week 8: the late Anglo-Saxon state and the Norman conquest

Question 1

Edward’s claim to the throne and his succession

Answer 1

• Spent 24 years in exile in Normandy despite his mother’s marriage to Cnut. Duke Robert the Magnificent recognised him as king and gave him support.
• His mother and the three existing earls (Siward of N, Leofric of Midlands, Godwine of W) appointed by Cnut all favoured other candidate
• Edmund ironside brought over from exile but died, leaving his son Edgar under Edith’s watch (just 5). He is termed Aetheling in the Book of Life of New Minster, suggesting potential succession.

Question 2

Edward’s redistribution of land

Answer 2

• He married Godwine’s daughter Edith. He gave Kent to Godwine, East Anglia to second son Harold and an area in the Welsh march to his eldest, Swein.
• Swein in Scandinavia had commended himself to Edward but Godwine had failed to pursued the king to support Swein when they were facing a Norwegian conquest, losing Denmark to Harald Hadrada.

Question 3

Edward’s relationships internally and externally

Answer 3

• Lots of continental links. Robert of Jumieges was made bishop of London in 1044 and Canterbury in 1051.
• There are only three castles known before 1066, all associated with Norman correspondents. (e.g.Richard Fitz Scrob built Richard’s castle near Tenbury
• The earldoms were causes of power struggles during this period as they carried with them formal oversight of justice, local government and the power to raise military forces. They used patronage to build up their power.
• there was a tendency for hereditary power. Four generations of Leofric’ family controlled the midlands and Harold the second Godwine.
• these regions often acted independently. Godwine and Leofric made external marriages with Flanders and Gwynedd, respectively. Aelfgar’s Viking mercenaries helped to invade Herefordshire from Wales, defeating the king’s nephew Earl Ralph and burning Hereford.
• The Godwine wealth was not significantly less than the king when Queen Edith’s as well as Tostig’s northern territories are also factored in.

Question 4

Edward’s policies

Answer 4

• Edward disbanded the royal fleet which had been draining taxes
• In September 1051, coinage is changed from the traditional style. They have a bust and spectre with PACX ‘peace’ on the reverse.

Question 5

What happened in 1064?

Answer 5

• The life of King Edward refers to Harold’s involvement in French politics and the BT suggests he made a visit in 1064. He may have wanted hostages released or to ally with William’s enemies.
• Harold was captured by the Count of Ponthieu and then rescued by William to whom he had to swear an oath. This would have rendered his claim to the throne.

Question 6

Tostig’s actions in 1064

Answer 6

• Tostig was said to be subverting justice and extracting large tax revenues in the north. Edith also had the leader Gospatric murdered on Tostig’s behalf in December 1064.
• The Northumbrians rebelled against him, demanding their own choice of earl – Morcar. They ravaged parts of the country and Tostig went into exile in Flanders. Harold married Morcar’s sister Ealdgyth, strengthening his candidacy for the throne. -The C chronicle, which was usually hostile, became more in favour of the Godwine family.

Question 7

claims to the throne in 1066

Answer 7

• Harold II represents a change in dynasty, ruling for 10 months. Prompt coronation gave him public recognition. New pennies were struck in his name using Edward’s engraver. He adopted the beard and sceptre of Edward but faced left not right, adorned with a crown not a helmet, perhaps to quell questions of legitimacy.
• The duke petitioned the papacy for support and started a programme of ship building.
• Harald’s claim was flimsy, but he could deploy significant resources. He defeated Edwin and Morcar at Gate Fulford on September 20th before being defeated by Godwinson on 25th. This was the greatest success against the Vikings since Brunanburh, vindicating his position as king.
• After Hastings, Edwin and Morcar rallied behind Aethlington. They surrendered to William.

Question 8

King William’s immediate actions as king

Answer 8

• Lands held by the Godwines were re-granted to Normans and some English men, such as Robert of Rhuddlan. In 1067, Edwin, Morcar and Edgar were sent as hostages to Normandy. Castles were constructed as foci for new consolidated estates granted to Normans.
• He granted consolidated estates along the coast to continental associates. For example, Hastings and Arundel. Mercian rebellions were brewing but William marched north and built castles to quell them.
• The north rebelled, rising in favour of Edgar Aethling and against the oppression of William Malet the newly appointed Sheriff. William built a second castle at York and then harried the North. The Domesday book records manors with no value or inhabitants in the north. He reorganised the north into greater lordships, replacing them with trusted henchmen.
• He replaced Stigand, AB of C with Lanfranc in 1070. Wulfstan at Worcester was the only English bishop left by 1087.
• Danish Hereward the Wake invaded in 1070 but it ended up being little more than a raid.
• Cnut made a marriage alliance with Flanders and expected to invade in 1085 but he died. This shows how insecure his reign was.
• The absence of French rivalry contributed to Norman success. Had he died before 1062 or after 1072, it may have been different. King Philip I tried to reduce his influence by supporting Aethling from 1072 onwards.

