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3. The Unification of England
UNIT 3: THE UNIFICATION OF ENGLAND
1. THE FIRST KINGS OF THE ENGLISH
The ancient kingdom of West Saxons had been transformed into a kingdom of the AngloSaxons by King Alfred the Great, and during the 10th century, his successors extended
their rule over the Danes and the Northumbrians. By about 900, the Scots had assimilated
the Picts, and by the 11th century they had annexed the British Kingdom of Strathclyde and
also won Lothian from England. Ireland, too, seemed to be moving towards greater
political unity under the High King Brian Boru, but his hegemony collapsed after his death
in battle against the Leinster (1014). In Wales, it proved difficult for any king to establish
any sort of lasting authority over the others.
There was a process of political development throughout the ninth and tenth centuries,
from the kingdom of the West Saxons to the Kingdom of the English. It is one of the most
relevant periods in the history of the British Isles.
Alfred the Great promoted the new idea of ‘Englishness’ among all those whom he
considered his followers. When he died, Wessex and Mercia were still separated.
Alfred’s kingdom spread across the river Thames as far as the ‘English’ Mercia, creating
the ‘kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons’. Gloucester and Winchester were his new centres of
power, and the heart of this prosperity was the restored city of London.
Alfred’s ‘kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons’ passed to his son Edward the Elder (899-924), who
spread West Saxon control over the Danes of eastern England and the Mercians. The
frontier had been taken up to the river Humber. The process was taken a step further by
Edward’s son Aethelstan, who gained York in 927 and ruled over Northumbria, thereby
bringing a unified ‘kingdom of the English’ into existence.
After the death of Aethelstan, in 939, the Dublin Norse re-established their links with York
but it was not until the reign of King Edgar (959-975) that the unified kingdom of Britain
was completed. In 973, Edgar had a second coronation in Bath to celebrate his kinship
throughout Britain. When Edgar died in 975, the English were facing a constant external
threat and, in the early eleventh century, the Danish invaded. Cnut (also known as Canute)
took over the kingdom in 1016 and made it the centre of his ‘North Sea Empire’. He
extended his rule over Denmark (1018), over Norway (1028), and into some parts of
Sweden. The Kingdom of England survived Cnut’s death (1035) but not the North Sea
Empire.
Cnut’s successors inherited a kingdom divided between two earls: Godwin of Wessex and
Leofric of Mercia.
Edward the Confessor was the son of Ethelred II, in whose reign England was again
deeply ravaged by the Scandinavians. He and his brother, Alfred, lived in exile in
Normandy. He returned to England in 1041, and was recognised by Harthacnut, Cnut’s
son, as heir to the throne (1042-1066). When Harthacnut died the following year, Edward
was chosen king.
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1.1.The Saintly King’s Legacy: Westminster Abbey
Edward lived in exile in Normandy. It was there that he first saw the architecture that was
to inspire him to create a great abbey in his homeland. The Dukes of Normandy, kinsmen
of his mother, were great builders, and he planned to create a work that would match their
magnificence. But he was unable to fulfill his ambitions until he returned to England in
1041.
Edward the Confessor, who was King of England from 1042 to 1066, ordered the
construction of a great abbey church at Westminster. It was not only to be a lasting
memorial to Edward’s faith in God, but also an abiding legacy to the country over which he
ruled. He wanted it to be spectacular. It was to be completely different from any other
church in the kingdom and more magnificent.
The first task was to rebuild the monastery there, a short distance upstream from the
thriving town of London. Then work commenced on the abbey itself. From all accounts,
Edward’s church was a fine building in the Romanesque style he had come to admire in
Normandy. It was vast, over 320 ft long, about the length of the present church, and the
largest church in the realm. On December 28, the great abbey, although incomplete, was
consecrated, but Edward was too ill to be present. He died on the eve of Epiphany
(January 5, 1066) and was buried the next day beneath a magnificent tomb in Westminster
Abbey.
A year after Edward was buried, another royal occasion occurred, William, conqueror of
England was consecrated king on Christmas Day 1066.
1.2. British Society on the Eve of the Norman Conquest
Edward the Confessor left behind him a prosperous and flourishing kingdom that William
was anxious to rule. Much of England's wealth came from its rich farmlands. Nobles lived
on great manors or states and their duties were mostly of a military character. The bulk of
the peasantry were not “unfree”. A man owed to his lord unpaid work and rent in money
and kind. He also paid his hearthpenny, a tax on every dwelling to the Church. They were
not allowed to bear arms and had limited legal rights.
Town life also flourished. London, the largest city of the kingdom, had over 15,000
inhabitants. And within the bustling towns, both great and small, men were organised into
trading guilds. Demographically, England experienced growth in the period 800-1300,
contrasting with the crisis of the great Death in the 500s and the Black Death in the 1300s.
Shires were divided into hundreds, and much of the routine legal work was transacted in
the Hundred Courts. Freemen within the hundreds were arranged in “tithings”, groups of
ten men who took corporate responsibility for the good behaviour of the men in their group.
England was a well-run country. The king was responsible for government, and he could
consult powerful churchmen and laymen in his council, the witenagemot or witan. The king
was wealthy, owning much land and profitable rights. He imposed gelds or land taxes on
his people. The coinage was the most stable in Western Europe. Great penalties against
fake coining or the issue of inferior coins were enforced.
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By 1066, the organisation of local government was complete.
2. THE NORMANS
Norman culture is a crucial factor for the understanding of medieval England. The
Normans were originally Vikings of Scandinavian origin. They were mainly Danes.
