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The Norman Conquest of
England and Its Effects
The Norman conquest of England
began in 1066 with the invasion of
the Kingdom of England by the
troops of William, Duke of
Normandy, and his victory at the
Battle of Hastings. This resulted in
Norman control of England, which
was firmly established during the
next few years.
The Norman Conquest was a pivotal
event in English history for several
reasons. It largely removed the
native ruling class, replacing it with a
foreign, French-speaking monarchy,
aristocracy, and clerical hierarchy.
This, in turn, brought about a
transformation of the English
language and the culture of England.
King Edward of England (called
"The Confessor" because of his
construction of Westminster Abbey)
died on January 5, 1066, after a reign
of 23 years. Leaving no heirs,
Edward's passing ignited a three-way
rivalry for the crown that culminated
in the Battle of Hastings and the
destruction of the Anglo-Saxon rule
of England.
The leading pretender was Harold Godwinson,
the second most powerful man in England and
an advisor to Edward. Harold's powerful
position, his relationship to Edward and his
esteem among his peers made him a logical
successor to the throne. His claim was
strengthened when the dying Edward
supposedly uttered "Into Harold's hands I
commit my Kingdom." With this kingly
endorsement, the Witan (the council of royal
advisors) unanimously selected Harold as
King.
Across the English Channel, William,
Duke of Normandy, also laid claim to
the English throne. William justified
his claim through his blood
relationship with Edward (they were
distant cousins) and by stating that
some years earlier, Edward had
designated him as his successor. To
compound the issue, William asserted
that he had the message in which
Edward anointed him as the next
King of England.
Normandy is a region in northern France
which in the years prior to 1066
experienced extensive Viking resettlement.
In 911, the French Carolingian ruler
Charles the Simple allowed a group of
Vikings under their leader Rollo to settle in
northern France as part of the Treaty of
Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. Charles hoped that
by doing so he would end the Viking
attacks that were plaguing France at the
time.
Their settlement proved successful, and the
Vikings in the region became known as the
Northmen from which Normandy is derived.
The Normans quickly adapted to the
indigenous culture, renouncing paganism and
converting to Christianity. They adopted the
langue d'oïl of their new home and added
features from their own Norse language,
transforming it into the Norman language.
They further blended into the culture by
intermarrying with the local population
According to William, Harold had sworn on the
relics of a martyred saint that he would support
William's right to the throne. From William's
perspective, when Harold took the Crown he not
only defied the wishes of Edward but had violated a
sacred oath. He immediately prepared to invade
England and destroy the upstart Harold. Harold's
violation of his sacred oath enabled William to
secure the support of the Pope who promptly
excommunicated Harold, consigning him and his
supporters to an eternity in Hell.
The third rival for the throne was
Harald Hardrada, King of Norway. His
justification was even more tenuous than
William's. Hardrada ruled Norway
jointly with his nephew Mangus until
1047 when Mangus conveniently died.
Earlier (1042), Mangus had cut a deal
with Harthacut the Danish ruler of
England. Since neither ruler had a male
heir, both promised their kingdom to the
other in the event of his death.
Hardrada of Norway struck first. In mid
September, Hardrada's invasion force
landed on the Northern English coast,
sacked a few coastal villages and headed
towards the city of York. Hardrada was
joined in his effort by Tostig, King
Harold's discontented brother.
In London, news of the invasion sent
King Harold hurriedly north at the
head of his army picking up
reinforcements along the way. The
speed of Harold's forced march allowed
him to surprise Hardrada's army on
September 25, as it camped at
Stamford Bridge outside York. A fierce
battle followed.
Meanwhile William assembled a large
invasion fleet and an army gathered not
only from Normandy but from all over
France, including large contingents from
Brittany and Flanders. He mustered his
forces at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme. The
army was ready to cross by about 12
August. However, the crossing was delayed,
either because of unfavourable weather or
because of the desire to avoid being
intercepted by the powerful English fleet
Construction of the Norman invasion fleet had
been completed in July and all was ready for
the Channel crossing. Unfortunately, William's
ships could not penetrate an uncooperative
north wind and for six weeks he languished on
the Norman shore. Finally, on September 27,
after parading the relics of St. Valery at the
water's edge, the winds shifted to the south and
the fleet set sail. They landed at Pevensey in
Sussex on 28 September and erected a wooden
castle at Hastings, from which they raided the
surrounding area.
Harold rushed his army south and
planted his battle standards atop a
knoll some five miles from
Hastings.