Question 9

social changes

Answer 9

• English was the dominant language, supplemented by some 2000 words from Old Norse but not replaced. Edward’s written charters are in equal numbers Latin and English. Norman French became the language of elite discourse and Latin used for official documentation.
• Telling is the English names for animals but French for meat. Cow versus beef suggesting the English were the producers and the French the consumers.
• Norman population was thought to be 20,000/2.5 million. The population remained English in genetic terms. over one third were classified as Villains
• By the 12th century, even peasants were using Norman naming habits such as Matilda, Emma, Henry and Robert.
• Many groups of the Anglo-Saxon elite dispersed overseas or were killed. A substantial fleet of English and Danes reached the Eastern Mediterranean in 1088, many taking positions in the Varangian Guard at Byzantine.
• at the very lowest levels conquest resulted in the slow eradication of the slavery that had been the lot of around one in ten of the Saxon population, and the introduction of a new class, the villein.

Question 10

land changes

Answer 10

• The occasional English name, such as Alfred of Malmesbury appear in 1086 and not 1066 and Throkell of Warwick persists through both. In 1086, the king held 20% of the land, the church 25%, secular lords 50% and 5% English landowners
• Earldoms shrank now corresponding to shires not regions and their role was honorary with most duties passing to the Sheriff. This created a narrower hierarchy. Fewer than 150 lay-tenants-in-chief held substantial estates.
• Many Frenchmen became leaders of monasteries. New landowners made gifts to abbeys back home (transfer of English resources to continental abbeys) and looked to them to provide clergy for the new estate. Robert of Poitou granted the parish church of Lancaster to the Norman abbey of Sees in 1094.
• Most norman landholders were identified by their place of origin Huge de Grandmesnil but some places in England like Robert de Romney and this gave them an English sense of identity.

Question 11

economic changes

Answer 11

• William demanded heavier gelds to find international commitments and internal disaffection.
• The murdrum was introduced and imposed on any community where a French corpse was found.
• Portchester (Hampshire) had boasted defensive capabilities with a bank and ditch but it didn’t match a castle. Burhs had provided a strongpoint for the whole community; castles were more private (stone keeps). Three were built on the edge of London, one being White Tower.
• More monetised economy with produce going to markets rather than just feeding oneself. Changing of names to stockport, bridport and huge of the port supports the present of market towns.

Question 12

religious changes

Answer 12

• Most churches were rebuilt. Edward had rebuilt Westminster Abbey in Romanesque style, but this was the only site. This grew exponentially under William (e.g. Durham cathedral).
• They replaced the traditional custom of cults to the founder with more universal saints. St Pega at Peakirk was one of the few remaining.
• The proliferation of small, manorial churches had started during the AS period. some of this was sponsored by the elite (e.g. Tovi and Waltham Abbey). Any now started to have stonework, but the impetus had started before 1066.
• They had ecclesiastical support also, from Englishmen such as Bishop wulfstan and French such as Giso, Bishop of Wells .

Question 13

political continuity

Answer 13

• Castles may not have existed in England prior to the 1060s in the sense of motte-and-bailey, but the fortified burhs of Alfred and Edward the Elder filled much the same role. They were key to victory over the Danes in 917 and hence made a significant contribution to the unification of England that occurred under Athelstan a decade later.
• Normans retained the shire system since it provided them with a secure, well tested means of imposing control and administering law and order at a local level
• The law codes bequeathed by the Confessor and Cnut were useful to William because they reserved certain types of case – royal pleas – to the Crown, along with the profits that flowed from them..

Question 14

religious continuity

Answer 14

• in the 11th century, bishops came to England from abroad, and prominent laymen went on pilgrimage – Sweyn Godwinson to Jerusalem, Cnut and Tostig to Rome.
• The reformist zeal generally attributed to Lanfranc and Anselm,needs to be seen in the wider context of the impact of the Gregorian reform movement as a whole as it is entirely likely that the English church would have been reformed in the second half of the 11th century whether or not William had triumphed at Hastings.

