Impact of the Norman Conquest 'a truckload of trouble'

Impact of the Norman Conquest 'a truckload of trouble'

1. Domesday Book

   • Not officially called 'Domesday book'
     • Called that by the Saxons - shows attitude towards it
     • 3 names - Book of Winchester, The King's Book or Book of the Treasury
   • 2 books
     • Little Domesday
       • Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk
     • Great Domesday
       • Everywhere else
   • What?
     • A survey of all the manors in England
     • Questions about
       • How much land
       • Type of land
       • How many people
       • Value
   • Why?
     • Established who owned what
       • If you couldn't prove ownership you might lose your land
     • Legally established William's right to the land
     • For collecting tax?
       • Threat of invasion meant WIliam might need money

2. 'The Norman Yoke' Interpretation

   • Yoke = wooden harness used to keep oxen under control
     • This interp is base on the idea Norman rule was harsh and Saxons strictly controlled
   • Comes from idea before conquest was 'Golden Age'
     • Most historians now disagree see it as too simplistic
       • However some truth in it
         • Normans were quite harsh, but life before 1066 brutal too.
       • paintings, films and stories still use this portrayal.

3. Loss of land

   • After Hastings Norman knights given lands of dead English earls & thegns
   • English nobles who survived allowed to keep land at first
     • William changed policy after rebellions, took most land away
       • By time of Domesday book just 5% of land owned by English
       • English forced to rent land from Normans
   • Norman lords
     • Built castles on their lands
     • Passed lands entirely to eldest sons, rather than divide it up
     • Often added a place to their names to show they owned it

4. Earning a living

   • Life in the country
     • England still rural - 90% work as farmers
       • Little change
     • Ceorls (peasants) used to be free. Now most forced to pay rent for land they once owned
     • Vast majority English were poorer after 1066
       • rents increase by 30-40%
         • Poverty
   • Life in towns
     • 10% live in towns
       • Some new towns and existing towns grow in south
     • Normans controlled markets
       • Traders have to pay higher taxes
     • During rebellions (1068-71) towns attacked and burned down by Normans
       • Houses often cleared to make room for castles e.g. Exeter
     • Increase in trade with Normandy
     • Increase in taxes - William used to pay for army

5. Laws, language and Church

   • Laws
     • Murdrum: If a Norman was murdered, whole community to pay fine
     • Forest Law: William created royal forests. Poaching in these was punished by fingers cut off or eyes gouged out
   • Language
     • Latin rather than English became language of govt, and church
     • Those in power (Normans) spoke French, ordinary people spoke English
       • Language was a symbol of their defeat
   • Church
     • People
       • Stigand replaced by Lanfranc as Archbishop of Canturbury
       • By 1080 only 1 of 16 bishops was English.
     • Buildings
       • New cathedrals much larger/more beautiful
         • e.g. Exeter, York, Durham
       • Old monasteries repaired and new ones built
         • Money/land from English monasteries gifted to Norman abbeys