📝IDEA PARAGRAPHS - Conquest And Control

Question 1

D) For the situation in 1066, who was on the throne?

Answer 1

Edward the Confessor

Question 2

E) For the situation in 1066,

How did Edward become king of England?

Answer 2

Because after his mother Emma ran away to Normandy with Edward and Alfred she was forced to marry the Viking king Canute and go back to England making Edward the next heir to the throne and Harthacnut invited him to england

Question 3

A) for the situation in 1066,
Which other countries or powerful families were interested in the throne of England and why?

Why was it not straight forward to decide who should be the next king I.e. what were the AS rules of inheritance

Answer 3

• Harold Godwinson was interested in the throne as he was edward’s brother in law, William duke of Normandy as he was distant cousin of Edward, Edgar the altering was the great nephew of Edward and Harold Hardrada
• because there were the rules of family ties, post obitum (where the king nominates his throne to someone in the event of his death), novissima verba ( where the hing nominates his throne on his death bed) and taking the throne by force

Question 4

D) For William duke of Normandy, who was he and what was his background?

Answer 4

He was the duke of Normandy and was the illegitimate son of Robert duke of Normandy

Question 5

E) for William of Normandy, what was his connection to the English throne?

Answer 5

He was the distant cousin of Edward through his mother Emma after she left her sons with williams and their uncle Richard duke of Normandy to look after

Question 6

A) for William duke of Normandy,
Under AS rules of inheritance how did he have a claim to the throne?
What else might he do to prove the throne should be his?

Answer 6

• He had a claim to the throne through family ties and supposedly post obitum
• he might battle the king chosen and use force to take the throne instead

Question 7

D) for Harold godwinson, who was he and what was his background?

Answer 7

He was the earl of Wessex in 1053 and had control over all southern England

Question 8

E) For Harold Godwinson,

What was his connection with Edward?

Answer 8

He was Edward’s brother in law and often ran the country on behalf of Edward when he was nearing his death

Question 9

A) for Harold godwinson,
Under Anglo Saxon rules of inheritance how did he have a claim to the throne?
What promise had he made to William that weakened his claim?

Answer 9

• probably novissima verba and family ties

- he promised William that he could have the throne after Edward which weakened his claim

Question 10

D) For Harold Hardrada,

Who was he and what was his background?

Answer 10

He was the king of Norway

Question 11

E) for Harold Hardrada,

What was his connection to Edward or the English throne?

Answer 11

his father Magnus was promised the throne of England by Harthacnut who was cnuts son but instead Edward took the throne so Hardrada wanted to get what he though was rightfully his

Question 12

A) for Harold Hardrada

• under as rules of inheritance how did he have a claim to the throne
• what else might he do to prove the throne should be his

Answer 12

• he had a claim to the throne via post obitum and some sort of family tie that wasn’t directly to Edward
• he could invade england which he did on September 25th 1066 in York where he teamed up with Tostig

Question 13

D) for William’s preparation for battle,

How did William raise an army and fleet between May and September 1066?

Answer 13

• he had flat bottom boats so it was easier to transport horses
• prepared flat pack castles to quickly build in England
• assembled 8000 people
• cut the distance to England to 20 miles by stationing his fleet further south on the mouth of the river Somme in Saint-Valery-Sur-Somme

Question 14

E) for William’s preparation for battle, what opposition to his battle plans did William face?

Answer 14

He faced no opposition as

• the king of France at the time was only 14 and didn’t present a serious threat to williams independence
• a civil war in Anjou made William one of the most powerful men in Europe and so he looked to cross the English Channel

Question 15

A) for William’s preparation for battle,

• Support from whom encouraged soldiers to support William. How else did William get their support? Why were these significant?
• how did William plan to protect his soldiers once landed in England? Why would this be significant?

Answer 15

• He got support from the church and had the papal banner making it a holy a war many were willing to fight for. He also got support from mercenaries because William promised them riches and land in england. Significant as he got a large army of 8000 men
• once landing William brought flat pack castles which he could easily erect. This then provided protection for his army from locals and also served as good lookout spots to attack

Question 16

D) for the battle of stamford bridge,

When, where, and who was Harold fighting against at Stamford bridge?

Answer 16

He fought against Harold Hardrada and Tostig in tadcaster on the outskirts of York on 25th September 1066

Question 17

E) for the battle of stamford bridge,

What defeats had Tostig inflicted previously that made it necessary for Harold to march up to the northeast?

Answer 17

Previously, Hardrada and around 7000 vikings joined Tostig at the battle of fulford gate on the 20th September 1066 where they fought godwinson’s brothers in law, Edwin earl of Mercia and Moncar earl of Northumbria and an army of 3500 men however the english were defeated

Question 18

A) for the battle of stamford bridge

• Why was Harold able to win and why was this significant?
• why was Harold being in the north East significant when William landed in Pevensy at the end of September?

Answer 18

• because the AS reached tadcaster earlier than the vikings after Harold marched his troops 190 miles in 4 days and so was able to launch a surprise attack on them. Significant as Tostig and Hardrada we’re both killed destroying the Viking threat and removing a major rival to the throne
• Harold being in the northeast was significant when William landed because he had to cover 200miles in 5 days to reach William making Harold’s army of 60 exhausted and lost the chance of surprising William.

Question 19

D) for the battle of hastings

When, where, against who, outcome?

Answer 19

On 14th october 1066, 7 miles northwest of hastings in Pevensey at Senlac hill with Harold godwinson against William. William won

Question 20

E) for the battle of hastings

Where was Harold when William landed in England? What was the impact of this in Harold and his troops?

