kept the hide and wapentake (measurements of land) to work out tax obligations
  [] kept the shire and the hundred for the reasons above
  [] maintained the Witan
  [] maintained the Anglo-Saxon monetary system
  [] maintained the way courts ran with juries etc.
• change:
  [] had more control over minting of coins

Question 2

Describe the key ways in which William centralised power

Answer 2

• homage
• reliefs
• the feudal system
• owning all land
• Church reforms
• Normanisation of the Church
• chose regents carefully after Odo and FItzOsbern damaged the Norman reputation amongst the Anglo-Saxons in 1067
• made sure only he could levy military and knight service
• reduction in the powers of earls and the size of their earldoms so they couldn’t challenge for power like in Anglo-Saxon times

Question 3

What was the difference between William and Edward’s demesnes ?

Answer 3

• William kept 18% of land for his demesne whilst Edward had much less
• William made a lot of his demesne “forest”

Question 4

Compare the roles and powers of Anglo-Saxon sheriffs versus Norman sheriffs

Answer 4

• Anglo-Saxon only:
  [] answered to the earls and could often be pushed around by them
  [] gathered the fyrd when it was levied
• both:
  [] responsible for the defence of the shire
  [] responsible for maintenance of roads
  [] responsible for making sure collective responsibility was enforced
  [] responsible for overseeing the shire and hundred courts and making sure law was being practiced properly
• Norman only:
  [] lost some legal responsibilities when baronial, manorial and Church courts were introduced
  [] in addition to collective responsibility, had to enforce added punishments for rebels
  [] were answerable ONLY to the king
  [] were allowed to keep a portion of the tax they collected; gave incentive to squeeze locals for money, making them very unpopular and hated amongst all
  [] were at the centre of the land grabs at the beginning of William’s reign

Question 5

What is the forest and its significance ?

Answer 5

• forest = land reserved for William by law for hunting ONLY
  [] many Anglo-Saxons were evicted to reclassify land as forest; extremely unpopular and resented
  [] William often seized land to turn into forest; mimicked the land-grabs and made them seem more legitimate and legal as William was the source of the law as king
  [] showed William’s power to be above all else (forest = Latin for outside)
  [] by increasing the amount of land William controlled, he increased his overall power

Question 6

Describe the forest laws under William and their impacts on the Anglo-Saxon people

Answer 6

• laws:
  [] plants/animals in the forest protected by law
  [] hunting weapons by anyone without permission from William banned
  [] dogs banned (unless they were de-clawed etc.)
  [] no building/construction allowed on forest land
  [] no clearing trees allowed
  NOTE: PUNISHMENTS FOR BREAKING THESE LAWS WERE VERY HARSH - BLINDING ETC.
• impacts on people:
  [] made life for those who lived in the forest extremely hard as they couldn’t rely on the land for food, couldn’t build or keep their dogs etc.
  [] fines for breaking laws were also harsh

Question 7

Describe the consequences of the forest for William

Answer 7

• became a huge source of income for the Crown
  [] fines for breaking forest law
  [] later, William began to sell the rights to hunt on forest land
• made William wildly unpopular amongst Anglo-Saxons, especially those who had been evicted from lands so it could be reclassified as forest
• reinforced William’s authority but in a negative way

Question 8

Describe the military significance of the Domesday Book

Answer 8

• around the time of the Domesday Book’s creation, there seemed to be an imminent threat of Viking invasion
  [] William may have used the Domesday Book to assess how many men for his army he had and where in the country he had them
  [] allowed William to see if there were any extra soldiers he could levy and how many knights were available to him

Question 9

Describe the legal significance of the Domesday Book

Answer 9

• contains many Anglo-Saxon claims that their lands were unfairly taken by Norman aristocrats and sheriffs
  [] helped William to start trials for these and give some of the lands back
• Domesday surveys were taken fairly, with all key people having a say in things
• played a key role in sorting out land disputes in general
• allowed William to spot areas where his power was weaker and how to better centralise power in future to strengthen these weak spots

Question 10

Describe the financial significance of the Domesday Book

Answer 10

• allowed William to keep track of the country economically
• allowed William to see where in England was the most economically strong, and where was weak
  [] could further improve in both these areas in order to extract as much profit as possible from England for his own and Normandy’s benefit
• perhaps William thought of reversing geld tax concessions in the Marcher earldoms to extract more profit
  [] the Domesday Book showed him how the extra wealth in these earldoms was being used and whether the loss in Crown income was worth it or not
• helped him easily assess financial opportunities when tenants-in-chief died or forfeited their lands

Question 11

When was the Domesday Book made and what is significant about the time taken to make it ?

Answer 11

• from December 25 1085 (first surveys) to August 1086
  [] astoundingly fast
  [] speed shows that a lot of the Domesday Book must have been based upon detailed Anglo-Saxon records; shows the strength and sophistication of the Anglo-Saxon government even before the Normans
  [] shows that William was anxious to have the Domesday Book as it was very useful militarily, economically and legally speaking