revolt of the earls 1075 Flashcards
who was part of rebellion
-ralph da gael - earl of east anglia son of anglo norman
roger de breteulil- norman son of william fitzotzbern
- he was earl of hereford
–waltheof - was earl of northumbria
causes of rebellion
- loss of power
-william changed how marcher earldoms were run - sherrifs now control the earldoms. and reduced size.
-waltheof was the last anglo saxon earl he could use his danish contacts to make the rebellion succeed
why did rebellion fail
Waltheof broke his promise and informed Lanfranc of the plan. This allowed the Normans to stop the revolt before it even began
Lanfranc responded well to Waltheof’s information. He sent scouts to Hereford and East Anglia to gain information on Ralph and Roger’s preparations. They saw that the castles and troops in both earldoms were increasing in strength
The earls did not back down when they knew that the Normans had uncovered their plan. Lanfranc wrote to Roger pleading him not to rebel. Roger continued with the plan
Lanfranc used the Church to respond to the revolt. Bishop Wulfstan of Worcester and the abbot of Evesham trapped Roger in Herefordshire. He excommunicated Roger, limiting his power with the Norman aristocracy
The earls did not consider how long a Danish fleet would take to arrive in England. The Danes arrived with 200 ships, but after William returned from Normandy. The Danes did not want to fight William in battle. Instead, the Danes raided the East Coast and pillaged York Cathedral before returning to Denmark
The Normans managed to gain Anglo-Saxon support against the rebellion. A combined Norman and Anglo-Saxon military force prevented Ralph from leaving East Anglia
consequences of rebellion
-ralph esacaped to brittany
-waltheof fled england
two features of revolt
One feature of the Revolt of the Earls is the reduction of the Norman earls’ power (1). Roger was especially angry at William’s control of the sheriffs in the Marcher earldoms (1
a second feature was the failed attempt to gain support from the danish king - as they had arrived too late choosing to raid the english coast instead of aid the rebellion directly.
