03. The Norman Conquest (1066) PDF

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Elizabeth Woodward...

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03. The Norman Conquest (1066) 1066 was a remarkable year: England had 3 kings, 2 battles, 1 comet. Kings 1. Edward the Confessor 2. Harold Godwinson 3. William Duke of Normandy Battles 1. Battle of Stamford Bridge (25th September 1066) 2. Battle of Hastings (14th October 1066) Halley’s Comet In a document of the 11th century tells a story of the Norman Invasion in were they put a comet (maybe because of a superstition).

Edward the Confessor (died 5th Jan. 1066) Before dying, he (apparently) named his brother-of-law, Earl Harold Godwinson, as next king. Harold was crowned king 2 days later. But Harold’s brother Tostig (exiled) and King Harold Hardrada (the Ruthless) of Norway planned an invasion to take the throne. And Duke William of Normandy (the Bastard) claimed Edward had promised him the throne, and that even Harold Godwinson had sworn to help him. So the throne of England depended on the outcome of the battled. The cultural future of England was in the balance. -

Harold Godwinson waits on the south coast for the Normans to attack. Meanwhile, Tostig and Harold Hardrada land in the north, defeat the English, and make camp at Stamford Bridge feeling safe. Harold Godwinson marches from the south (400 km), attacks the Norwegians, kills both leaders and the invaders flee.Only 24 out of 240 Norwegian ships escape. News of Williams landing on the south coast (pasó diapo :)) Harold fights the Normans and Hastings on 14th October 1066. The battle lasts all day. The Saxons have the advantage on top of a hill. The make a defensive wall of shields. Towards evening, the Normans pretend to retreat. The Saxons run down the hill and are cut down by the Normans. Harold dies, and the Normans are victorious.

Christmas Day 1066, William I is crowned King of England - A harsh, cruel, determined ruler. - He seized lands from Saxon nobles, gave them to his own supporters. - He built huge, impressive castles. - He imposed harsh taxes. - He punished rebellious regions (north): “the Harrying of the North”. 1069-70 killed farm animals, burnt crops, houses, food, tools. - Sick and dying refugees filled the roads of the north. After the battle of Hastings William still had t William gave his Norman barons lands confiscated from the Saxons. In exchange, the barons had to be loyal to William and provide knights to fight for him when he needed them. (William made sure that the barons could not easily rise against him by giving them pieces of Society: Feudal System - In their turn the barons granted land to their followers. - The knights promised to be loyal to the barons, to fight for them when needed and to raise money. - The peasants had to work the land for the knights at certain times of the year, and pay the knight in produce (knights’ families supplied with food). - Peasants were not allowed to leave their own villages. Every person owed his or her living to the people who had allowed them their land and was paid in service, money or goods. Architecture - Ordinary people lived in wooden buildings, but the barons wanted more permanent buildings. - Castles, churches, cathedrals, abbeys and monasteries were built in stone. - Some of the stone was brought across from Caen in Normandy. The Normans brought their own style of bulding and decoration called: ROMANESQUE OR ROMAN. - Dominant style of 11th and 12th/C. W. Europe; Objective: to impress, on a large scale. - Associated especially with expansion of monasteries; huge stone churches and cathedrals. - Characteristics: thick walls, massive columns, round-headed arches, stone vaulted ceilings. Administration Domesday book: 1086 → day of judgment

“... So thoroughly did he have the enquiry carried out that not even one ox or one cow or one pig escaped notice” (ASC) … the abbot of the same place holds 13 and a half hides. The is a land for 11 ploughs.. To the demesne belongs 9 hides and 1 virgate, and there are 4 ploughs. The villeins have ijgoifrja (no tan importante → eran informes muy detallados de lo que había o no había). Sociolinguistic consequences - For the next 300 years, French and Latin were the dominant languages (in royal court, law, administration, poetry, music). - English was for common people; but descendants of Normans gradually became bilingual (mothers/nurses). - Middle English incorporated French loan words and eliminated many Old English words. - The words for most domestic animals are English (ox, cow, calf, sheep, swine, deer), but the meats are French (beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, venison). Why? Because common people had the animals but the Normans gave the name to the meat that they ate. Nobility: titles a mixture form both French and English. - French: prince, duke, peer, marquis, viscount, baron,. - English: king, queen, lord, lady, earl. Administrative divisions: - French: county, city, village, justice, palace, mansion, residence. - English: town, home, house, wall. -

close (F)/shut (E), reply/answer, odour/smell, chamber/room.