The Normans settled in northwest France in the early 10 th century. They created a
powerful state around the mouth of the river Seine. They became Counts and later Dukes
of Normandy. This territory was called, and still is, Normandy. It quickly prospered and
expanded and became very powerful. They adopted Frankish Law, with the idea of jury,
and most of French ecclesiastical and secular structures. Thus, they received feudalism,
military tactics and, most importantly for us, the French language.
By 1035, when William became duke, Normandy was efficiently ruled.
The first act of expansionism came when Robert created the Norman kingdom of the Two
Sicilies in 1061. the second was the claim to the English throne when Edward the
Confessor, the last Anglo-Saxon king, died childless. The basis of the claim was that
Edward was a second cousin of William. In 1042, Edward had been crowned king of
England and filled the English court with Normans. When he died in 1066, Harold, son of
Godwin, an Earl whose daughter married Edward, was elected king. Edward had promised
him the throne of England an in a brief visit to England had forced Harold to acknowledge
him as a successor. The Pope, moreover, had blessed his claim.
On an October morning in 1066, England was dragged into a new world, when William,
Duke of Normandy (the Conqueror) defeated the English King Harold at the Battle of
Hastings. As a result of this Norman victory, a small and isolated island became part of the
European continent. The British gained from Europe new ideas in government, religion, art
and war. They were prepared to contribute ideas of their own.
A foreign aristocracy was imposed upon more than two million English people. William
subdued the local population by confiscating Anglo-Saxon estates and giving them to his
Norman followers. He dispossessed many of the Anglo-Saxon landowners, pressed the
peasantry into service on their new feudal territories and treated all their Anglo-Saxons
subjects with contempt, but he also taught better farming, developed the economy, put an
end to Viking raids, and built many monuments such as cathedrals and churches.
William the Conqueror embodied all the contrasts of medieval England. Though he was
extremely religious, he nevertheless subjected England to a baptism of fire. It was he who
taught the English that peace rested on violence, on revenge ruthlessly visited on all who
dared to defy the will of the king.
Vast stone castles such as the Tower of London helped to consolidate William’s might.
Great cathedrals and abbeys stood up as citadels of Norman Christianity, commanded by
harsh, uncompromising prelates, in the heart of a hostile land. The line of kings planted on
the English throne by William, Duke of Normandy, ruled by the sword. And they had
another power at their command, the teaching of the church that a king’s authority came
directly from god. The mystic ritual of the coronation service played a vital part in
establishing this belief.
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But William’s abilities were not inherited by his heir, William II Rufus. He reigned for 13
years, from 1087 to 1100 over a nation torn by aristocratic quarrels and trampled down by
foreign mercenaries. After his death, the accession of Henry I to the throne was carried
out.
2.1 The Norman Conquest and the Transformation of England.
The Norman conquest of England began in 1066 with the invasion of England by Duke of
Normandy and his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066. The invading
Normans, led by their duke, William the Bastard, vanquished the Anglo-Saxons under
Harold Godwineson. William the Conqueror won his throne by force and he defended it by
force. Any opposition to his rule was brutally crushed. He not only made the English suffer,
but he also dealt harshly with Normans who showed too much ambition or independence
of mind.
Although William proclaimed himself king of England, not all England had accepted him as
king. His dominion was primarily in the south (Wessex, Kent, Sussex and Essex) and
some part of Mercia. The earls of Mercia and Northumbria (the brothers Edward and
Morcar) accepted him because he had overthrown the Godwin family and they thought
that he wanted to conquest only Wessex. They faced him but the old rivalries between
Saxons families became their downfall and finally William became renowned.
William knew that final victory was a long way off. Saxon England’s leaders surrendered to
William and he was crowned king of England in 1066. In 1068, a Norman army was
massacred in Durham and weeks later the Normans fled from York, leaving it to be
occupied by the rebels. This was the most serious defeat suffered by the Normans in
England.
Hereward the Wake launched a campaign against the Normans. The Isle of Ely,
Hereward’s chief refuge, was besieged by William’s army.
William was justly proud of having conquered England. He lost no opportunity to display
his power, especially when he wanted to impress foreign ambassadors with his
importance. During his reign, he made a point of solemnly wearing his crown in public to
receive the veneration of his subjects. William’s appearance suited his personality. He was
tall, broad and thick-ser, and was noted for his moroseness. His voice was harsh, and his
manner of speaking clipped and concise. He spoke as if he expected and required instant
obedience. He practised a strict piety and was a keen supporter of churches and
monasteries.
William’s authority increased when he married Matilda, the daughter of Baldwin V, Count
of Flanders, a powerful ruler whose acceptance of William as a suitable son-in-law showed
that William had risen above the trials of his youth. William may also have seen in Matilda
a further link with his claim on the throne of England, as she was a direct descendant of
Alfred the Great. The pope apparently opposed this marriage for some years on the
grounds of an earlier betrothal by Matilda, but it finally received his blessing in 1059.
The Norman Conquest certainly led to changes at the top of the hierarchy, in the way the
country was policed (from castles), in landholding patterns, and in the monastic orders
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recruiting and developing in England. But there was also much continuity: the majority of
the population carried on as before in their agricultural activities.
The Domesday Book is the record of the great national survey ordered by William I in
order to discover the true wealth and probable future wealth of England, recording details
of the property owned by everyone from the king downwards.