Question 15

king’s control of land changes

Answer 15

• the demise of Harold and three of his brothers in the battles of 1066 meant that William controlled an area twice the size it had been under Edward the Confessor. Careful distribution of at least a portion of this vast tract was key to the survival of the Norman regime, since it not only rewarded and incentivised the Norman barons who had accompanied William across the channel, but – just as crucially – denied resources to potential Saxon rebel
• the Domesday survey shows that William still held more than a third of the land in four English shires, more than a fifth in eight more, and at least one-tenth in practically all the others. Larger locus of power

Question 16

military service change and continuity

Answer 16

• Norman knights held land from tenants-in-chief, and those tenants-in-chief from the king; tenants-in-chief were also bound to provide agreed numbers of properly equipped men on demand – at least after 1072.
• Saxon thegns had not done this, and nor had the Norman system of oath-swearing, homage and fealty existed
• Thegns did not perform garrison duty, and not all their service was military.
• the Saxon system – despite the existence of book-land – cannot be considered hereditary, as the Norman system was.
• early Norman kings relied far more heavily on their household troops, and on mercenaries, than they did on feudal levies, which were of uncertain quality, difficult to raise, and hard to feed.
• Levies were not, for example, called up in the rebellions of 1088 or 1095. In this sense, too, the Norman army was not so different to the Saxon

Question 17

political changes

Answer 17

• The Marcher lordships, for example, were better provided with the means to resist Welsh incursions.
• Domesday Book revealed William’s reform of the Rapes of Sussex, which divided the shire into five strips of land running north-south.
• Each was now dominated by a single lord, and each terminated in a castle on the coast helping to guarantee communications across the Channel.
• Increase in the output of writs. This minimised dissent among the often-squabbling barons and lesser landowners on whom the king depended

Question 18

what do law codes tell us - ecclesiastical orientation

Answer 18

• the kings legislate for the church. VII Aethelred commanded the whole kingdom to carry out penitential rituals in order to mitigate the ongoing viking invasion. Alfred’s laws were prefaced with a passage from Exodus and included Mosaic laws.
• these laws could then be read and interpreted by shire Reeves in order to come to a judgement.
• this suggests wisdom stemmed from religious aptitude and biblical virtues created good judgement not just specialist legal knowledge.
• suggests that churchmen had additional responsibilities beyond their ecclesiastical spheres. The Laws of Edgar suggests that bishops could sit in Hundred and shire courts.
• archbishop wulfstan was tasked with physically producing laws for both Aethelstan and Cnut. This suggests that they were some of the most literate in society and pioneered learning.

Question 19

what can law codes tell us about communal responsibilities

Answer 19

• the punishments outlined in Welsh law-codes suggest that abetting a crime should face the same consequences (dirwy of twelve cows of three pounds) as committing the crime itself as it undermined the social contract of medieval society.
• Most judicial procedures also required the defendant to provide a witness or surety who could testify for their innocence and integrity of character.
• during a dispute between Wynflaed and Leofwine over estates near Datchet, Wynflaed was accompanied by a number of witnesses including Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop of Selsey, ealdorman Aelfric of Winchester and the King’s mother present.
• This suggests that Anglo-Saxon justice was a public affair, arrived at by the decision of a large number of people.
• responsibility for pursuing legal redress lay within the kin group rather than the official state of law enforcement.
• VIII Aethelred written by Wulfstan in 1014 suggests that if a man was accused of murder, only his kin could help. This suggests that individuals were not autonomous but embedded into social networks of kinship, lordship and friendship. Consequently, there was an expectation for people of the local community to uphold law and order and to ensure that not just themselves but that those around them were acting in a morally justifiable manner

Question 20

what do laws reveal - status and gender

Answer 20

• lords often acted as sureties for peasants who were under their dominion. This suggests that the word of a peasant did not carry sufficient resonance to guarantee the oath of a defendant and therefore that peasants were forced to get someone of a higher status to vouch for their integrity rather than a family member like the nobility could otherwise do.
• reinforces a system of collective assembly as lords seem to be liable for the actions of peasants. This suggests that society was not only hierarchical but operated on the basis of relationships as it was these obligations to one another which set limits on peoples’ behaviour.
• women considered oath-worthy
• Ine 57 cites that if a man is accused of theft, his wife could be exonerated from the crime and he alone would have to forfeit his possessions.
• Women also had the power to pursue their own interests within a legal context. For example, the writ of Aelfthryth suggests that women had a degree of agency as she was able to modify her father’s will in order to bequeath family estates in her own name as oppose to her fathers.
• Aelfthryth was of noble birth and therefore her legal autonomy may not have been typical of all women in society -very difficult to ascertain how far written material is actually implemented in practice or whether local customs, such as gender discrimination, took primacy in day-to-day life.

