Y7 History

What happened next?What happened next?

Problems for William

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Last time ….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.

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So …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…

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He faced rebellionsHe 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

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He faced rebellionsHe faced rebellions• Those in the South

West were encouraged by Harold’s sons who had fled to Ireland

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He faced rebellionsHe 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

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William had a number of ways William had a number of ways to deal with his problemsto deal with his problems

1. He sent armies to put down problems2. 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

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The Most Famous of his use of The Most Famous of his use of force was ..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

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The Harrying of the NorthThe Harrying of the North• In 1069-70 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.• http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/NorthConquered.html• A good link which goes into a bit more detail

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Orderic Vitalis – one of William’s Orderic Vitalis – one of William’s supporterssupporters

• 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?

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But he had more than one way But he had more than one way of dealing with rebelsof 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

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But in the endBut 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.

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Solution 2: he tried to get the Solution 2: he tried to get the Saxons onsideSaxons 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

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Solution 3Solution 3The castlesThe castles

• This where they were built (more about them next week)

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Solution 4Solution 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.

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How it worked - The KingHow it worked - The King

• As King of England, William owned all the land in England.

• The only person above the King was God.

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How it worked - Tenants-in-ChiefHow 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.

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How it worked - Under-TenantsHow 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.

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How it worked - PeasantsHow it worked - Peasants or villeins 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

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More about the peasantsMore 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.

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In summaryIn summary

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This is called ‘Top and Tail’ on your This is called ‘Top and Tail’ on your class notesclass notes

• I will read out a definition and I want you to decide which word phrase I am talking about

DemesneDoing homageFeudalFreemenHarryingHerewardKnights

Morcar and EdwinMotte and baileyPeasantsTenants-in-chiefUnder-tenantsVilleinsWilliam 1

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HomeworkHomework• 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

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Extra ThoughtsExtra Thoughts• Your textbooks will have some useful things

in them• Also when using a search engine • www.historylearningsite.co.uk/feudal.htm -

24k - 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