Y7 History What happened next? Problems for William

2 Last time …. ….we found out that on October 15th 1066 William of Normandy defeated King Harold of England at the Battle of Hastings. With King Harold defeated, William of Normandy was in a position to claim the crown of England and become King William I. However, it was not as easy as just claiming the crown for himself. William would have to overcome some major problems and strong opposition to his plans from the people of England.

3 So … He was a foreign conqueror who had killed the English King in battle. He would not be welcomed with open arms by the people of England as their new king. He had a number of problems…

4 He faced rebellions Those in the North were encouraged by both the Danes and some of remaining Saxon nobles including Earls Edwin and Morcar  This pair were the ones who lost out in the battle before Stamford Bridge  They did not take part in the Battle of Hastings  They had made peace with William and had kept their land  But then there was a highly successful raid on Durham castle – they decided to join what they saw as the winning side

5 He faced rebellions Those in the South West were encouraged by Harold’s sons who had fled to Ireland

6 He faced rebellions The rebellion in the Fens came later Once he had sorted out the North, some of those involved in the Northern battles came south and joined in other skirmishes

7 William had a number of ways to deal with his problems 1. He sent armies to put down problems 2. He ordered his followers to build castles (just the quick and easy motte and bailey castles then) and give him support when he needed it 3. He tried to get powerful Saxons onside and allowed some to keep their land 4. He needed a long term solution to organising the country

8 The Most Famous of his use of force was.. ‘The Harrying of the North’ William thought that he had made peace with Earls Edwin and Morcar, but the Danish king, a relative of Hardraada invaded and gained their support

9 The Harrying of the North In King William's army moved north, burning villages and crops, destroying houses and murdering locals. William was determined to show he would not accept any resistance. He ordered his soldiers to burn the land. This meant nothing could be grown and people would starve. Nothing could survive on the bare land that was left. ered.html ered.html A good link which goes into a bit more detail

10 Orderic Vitalis – one of William’s supporters My narrative has frequently had occasion to praise William, but for this act which condemned the innocent and guilty alike to die by slow starvation I cannot commend him. For when I think of helpless children, young men in the prime of life, and hoary grey-beards alike perishing of hunger, I am so moved to pity that I would rather lament the griefs and sufferings of the wretched people than make a vain attempt to flatter the perpetrator of such infamy. What do you think Orderic is saying?

11 But he had more than one way of dealing with rebels Hereward the Wake is sometimes thought of as a legend but we do know something of him. He returned from exile to find his father and his brother dead and his land given to a Norman. It is a long story

12 But in the end William tricked his way onto Ely which was an island at the time and many were killed including Morcar who had got away from the North and joined up with Hereward Hereward escaped with a handful of men, and held out until King William was persuaded to come to terms and give him his land back.

13 Solution 2: he tried to get the Saxons onside Earls Edwin and Morcar had got their lands back, but unfortunately that did not stop fighting in the North – so they lost the land and their lives. He installed Waltheof as Earl of Bamburgh and Northumbria, marrying the earl to his niece, Judith, in an attempt to secure family loyalty. As seen Hereward survived as none of the others did

14 Solution 3 The castles This where they were built (more about them next week)

15 Solution 4 William knew that he was going to have to set up a whole new way of running England if he was to have any chance of keeping control in his own hands. He introduced a system called the feudal system BUT The idea of owning land in return for service probably did exist before William's invasion. King Edward the Confessor gave Normans some power before all the trouble of 1066.

16 How it worked - The King As King of England, William owned all the land in England. The only person above the King was God.

17 How it worked - Tenants-in-Chief These were the 200 or so most important people in England. King William gave them land (demesne pronounced de-mane) and they had to swear an oath of loyalty to the lord who was giving it. This is called doing homage. They agreed to provide knights (mounted soldiers) to guard castles or fight in wars for their lords. The King was above the Tenants-in-Chief.

18 How it worked - Under-Tenants The Tenants-in-Chief gave away some of their land to knights. The knights had to promise to obey the Tenants-in-Chief and provide services for them. There were around 5000 Under-Tenants. The Tenants-in-Chief were above the Under-Tenants.

19 How it worked - Peasants or villeins The Under-Tenants would let their land be used by the peasants. In return, the peasants had to obey the Under-Tenants and work extremely hard for them. The Under-Tenants were above the Peasants

20 More about the peasants Those peasants who were freeman would rent the land for an agreed fee. However, the vast majority of the peasants were unfree. These unfree peasants, who were called villeins or serfs, had to provide a whole range of services in exchange for the land that they used.

21 In summary

22 This is called ‘Top and Tail’ on your class notes I will read out a definition and I want you to decide which word phrase I am talking about Demesne Doing homage Feudal Freemen Harrying Hereward Knights Morcar and Edwin Motte and bailey Peasants Tenants-in-chief Under-tenants Villeins William 1

23 Homework Written Homework – research about one of the following, and write down 5 pieces of information from what you find out. Put one of these into your search engine – be sure to include any ‘ ’ that I have put in ‘Hereward the Wake’ ‘Harrying of the North’ peasants villeins ‘Feudal system’ ‘tenants-in-chief’ barons  (this is to find out about the barons) ‘motte and bailey’ castle

24 Extra Thoughts Your textbooks will have some useful things in them Also when using a search engine k - Cached - Similar pages’ the word ‘cached’ gives you the same page with your search words highlighted – it saves time reading a lot of stuff you don’t need!! Clicking on ‘view as HTM’ has a similar effect