2.2 The Succession Problems
The Conqueror’s sons fought amongst themselves after his death. The warlike Rufus,
William II (1087-1100), seemed to his father the most appropriate to rule rebellious
England. His bellicose temperament and the dissolute court over that he presided,
deserved him the hostility of the Church, but his skill as a soldier made him popular
between the knightly classes. He patronized buildings such as the Westminster Hall, in
which interior monarchs are usually laying in state after his death.
William’s brother, Henry ‘Beauclerk’, who was to rule as Henry I (1100-35), appealed more
obviously to monkish sensibilities and intellectual qualities. Both Rufus and Henry I were
hunting when Rufus was killed by an arrow. After William’s death, Henry tried to secure the
throne, and in 1106 defeated another brother, Robert. Henry saw himself as a born
commander rather than as an active warrior like Rufus.
Although Henry I seized the crown under suspicious circumstances, he ruled well. He
introduced important reforms and expanded the system of traveling justices in the shires.
Henry I married Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland who had made feudal
submission to the Conqueror. Scotland adopted some of the changes that Normans
promoted in England.
The island boundaries of England to the south and east, the most populous regions,
facilitated the establishment of a clearly defined area in which a written administration
could flourish. It seems likely that the Exchequer (an accounting tool named after the
chequer or chess board) came into existence early in Henry’s reign, providing a reckoner
of monies expected and received. Through the common pain of increased taxation and
through feudalism, law, language and parliament, the nation was readily drawn together
within highland and sea boundaries.
Henry I died in 1135 leaving a disputed inheritance. His daughter Mathilda had married
Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, in 1128. Her father’s death made Matilda and her husband heirs
to the throne of England. Far from uniting the kingdoms of England and Anjou, Henry’s
death led to twenty years of destructive civil war in both kingdoms.
The throne was occupied from 1135 by Stephen, son of the Conqueror’s daughter Adela,
who had married Stephen of Blois. His reign is known as the ‘Anarchy’. It was a time of
intermittent but fierce warfare accompanied by the consolidation of baronial power through
the construction of personal castle fortresses. The succession was resolved only a year
before Stephen’s death when he disinherited his son Eustace in favour of Henry
Plantagenet, the young and active son of Matilda and Geoffrey.
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Bibliografía:
http://www.btinternet.com/~timeref/tree220.htm (family tree of William the Conqueror)
http://es.wikipedia.org/ (The Exchequer and history of England)
3. THE PLANTAGENETS
The surname of this remarkable family derives from the nickname borne by Geoffrey,
Count of Anjou, the father of Henry II. He wore a sprig of flowering broom (Planta genista)
as his personal badge. The first Plantagenet king of England was Henry II, and he is
generally regarded as the greatest of them. Thirteen more kings followed him in a dynasty
that ruled for 331 years, although for the last 86 years, rival families between the dynasty
struggling to seize the crown, took the names of Lancaster and York, even though all were
Plantagenets. For much of this long period, the kings were involved in costly and largely
unproductive wars with France and Scotland, and in power struggles with the over-mighty
barons at home. As a dynasty, the Plantagenets made their greatest contribution in the
development of English law, especially the Common Law, and by sponsoring a splendid
architectural heritage.
When Henry II (1154-1189) became king of England in 1154 he was already Count of
Anjou and of Touraine, and Duke of Normandy and of Aquitaine. As such, he was lord of
an empire that stretched from the Cheviot Hills down to the Pyrenees, his territories in
France exceeding even those of the French king. Known as the Angevin Empire (because
the country of Anjou lay at its heart), this vast domain was held together by diplomacy and
force of arms. All this made him lord of a vast empire, and he was equipped with all the
necessary intellectual and physical qualities to rule it well. Henry began by destroying the
castles built by rebellious barons and regulating the power of the Church. This empire
remained intact up to the death of Richard I in 1199. Richard spent only seven months of
his ten-year reign in England. He was justifiably known as the Lionheart. He was
renowned for his crusading zeal and his chivalry. He paid dearly for his faraway
campaigns and the huge ransom that secured his freedom, only to see him return to
France, where he died.
John (1199-1216) acceded to the throne on the death of his brother, Richard I. He lost his
French dominions and imposed a high level of taxation that had the English nobility up in
arms against him. In 1215 they forced King John to sign the Magna Carta, guaranteeing
their rights in relation to those of the crown. This led to civil war, which only ended with
John's death.
In 1216, Henry III (1216-1272) was crowned king at the age of nine. England was ruled
temporarily by two regents, Hubert de Burgh and William the Marshall. In 1227, Henry took
full control of the government of England. In 1258, the English barons, led by Simon de
Montfort, rebelled against Henry’s misgovernment. They presented a list of grievances to
Henry, who signed the Provisions of Oxford, which limited royal power. In 1265 Simon de
Montfort summoned the first English Parliament.
Edward I (1272-1307) was the best king to rule medieval England. He transformed the law
of England and made his crown the richest and most powerful in Europe. Edward’s
success was chiefly due to his ability to pick his subordinates. His principal ambition was
to unite Britain under one rule. He is best remembered for his attempt to unite the
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kingdoms of England and Scotland under his personal rule, as well as for conquering
Wales.
In 1284, Edward was in Wales and his wife Eleanor, gave birth to a son and heir, Edward.
Edward I held up his son at a gathering of Welsh nobles and said: “Here is your Prince of
Wales”. Ever since that time, the monarch's eldest son has received the title of Prince of
Wales.
