Anglo Saxons Unit 3 Flashcards
What were the roles of a tenant in chief?
Military
- Defend their fief and put down opposition
- Lead their own band of knights
Social
- Provided knights for the king, so at the centre of land distribution
Political
- Often on the royal council
Changes to landholding with the Feudal system
Landholding was simplified
- The king now owned all the land
- In AS England, land went to heirs
- In Norman England, you had to pay and prove loyalty to the king
- The payment was called a relief
- The King could decide how much the payment is - Helped him reward followers and threaten difficult landholders with low or high relief
Homage, Labour service and Forfeiture
Homage
- Homage is a ceremony that took place whenever a tennant in chief was granted land
- He swore loyalty to the king
Labour service
- Working the kings land in return for the use of the land, mostly agricultral
Forfeiture
- If the landholder didnt fulfil the duties to their land, it would be given up and went back to the king to redistribute
The Church - Government connections
Bishops and abbots were well educated, so were advisers
Bishops helped develop laws and legally advised the king
Church clerks issued the kings writs
The senior members (archbshops) actd on the kings behalf in negotiations and as regent
After the revolts, william replaced the AS with the normans eg Stigand with Lanfranc as Archbishop
Stigand vs Lanfranc
- LF replaced S after the rebellions, as William trusted a Norman more
Lanfranc did religious reform and reorganised the church
Lanfranc rebuilt churches, and reinforced Norman rule
Stigand and Lanfranc - Government
- Witan members
- Advisers
- Kings administration
Stigand and Lanfranc - Legal
Oversaw shire courts and hundred courts
Differences in beliefs
- Stigand was appointed by earl Godwin, while Lanfranc thought that he should have been selected by someone chosen by god
- Lanfranc convinced William to make the Archbishop of Canterbury the head of the church = more power
- Lanfranc thought that being bishop for more than one area was money grabbing, and the church should stand above that
Lanfranc’s Reform of the Church - He invented the church courts here
Priests were separated from everyday life, with celibacy and no marriage allowed
Clergy should be tried in church courts , not hundred courts
- Church courts invented
Isolated AS cathedrals were rebuilt in more prominent areas such as market towns so the bishop had more control
Monastic values were promoted, with monasteries making a comeback
Spiritual life, prayer etc
Lanfranc brought a book of norman legal matters with him to inspire laws in england and change others
General Normanisation of the Church - rebuilding, bishops, AS removal
Leaders and cathedrals were replaced with Normans and Norman style architecture
- Within 50 years, the Normans had rebuilt almost every church structure in the Norman style
The church held lots of land, so removing AS stopped too much power going to possible rebellions
Normanised church gave William more power
He oversaw church councils and gave his approval to descisions
Bishops were appointed by the king when one dies
While the church has no bishop william recieved money
William controlled pope communication, and stopped the church leaders from listening to the pope rather than him
Continuity with Norman Rule
Village life is much the same, agriculturally dominated
However
- Economic demands for peasants increased, the Normans wanted more money out of them
The royal household remained, but with normans instead
There was nothing like the geld tax in Normandy, and william used it heavily to extract wealth from the AS and give it to Normans and Normandy
Change with Norman Rule
Castle building
Towns were demolished to make room
Trade
All Scandinavian trade was cut off, and the harrying removed all economy in the north
Trade with Normandy increased and big English cities grew
Tenants in chief replace earls
- Much more under the kings control
- Had to provide services and had less land
Thegns replaced by knights
- Who depended on the TIC’s, who in turn
depended on william
- Most knights were poor
Changes to Government - Centralised power
In AS england
Edward relied on earl support to exile Earl Godwin, and couldn’t stop him from returning
Edward had to get the earls to agree to exile Tostig, because they wouldn’t lead an army to fight him
William needed to gain control back over the population
- William owned all the land, and used homage, forfeits and relief to maintain control
- Feudal system = everyone who uses land is under the king, and depends on him
- Geld tax goes to king = more money
- Knight service - TIC’s troops, but they were loyal to the king, rather than, previously, the earl in AS times
- The domesday book - A guide to how much the TIC’s and the undertenants were worth so william could get optimal wealth from them
Reduced role of Earls
Earldoms were smaller
- Some earldoms were phased out eg Wessex or Mercia
Marcher earldom powers given after the invasion were reduced
Earls were TIC’s and had the same duties to the land
This loss of power led to the revolt of the earls and unrest
No one had too much power
Regents
William used his most trusted advisers as regents while he was in normandy
- Lanfranc was regent in 1075 and countered the revolt of the Earls
- William and Lanfranc were in
constant contact , with Lanfranc
assuring william everything was
under control
William tended to return to england when trouble was brewing, leaving his wife Matilda as regent
- William used Matilda because the previous actions of FitzOsbern and Odo had made him lose trust in them
Sheriffs
He was the kings representative, and collected the geld tax, and managed the kings own estates
He was the earls representative, and oversaw military obligations in shrires and made sure justice was delivered
Sherrifs remained the same in AS and norman times
But william replaced them with loyal normans, because some AS sherrifs joined rebellions
Before, the sheriff was less important than his earl, but norman sherrifs answered to the king only
The justice delivered focused more on crimes against normans
The sheriff still oversaw military obligation, but now it ran with knight service, which the sheriff was not responsible for = less power/influence
Sheriffs were very unpopular
They were entitled to a share of tax collected, so would make more money if they squeezed the locals
