Royal finances under William II and Henry I

Question 1

What are the key debates?

Answer 1

Were they as novel as previously thought?
Were they building on the Anglo-Saxon systems
Impact on subjects
What purposes?

Question 2

Examples of Norman innovation

Answer 2

Pipe Roll and Domesday Book

Question 3

Style of Norman kings

Answer 3

Flamboyant, large court travelled with them
Orderic- 3 components of court

Question 4

Who accounted the 3 components of court?

Answer 4

Orderic, Ecclesiastical history

Question 5

Festive circuit

Answer 5

Main festivals of year- King would wear crown
William of Malmesbury

Question 6

Who spoke about the festive circuit

Answer 6

William of Malmesbury

Question 7

William II grandeur

Answer 7

Constructed a great hall at Westminster, ‘not sparing any expense’ (William of Malmesbury)

Question 8

William II’s parties

Answer 8

Known for their magnificence and consumption
Refusal to attend seen as rebellion

Question 9

Henry I’s reforms of 1108

Answer 9

Legislated against his court ravaging the countryside ‘remedying this evil’ (Eadmer)

Question 10

Hostage taking

Answer 10

Both from enemies and kings own magnates- standard practise

Question 11

Why did the regime want to raise money?

Answer 11

To hold on to or control duchy of Normandy and county of Maine

Question 12

Taxes

Answer 12

Sources such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and John of Worcester’s Chronicle of Chronicles are full of complaints about incessant taxing

Question 13

William II’s financial advisor

Answer 13

Ranulf Flambard

Question 14

Ranulf Flambard quotatation

Answer 14

‘cunning deception’, ‘cruelly oppressed’ (Orderic Vitalis Ecc Hist)

Question 15

Flambard’s revisions to the Danegeld

Answer 15

Recalculated the number of hides
Tenuous- not much evidence

Question 16

Flambard’s exploitation of vacancies

Answer 16

Prolonged ecclesiastical vacancies so that the king could take revenues

Question 17

Henry’s attitude to money extraction

Answer 17

Promised to give up many in coronation 1100

Question 18

Was the abuse of vacancies new?

Answer 18

Orderic claims that it did not exist before Ranulf Flambard
However there is some evidence that King Cnut also exploited these

Question 19

How innovative in conclusion?

Answer 19

Not AS innovative as is given credit for, but approach to vacancies was new

Question 20

Reasons Henry I wanted to raise money

Answer 20

Conquest and defence of Normandy
Ensnare leading men into debt

Question 21

Land tenure before and after conquest

Answer 21

Freedoms of land tenure Anglo Saxon were erased- reassert principle that all land belonged to the king

Question 22

Two events that reasserted hold over land tenure

Answer 22

Oath taking at Salisbury
Domesday survey

Question 23

Domesday survey

Answer 23

Idea that all tenure is derived from the king

Question 24

Sale of marriages

Answer 24

Flambard exploited money from marriages of daughters and widows

Question 25

Henry I on elite marriages

Answer 25

Promised to relax control of elite marriages

Question 26

Abuses that Henry renounced

Answer 26

Elite marriages restriction Unlimited fines for diverse crimes

Question 27

Henry's promise to renounce 'evil customs'

Answer 27

Broken in less than 10 years of coronation- eg earned a lot of money from vacancy from the Archbishopric of Canterbury after Anselm's death

Question 28

Justice under Henry I

Answer 28

By the end of his reign, had reverted to Norman policy of fines > capital punishment

Question 29

Who criticises Henry's approach to law and order?

Answer 29

William of Malmesbury

Question 30

Effects of debt

Answer 30

Almost all leading magnates ended up with huge debts to the crown that could not be paid off

Question 31

Was the system of collecting money through debt new?

Answer 31

Many Norman aristocrats had already incurred huge debts to the crown

Question 32

System created for debt

Answer 32

The Exchequer

Question 33

Effect of system?

Answer 33

Drove the economy to near collapse in mid 1120s 'most expensive of all in our time' (H of H)

Question 34

External causes of the crisis

Answer 34

Most likely inability of wool and clothing exports to bring in enough silver from abroad

Question 35

Main priorities of Norman regime

Answer 35

Ensuring loyalty of lords Raising money to secure and retain kingdom (esp Normandy) Fund lifestyle of court

Question 36

Ways Norman kings raised money

Answer 36

Justice Debt Marriages Land Church