History EOY Revision Flashcards
Battle of Hastings
After the death of King Edward, Harold Godwinson became king in January 1066. He faced invasions from William, his own brother Tostig and Harold Hadrada. On Stamford bridge Harold Hadrada and his brother invaded England and were both killed and Harold Godwinson declares victory in 25th September 1066.
On 27th of September William Normandy and his army had invaded England and Harold Godwinson met a place near town on the 14th October 1066. Harold had taken a defence area at the top of the hill and Harold had just beaten Harold Hardrada and lost many good soldiers and only had 5000 soldiers left. however William’s army had 15000 soldiers. Harold had taken a defence position and William of Normandy had pretend to give up. As Harold chased his army they turned back, started fighting again until William of Normandy had won the battle. He was declared king on Christmas day in 1066.
Where did the Normans invade?
In the middle ages around from 300-1485. Some historians argue that they had invaded in 1066
Castles
Motte = a hill mound
Moat = a river ditch
Palisade = a wooden fence
Bailey = a courtyard
Drawbridge = bridge for crossing
Bridge = to go down of the castle
Keep = where you can keep an eye of who is coming (a fortified tower).
Pros and cons
The pros of castles is that they had a fortified tower which could make them easily see what is about to come. In addition, to that some enemies wouldn’t be able to cross the moat. Furthermore, there is a mound which makes the enemies harder to get to the castle. The cons is that the palisade would easily burn down or rotten.
The pros of stone castles is that there is a fortified tower which could make it easier to see who is coming to attack. A con is that it is built on rectangular or square plan, so it would be easier for the enemy to go underneath and bring the castle down.
Domesday book Background
- William was facing invasions from Belgium and Denmark.
- He was in need of money so he could pay his huge army in France.
- The Norman landowners were disagreeing about who should own which land.
- He called the Great Council of Norman Barons and churchmen and told them to carry out a huge survey in England to see who should own which land.
Pros And cons
The pros is that it shows how much wealth there is in the country and how much land there is in the country.
The cons are that some people will lie and pretend to have claimed land even though they have not. In addition, they only surveyed the rich people and left the poor people’s opinion unknown because they wanted funds for their army.
Churches
Bishops: William had put Stigand as the Archbishop Of Canterbury and had put him in the job until 1070. The pope sent an ambassador and stigand was removed because he was an Anglo Saxon and a man called Lanfrank had become the archbishop of Canterbury as he was a norman.
Lanfrank Reforms: Lanfrank made stricter laws of the church. He held meetings at Synods and made the rules central. He made sure that the preists were looking after the central of the church.
The Church Buildings: At the time of the Anglo Saxons there were wooden small churches but when William came he made stone castles and large castles such as Basilicas and Cathedrals.
Feudal System
It was introduced to maintain control over England and to keep the country in order. It was used for making people be loyal to the king, to obey the law, get huge armies without spending too much money and to increase taxes.
The feudal system was a matter of duty and reward, there were four types of people, the peasants, the knights, the barrons, and the king. If the peasants did something then the knights, Barons and the king could reward them. This process continues for the rest of the people.
King Henry II
Thomas becket was the son of a Norman Merchant. He became Henry ii chancellor. Thomas became rich and powerful.
- Henry II was having some disagreements with the church.
- Henry II decided to make his friend Archbishop of Canterbury as the previous one died and thought that too much trouble will be caused.
- Thomas becket started to be religious life and gave up and left his rich life and prayed.
- Becket refused to Henry II to control the church. He was in fear so he ran away to France.
- Henry II decided that he could manage without him.
- They both meet up and decided to sort out their problems however as soon as becket came back to England then he punished all the bishops that had supported the king.
- Henry II got furious and told four knights to get him of the Archbishop of Canterbury and they thought that they were going to kill him. When the king found out this, he sent more knights to stop them but it was too late and Thomas Becket was killed.
Harrying of The North
- He was facing invasions from the north of England
- He was having to collect taxes but also needed to find out how much wealth there was in the country.
- He was not wanting to be king by many English Lords but he couldn’t accept that.
- Still some English Soldiers in Dover and they could cut his way back to Normandy.
- In London the Capital of England there were still some of Harold’s Troops so he had to control that as well.
Harrying Of The North.
This was when William had faced invasions from the Scottish and the Danish army. In addition he had to give money to the Danes so they can leave the country without fighting. In the north-east England he had forced to burn villages, destroy crops and slaughter animals. Many people were killed, died of starvation or moved away. In the Domesday book it says that the population had reduced by 75% in the North.
Magna Carta
Means great charter
It gave a right of free trial but this only applied to free men.
The pope declared that it was invalid so England went to Civil war.
To keep the magna carta in piece it was reissued several times.
King John and the Barons
Worst King in the history
1. Imprisoned his own wife.
2. Killed his own Nephew.
- Pulled the beard of Irish Chiefs
- Starved his opponents to death.
- Imposed heavy taxes on the Barons to fight the wars in France. If they refused to pay then they will be punished severely.
- The Barons Rebelled and they refused to pay the taxes. They thought that King John should obey the law. He didn’t so they captured him in London
- Barons and the king met in Runnymede to negotiate.
- King John Died and that his 9 year old son would take over the throne.
What did magna carta say?
- Any baron who dies, there family has to pay a limited amount to the king.
- The merchants have the right to buy or sell things without paying extra taxes.
- The judge has no right to be bias to people.
- The English Church should be free and have rights and privileges.
- Before increasing taxes the government has to ask the great council if they can.
- 25 barons will be elected by other barons to keep piece and liberty going.
- No one has the right to be imprisoned without free trial and Jury.
Peasants Revolt reasons
The peasants demanded higher wages after black death.
The landowners reduced the amount of wages which is why the peasants revolted.
- John ball was a preacher who had encouraged the peasants to make them equal and change the feudal system because he thought that god said that everyone was equal.
- The King Richard had to spend loads of money to fight the wars with France and that they had to introduce the poll tax and that made the peasants angry because they thought this was unfair.
- King Edward III died so Richard II became king when he was quite young so the peasants could pressurise him about their demands.