Question 21

what do law-codes reveal about kingly interactions

Answer 21

• By studying the laws of congruent Anglo-Saxon rulers, it seems that there was a legacy of legal borrowing.
• kings maintained laws from their predecessors, perhaps because they functioned effectively, or in order to claim historical authenticity
• Alfred’s law-codes retained clauses from Ine whilst the law codes of Edmund and Edgar bear comparison to II and V Aethelstan.
• this may suggest that laws provided an ideological purpose. They believed that they needed to produce them because all those who came before them had.

Question 22

what are common themes that come up in laws?

Answer 22

• Commerce
• Inheritance
• Status and gender
• There is an emphasis on loyalties and communal responsibility – legal principal. General oath of loyalty and then also as part of the legal process. People who know u personally and this is very different to the idea of juries and brought into to judge and vouch for one’s character.

Question 23

why did people swear oaths?

Answer 23

• Reputation – penalties higher of repeat and therefore by swearing them in public it would act as a deterrent.
• Communal responsibility – shows that not it is not just you who is going good but also others.
• If you swear an oath against someone who is guilty, they are also liable to pay the punishment. This gives the community an incentive to keep in line.

Question 24

which crimes are seen as the worst?

Answer 24

• Theft
• Desertion from King’s troops
• Adultery (moral, contradicts church principals, family reputation, complicates inheritance).
• Murder/homicide – punishment is lower than for theft. Theft can be punishable by death, homicide fines.

Question 25

does every law clause stem from an issue?

Answer 25

-On the one hand, it had to have been considered enough to warrant a clause.
It’s been a problem lets correct it.
-Cattle is a prized possession and therefore it would be a bad thing – let’s be presumptive?
-Laws were made by individual cases that had been raised at assemblies and written down.
-Laws may have been modelled on continental laws – inspired by Charlemagne. They had canon law written by Church councils on the continent as well as papal letters.
-Laws can come from lots of different places and motivated by lots of thing. Laws are not always inspired by things were particularly problematic at that time. They should be put into their contexts to be properly understood.

Question 26

why did kings produce laws?

Answer 26

• Practical vs image building. By producing a law-code that was applicable over a large area it gave the impression that they had more authority and that nominally he had a wide jurisdiction – give the impression of unified. Trying to find out whether a deliberate choice of number.
• Laws were often made from reading religious texts. This created wisdom and made someone a discerning person – to make the right decisions.
• The king believed that he must preserve law and order – it was a duty. This is where the ideological side comes in – it is considered to be important. This grounded their judgements in old law and gave them greater authority.
• Keeping peace and order was a key reason.
• However, there are no parallels between king’s laws and local material. . It might have been used as guidance for local officials or to create inspirational figures.
• There are few direct copies of law-codes (e.g. Edgar) and therefore not many people will have had access to them.

Question 27

changes to abstract ornamental decorations

Answer 27

• Interlace started in the 6th century. For example, in square-headed brooches, such as those found at Chessell Down, Isle of Wight.
• a new style of interlace showed similar components to continenta’ art such as Byzantine. Animal forms are made up of interwoven rhythmic ribbon. They are longer sections of panel.
• The development of style 2 coincided with the emergence of dynastic elites. There is more wealth and more access to important materials. Trade links are expanding and there is more interest in these precious objects.
• There are also Christian symbolism coinciding with conversion (e.g. the Crundale buckle of the 7th century).
• Foliage then becomes far more common from the ninth century onwards. Athelswith’s ring has an angus dei lamb of God surrounded by foliage. (queen of Mercia).

Question 28

what were the functions of art and culture

Answer 28

• Personal decorative objects. Brooches are common, armoury and weapons – parts of swords shields, helmets etc (e.g. those at the Staffordshire Hoard)
• There are commemorative purposes. The Pillar of Eliseg from the 9th century to honour his great grandfather. The Bewcastle Cross, Cumbria (8th century) is also significant.
• People who couldn’t read may have used these. Wall paintings also attest to this idea (e.g. the Nether Wallop wall-painting) and suggest that they tell a story.
• The Alfredian jewel was used to assist reading.
• The Ruthell cross tell the story of the crucifixion. Franks casket is clearly intended to be studied and understood, it is kind of a 3D riddle. For example, the front provides a riddle to tell what the box is made of (Whales bone). The back tells the fleeing of Jerusalem under Titus. The church replaced the temple suggesting religious replacement. It starts in Runes and then moves to Roman words. They combine an interest in history and the interpretation of the bible.

