FEUDALISM AND THE MONARCHY

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.

Norman Conquest (continued)

• 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

Norman Innovations (Continued)• Normans employed armored knights on

horseback (the tank of the Middle Ages)• knights 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

Feudalism (continued)

– 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

Feudalism (continued)

– 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 Williams 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

Norman Yoke? (cont’d)• Taxation was higher under Normans – needed funds to build castles and raise armies – turned large areas into royal forests

Norman Kings• 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

Norman Kings• Henry I (1100-1135) was even more

efficient/rapacious – established Court of Exchequer (Europes first

royal accounting office) – became wealthiest monarch in Northern Europe – judged positively by chroniclers: He did justice and kept the peace.

Norman Kings

• 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 amiable and easygoing fellow; reign was disaster

Civil War (continued)• Nobles took advantage of weakness to seize

land and wealth from other nobles and the church and to oppress the peasants.

• Stephens reign marked by Anarchy– Chroniclers wrote, “He did no justice.”

Lesson: Nice kings finish last