Feudelism And Government Flashcards
How much of William’s reign did he spend outside of England?
3\4
What was the order of the feudal system?
Kings
Nobility
Knights
Vassals
What does the king do?
Provides money and army in demand and bestows Land on his many nobles
What do the nobles do to nights?
Give land to nights
What do nobility do they the king?
Provide military and protection on demand
What do the knights do for the vassals?
Give them land
What do the vassals do for the knights?
Give them food and military on demand
What do the knights do for the nobility?
Provide military and protection and loyalty on demand
Give some similarities between the AS feudal system and the Norman one
Freemen had to obey their lord and Earls, bishops and barons shared their lands with people below them in the feudal system
Give some differences between the AS feudal system and the Norman one
With Normans, the church had more land than the king (25% of land to the church and only 20% to the king)
AS Earls only promised loyalty but the barons and bishops had to swear an oath of loyalty
What were tenants in chief?
Barons and bishops
What did tenants on chief give for land? what does this show?
Loyalty and provided a certain number of knights to the king, significance for William as he knows exactly how many knights he’ll have for the year
How did William constantly have military action for battles?
The Norman knights had to each serve at least 40 days unlike AS thegns
How was William sure he had knights?
By 1100 he could call on about 5000 knights and continued to use the fyrd like the AS to make up the rest of the army
When was the domesday book put together?
1085
What was a geld?
Tax levied to pay for something specific like war
What were hides?
Areas of land
What were ploughs?
A machine used in farming to turn soil moved by either man or ox/ a measurement of how much land can be ploughed by ox
What was a hundred?
A subdivision of AS shire which were 100 hides in size
Who was the info in domesday books written by?
Latin scribes
What was the domesday book for?
So the king can find out what he owns and how much money he has and to know the worths e.g. no of animals, hides, fishponds e.t.c
How many knights were there and when?
1086, 20,000 Norman knights with 10,000 Norman settlers in England
When was the survey partially complete by ?
1086
What was the population of England in 1086?
15-20 million people
How did the king conduct the domesday book?
-sent commissions to survey the land and split it up into 7 circuits
Why wasn’t London and winehester included in the domesday book?
They were exempt form taxes
Why where the west Morgan and Cumberland included in the domesday book?
They weren’t fully under Norman control
Who completed the domesday book?
William Rufus
How many did the survey show controlled the land?
Around 250 people similar to that of Edward the Confessor’s time
When were there heavy geld taxes and why?
Between 1084-1086 to extract more money from tenants
How did the survey allow William to gain more money?
Charge rents and tax people more efficiently
How did the survey allow William to improve legal matters?
The survey reduced land disputes as everything everyone owned was written down
What was the most significant benefit of the domesday book?
Financial benefit
What was the least significant benefit from the domesday book?
Military benefit
Were the marcher lords successful in keeping wales?
No it wasn’t until Edward I s reign when wales was fully controlled by the English
When did William die?
9th September 1087 aged 59 from obesity
Who did William split his kingdom between?
Sons letting eldest Robert control Normandy and younger son William Rufus become King of England and his son Henry getting £5000
What happened to England once William died?
Robert tried to overtake England from William Rufus who tried to take the Dutchec of Normandy from Robert while Henry kept changing sides weakening them both
Who were the suspects to William Rufus’s death?
Henry - to become king, warned William II not to go hunting
Walter Tirel - close friend of Henry (ran away to France after William IIs death)
Robert -to become king, once Henry was king, he threw Robert in Cardiff Castle prison until his death aged 80
Who was most likely to have killed William Rufus
Walter Tirel as he would have done anything for Henry
When did William Rufus die?
2nd August 1100
What was a sheriff?
The kings chief legal official in an area
What was Honorial Court?
Often in castles where tenants could appeal against their land lord
What was primogeniture?
When the eldest son inherited all land and titles form his father while younger offspring were left with nothing
What is ecclesiastical?
Issues concerning the church and religion
What was a murdrum fine?
The navy fine payable to the king by an entire area where the criminal lived if a Norman earl was murdered
How many shires was england split into under the AS?
134
Who was in charge of each shire?
A sheriff
What were shires split into?
Hundreds
What did the sheriff actually do?
Acted as a barons deputy by making annual payments to the king, presiding over shire courts, collecting taxes and raising armies
Give two things that continued from Anglo Saxon law into Norman law
Trial by water and the stocks
Give features of the law introduced by the Normans
Hand to hand combat, castration and blindness
What were problems with law in England?
- AS villages dumped bodies on Norman ones
- laws mainly depended on where you lived
- trial by battle was unfair as you could choose your contender
How was the church able to help William keep law and order?
Because there was a church in every village which both rich and poor people would go to and people would obey the orders and instructions of church leaders as they knew that was how they could get to heaven
What were the tithing and hue and cry system?
Set up under William I to track down those accused of crime
What were forest laws and who introduced them?
William I, where if anyone got caught hunting in forests, they could be fined, mutilated or executed