3.1. Magna Carta
Magna Carta is a document that King John of England (1166-1216) was forced into
signing. It greatly reduced the power he held as King of England and allowed for the
formation of a powerful parliament. Most of its clauses recounted their specific complaints
against the lawless behaviour of King John, and ended with a promise that it would not be
repeated. The Magna Carta became the basis for English citizens’ rights. It was
considered to be the beginning of constitutional government in England and it
demonstrated that the power of the king could be limited by a written grant.
The main aim of the Magna Carta was to curb the King and make him govern by the old
English laws (before the Normans came). It was a collection of 37 English laws, some
copied and some recollected, some old and some new. The content of the Magna Carta
was drafted by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the most powerful Barons
of England. Magna Carta was originally called the "Articles of the Barons” after that the
royal chancery produced a formal royal grant, which became known as Magna Carta.
Copies of the Magna Carta were distributed to bishops, sheriffs and other important people
throughout England.
The Magna Carta is considered to be the founding document of English liberties and
hence American liberties. The Influence of Carta Magna can be seen in the United States
Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
There were some events that led up to King John being forced into the signing of the
Magna Carta:
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In 1205 King John quarrelled with Pope Innocent III about who should be
archbishop of Canterbury.
In 1209, the Pope excommunicated King John and banned all church services in all
parish churches. During that time John attacked the Church without mercy,
confiscated part of its wealth and forced seven English bishops to flee to the
Continent.
In 1212 King John imposes taxes on the Barons in his attempts to regain the lost
lands of Aquitaine, Poitou and Anjou, and quarrelled with them over his methods of
ruling England because they felt aggrieved at their exclusion from royal favours.
There was a powerful and widespread opposition in the making when, in 1213, the
King left England to campaign in France. His absence gave the barons enough
time to plan their moves carefully.
In January 1215, Barons took up arms against King John and captured London in
May 1215. On June 1215 the Barons took King John by surprise at Windsor and he
agreed to a meeting at Runnymede.
On June 10, 1215, King John signed and sealed the Magna Carta.
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On June 15, 1215 the Barons renewed the Oath of Fealty to King John.
King John had no intention of abiding by the Magna Carta. His duplicity lead to the
Barons War between 1215 and 1217. The rebel barons supported the son of the
King of France, Prince Louis, in preference to King John.
In 1216, Prince Louis invaded England and marched to London where he received
support and was proclaimed and accepted as King of England (although not
actually crowned).
In 1216, King John died in October. The Barons turned on Prince Louis and
supported the nine year old son of King John, who became King Henry III of
England.
The Magna Carta mixed specific complaints with some principles of law:
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John was not to levy unauthorised taxes or fine men excessive amounts for trivial
offences.
His officers could no longer seize crops without paying for them.
Knights were not to be forced to serve the king overseas.
The Church could not be oppressed, nor its wealth confiscated.
No one will we sell, deny or delay right of justice.
The King could not be above the law.
In the future, he must govern his subjects according to its terms and not according to
his own whim.
If a monarch were to break the terms of the charter, his subjects would be released
from their obligations to obey him and could legally bring about his overthrow.
The most important thing about this charter was not what it said, but the fact that it was
granted at all. Wrested from the hands of an unwilling monarch, it marked the point at
which the feudal monarchy of England was forced for the first time to recognise the limits
of royal power.
Every medieval king of England up to the time of Edward IV confirmed the charter. And
long after its detailed provisions were forgotten, the spirit of the Magna Carta was to guide
the development of the English Constitutions.
3.2. The Independence of Scotland
For most of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, then, the English penetration was
peaceable. Scotland was still divided all the same. There was King Edward I of England,
brother-in-law and friend of the dead Scottish King Alexander, whose only descendant was
a little girl of three. The girl died in childhood and Edward saw his way to taking over
Scotland. In the general confusion among the Scottish nobles, Edward marched on
Scotland, right to the north, and took over the country as an English colony.
During the ups and downs of these campaigns, William Wallace (or Sir William Wallace)
was driven by the conviction that Scotland must be free of the king called the Hammer of
the Scots. Wallace raised an enthusiastic army and he tramped his men into the north and
retook the castles that Edward had captured. Their great victory was in September 1297 at
Stirling Bridge. The English survivors fled and Wallace became the master of Scotland. In
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1305 Wallace was betrayed and carried to London to be charged with treason. He was
hanged, drawn and quartered.
The next ambitious Scot to fight for independence was Robert the Bruce, the Earl of
Carrick in Ayrshire. He had been a trusted ally of Edward but now he wanted to be king of
Scotland. Bruce had himself crowned king at Scone in March 1306. Despite his coronation
Bruce was soon in trouble, attacked by Edward's men and forced to flee Scotland and hide
on the island of Rathlin, off the Irish coast.
The fact is that Bruce tried and tried again and he conquered most of Scotland. The climax
was the Battle of Bannockburn, which has engraved the date 1314 on the heart of Scottish
patriots ever since. The English mustered 20,000 men, Bruce had 6,000 and an inflexible
determination.
The English territories north of York and Lancaster became a reluctant but hapless supply
source to the Scots. The English king Edward II was barely in control there and had other
difficulties in his own kingdom. In 1320 the English secured a two-year truce in these
Northern provinces. In 1322, Robert I came south and burned Lancaster.
The defeated King Edward III of England, a less effective leader than his dreaded father,
could not quite admit that he was finished. There were further raids across the border,
answered by invasions into England by Bruce. In 1327 negotiations for peace began
again, and by March 1328 they were concluded. Edward III finally agreed to be done with
colonial ambitions, and a treaty was signed in Edinburgh on 17 March and was ratified by
the English parliament at Northampton on 4 May.
4. THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK
From the middle of the 15th century, England was torn by a vicious and violent struggle
between rival claimants to the throne. The source of this conflict lay in the deep bitterness
of dynastic rivalry. From the sons of Edward III had sprung two great families, the Houses
of York and Lancaster. Each family believed that it had a legitimate claim to the throne.
Each found support among the barons and nobles of the nation, who were greedy for
wealth and power.
A branch of the Plantagenet family, the House of Lancaster (1399-1461), was a short
dynasty of the three kings, all named Henry: Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VI. The
Lancaster period was marked by almost continual warfare. Baronial revolt and war with
Welsh patriots broke out in the first decade, and dynastic war during the last, with
prolonged warfare in France occupying most of the intervening for decades, when King
Henry V opened the final phase of the 100 Years’ War.
In 1422, Henry VI (1422-1461; 1470-1471) was king in some French territories.
Until the 1450s, the energies of England’s great families had been spent in the French
wars. But when the Hundred Years’ War, against France, ended in final defeat, the nobles
transferred their ambitions, passions and quarrels from the soil of France to that of English
itself. The loss of the French possessions, together with the weak government of Henry VI,
led to the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses, a campaign led by the supporters of Richard,
Duke of York and Protector of England, during the illness of his cousin, Henry VI, to place
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Richard on the throne instead of Henry. The wars broke out in 1455 as a result of Yorkist
exasperation with weak and inefficient government of Henry VI, and lasted, with lengthy
intervals, for 30 years.
At first, Henry’s supporters resisted, but when the Queen gave birth to a son, Edward, in
1454, thus excluding Richard from the succession, the clamour mounted. Richard took up
arms against the King and defeated a Lancastrian army at St Albans in what was to be the
first battle of the Wars of the Roses. In 1460 Richard formally claimed the throne but he
was killed in battle at Wakefield.
Richard’s son, Edward, took up his father’s cause. The Lancastrians met defeat in their
turn, and when Edward seated himself upon the throne in Westminster Hall on March 4,
1461, there were few who regretted the passing of the red rose of Lancaster. Edward was
proclaimed the first Yorkist king.
Edward IV proved himself an able ruler, and during his reign, which was briefly interrupted
(1461-70, 1471-1483), the country enjoyed a well-deserved period of peace. On his death,
the crown passed to his young son, Edward V. But Edward was declared illegitimate and
deposed in favour of his uncle, Richard.
Richard III (1483-1485) succeeded his brother Edward IV after confining his two nephews
in the Tower of London, and after a few months the two brothers were never seen again.
Richard III was king for barely two years.
On 22 August 1485, the seemingly triumphant Yorkists were challenged by the last of the
Lancastrian line, the young Prince Henry Tudor’s army. And so, with the death of Richard
III, the last of the Plantagenets, on Bosworth Field, there came to the throne a new
dynasty which was to reunite a divided land and lead it back to the greatness: The House
of Tudor. The Yorkist dynasty only lasted until 1485, but during this time England enjoyed
a leap forwards in national prosperity.
5. MEDIEVAL SOCIETY IN THE BRITISH ISLES
The Middle Ages is usually understood to correspond to the period of Western European
history spanning approximately from the fall of Rome in the fifth century up to the
European discovery of America in 1492. Over nearly one thousand years this medieval
period saw the emergence of the present European nations which would gradually evolve
into the cultural unit we know as Europe today.
This universality is perhaps the most important characteristic of the Middle Ages. The
general belief in medieval times was the existence of a sole Church, the Roman Catholic
Church with its sole truth, the catholic creed. Another feature of the Middle Ages is
immobility. The medieval population was highly immobile with regards to both vertical
(social) and horizontal (spatial) mobility. Medieval society was mainly agricultural and it
had to overcome serious difficulties with obtaining a continuous supply of food and raw
materials. The land-cultivating class made up, by far, the largest segment of the
population.
Vertical immobility was the result of a rigidly hierarchized society. The king or the emperor
and the Pope stood at the apex of medieval society. All three claimed to derive their
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authority from Heaven. Under these we find aristocracy and the upper church hierarchy.
These were usually land-owning classes. Both of them were closed classes. The lesser
nobility (knights and feudal lords) and the regular clergy constituted the next step in the
pyramid. Knights were men of free birth following and rendering a non-servile-service to an
aristocrat. Feudal lords owned lands laboured by their serfs. The regular clergy was a
social group composed by clerks following a rule and forming a property-owning
corporation such as a monastic society or a military order.
The next social groups are the free laity and the secular clergy. The free laymen were
mainly merchants who became known as burgesses (inhabitants of the burg “town”). The
second group of the free laity were the free peasants, who had a plot of land and who also
had to perform some services on the lord’s domain. The secular clergy was formed by
parish priests and other holders of minor ecclesiastical offices.
The last and least favoured social group in the pyramid were the serfs, who were unfree
people, lord’s property and had no public rights.
5.1. The Medieval Church: the Secular Church, the Monastic Orders and
the Friars
The government of the Church in the British Isles was provided for by dozens of
bishoprics. In addition to cathedrals and parish churches, there were thousands of
monasteries and religious houses, both in the countryside and the towns. In the 13th
century, towns proved a magnet for the new orders of friars. Most towns had at least one
friary, some of them had several.
Those at the head of the English Church were often wealthy, aristocratic and cosmopolitan
ecclesiastics. That created a conflict between Church and the State, and the Archbishop
Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170, by royal command apparently.
