In October of 1066, Duke William of Normandy, France defeated King Harold of England, the last of the Anglo- Saxon kings. William built The White Tower around 1075 to show the power and strength of the Normans.

William the Conqueror wanted to rule the Anglo-Saxon people, not eliminate them. The most notorious entrances to the Tower is Traitor’s Gate. One can only imagine the dread of ill-fated prisoners arriving through this gate.

William created the Domesday Book, which inventoried everything the Anglo-Saxons owned and, thus, could be taxed. On the first floor of the White Tower is St. John’s Chapel, one of the most elegant and best-preserved Anglo- Norman church interiors. During Henry III’s reign ( ), the church was embellished with stained glass windows. Later, it was used to store records.

He brought not only a new language, French, but also a new social system, feudalism. Surrounding the White Tower are the ravens. Legend has it that if the ravens leave, the kingdom and the tower will fall.

Feudalism was a pyramid system based on a religious concept of hierarchy. Expected to serve as warriors, males above the serf class were trained as knights. The large armor is that of John of Gaunt, son of the 14 th century king Edward III. The small armor is thought to be that of Richard of York, prince of Edward IV, who was believed to have been murdered in the Tower when he was only 9 years old.

The Middle Ages saw the rise of the knight who fought on horseback. In return for service, they were granted land by the king. Young noblemen trained to be a knight by acting as a squire (servant) of a knight. They learned horsemanship and good manners.

Women in the Middle Ages had no political rights. A woman’s social standing depended on her husband’s or father’s status.

Chivalry is derived from the French word chevalier which means a knight who rode a horse. It is a system of ideals and social codes governing behavior of knights. Chivalry led to an idealized attitude of women and gave rise to a new form of literature, the romance.

At first, medieval society centered around the feudal castle, but as populations grew so did the towns and cities. People then began to live and work outside of the feudal system.

The Crusades was a series of wars waged by European Christians against the Muslims over Jerusalem and the Holy Lands. As a result, Christian Europe was exposed to Middle East’s sophisticated civilization.

King Henry II wanted to gain power in the Catholic Church. He appointed his friend Thomas à Becket as archbishop of Canterbury Church in hopes of gaining the upper hand in disputes with the Church. Thomas did not comply and was murdered by the king’s knights. There was public outrage over the murder which weakened the king’s power struggle with Rome.

In 1215, English barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta as an effort to curb the Church’s power. This document later became the basis for English constitutional law.

The English lost the Hundred Years’ War with France, but by the war’s end, small landowners had replaced the knights in armor. With this emergence of the yeomen class, modern, democratic England was born.

The Black Death, or bubonic plague, spread by fleas from infected rats. The disease reduced the nation’s population by a third. This led to the serfs’ freedom and to the end of feudalism.