In 1085, William 'sent his men over all England into each shire' to investigate his subjects, their lands and wealth. Domesday Book thus enabled the king to record the estates of his barons as well as his own and to check that none had seized land unlawfully. Domesday was also a record of tax due from each landholder. The book's title is a nickname given to it by the native English, who equated its sentence with the day of Judgement.
At the time of the Conquest most people worked on the land. Life was hard, barely above subsistence level. The main crops were grain, grown as food for both men and animals and to make ale, the national drink. Domesday Book frequently refers to 'plough lands' and to 'ploughs', which were the essential agricultural tool. They were often shared, although some estates and some working men possessed their own ploughs and teams. Partly because every available field was cultivated, there were few hers of animals, although pigs were numerous, as they could forage in woodland. Much of the country was covered by forest, marsh and fen, which were gradually being cleared.
Most people lived in villages in the centre of arable land. Some men were free and held their own land, but even they had to pay their lord a nominal rent and help bring in the harvest. Most people were villeins, the next class down: each villein had his own plough land - perhaps 20 or 30 acres - allocated in strips within the communal open fields, but had to work two or three days a week on the lord's land. The bottom rank was landless serfs, compelled to spend all their time tilling the lord's estates and forbidden to leave their village. Domesday Book was the crowning glory of William's reign. He died less than two years after ordering the survey to be made while campaigning against Philip I of France. He was either injured or overcome by exhaustion while leading his army through the burning town of Nantes. Six weeks later he died at the abbey of Saint-Gervais, near Rouen.
Medieval Monarchs edited by Elizabeth Hallam. Tiger Books
International, 1996 p 15
Saturday, 4 August 2012
William the Conqeror (c1028-1087)
William I, the Conqueror, was crowned king of England on Christmas Day 1066, ten weeks after defeating Harold Godwinson, earl of Wessex, at the Battle of Hastings. The illegitimate son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, he had succeeded his father when he was only seven. While still in his teens he had to defend his dukedom against both ambitious neighbours and internal challengers. His success in maintaining his position no doubt taught him to manage his men, his government and his resources. But, as with all strong leaders of this time, it was the compelling personality of the man himself - his forcefulness, his energy, and the confidence and determination he displayed at all times - that made him an almost legendary figure.
A strong, charismatic military leader, William inspired his men, never hesitating to lead them into battle. But, despite his successes in the field, he never over-reached himself and resisted the temptation to expand into Wales, Scotland and Ireland in costly and debilitating campaigns.
He stands out as a forceful and able statesman in an age of petty wars, shifting loyalties and weak and confused governments. He quickly analysed those institutions (such as the judicial system) worth keeping in his new kingdom and those where changes were necessary. Order was his watchword: he kept a strong hold over potentially unruly barons, yet retained their loyalty, and taxed his subjects heavily, tying them to the land.
William was a generally religious and practical man who believed that the Anglo-Saxon Church and monastic system required thorough reform. He deposed Stigand, Edward the Confessor's archbishop of Canterbury, in favour of the learned and efficient Lanfranc, who in turn replaced the English abbots and bishops with Normans. Twenty years after the Conquest there was only one English abbot, Wulfstan of Worcester, and many English saints had been removed from the calendar of the Church.
The Normans also found Anglo-Saxon church buildings inadequate and unimpressive. A vast rebuilding programme got under way, and in a single generation a new style of ecclesiastical architecture was imposed throughout the country. The size of the major cathedrals begun after the Conquest surpassed anything already built in Normandy. The money came from the substantial Church lands now held by the new bishops, while lesser nobles often financed the reconstruction of smaller churches, in order to ensure their personal salvation, and to impress one another and the king.
In an age of heavy eating and drinking and lax morality, William is remembered as abstemious and puritanical. Perhaps in reaction to his birth, he was absolutely faithful to his wife Matilda, the daughter of Baldwin V and, by happy coincidence, a descendant of Alfred the Great, ninth century king of the West Saxons.
Medieval Monarchs edited by Elizabeth Hallam. Tiger Books International, 1996 p 10
A strong, charismatic military leader, William inspired his men, never hesitating to lead them into battle. But, despite his successes in the field, he never over-reached himself and resisted the temptation to expand into Wales, Scotland and Ireland in costly and debilitating campaigns.
He stands out as a forceful and able statesman in an age of petty wars, shifting loyalties and weak and confused governments. He quickly analysed those institutions (such as the judicial system) worth keeping in his new kingdom and those where changes were necessary. Order was his watchword: he kept a strong hold over potentially unruly barons, yet retained their loyalty, and taxed his subjects heavily, tying them to the land.