Norman kings, like their Anglo-Saxon predecessors, worked closely with the Church, and
the Normans actively supported the reforming popes of the late eleventh century. New
religious orders were introduced to England to increase the Benedictine houses, the sole
monastic order available to Saxon England. The first newcomers were members of the
Cluniac reform movement. This order was followed, among others, by Augustinian canons.
In 1129, the first Cistercian house was founded in England.
Great monastic buildings were created by the new and old religious orders alike.
The founding of Benedictine monasteries, fostered by the great Kings and churchmen of
Wessex in the 10th century, inspired a new age of book-making. Groups of scribes
produced fine manuscripts in Latin and Anglo-Saxon. Their manuscripts were graced by
delicately coloured pictures and vigorous line-drawings.
The friars provided public preaching and teaching in Christian doctrine. They filled a gap in
meeting lay spiritual needs and as a consequence, they were highly regarded by the laity.
The friars institutionalised poverty, which contrasted profoundly with the richness of the
great temples, cathedrals and abbeys. They were seen as a sign of true spirituality. They
concentrated their ministry in urban zones, where the building of new churches did not
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keep pace with the growth of towns. By about 1350, a vast majority of towns in England
had a convent of one or several orders of friars.
5.2. The Medieval Economy
Economic activity in the British Isles in the Medieval Age was dominated by agriculture.
Wool and hides dominated exports. By the end of the 13 th century, at least three-quarters
of the population lived and worked on the land, and landed wealth was the foundation of
social status and political power.
In the British Isles, mineral extraction was important but very small-scale, while
manufacturing was almost entirely on a local, craft-based level. The influence of trading
links with Europe drew trade and prosperity towards the Southeast, where busy ports
handled bulk goods shipped from the interior by river. International trade fairs and urban
centers of the cloth trade were also concentrated in the southeast, as were the main
population centres.
In the 12th and 13th centuries the economies of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales were
predominantly agrarian. Primary raw materials such as wool, grain, tin, lead, coal and
hides were exported, while manufactured products, wine, and luxury commodities were the
most demanded imports. The main port was London, where important foreign companies
had their British headquarters. The Channel, and specially the North Sea, offered the
greatest opportunities for the British Isles commerce.
In England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales there was a wide network of chartered trading
places such as markets, fairs and boroughs where trade took place at designated times
and often on privileged dates. Kings and lords created this wide commercial structure.
Their main aim was to stimulate and profit from trade. Commercial confidence was
sustained by a moderate rate of inflation and the supply of sound silver coinage
maintained by the Scottish and English kings. In both England and Scotland, the money
supply grew faster than the population during the 13th century, and in the same century a
monetised economy was introduced to the English lordship of Ireland.
Bulk goods traveled more slowly and did so most cheaply by water. Major navigable rivers,
especially those flowing east, were very busy. This trade interconnected with a busy
seaborne commerce. London was the greatest entrepôt in the land and was able to tap a
wide hinterland. Throughout this period, ships increased in number and in capacity as
overseas commerce grew in importance.
5.3. The Black Death and Its Social and Economic Consequences
Life in the Middle Ages was a battle for survival for the vast majority of British people.
Sickness, disease and death were a constant threat. The average Englishman lived only
38 years in the mid-14th century. Thus, in times of trial and peril, men looked to God and
the Church rather than to science for aid and assistance.
The outbreak of the plague in 1348 appears to have originated in the Yunnan peninsula of
China and in the steppes of central Asia and Mongolia, where Yersinia pestis is endemic.
Epidemics usually follow commercial trade routes, and the Black Death was no exception.
The bacilli may have been carried by infected rats that travelled in ships or migrate
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overland. Alternatively, bacillus-laden fleas travelled in the merchandise. With the opening
up of the trade routes in the East, the bacillus was brought westward to the Eurasian
steppes. Once the plague had reached Europe, its progress was steady and rapid.
The English knew the plague was spreading towards them, but their primitive medical
science was no barrier to the advance of the most virulent epidemic in western history.
Its symptoms inspired terror in men’s hearts. Horrible swellings of the glands, the size of
grapefruits, appeared without warning and, as the whole body slowly turned black, the
swellings festered for four or five days before death released the victim from his sufferings.
Men grew skeptical of the Christian argument that all things were just in God’s mysterious
creation, and the frail fabric of medieval society began to break down.
The plague created social problems. Men were afraid to travel and consequently, little food
reached the towns, adding starvation to the sufferings of those whose poverty made
escape impossible. Many Englishmen, in any case, had their resistance to the disease
lowered by previous years of famine.
This Great Plague brought some social and economic consequences. In the countryside,
the population was halved in some places. Landowner’s profits fell sharply as labourers,
who knew that they were in short supply, demanded two or three times their usual wages.
In vain, the government tried to intervene, issuing the Statute of Labourers, a measure
which laid down that wages should be fixed at pre-plague rates. It also tried to control
prices. But the policy failed in both these aims and the Peasant’s revolt exploded in 1381.
recruitment to the armies of Edward III suffered grievously. Priests could not be found to
say Mass in poor parishes. The destruction of one-third of the England’s population of 3
million, and the laying waste of over 1000 villages, was a disaster unparalleled in modern
times.
The trading links between Ireland and the western coast of England caused that the
plague filtered into Ireland in 1348. Transmission by direct contact was quite likely then in
Dublin and Drogheda, in the first more virulent phases of the outbreak of the plague in
Ireland. As it moved beyond these first stages out to the surrounding countryside, it is not
likely that it continued in its pneumonic form, especially once it moved away from the
larger towns and areas of densest settlement. The plague reached the east coast of
Ireland in July-August 1348. There were outbreaks in 1370, 1383, 1390-93, 1398 and
periodically thereafter.
