MEP The Normans

Question 1

Which three people claimed they were the rightful heir to Edward the Confessor, the King of England?

Answer 1

William of Normandy
Harold Godwinson
Harald Hadrada

Question 2

When did King Edward the Confessor die?

Answer 2

January 1066

Question 3

Why did people see Harold Godwinson as a usurper and perjurer?

Answer 3

Because he had sworn an oath to William of Normandy in 1064 that he would support him as heir to the English throne.

Question 4

What happened at the Battle of Hastings?

Answer 4

William was victorious
Harold died as did most of the English nobility
William took the throne

Question 5

Where did William face the strongest challenges to his authority?

Answer 5

In the north of England - northern earls, supported by Welsh and Danes

Question 6

What was ‘Normanisation’?

Answer 6

The process by which England was changed after William’s invasion.
- French became the language of government
- almost all landowners were Normans by 1075

Question 7

What architecture did the Normans introduce and build across England during William and his son’s reign?

Answer 7

Castles, abbeys and cathedrals

Question 8

What is feudalism?

Answer 8

The fuedal system was a way of organising society into different groups - king at the top with all the control, peasants at the bottom doing all the work