William was a generally religious and practical man who believed that the Anglo-Saxon Church and monastic system required thorough reform. He deposed Stigand, Edward the Confessor's archbishop of Canterbury, in favour of the learned and efficient Lanfranc, who in turn replaced the English abbots and bishops with Normans. Twenty years after the Conquest there was only one English abbot, Wulfstan of Worcester, and many English saints had been removed from the calendar of the Church.
The Normans also found Anglo-Saxon church buildings inadequate and unimpressive. A vast rebuilding programme got under way, and in a single generation a new style of ecclesiastical architecture was imposed throughout the country. The size of the major cathedrals begun after the Conquest surpassed anything already built in Normandy. The money came from the substantial Church lands now held by the new bishops, while lesser nobles often financed the reconstruction of smaller churches, in order to ensure their personal salvation, and to impress one another and the king.
In an age of heavy eating and drinking and lax morality, William is remembered as abstemious and puritanical. Perhaps in reaction to his birth, he was absolutely faithful to his wife Matilda, the daughter of Baldwin V and, by happy coincidence, a descendant of Alfred the Great, ninth century king of the West Saxons.
Medieval Monarchs edited by Elizabeth Hallam. Tiger Books International, 1996 p 10
Medieval monarchs in the family
Medieval monarchs ruled England from the arrival of William the Conqueror in 1066 until the death of Richard III in 1485 after which time England was ruled by Tudor kings.
Medieval monarchs in our family tree are:
Normans
William the Conqueror (ruled from 1066 to 1087)
Henry I (ruled 1100 to 1135 after the death of his brother, Rufus)
Matilda (daughter of Henry I should have been Queen but was usurped by her cousin, Stephen)
Plantagenets
Henry II (son of Maltilda ruled after the death of his uncle from 1154 to 1189)
John (ruled from 1100 to 1216 after the death of his brother, Richard)
Henry III (ruled from 1216 to 1272)
Edward I (ruled from 1272 to 1307)
Edward II (ruled from 1307 to 1327)
Edward III (ruled from 1327 to 1377)
One of the sons of Edward III and Phillipa de Hainault was John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.
The granddaughter of John of Gaunt and Katherine de Roet, Joan Beaufort, married James I of Scotland. The direct family line can then be traced through Scottish families until the nineteenth century.
Vikings in Francia
Francia, the land of the Franks (roughly corresponding to most of modern France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and western Germany) was first raided by the vikings in 799. The emperor Charlemagne reacted vigorously, creating coastguard units and stationing fleets on major rivers. Except for the exposed coast of Frisa, Francia experienced no serious Viking raids until the 830s when the civil wars between the emperor Louis the Pious and his sons had begun to undermine royal authority and with it the effectiveness of the coastal defences. In 842 the Vikings established a permanent base on the island of Noirmoutier, near the mouth of the River Loire, and thereafter were a permanent presence on the Frankish territory for the next seventy years.
The main areas of Viking activity in Francia were the valleys of the rivers Seine and Loire, Flanders, Frisia and the Rhineland, all areas where navigable rivers offered the Vikings easy routes inland. Preoccupied by dynastic conflicts, Francia's Carolingian rulers were rarely able to concentrate on dealing with the Viking threat and were often reduced to buying them off with tribute. Towns were left exposed to attack because rulers such as Charles the Blad were reluctant to allow them to build defences in case they should be turned into strongholds by rebel princes and nobles. For some of these rebels, such as Pippin II of Aquitaine, the Vikings were event welcome as allies. Viking raids reached their peak in the period 879-92 when the Rhineland, the Ardennes, Flanders and the Seine valley were systematically ravaged. But the Franks were finally getting the measure of the Vikings. Able warrior kings such as Odo of West Francia (France) and Arnulf of East Francia (Germany) actively sought to bring the Vikings to battle and built fortresses and town walls across the whole of the region between the Seine and the Rhine. Faced with resistance wherever they went, and a severe famine in the winter of 891-2, the main Viking force withdrew to England in 892 where it fared no better. The worst of the Viking Age in Francia was now over but there remained Viking armies on the Seine and the Loire. The integration of the Seine Vikings into Frankish society was begun when their leader, Rollo, was made count of Rouen by Charles the Simple in 911. Normandy, as Rollo's territories came to be known, created problems of its own, but at least these were the familiar ones of dynastic and territorial ambitions that kings faced from any over-mighty subject. the problems of the Vikings on the Loire was solved when the Bretons captured their base at Nantes in 937. The last Viking raids on Francia occurred in the early 11th century.
Notes from Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Thames & Hudson 2000. pp 75-76.
