Norman Conquest
- Three contenders for English throne in 1066 
Harold Godwinson
Edgar
William, Duke
of Normany
- Harold declared king by Witan
- William and 5000 Norman vassals invaded England.
- Harold's brother, allied with King of Norway, invaded
England
- Harold's troops defeated Norwegians, marched 250 miles
south, and faced Normans
- Harold killed at Battle of Hastings
(14 October 1066)
- William accepted by Witan and crowned King of English
Norman Innovations
Nobles lived in castles
- protected owners against A-S and
other Norman nobles
- built first of wood, then of stone
in motte and bailey design
keep or fortified
tower built on motte (main defensive bastion)
moat often
encircled castle 
bailey was
walled courtyard containing stables, stores, workshops, housing
Normans employed armored knights on horseback (the tank
of the Middle Ages)
- knight’s equipment: iron helmet,
chain mail, lance, shield, sword, mace
- rode on charger, horse equipped
with special saddle, iron horseshoes, stirrups
Feudalism
- was social organization designed to support cavalry
Normans paid for castles and knights
with income from land worked by serfs
Land called fief or feudum
- after Conquest William granted fiefs
(baronies) to c. 170 knights (barons) who became his vassals
(tenants-in-chief)
vassals expected to provide military
service and to pay feudal dues.
pledged submission and loyalty to
lord (homage and fealty)
lord promised to protect and support
vassal
- tenants-in-chief raised required contingent of knights
by subinfeudation
settled others on lands in return
for military service
land that could support single knight
known as knight's fee (by the 12th c.
estate earning £20 annually)
- economic complement was manorialism:
land farmed by serfs who provided labor service
in return for protection from lord of manor
Norman Conquest brought fundamental
change in nature of land holdings
in A-S England,
folk determined who owned land
under feudalism,
no one owned land except king (liege lord);
everyone else
possessed it
- lord's manor became a political and judicial unit
at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide
king kept court with tenants-in--chief
tenants-in-chief were William’s main
royal administrators
feudal estates or honors
became new unit of government
tenant-in-chief expected his vassals
to attend his honorial court
Norman Yoke?
- Normans blamed for reducing A-S peasants to serfs (villeins)
- Opponents of “Norman Yoke” theory argue slavery died
out
- Both increase of serfdom and decrease of slavery stretched
back to A-S period
- Life probably changed very little for most peasants
Taxation was higher under Normans
needed funds to build castles and
raise armies
turned large areas into royal forests
William Rufus (1087-1100)
taxed nobles and church as well as peasants
left church offices vacant and pocketed
revenues
extracted large gifts from bishops
and abbots
got a bad press from the monastic
chroniclers; Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
claims he was “hated by almost all
his people and was odious to God”
Henry I (1100-1135) was even
more efficient/rapacious
established Court
of Exchequer (Europe’s first royal accounting office)
became wealthiest monarch in Northern
Europe
judged positively by chroniclers:
“He did justice and kept the peace.”
Taxes increased under Norman kings, but so too did national
wealth
economic boom lasted through 12th
c.
kings encouraged trade
peasants benefited from order
Civil War
- Broke out in 1135 following death of Henry I
only son drowned
throne promised
to daughter Matilda
throne seized
by nephew Stephen
- Stephen amiableand easygoing fellow; reign was disaster
- Nobles took advantage of weakness to seize land and
wealth from other nobles and the church and to oppress the peasants.
- Stephen’s reign marked by “Anarchy”
Chroniclers
wrote, “He did no justice.”
Lesson: Nice kings finish last