They paid a set sum to the king to collect revenue, once they went over that sum they could keep the money - so they took more money from the people
Sherrifs did al lot of land grabs from AS, but they had so mucg power the AS couldnt do anything about it
Forrest Laws
Forest was parts of land reserved by william for hunting
Forest laws protected animals thay william liked to hunt, and prohibited any use of the vegetation and damage to the land
Resource gathering and hunting dogs were banned
Building on and clearing land was controlled, making life difficult for people who lived in forest land
Shows norman power
The forest was a disguised land grab across england
‘Forest’ means outside in Latin, these areas were outside norman society and above law
The forest laws had very harsh punishments
The Domesday Book - aka Great and Little Domesday - 1086
Financial
William could see that some TIC’s were not paying full taxes, so william used the book to reverse the special privileges they had and levied two really heavy geld taxes
Legal
The surveys were made as fairly as possible, with key people in each hundred getting a say on who owned what
The book could therefore settle land disputes
Military
William could see how many soldiers a TIC should be able to provide , giving him an
at a glance estimate for the military strength of england
This was used to prepare for a possible danish invasion in 1085
Norman Culture
Normans put money into churches and cathedrals, while AS got gifts for friends and family
The normans were interested in grand architecture and breaking limits
Winchester cathedral was the longest in europe
The white tower was the biggest stone keep in europe
Norman aristocracy wanted to show off, for example they would shave their head because tending to your appearance was too expensive for peasants
Christian culture was centred around violence as well
Pennance for wounding or killing a man, wounding got 40 days pennance , killing meant you should build a church
Normans wanted to atone for their sins
Chivalry was brought from normandy
Idolized knights
Lots of rules around fighting and combat
William was merciful to people he kept prisoner , while AS kings would have executed them
Attitudes towards English
AS relics were thrown out , and seen as not worth anything
Abotts tombs and monasteries were destroyed, and these very holy people were called yokels and idiots
Normans saw themselves as above the english, it was an insult to be called english
Going to the toilet was said to be called ‘doing an english’
Language
William tried to learn english to understand land disputes, but because there was so many it was impractical
Written english disappeared
Latin used for legal documents and writs, aristocracy talked in french
English only existed in speech among peasants
Normans never concerned themselves with english, getting interpreters instead
The interpreters also translated the writs, as most normans didnt learn latin
Not a reading culture
Normans would listen to and memorize text, and boys would be whipped at a land grant to remember the details
Bishop Odo
Williams half brother
Major supporter to the invasion - 100 ships
Fought at hastings and was rewarded with a large earldom
Odo was co regent with FitzOsbern during 1067
They built castles and odo was very strict
People said he was a ‘second king’
The domesday book had many complaints against Odo for taking land, and lanfranc led a church enquiry against him and odo gave back the land
William later sent Odo to northumberland in response to killings and rebellion, where he killed an pillaged everything
Odo had tried to take knights form william to rome, which didnt work
Williams Personality
Stern and greedy
Growing up he survived multiple assassination attempts , and once old enough, he was constantly leading armies
By 1066, william had a decade of military experience
William was also known for being greedy, and wanting to own everything
Religoius and devoted
Founded abbeys and promoted the church - very religoius
He repented for his brutal life and treatment of the english on his deathbed
William took the throne by force, but always wanted to be the legitimate ruler and be accepted by the people
He was devoted to Matilda, and trusted er to be Normady’s regent
He wept for days when she died
Relationship with his son Robert
Following a cold water bucket prank on robert by his younger brothers, robert started a real fight which had to be broken up by william
Robert was wanted by william, so he fled to flanders, where williams enemy king phillip installed him at a castle, from which he launched raids
Matilda had been sending funds to robert behind williams back, william was furious
Matilda said she would give anything for her children
At a battle, william was knocked off of his horse by robert, and he gave him his horse and told him to retreat - this was a huge humiliation for william
Matilda organised a reconciliation at easter 1080, and william reinstated robert as the heir to normandy
Williams Death
1087 - william led a raid into france and was very fat
When his horse stumbled, william was thrown against the saddle and got internal injuries
He died after a long struggle
The moment he died, barons rushed to secure their land and servants stole everything they could
His body exploded at his funeral - ths was seen as a bad omen
William had the time to organise the succession
Robert got normandy , and he wanted william rufus (his son) to be king, but decided to let god choose
Odo and the rebellion
William Rufus took a letter to lanfranc from william, recommending him for the throne
He was later crowned william II - lanfranc had so muh power no witan was needed
Bishop Odo led a revolt with robert, supporting his claim for the throne
They thought william II was weak and easy to control
Other rebellins , such as among the marcher earls, also broke out
The normans didnt support odo and robert, and they fled to pevensey castle, where Rufus attacjed it for weeks
Cut off from supplies, odo run away and Robert was captured
Odo held out, expecting roberts support, but his castle he escaped to was struck by disease and he was stripped of all titles and exiled
William II was now very popular, and promised to lower tax, remove forest and restore EDwards laws - exactly what the AS wanted.
He then went back on all of it
THE END
