How Villages Changed Under the Normans

Question 1

What percent of the population lived in Villages?

Answer 1

95%

Question 2

How many villages were there in Norman England?

Answer 2

The Domesday Book, in 1086, recorded nearly 13,500 villages in England.

Question 3

How did the sizes of village differ?

Answer 3

Villages varied in size, but many would only have a handful of families. A village of 67 families was large, while some only had five or six households.

Question 4

What is a prominent example of destruction of villages in Norman England?

Answer 4

However, the Normans had destroyed large parts of the north of England in the Harrying of the North of 1069/70. One third of Yorkshire was described in 1086 as ‘waste’.

Question 5

What percent of Yorkshire was described in 1086 as ‘waste’, 16/17 years after the Harrying?

Answer 5

1/3 or 33%

Question 6

What were the different types of peasants in Norman villages?

Answer 6

• Freemen
• Villeins
• Bordars and cottars
• Slaves

Question 7

What did freemen do?

Answer 7

Freemen paid the lord rent for their land. Often they also carried out ‘boon work’ - unpaid extra work on the lord’s demesne

Question 8

What did villeins do?

Answer 8

Villeins were unfree peasants, who worked on the lord’s land for no pay. They had a little land to farm for themselves. They could not leave the land without the lord’s permission.

Question 9

What did Bordars and cottars do?

Answer 9

Bordars and cottars were poorer villeins, who rarely had enough land of their own to live on.

Question 9

What percent of the population were enslaved, how did this change during the Norman conquest?

Answer 9

Around 10% of the population were slaves, who had no freedom and no land. The Normans gradually got rid of slavery, but it took time.

Question 10

Bordars and cottars

Question 11

Where did peasant farm?

Answer 11

Each village was surrounded by large fields, which were divided into strips. Each peasant had a few strips of land to farm.

Question 12

What did villagers do during summer?

Answer 12

The villagers agreed which crops to grow in each field. Much of the year was spent ploughing, sowing seeds and growing crops, and harvesting them at the end of the summer.

Question 13

Did the Villagers have gardens?

Answer 13

Villagers also had their own gardens, which they used to grow fruit and vegetables. They also kept chickens and other animals.

Question 14

Did villagers share land?

Answer 14

Villages also had common land, where all the villagers grazed their animals - such as the oxen they used for ploughing.

Question 15

What did Villagers do in the Woodlands?

Answer 15

Collected firewood

Question 16

What machines did they use to farm?

Answer 16

None

All work was done by hand, apart from ploughing, which was done by ox-drawn ploughs - these were owned in common by the whole village.

Question 17

What did Peasants eat?

Answer 17

Peasants ate what they could grow. Their diet basically consisted of bread, oat porridge and vegetables. They got dairy products from the animals they kept. Eating meat was a luxury.

Question 18

What did Norman lords eat?

Answer 18

By contrast, the Norman lords had much more variety. They also ate bread, but it was better quality than the peasants’ bread. They ate much more meat, and fewer vegetables and dairy products. Overall, the Norman lords’ diet was much worse than the peasants’.

Question 19

Where did Peasants live?

Answer 19

Peasants lived in single-room houses, which were dark, damp and smoky. They usually did not have windows, a fire in the middle of the room was used for warmth and cooking. The peasants brought their animals into the house at night.

Question 20

Where did Norman lords live?

Answer 20

The Norman lord lived in a much grander manor house. The manor house was usually built of stone. Although most business took place in the large hall, the lord had a separate sleeping chamber, and usually a separate kitchen building. The manor house had windows, although it still relied on a central hearth for heat.

Question 21

Who was the bailiff in a Norman village?

Answer 21

The bailiff was the man in charge of making sure that the villagers did their work, especially on the lord’s land. He was usually chosen from amongst the villagers.

Question 22

How did villages change under the Normans for lords?

Answer 22

Almost all the old Saxon lords were replaced by Norman lords, who aimed to make more money from their new lands.

The lords also built large manor houses from stone. Again, any wooden Saxon manor houses were rebuilt.

Question 23

How did villages change under the Normans religiously?

Answer 23

Almost every village had a church, which was built of stone. Wooden Saxon churches were pulled down and rebuilt.

Question 24

How did villages change under the Normans for peasants in relation to their lord?

Answer 24

Many Norman lords built mills for grinding flour. The peasants had to use the lord’s mill, and had to pay for the privilege.

The Norman lords charged more rent from their freemen. Many could not afford these higher rents, so became villeins.

Question 25

Why did the Normans abolish slavery?

Answer 25

The Normans did gradually end slavery, however, largely because the Church disapproved of enslaving Christians.