Question 29

how did the law operate in medieval society?

Answer 29

• Cubitt argues that law codes were like modern highway codes. People were required to learn them, but not to consult, on car journeys - flexible guidelines not prescriptive regulations.
• written law played an important part but by no means to the exclusion of unwritten customary law and oral decrees.
• Royal authority was essential with all of these texts referring back to Aethelstan’s ordinances and show respect and intent for his inspection. Yet they were still at liberty to augment his law-codes. These additions are not outright distinguished. Grately and Exeter are referred to but not reference verbatim.
• There are independent additions to the legal corpus, such as Pax and Walreaf, supplementing Aethelred’s legislation. They circulated at the same time. It may also suggest that royal ordinances were so important people felt the need to supply other materials so that they could be modified and kept up to date.
• Written laws allowed royal decrees to reach audiences beyond those present at the original royal assembly. Written texts of royal decrees were sent to the shire courts where they were interpreted by the specialist and literate before being duly published. The officials then sent written reports back to the king to assure him they were following his instructions and could draw up their own statements of local practice which incorporate said instructions.

Question 30

law codes - source analysis

Answer 30

• Their flexible nature may explain why they exist in the extant manner that they do.
• The profusion of written law at the time of the formation of England (Aethelstan) doesn’t seem to be a coincidence. Maybe it deals with the new issues that arise from the expansion of the realm and therefore conclusions may not be applicable to other kings.
• The first generation of people who had the benefit of Alfredian education could operate in Aethelstan’s reign and increase the presence of written documentation.

Question 31

Aethelstan’s laws

Answer 31

• Four legal tracts in the king’s name survives: an instruction regarding the payment of tithes; a brief ordinance for the kingdom’s reeves and two law codes from the assemblies at Grately and Exeter
• The Grately Code/Aethelstan II speaks of theft and lawlessness.

Question 32

informal material from Aethelstan’s reign.

Answer 32

• III, IV and VI also survive as informal legal texts and refer to the above decrees and are thought to be responses to the kings regulation.
• These ordinances address law and order but are not official law codes. They supplement the king’s decrees.
• They conflate or adjust the original pronouncements.
• This suggests that ordinances from different codes were updated. It was made to make a more coherent text for local application. Royal codes commanded respect, but magnates could adapt them as they saw fit. If codes were intended to be applied verbatim and practically, this practice would hardly have been accepted.

Question 33

Aethelstan III

Answer 33

• Aethelstan III contains a letter from the bishops and counsellors of Kent responding to the king’s ordinances, thanking him and explaining the measures which have been drawn up. It also thanks A for his pardon for the crimes committed before the Faversham council.
• It has clauses on sureties which lack any equivalent in the other codes of A’s reign. It does not intend to replace the code at Grately since it no less than twice refers to the penalties decreed there without specifying them. It is presumed that this code is accessible and that people would know of it. it is designed to augment previous codes, the king should adjust it as he sees fit.
• The pardon and surety aren’t mentioned in II Aethelstan and this suggests that new material was being accreted to the original Grately ordinance

Question 34

Aethelstan IV

Answer 34

• IV A was also drawn up independent of royal oversight.
• The preface states that it represents the Exeter ordinances which have been decreed on further occasions at Thunderfield.
• It is in the third person suggesting a non-royal legal tract.
• It says all those clauses issued at Grately are to be observed except the ban on trade outside of burhs. The 6th clause talks about the death penalty for theft, showing an intensification of the Grately Decrees. Royal ordinances were circulated and then responded to.
• The clause at the end suggests that it was intended for royal inspection. Aethelstan did not have a monopoly on law making but did hold the most authority.

Question 35

continental influences on AS legal culture

Answer 35

• Alfred’s influenced by the cadre of ecclesiastics he invited to his court to imitate Charlemagne’s palace school.
• Wulfstan drew from theologians such as Hincmar of Rheims.

Question 36

changes to law codes overtime

Answer 36

-There are differences between 7th century law codes and those of later kings. Crimes are now seen not as against individuals but against society as a whole. There is a change in emphasis from compensation for victims to punishment of the individual