During
the
early
morning of the next day, October
14, Harold's army watched as a
long column of Norman warriors
marched to the base of the hill and
formed a battle line.
The English at the top of the hill responded by
raising their shields above their heads forming a
shield-wall to protect them from the rain of arrows.
The battle was joined. The English fought
defensively while the Normans infantry and
cavalry repeatedly charged their shield-wall. The
Normans were better equipped fighters. They had
medieval armour and weapons, even their horses
were in armour. The Norman knight and his horse
were like a charging tank against the primitive
weapons and skin shields of the Anglo-Saxons.
As the combat slogged on for the better part of
the day, the battle's outcome was in question,
because there was a far large number of
Saxons than invading Normans. Finally, as
evening approached, the English line gave way
and the Normans rushed their enemy with a
vengeance. King Harold fell as did the
majority of the Saxon aristocracy.
After his victory at Hastings, William
expected to receive the submission of
the surviving English leaders, but
instead
Edgar
Atheling
was
proclaimed king by the Witenagemot,
with the support of Earls Edwin and
Morcar, Stigand, Archbishop of
Canterbury, and Ealdred, Archbishop
of York. William therefore advanced,
marching around the coast of Kent to
London.
The English leaders surrendered to
William at Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.
William was acclaimed King of England
and crowned by Ealdred on 25 December
1066, in Westminster Abbey.
The Norman invasion of England was unlike
that involving massive immigrations of people
seeking new lands in which to settle and farm
as marked by the Anglo-Saxon and Danish
invasions. This new phenomenon was
practically an overnight affair. William's
victories were swift, sudden and self-contained.
No new wave of people came to occupy the
land, only a small, ruling aristocracy.
The Bayeux Tapestry (French:
Tapisserie de Bayeux) is a 0.5 by 70
metres long embroidered cloth — not
an actual tapestry — which depicts
the events leading up to the Norman
conquest of England as well as the
events of the invasion itself. The
Bayeux Tapestry is annotated in
Latin.
The Tapestry contains hundreds of
images divided into scenes each
describing a particular event. The
scenes are joined into a linear
sequence allowing the viewer to
"read" the entire story starting
with
the
first
scene
and
progressing to the last.
The Tapestry's story begins in 1064. King
Edward, who has no heirs, has decided that
William of Normandy will succeed him.
Having made his decision; Edward calls upon
Harold to deliver the message.
Having received the message that Edward has
anointed him as his successor; William calls
upon Harold to swear an oath of allegiance to
him and to his right to the throne. The
Tapestry shows Harold, both hands placed
upon religious relics enclosed in two shrines,
swearing his oath as William looks on. The
onlookers, including William, point to the
event to add further emphasis.
One observer (far right) places his hand over
his heart to underscore the sacredness of
Harold's action. Although William is seated,
he appears larger in size than Harold. The
disproportion emphasizes Harold's inferior
status to William. The Latin inscription reads
"Where Harold took an oath to Duke
William."
The death and burial of King Edward is presented in three scenes
whose chronological order is reversed. The first image (1) depicts
Westminster Abbey. This is followed by Edward's funeral
procession (2) and then his death (3).
Harold is crowned king on January 6. In the
spring, near Easter, a comet appears in the
sky. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes
the event: "Easter was then on the sixteenth
day before the calends of May. Then was
over all England such a token seen as no
man ever saw before. Some men said that it
was
the
comet-star,
which
others
denominate the long-hair'd star.
A star with streaming hair then
appears: Halley's Comet. The
first appearance of the comet
would have been 24 April,
nearly four months after
Harold's coronation. Comets,
in the beliefs of the Middle
Ages, warned of impending
doom.
Upon hearing the news of Harold's
coronation, William immediately orders
the building of an invasion fleet. The
Tapestry describes in detail the
construction
of
the
fleet
and
preparations for the invasion providing
insight into eleventh century building
techniques. With preparations complete,
William waits on the Normandy shore
for a favorable wind to take him to
England.
The Battle of Hastings was fought on
14 October 1066, less than three weeks
on from the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
The English fight on foot behind a
shield wall, whilst the Normans are on
horses.
This is one of many scenes depicting the
ferocity of the battle. Wielding his battleaxe, a Saxon deals a death-blow to the
horse of a Norman. This was the first time
the Normans had encountered an enemy
armed with the battle-axe. For the Saxons,
this was the first time they had battled an
enemy mounted on horseback. This scene
probably describes the later stages of the
battle when the Norman knights had
broken through the Saxon shield wall. At
the bottom of the scene lay the dead bodies
of
both
Normans
and
Saxons.