Studies have shown that these recurring outbreaks had a profound effect on slowing the
population recovery in Europe generally and in Ireland particularly, above all since these
later outbreaks affected not only mortality levels but were also connected to fertility and
replacement rates. The long result was continuing crisis mortality and lower fertility, if not
zero population growth for many years. This large-scale demographic decline was to
continue for years, until the seventeenth century.
In all areas of life, the plague disrupted the established patterns of work and living. One or
its most visible effects on rural life in general in the post-plague time was the human
migrations it engendered, as rural dwellers left for larger manors, towns and cities in
pursuit of work and better opportunities. Simultaneously, landlords began to loose all
interest in direct cultivation and some demesne castles were allowed to fall into ruin. The
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lack of tenants because of war is repeatedly echoed in contemporary documents as an
explanation for lands lying waste in Ireland.
SCHEMES
1. The first kings of the English
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849-899 King Alfred the Great transformed the ancient kingdom of the West Saxons
into the kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons.
Important political development from the kingdom of the West Saxon to the English
kingdom.
Alfred spread the kingdom across the river Thames. He promoted the idea of
“Englishness”.
Edward the Elder (Alfred's son) expanded the kingdom to the Danes eastern England
and the Mercians.
Edward's son Aethelstan gained York in 927.
King Edgar (959-975) completed the unification of the kingdom of Britain.
In 1016 the Danish king Cnut invaded Britain and took over the kingdom.
Cnut's successors inherited a kingdom divided between two earls: Godwin of Wessex
and Leofric of Mercia.
Another important figure at this time was Queen Aelfgifu. She was the wife of King
Aelthered the Unready (978-1013, 1014-1016) and the wife of King Cnut (1017-1035).
Edward the Confessor (the son of Ethelred II), who lived in exile in Normandy, returned
to England in 1041 and was recognised by Harthacnut (Cnut's son), as heir to the
throne.
1.1. The Saintly King’s Legacy: Westminster Abbey
 Edward saw the Norman architecture which inspired him to create the great
Westminster Abbey.
 In 1041 he returned to England and was able to fulfill his ambition when he was named
the throne's heir.
 In 1065, on 28 December, the great abbey, although incomplete, was consecrated.
 On January 5 1066 Edward died and was buried beneath a tomb in Westminster
Abbey.
 In 1066, 25 December William the Conqueror had himself consecrated king.
1.2. British Society on the Eve of the Norman Conquest
 Edward the Confessor left behind him a prosperous and flourishing kingdom.
 The England wealth came from its rich farmlands.
 The peasantry was not unfree, they owed unpaid work, rent in money and kind. They
had limited rights.
 Life in town also flourished, the largest city was London.
 Shires were divided into hundreds, the legal work was transacted in the Hundred
Courts. Freemen within the hundreds were arranged in “tithings”.
 The king was responsible for government.
 The coin was the most stable in Western Europe.
 The shire-reeve looked after royal rights in each shire.
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2. The Normans
Normans: originally Vikings of Scandinavian origin (mainly Danes).
 10th c.: settled in NW France (adopted Frankish Law).
 11th c. (middle): Normandy→ powerful dukedom. Norman army (one of the best in
Europe).
 By 1035, Normandy→ very well ruled, William the Conqueror was duke.
Normandy started to expand:
 1061→ Robert Guiscard created the Norman Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
 Edward the Confessor, (last Anglo-Saxon king died childless) claimed to the English
throne (basis of claim: Edward was a second cousin of William).
 1042, Edward: crowned king of England (the court started to fill with Normans).
 1066, Edward died. Harold Godwinson, Earl of the House of Wessex→ elected king.
 William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, defeated the English king Harold at the
Battle of Hastings, 14 October 1066.
 William built many monuments (cathedrals, churches, etc.). His consolidation of might
thank to vast stone castle (Tower of London).
 William II Rufus (Edward’s heir): reigned (1087-1100). Died in 1100.
 Accession of Henry I to the throne.
2.1. The Norman Conquest and the Transformation of England.
1051- Edward promised the throne to William, duke of Normandy.
1066- Edward died and Harold Godwineson was chosen as his successor. William and his
Norman army defeated the Saxon at the Battle of Hastings and William was crowned King
of England.
1067- William suppressed a Saxon revolt in the Southwest of England.
1068- Norman army was massacred in Durham.
1070- Hereward the Wake launched a campaign against the Normans.
1085- King William ordered the compilation of the Domesday Book.
1087- End of William’s reign.
2.2. The Succession Problems
 From 1.087 to 1.100, William II was the king of England: detested by the Church but
loved by knights, died mysteriously when he was hunting with his brother Henry I, his
heir.
 Henry I (1100-1135) ruled well and introduced the Exchequer. After his death a civil
war broke between his heir and daughter Mathilda and Henry's nephew, Stephen, who
usurped the throne.
 After 18 years of war and anarchy, Henry Plantagenet (Henry II), the son of Mathilda,
was designed king by Stephen and the war ended.
3. The Plantagenets
This name derives from the badge worn by Goffrey, Count of Anjou, it was a sprig of
flowering broom.
 Henry II, the first Plantagenet (1154-1189), with large territories in France.
 Richard I, the Lionheart.
 John (1199-1216) acceded at the throne at the death of his brother, Richard I. In 1215,
the lords forced the king to sign the Magna Carta.