Answer 20

He was in the north after defeating Tostig and so had to cover 200 miles in 4-5 days to meet William leaving him with few men instead of waiting for 20-30 thousand more and they were hungry and tired

Question 21

A) for the battle of hastings

• how was each side evenly matched?
• what was the turning point within the battle and why was this significant?

Answer 21

• They both had 7000 men, the Anglo Saxons used the shield wall tactic and William had infantry and cavalry and both leaders were very experienced
• this was the shield wall breaking because at this point the fyrd broke and ran away and Harold died.

Question 22

D) for William’s initial actions for winning control of England,
What did William do whilst travelling from hastings to London?

Answer 22

He built 1000 motte and bailey castles

Question 23

E) for William’s initial actions for winning control of England,
Why did he take such strong actions?

Answer 23

He took strong actions because there were powerful English lords that weren’t happy with a Norman england, some Anglo Saxons may not have been happy with William killing their previous king and so people may have tried to go against them however his actions sacred people into obeying him

Question 24

A) for William’s initial actions for winning control of England,

• how did William deal with the English lords
• why would his methods be significant in helping him gain control?

Answer 24

• by using terror, patronage, military presence and concessions
• significant because they would have prevented the anglo saxon earls rebelling against him an posing a threat to him and his throne

Question 25

D) for William’s use of castles,

How many, where, what design?

Answer 25

By 1086 there were 500 castles, the first was built at Pevensey and were generally built in areas of strategic importance, on high ground, near existing towns, near a water supply and near natural defences they were motte and bailey castles

Question 26

E) for William’s use of castles, why were castles necessary?

Answer 26

Because they could be used as lookout points through the outer Bailey walls, and to offer protection because the outer Bailey wall was raised making it hard to attack and the drawbridge had protection

Question 27

A) for William’s use of castles,

How did William use castles to help gain control

Answer 27

-administration
They acted as a centre of administration for an area
-protection
They protected Norman settlers especially new lords
-intimidation
They intimidated the local people and showed power as clearing forests and moving large amounts of earth to build the castles showed the strength of Norman invaders
-control
They established control of an area which was very important in places like the north of England and the welsh border
-symbolism
It was a clear way of demonstrating the social structure of Norman England as the Norman rulers lived in castles on top of hills and their AS subjects lived at the bottom

Question 28

D) for rebellions,

Where, when and by who?

Answer 28

• Took place in England in places like sailsbury, Durham and York
• from 1066 to 1075
• Edwin and Morcar who led a rebellion in London, Edric the wild a AS Herefordshire thegnm Edward the confessors brother in law Eustace, the city of Exeter and the Norman earls revolted led by Ralph de Gael and roger de breteuil and was supported by English earl waltheof

Question 29

A) for rebellions,

• which was the most serious rebellion and why?
• by when had rebellions stopped and why had they come to an end?

Answer 29

• The most serious was the revolt of the Norman earls because it was supported by a number of key figures in Britain and was encouraged by the king of France who was keen to distract William from Normandy to increase his own influence there
• the rebellions had stopped in 1075 after bishop odo and lanfranc put down the rebellions with brutal force, Waltheof was killed and the other rebels were blinded and killed, Roger was imprisoned but spared from more serious punishment possibly due to the kings friendship with his father

Question 30

E) for rebellions,

How did William deal with them?

Answer 30

• for Edwin and Moncar, they were forced to swear loyalty to William and were allowed to keep their land and titles
• for the rebellion of the welsh border, William personally led soldiers there to defeat them
• for the revolt of Eustace the knights defeated him and he made peace with William
• for the south west and Exeter, William suppressed rebellions in Bristol and Gloucester

Question 31

D) For the harrying of the North,

What did William do?

Answer 31

• he payed the vikings to return to their 240 ships that invaded in summer of 1069 and leave abandoning the English army
• set the bishop of Durham’s house on fire

Question 32

E) for the harrying of the north, why did William do what he did?

Answer 32

He did it to weaken his enemy’s and teach people a lesson so they were clear that rebellions did lead to severe consequences

Question 33

A) for the harrying of the North,

• what were the consequences for north England?
• What was the impact for William’s control?

Answer 33

• It meant farmers losses their income and peasants starved and 80% of Yorkshire became waste and couldn’t be farmed on
• overall, this strengthened William’s control as during his reign, he faced little trouble again from Yorkshire as people were no longer willing to loose this much if Wiliam were to win again

Question 34

A) For Hereward the wake,

Who, when and what?

Answer 34

In the early 1070s, his father had his lands confiscated by William and his brother was killed so with support of kings Swegn of Denmark and moncar, Hereward began a campaign of guerilla style attacks on Norman settlers in the marshlands of east anglia

Question 35

E) For Hereward the wake,

Why was William initially unsuccessful in dealing with the rebellion?

Answer 35

Because William ordered the building of a 3km wooden cross way to cross the marshland but the causeway wasn’t strong enough and collapsed, then William built a siege tower and found a local witch to stand at the top and shout abuse and curses at the rebels however Hereward set fire to the area and burnt it down

Question 36

A) for Hereward the wake,

• how as William eventually able to succeed in putting the rebellion down
• why was the rebellion a significant problem for William

Answer 36

• when he convinced the monks of Ely abbey to reveal a secret route to Hereward’s base and so when William reached the abbey, he arrested most rebels including moncar but Hereward escaped
• the rebellion was a significant problem because Hereward was quite powerful as was moncar under the AS rule and so they would have had a lot of support and also it took a lot longer for William to crush this rebellion