King Harold tries to pull an arrow from
his right eye. Several arrows are lodged
in his shield showing he was in the thick
of the battle. To the right, a Norman
knight cuts down the wounded king
assuring his death. At the bottom of the
scene the victorious Normans claim the
spoils of war as they strip the chain mail
from bodies while collecting shields and
swords from the dead.
Reliability of the Tapestry
While political propaganda or personal
emphasis may have somewhat distorted the
historical accuracy of the story, the Bayeux
tapestry presents a unique visual document of
medieval arms, apparel, and other objects
unlike any other artifact surviving from this
period. Nevertheless, it has been noted that the
warriors are depicted fighting with bare hands,
while other sources indicate the general use of
gloves in battle and hunt.
Once England had been conquered, the
Normans faced many challenges in maintaining
control. The Normans were few in number
compared to the native English population.
Historians estimate the number of Norman
settlers at around 8,000, but Norman in this
instance includes not just natives of Normandy,
but settlers from other parts of France. The
Normans overcame this numerical deficit by
adopting innovative methods of control.
First, unlike Cnut the Great, who had
rewarded his followers with money rather
than displacing native landholders, William's
followers expected and received lands and
titles in return for their service in the invasion.
However, William claimed ultimate possession
of virtually all the land in England over which
his armies had given him de facto control, and
asserted the right to dispose of it as he saw fit.
Henceforth, all land was "held" from the
King.
William retained about a fifth of this land
for his own use. The rest was distributed to
those men who had helped him defeat
Harold at the Battle of Hastings. Under
the feudal system the 170 tenants-in-chief
(or barons) had to provide armed men on
horseback for military service. The
number of knights a baron had to provide
depended on the amount of land he had
been given.
In 1067 William and his army went on a tour of
England where he organised the confiscating of
lands, built castles and established law and
order. His chroniclers claim that he met no
opposition during his travels around the
country. No baron was given very large plots of
land but dispersed. The idea in Wiliam’s mind
was that no baron could quickly raise an
extensive army against him. The only large
pieces of land were given to barons who settled
along the borders of Wales and Scotland. Their
lands and castles formed a defense against the
unconquered Celtic populations.
While he was away, disturbances broke out in
Kent, Herefordshire, and in the north of the
country. William returned to England in
December, 1067, and over the next few months the
rebellions were put down. However, in 1068,
another insurrection, led by Harold's sons, took
place at Exeter. Once again he successfully
defeated the rebels. Afterwards he built castles in
Exeter and other key towns. This included
Durham which was the scene of a rebellion in
1069.
William also re-organized the Church. Lanfranc
became the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Three
other bishops were deposed and by the end of 1070
only two sees were occupied by English bishops.
William tended to appoint well educated men of good
character to these posts. He gave the church large
portions of land and made it a power in his kingdom.
William returned to Normandy in
1073 and later that year
conquered Maine. He spent much
of his time in Normandy and
governed England from across the
Channel.
In 1083 William had to put down a
rebellion led by Hubert de Beaumont in
Maine. Two years later he returned to
England to deal with a suspected invasion
by King Cnut of Denmark. While waiting
for the attack to take place he decided to
order a comprehensive survey of his
kingdom. There were three main reasons
why William decided to order a survey.
(1) The information would help William discover
how much the people of England could afford to
pay in tax. (2) The information about the
distribution of the population would help William
plan the defense of England against possible
invaders. (3) There was a great deal of doubt about
who owned some of the land in England. William
planned to use this information to help him make
the right judgements when people were in dispute
over land ownership.
We do know that William of Normandy won
and changed the face of the nation forever.
Not only was the land now governed by a
foreign king and subjected to a foreign
aristocracy, for the next four hundred years it
wasted its resources and manpower on futile
attempts to keep its French interests alive
while, at the same time, becoming part of (and
contributing to) the spectacular flowering of
European culture.
The Conquest meant a new dynasty for
England and a new aristocracy. It
brought feudalism and it introduced
changes in the ecclesiastical hierarchy,
with the attendant change in the
relations of Church and State.
Native Anglo-Saxons were also soon purged from
high governmental and ecclesiastical office. After
1075 all earldoms were held by Normans, while
Englishmen were only occasionally appointed as
sheriffs. Likewise in the Church senior English
office-holders were either expelled from their
positions or kept in place for their lifetimes but
replaced by foreigners when they died. By 1096
no bishopric was held by any Englishman, while
English abbots became uncommon, especially in
the larger monasteries.
