AS - anglo-saxon society Flashcards
the powers of the king
- law-making
- money
- fryd
- religion
- taxes
- landownership
the witan
- a council that advised the king but couldn’t determine whether he listened to them or not.
the earls
most important men after the king and governed large areas of kings land on his behalf.
- collected taxes from their earldom
- oversaw law and order in their earldom
- military powers
Edward the confessor pros and cons
PROS
- religious leader so ppl believed that god guided him
- wise
- married to edith daughter of rich earl of godwin
CONS
- exile in normandy for most of his life so had few supporters in england
- no kids to suceed him
- struggled to keep control of godwin
the shire reeve
- the king issued orders to the shire reeves through WRITS
- they judged at the shire court
- repsonsible for defence of the shire
whats a shire, hide, ceorls, fyrd, writ
- shires - an earldom is divided into shires
- hide - land covering 120 acres
- ceorls - peasant framers
- fyrd - men of AS army
- writ - orders from the king written out
burhs
- fortified main town of each shire
- ppl would take refuge is vikings sround
all significant trade had to be done here by law - 10% of population lived here
- difficult to attack due to string walls
the church
- bishops rich and important
- priests uneducated
- monks and nuns farmed same land as everyone but loved in separate communities
what did the godwin’s control
- tostig - northumbria
- aelfgar - mercia
- harold - wessex
- gyrth east anglia
harold’s embassy to normandy
- king edward sent harold to normmandy but we dont know what he wanted to say.
- harold was takrn prisoner but william recued him
- harold swore a serious oath as part of the embassy but we dont know what about.
rising against tostig
- Northumbrian thegns revolt against tostig marching on York
- northumbrians invite edwin and morcar to be the earl instead
- king edwards orders this to stop but they disobey him
- tosig is replaced with morcar
- tostig is exiled and the house of godwin is weakened.
rival claimants to the throne HAROLD GODWINSON 1
- claim: appointed sucessor by king on his death bed
- strength: good supported by the witan
- high chance of success
rival claimants to the throne EDGAR AETHLING 2
claim: royal blood, descentent from king Alfred
strength: strong
chance of success: weak, too young
rival claimants to the throne HARALD HARDRADA 3
claim: secret deal made between Vikings
strength to claim: weak
chance of success: good, 300 ships, 15k warriors and huge experience
rival claimants to the throne WILLIAM OF NORMANDY 4
claim: agreement with king edward following Harolds embassy to normand
strength of claim: back by pope but lacking evidence
chance of success: good bc huge military strength if he got his knights across the channel