The Germanic form of plurals (house, housen; shoe, shoen) was eventually displaced by the French method of making plurals: adding and “s” (houses, shoes). Only a few words have retained their Germanic plural: man, ox, foot, tooth, child/ men, oxen, feet, teeth, children. Boys names: traditional Saxon names Ethelbert, Egbert, Harold, Edgar… were no longer given to those born into circles hoping to progress socially: Robert, William, Richard, Roger, Geoffrey, Gilbert. The Bayeux Tapestry (otro documento). The Norman Conquest in popular imagination “... 1066 And All That is worth reading because it is very funny, highly satirical and gives you an insight on how the English see their own history.” (University of Koblenz, Germany, English Studies Department, recommended reading).

History later on. William died in 1087 (buried in Caen, Normandy) a) Left Duchy of Normandy to eldest son, Robert Curthose (“short boots”) b) Left England to second son, William Rufus. c) Third son, Henry, disinherited. - Rivalry between Robert and William Rufus. - 1096 Robert joined the First Crusade and left Normandy to William Rufus ( in exchange for money). - 1100, while Robert was travellng homeward, William Rufus was killed in a hunting “accident”. - His younger brother, Henry who as -coincidentally- hunting nearby, quickly had himself proclaimed King. He imprisoned brother Robert for 28 years in Tower of London. - Henry I thought his only legitimate son would succeed him - But this son, William, died in 1120 in the wreck of the White Ship. - Henry named his daughter Matilda as his heir - an unpopular choice (because she was a woman). - When Henry died, his daughter Matilda was passed over in favour to his cousin Stephen de Blois. - Civil war followed (19 years): - At last an agreement: Matilda’s son, Henry “Plantagenet” would be the next king (as Henry II). The Plantagenet Kings Henry II crowned in 1154, ruled: - England - Most of Wales - Part of Ireland - And half of France: Normandy, Brittany, Maine, Anjou, Aquitaine, Gascony. -

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Henry II’s chancellor, and great friend, was Thomas Becket, an ambitious man. In 1162 (to bring the Church under his control) Henry appointed Becket Archbishop of Canterbury (the monks of Canterbury were “persuaded” to vote him). Becket suddenly became a man of high Christian principles. Clashes with Henry (supremacy of church law over civil war) forced Becket to leave the country in 1164 (in exile for 7 years). Thomas decided to return to Canterbury in November 1170. Henry II had no one of his tantrums around Christmas day and said: “That miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and promoted in my house hold, who let their lord be treated with such contempt by a low born priest”. “Will no one tid me to this turbulent (troublesome/meddlesome) priest?”

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Four nobles took him literally, and made their way to Canterbury to confront Becket. Becket was in the cathedral, celebrating mass. They tried to drag him outside, he resisted, they lost their patience. They brutally attacked him and left him to die on the steps to the crypt. Soon after the death of Becket, Pope Alexander canonised him and the murdered priest was elevated to sainthood. St. Thomas Becket’s shrine at Canterbury now became the most important place in the country for pilgrims to visit. Henry humbled himself to do public penance at the tomb of his enemy. Henry II’s four sons - Henry the Younger, Richard, Geoffrey and John He was succeeded by second son, Richard I (the Lion-Heat / Coeur de Lion). During his 10 year reign, Richard spent little time in England (away in Third Crusade). He was succeeded by his younger brother John (Lackland) who has acted as king in his absences in the Middle East.

King John - Henry taxation, disputes with the Church (John was excommunicated by the Pope in 1209) and unsuccessful attempts to recover his French possessions made him very unpopular. - Many of his barons rebelled, and in June 1215 they forced King John to agree to a treaty accepting their reforms → The Magna Carta. - With Magna Carta, King John placed himself, and England’s future sovereigns an magistrates within the rule of law. Magna Carta - Most of its 63 clauses deal with specific complaints rather than with general principles of law. - Two thirds of the clauses of Magna Carta of 1215 are concerned with the misuse of their power. - Magna Carta is often called the corner-stone of liberty and the chief defence against arbitrary and unjust rule in England. - In fact it contains few statements of principle, but is a series of concessions forced form the unwilling King John by his rebellious barons in 1215. - ??? -...