William's prestige among his followers
increased tremendously because he was able
to award them vast tracts of land at little cost
to himself. His awards also had a basis in
consolidating his own control; with each gift
of land and titles, the newly created feudal
lord would have to build a castle and subdue
the Saxons. Thus the conquest was selfperpetuating.
William and his successors were largely absentee
rulers. For example, after 1072, William spent
more than 75% of his time in France rather than
in England. While he needed to be personally
present in Normandy to defend the realm from
foreign invasion and put down internal revolts,
he was able to set up royal administrative
structures that enabled him to rule England
from a distance, by "writ". Kings were not the
only absentees since the Anglo-Norman barons
would use the practice too.
Begun in 1080, the unique "Domesday Book" (the
book of unalterable judgements), was an attempt to
provide the king with every penny to which he was
legally entitled. It worked only too well, reckoning the
wealth of England "down to the last pig." To
determine how the country was occupied and with
what sort of people, William sent his men into every
shire and had them find out how many hundred hides
there were in the shire, what land and cattle the king
should have in the country, and what dues he ought to
have in twelve months from the shire.
The name Domesday comes from the Old
English word dom (of which the Modern
English doom is a descendant), meaning
accounting or reckoning, with cognates in
other
Germanic
languages.
Thus
domesday, or doomsday, is literally a day
of reckoning, meaning that a lord takes
account of what is owed by his subjects.
The Domesday Book forms a remarkable record of the
state of England in the mid-1080's. A sample of the
questions asked is found at Ely Cathedral:
How many ploughs are there in the manor ?
How many mills and fishponds ?
How many freemen, villagers and slaves are there in the manor ?
How much woodland, pasture, meadow ?
What does each freeman owe in the manor ?
How much is the manor worth ?
The questions were designed to find out how much each manor
owed the king in tax. It also told William who owned what land
and how much it was worth. The book lists each manor and its
owner and the value of that manor. The book has three values
in it for each manor :
How much it was worth before the
invasion of 1066
How much it was worth during the
invasion and
How much it was worth after the invasion
Everybody had to pay their tax to the
king. This meant that no lord or other
nobleman could build up enough money
to raise a private army to challenge
William. It also meant that William had
money to increase the size of his own
army - paid for by English taxes.
William made efforts to reorganize the
Church in Normandy even before the
Conquest of England. William had
presented his invasion to the Pope as a
minor crusade in which the "corrupt"
Saxon Church in England would be
reformed.
The sophisticated Saxon form of government
was handed over to the Normans and grew
stronger. The Normans centralized the
autonomous shire system. The Domesday
survey exemplifies the practical codification
which enabled Norman assimilation of
conquered territories through central control
of a census. It was the first kingdom-wide
census taken in Europe since the time of the
Romans, and enabled more efficient taxation
of the Normans' new realm.
The Normans built their first castle at Hastings
soon after they arrived in 1066. They looked for
sites that provided natural obstacles to an
enemy, such as a steep hill or a large expanse of
water. It was also be important to have good
views of the surrounding countryside
.
The Norman conquerors realized that with
only 10,000 soldiers in England, they would
be at a disadvantage if the one and a half
million Anglo-Saxons decided to rebel against
them. To defend the territory they had
conquered, the Normans began building
castles all over England.
Richard Fitz Gilbert, like the other Norman leaders, looked for
sites that provided natural defences such as a steep hill or a large
expanse of water. To protect his estates in Kent, Richard built a
castle at Tonbridge, by the side of the River Medway.
Other Norman castles built in the decades of after the conquest
were constructed of stone and still stand to this very day:
Constructed around the same time as the
Tower of London (late 11th century), Dover
Castle stands as one of the earliest castles
built by William the Conqueror after his
conquest of Anglo-Saxon England. Duke
William had the castle built near an old
Roman lighthouse and burgh, which King
Harold (the last Saxon king of medieval
England) established sometime before the
Norman invasion in 1066.
Changes in language also became permanent.
The new nobility knew no English and probably
did little to learn it (in contrast to the situation
on the borders of Wales where many Norman
lords freely fraternized and married local
inhabitants and learned the Welsh language).
Though English continued to be spoken by the
great majority, it was the language of the
common people, not those in power, a situation
that wasn't to change until the 14th century.