The main areas of Viking activity in Francia were the valleys of the rivers Seine and Loire, Flanders, Frisia and the Rhineland, all areas where navigable rivers offered the Vikings easy routes inland. Preoccupied by dynastic conflicts, Francia's Carolingian rulers were rarely able to concentrate on dealing with the Viking threat and were often reduced to buying them off with tribute. Towns were left exposed to attack because rulers such as Charles the Blad were reluctant to allow them to build defences in case they should be turned into strongholds by rebel princes and nobles. For some of these rebels, such as Pippin II of Aquitaine, the Vikings were event welcome as allies. Viking raids reached their peak in the period 879-92 when the Rhineland, the Ardennes, Flanders and the Seine valley were systematically ravaged. But the Franks were finally getting the measure of the Vikings. Able warrior kings such as Odo of West Francia (France) and Arnulf of East Francia (Germany) actively sought to bring the Vikings to battle and built fortresses and town walls across the whole of the region between the Seine and the Rhine. Faced with resistance wherever they went, and a severe famine in the winter of 891-2, the main Viking force withdrew to England in 892 where it fared no better. The worst of the Viking Age in Francia was now over but there remained Viking armies on the Seine and the Loire. The integration of the Seine Vikings into Frankish society was begun when their leader, Rollo, was made count of Rouen by Charles the Simple in 911. Normandy, as Rollo's territories came to be known, created problems of its own, but at least these were the familiar ones of dynastic and territorial ambitions that kings faced from any over-mighty subject. the problems of the Vikings on the Loire was solved when the Bretons captured their base at Nantes in 937. The last Viking raids on Francia occurred in the early 11th century.
Notes from Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Thames & Hudson 2000. pp 75-76.
Friday, 3 August 2012
Viking
The word Viking has come to be used to describe all early medieval Scandinavians, but as originally used by contemporaries the term vikingr only to someone who went i viking, that is plundering. Only a minority of early medieval Scandinavians were, therefore, Vikings in the strict sense of the word. Various explanations of the origin of the word have been proposed. The commonest explanations are that Viking is derived either from Viken in southern Norway, and therefore means simply 'the men from Viken', or that it comes from the Scandinavian word vik (bay or cove) and means 'the men from the bays'. Another possibility is that it derives from the old Scandinavian verb vikya, meaning 'to turn away' and so came to be used to describe Scandinavians who were travelling away from home. However, a Scandinavian origin for the word seems unlikely, as its use in Old English predates the Viking Age. It was used to describe any band of pirates, not simply those from Scandinavia. In the 8th century poem, Exodus, the seafaring sons of Reuben are described as wicingas, for example. In this case, it seems likely that wicing is derived from Old English wic (port of trade) and means 'the men who frequent (or attack) ports', and that it was only later adopted by the Scandinavians themselves. After falling into disuse in the central Middle Ages, the use of Viking was revived by the 19th century Romantic movement.
Notes from Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Thames & Hudson 2000. pp 198-199.
Notes from Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Thames & Hudson 2000. pp 198-199.
Vikings in England part III
The Vikings' impact in England was considerable. Their invasions effectively eliminated the kingdoms of East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria, leaving Wessex as the only Anglo-Saxon Kingdom. When Wessex conquered the Danelaw in the 10th century, the English were for the first time united in a single kingdom. Thus, England owes its existence as a unified kingdom indirectly to the Vikings. The extensive Danish settlements in Eastern England had a long-lasting influence on local legal customs, and a wider impact on the English language through hundreds of Scandinavian loan words, including ones such as 'sky', 'skin', 'get', 'egg' and 'sister'. The Viking attacks on monasteries certainly caused a great deal of cultural damage, but English monasticism made a strong recovery in the 10th century. Viking roads must also have caused much short-term economic hardship for their victims through losses of livestock, seed corn and manpower. In the longer term the Vikings may have promoted urbanization, both directly through trade at centres like York and Lincoln, and indirectly by prompting the Anglo-Saxons to found fortified settlements called burhs.
The Scandinavian settlers in England were assimilated into the native population within a few generations by intermarriage and conversion to Christianity. Archaeological evidence of the Scandinavian settlement is limited. There are a few pagan burials and many works of sculpture showing the influence of Scandinavian art styles, but from apart from at York no Scandinavian settlements have been identified with any certainty. Evacuations of Viking Age farmsteads at Ribblehead in North Yorkshire, Goltho in Lincolnshire, Bryants Gill in Cumbria and Simy Folds in County Durham, each one in an area settled by Scandinavians, have all failed to produce distinctively Viking artefacts. The most important source of evidence for Scandinavian settlement comes from place-names. In the old Danelaw counties of eastern England, Danish influence in place-names ending in -by, as in Thurkleby (Thurkil's farmstead), and -thorpe, as in Kettlethorpe (Ketil's outlying farm). Hybrid names incorporating a Danish personal name and the English element -tun, as in Grimston (Grim's village) are also common in the Danelaw. Norse place-names are common in north-west England, especially in Cumbria. Typical Norse place-name elements include -thveit, as in Brackenthwaite (bracken clearing), soetr, as in Gunnerside (Gunnar's shieling) and in fjall, as in Scafell (crag hill).