 Henry III (1216-1272) crowned king at the age of nine. In 1227, took full control of the
government. In 1258 the English barons led by Simon de Montfort rebelled against him.
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3. The Unification of England
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They presented a list of grievances to him who signed the Provisions of Oxford, which
limited royal power. In 1265 Simon de Montfort summoned the first English Parliament.
Edward I (1272-1307). He transformed the law of England and made his crown the
richest and most powerful in Europe. He attempted to unite the kingdoms of England
and Scotland and conquered Wales.
3.1. Magna Carta
Document that King John of England (1166-1216) was forced into signing. It reduced the
power he held as the King. The main aim of the Magna Carta was to curb the King and
make him govern by the old English laws.
 Events:
 In 1205 King John quarrelled with Pope Innocent III.
 In 1209, King John excommunicated. John attacks church.
 In 1212 King John imposes taxes on the Barons. They felt aggrieved.
 In 1213, the King left England to camping in France. Barons’ time to plan.
 In January 1215, Barons took up arms against King John and captured London in May
1215, on June the Barons took King John by surprise at Windsor and agreed to a
meeting at Runnymede in Egham.
 On June 10, 1215, King John signed and sealed the document.
 On June 15, 1215 the barons renewed the Oath.
 Between 1215 and 1217 Barons’ war.
 In 1216 Prince Louis invades England the rebel Barons support him and is proclaimed
as King of England.
 In 1216, King John dies, the Barons turn on Prince Louis and supports King John's son
who became King Henry III of England.
3.2. The Independence of Scotland
 Around the twelfth and thirteenth: the English penetration was peaceable and
Edward I marched to the north of Scotland.
 In September 1297: great victory of Scots directed by William Wallace at Stirling
Bridge.
 In 1305: Wallace was hanged, drawn and quartered because he was charged with
treason.
 In March 1306: Bruce had himself crowned king at Scone.
 In 1314: the Battle of Bannockburn where was the climax for Scottish.
 In 1320: the English king Edward II secured a two-year truce in these Northern
provinces.
 In 1322: Robert I came south and burned Lancaster and the fighting in the area was so
fierce.
 In 1327: negotiations for peace began again, and by March 1328 they were concluded.
 On 17 March: Edward III finally a treaty was signed in Edinburgh.
 On 4 May: ratified by the English parliament at Northampton.
4. The Houses of Lancaster and York
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From mid-15th: England torn in violent struggles between rivals claimants to the throne.
Lancaster (1399-1461)
York (1461-1485)
Short dynasty of three kings. Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VI.
The Hundred Year’s war: a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two
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royal houses for the French throne (Valois and Plantagenets).
The nobles transferred their ambitions to England.
The War of the Roses: the war between the houses of Lancaster and York, two
branches of the Plantagenets. Cause: weak + inefficient government of Henry VI.
York: Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III, Edward IV, Richard III.
Bosworth field: fall of the last York, Richard III ------- The House of Tudor (Henry VII)
THE WAR OF ROSES
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The different royal houses wanted to rule England. These were the Houses of
Lancaster and York.
Henry VI, a Lancaster king, had lost the French possessions and his government was
weak. This lead to the Wars of Roses, which would last 30 years. Most people wanted
Richard, Duke of York, to govern the country. He took up arms against the king and
claimed the throne, but he was killed in battle at Wakefield.
Richard's son, Edward was proclaimed the first Yorkist king. During the kingdom of
Edward IV, the country lived a period of peace. The crown passed directly to Richard III
because Edward V had been declared an illegitimate son of Edward IV. Richard III was
king for barely two years. On his death, a new dynasty, The House of Tudor, came to
the throne.
5. Medieval Society in the British Isles
From V Century to 1492.
Hierarchized society (pyramid of the feudal system):
The king or the emperor
The Pope
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Aristocracy
Upper hierarchy
Knights
Feudal Lords
Regular Clergy
Laymen
Secular Clergy
Serfs
5.1. The Medieval Church: the Secular Church, the Monastic Orders and the Friars
 Conflict between Church and the State.
 Henry II limited papal power in England.
 New religious orders introduced to England: Benedictine Houses, Augustine Houses,
Cistercian Houses.
 Monastic buildings created. Activities in monastic sites: masonry carving, tiling, iron
smelting and milling. Principal supporting the production of wool.
 New age of book-making.
 By 1350 the great majority of towns in England had a convent of one or several orders
of friars.
 Confrontation between churches of friars and parish churches.
Religious beliefs in the middle ages
Man’s faith unshakeable. Natural phenomena as divine intervention. Example: Halley’s
Comet.
5.2. The Medieval Economy
 Economic activity dominated by agriculture: foundation of social status and political
power.
 The influence of trading links with Europe drew trade and prosperity. Main port London.
 Monetized economy was introduced to the English lordship of Ireland.
 Bulk goods traveled cheaply by water so overseas commerce grew.
5.3. The Black Death and Its Social and Economic Consequences
 The Englishmen lived 38 years: Men looked to God for assistance.
 The plague swept England in 1348. Originated in Asia, followed commercial trade
routes. Pilgrimages spread it rapidly.
 Created social problems: violence increased against the clergy and the rich.
 In the countryside the population was halved in some places.
 Landowner’s profits fell. Labourers demanded 2 or 3 times their usual wages.
 The government tried to intervene issuing the labourers but failed and the Peasant’s
revolt explode in 1381.
 One-third of the England’s population was destroyed.
 Trading links filtered the plague into Ireland. Following outbreaks caused zero
population growth for many years.
 The plague disrupted work and living patterns.
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