WILLIAM'S 3 LONG-TERM PLANS Flashcards
What were the 3 plans?
- Building castles
- Finding out how much people own to tax them
- Establishing a way to manage the country
Why build castles?
- To show who’s in power
- To protect themselves properly
- To control the local area
- To guard important roads, ports, river crossings and towns
The Normans built over … castles between …. and ….
- 100
- 1066
- 1087
Material used to build castles
- Earth
- Wood
- Stone (later in 1070)
Building castles benefits and disadvantages
Benefits:
1. Materials easy to be sourced
2. Can be built quickly (1-2 weeks)
Disadvantages:
1. Doesn’t last
2. Wood rots
3. Wood burns or smashes down easily
Motte
Small hill about 50ft high
Keep
A building built on top of a motte
Bailey
Connected to the motte at the bottom and contained housings for soldiers, stables, storehouses and a kitchen
Palisade
A wooden fence surrounding the bailey
Ditch
Dug around the castle and filled with water
Drawbridge
Built over the ditch and the only way into the castle
The importance of castles
- A place where law courts were held and people paid their taxes there
- It is also the home of lords and knights
- People come here to trade
- Gives a sense of security
Feudal system
A system of landholding and the duties snd obligations that came with it. The king would share large areas of land to people in return for their loyalty
Result of the feudal system
- Nobles stay in control and peasants provide labour service
- King can control the barons
- King has military power without having to pay for it
Domesday Book
To show what people own and how much they have so that the king can tax them accordingly
