Conquest And Control Flashcards
Domesday Book
• December 1085 - William ordered a survey to record every piece of land and property in England - difficult time for William as he was facing threat from the Danes
• domesday = day of judgement - know as Book of Winchester at the time
• some believe it was about the need for money to protect against possible invasion. Wanted commissioners to note where more could be taken
• 34 shires were divided into seven circuits with four commissioners in each circuit - info for over 13400 manors, collected in just six months
• listed very piece of land and item of property (who owned it)
• important because it tells us about the changes caused by the Norman Conquest
• historians believed it was a tax database to gain more money - recent historians have pointed out that it is not laid out in a way which would help tax collection
• suggests the book was to show Normans had legal rights and William was the undisputed leader
Impact of Norman Conquest (Yoke)
• huge impact on ordinary people in England as well as landowners
• Normans took control of market towns making it more expensive for traders to earn a living
• Thegns had divided up property before they died, but the Norman system passed everything on to the eldest son
• William rewarded men who fought for him by giving them the land of the English earls and thegns who died at Hastings
• at first earls and thegns could buy back their land, but he changed his mind after four years of rebellion
• many English nobles migrated to European countries such as Scotland, Ireland and Scandavia - those who stayed had to rent land they once owned
• W exploited the efficient Saxon system for collecting tax (the held). Increased geld dramatically and this burden lasted for at least twenty years after the Conquest
• York, Norwich and Oxford saw populations fall - towns in rebellious areas were attacked, houses and workshops were destroyed to make room for castles. Small towns are hit harder
• harrying of the North - population of Yorkshire was 25% of what is was in 106) compared to 1086
• number of free peasants fell rapidly - people struggled to pay high rents demanded by Norman lords
• Norman landowners increased the income from their land by 30 percent
• Norman lords built castles in the middle of their estates and often treated people on their lands harshly
• by 1086, only four of Williams 180 tenants-in-chief were English. These English landowners owned 5% of land in 1086
Goo impacts of the Norman Conquest
• one group who may have benefitted were the slaves - slavery had died out in Normandy, and after 1066, the number of slaves in England fell
• most people continued to work on the land, and the cycle of the farming year stayed mostly unchanged
Laws, language and church - positive
• influence of French made English richer and more flexible
• eventually led to it being one of the worlds most widely spoken languages
• William began to rebuild England’s cathedrals, replacing them with larger and grander buildings in the Norman style
• Williams religious reforms included rebuilding cathedrals, monasteries and churches - William was a devout Christian
• 1070 - papal legates crowned William a second time, giving the Pope’s blessing to his rule
• revival of monasticism
• Stigand was removed as Archbishop of Cantebury and was replaced by Lanfrac, a Norman. Thomas of Bayeaux became Archbishop of York
Law, language and church - negatives
• instead of everyone speaking English, the ruling class spoke Norman French, making the difference between the Conquerors and conquered even clearer
• most Saxon parish churches were destroyed and replaced with new ones. Very few of the Anglo-Saxon saints survived, as the Normans dedicated churches to their own saints
• law was unpopular with the English - King W enjoyed hunting and created royal forests to hunt in. Forest Law introduced harsh punishments for hunting in these forests - killing a rabbit would get two of your finger chopped off
• if a Norman was murdered, the local community had to pay an enormous fine called the Murdrum until the murderers was found
• new lords introduced curbs on the peasants freedoms: forcing them to build unpopular castles, stopping them fishing in the rivers, banning the collecting of firewood in the forests, charging high fees for using the mills to grind corn