Norman Rule not only affected political and
social institutions, but the English language itself.
A huge body of French words were ultimately to
become part of the English vocabulary, many of
these continuing side by side with their English
equivalent, such as "sacred" and "holy", "legal"
and "lawful," "stench" and "aroma," etc. Many
French words replaced English ones, so that
before the end of the 14th century Chaucer was
able to use a vast store of new words such as
"courage" in place of "heartness," and so on.
English
became
vastly
enriched,
more
cosmopolitan, sharing its Teutonic and Romance
traditions.
There was still the matter of how to deal
with the Celtic kingdoms of Britain, those
beyond the borders, those that were not
occupied by the Saxons and where the
language and customs remained more or
less untouched: Scotland and Wales.
William seemed to regard Scotland as an
area best left alone.
Various Welsh princes were still vying for
power. The last ruler who could truly call
himself King of Wales, Gruffudd ap Llywelyn,
was killed in 1063. The country was then rent
by a series of inter-family squabbles and
William seized his opportunity to establish a
firm western frontier by giving away lands
along the border to some of his most loyal
supporters. These so-called border barons or
Marcher Lords were left free to add to their
territories as they wished.
The Norman barons encouraged their followers
to push gradually westward into Welsh territory.
The Normans possessed several "weapons"
which gave them an advantage over the Welsh.
The Norman knights were better armoured and
horsed than the Welsh, and they erected castles
to hold each parcel of territory they carved from
Welsh holdings.
Continued Welsh efforts to drive out the Normans
from their border territories was of great concern to
England's rulers. In 1095, William II started sending
royal armies into Wales and the practice was
continued by Henry I. The great expense of such
adventures meant that an easier way to keep Wales in
check was to preserve the territories of the Marcher
lordships, which remained in existence for over four
hundred years.
After the conquest, relations between the Anglo-Norman
monarchy and the French crown became increasingly
fractious. Considerable hostility had already developed
between William and his Capetian overlords before the
invasion of England, and this was soon exacerbated by
Capetian support for his son Robert Curthose, who
fought a series of wars against his father and later
against his brothers. As Dukes of Normandy, William
and his descendants were still vassals of the King of
France, but as Kings of England they were his equals.
The entanglement of the English kingdom with
the continental possessions and interests of the
French magnates who had seized the throne
embroiled England in almost four centuries of
recurrent warfare against the Kings of France.
These conflicts gave rise to a deep-rooted and
durable tradition of Anglo-French rivalry and
antagonism.
William ruled England until his death in 1087. The
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recalls the Norman King in
its entry for that year: "But amongst other things is
not to be forgotten that good peace that he made in
this land; so that a man of any account might go
over his kingdom unhurt with his bosom full of gold.
No man durst slay another, had he never so much
evil done to the other; and if any churl lay with a
woman against her will, he soon lost the limb that he
played with. He truly reigned over England; and by
his capacity so thoroughly surveyed it, that there was
not a hide of land in England that he wist not who
had it, or what it was worth, and afterwards set it
down in his book."
As the fourth son of the Conqueror, Henry
was destined for a Church career and
therefore received a more thorough education
than most Norman lords, earning him the
nickname of “Beauclerc” (well-learned). He
took the crown in August 1100, a mere three
days after the mysterious death of his brother
William II in a New Forest hunting accident.
Henry was the first Norman king born in
England and the first to speak English. During
his long reign, the sharp differences between
English and Norman society began to decrease.
By marrying Edith of Scotland, who carried
the bloodline of Saxon and Celtic kings, Henry
merged the old and new dynasties of England.
Henry’s rule depended on the efficiency and loyalty
of his closest ministers. For much of his reign, Roger,
Bishop of Salisbury held the key post of Chancellor.
Roger created the twice-yearly Exchequer sessions
each Easter and Michaelmas at which sheriffs and
their revenue officials had to justify their accounts
and balance their accounts. The earliest of these
financial audits were conducted across a long wooden
table covered in check cloth, from which the term
“the Exchequer” derives.
The earliest Norman monarchs valued their French
homelands more than their English acquisitions. When
William divided his lands amongst his sons, the eldest
Robert received the prize, Normandy. In 1106 Henry
decisively defeated Robert’s forces and Robert spent the
remaining 28 years of his life as Henry’s prisoner.
However, by reuniting the Norman inheritance with his
own name and lineage, Henry had linked the English
Crown to France. Royal ambitions across the Channel
later distracted Henry’s successors for the next four
centuries.