Notes from Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Thames & Hudson 2000. pp65-66.
The Scandinavian settlers in England were assimilated into the native population within a few generations by intermarriage and conversion to Christianity. Archaeological evidence of the Scandinavian settlement is limited. There are a few pagan burials and many works of sculpture showing the influence of Scandinavian art styles, but from apart from at York no Scandinavian settlements have been identified with any certainty. Evacuations of Viking Age farmsteads at Ribblehead in North Yorkshire, Goltho in Lincolnshire, Bryants Gill in Cumbria and Simy Folds in County Durham, each one in an area settled by Scandinavians, have all failed to produce distinctively Viking artefacts. The most important source of evidence for Scandinavian settlement comes from place-names. In the old Danelaw counties of eastern England, Danish influence in place-names ending in -by, as in Thurkleby (Thurkil's farmstead), and -thorpe, as in Kettlethorpe (Ketil's outlying farm). Hybrid names incorporating a Danish personal name and the English element -tun, as in Grimston (Grim's village) are also common in the Danelaw. Norse place-names are common in north-west England, especially in Cumbria. Typical Norse place-name elements include -thveit, as in Brackenthwaite (bracken clearing), soetr, as in Gunnerside (Gunnar's shieling) and in fjall, as in Scafell (crag hill).
Notes from Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Thames & Hudson 2000. pp65-66.
Vikings in England part II
England enjoyed a respite from Viking attacks until 980, when raids from Denmark and the Norse settlements in Ireland and Scotland began.
England's King Aethelred II was a poor war leader who was soon reduced to paying Danegeld to buy off the Viking raids. Among the leaders of the Vikings were Olaf Tryggvason, who used the proceeds of the raids to win control of Norway in 995, and the Danish king Svein Forkbeard. As the English defences collapsed, Svein's objective changed from exacting tribute to outright conquest. At the end of 1013 Aethelred fled the country and Svein was accepted as king of England, but he died in a matter of weeks before he could consolidate his conquest. England had to be reconquered, after an epic struggle with Athelred's son, Edmund Ironside, by Svein's son, Cnut, in 1016. Though many Danish aristocrats were granted English lands, Cnut's conquest was not followed by any significant rural settlement. Under Cnut England became part of an empire that included most of Scandinavia, but his successors showed none of his ability and the native dynasty was restored in 1042.
The Norweigian king Harald Hardrada attempted to conquer England in 1066, but was crushingly defeated at the battle of Stamford Bridge, fatally weakening the English just weeks before William the Conqueror led his successful invasion from Normandy. The Danes supported rebellions against William in 1069-70 and 1075, and Cnut II planned another invasion in 1085. Disputes prevented the fleet from sailing, however, and Cnut's assassination in 1086 effectively marked the end of the Viking Age in England, though the Norwegian king Harald Eystein led a plundering raid along the east coast as late as 1153.
Notes from Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Thames & Hudson 2000. pp64-65
England's King Aethelred II was a poor war leader who was soon reduced to paying Danegeld to buy off the Viking raids. Among the leaders of the Vikings were Olaf Tryggvason, who used the proceeds of the raids to win control of Norway in 995, and the Danish king Svein Forkbeard. As the English defences collapsed, Svein's objective changed from exacting tribute to outright conquest. At the end of 1013 Aethelred fled the country and Svein was accepted as king of England, but he died in a matter of weeks before he could consolidate his conquest. England had to be reconquered, after an epic struggle with Athelred's son, Edmund Ironside, by Svein's son, Cnut, in 1016. Though many Danish aristocrats were granted English lands, Cnut's conquest was not followed by any significant rural settlement. Under Cnut England became part of an empire that included most of Scandinavia, but his successors showed none of his ability and the native dynasty was restored in 1042.
The Norweigian king Harald Hardrada attempted to conquer England in 1066, but was crushingly defeated at the battle of Stamford Bridge, fatally weakening the English just weeks before William the Conqueror led his successful invasion from Normandy. The Danes supported rebellions against William in 1069-70 and 1075, and Cnut II planned another invasion in 1085. Disputes prevented the fleet from sailing, however, and Cnut's assassination in 1086 effectively marked the end of the Viking Age in England, though the Norwegian king Harald Eystein led a plundering raid along the east coast as late as 1153.
Notes from Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Thames & Hudson 2000. pp64-65
Vikings in England
The Viking Age in England began with raids, the earliest recorded anywhere in Europe, on Portland (c789) and the monastery of Lindisfarne (793). A reference in the 792 charter of Offa, King of Mercia, to military service against 'pagans' may be evidence of other unrecorded raids around this time. The Anglo-Saxons prevented the Viking raiders penetrating inland by blocking rivers with bridges, and raiding remained small in scale until c835, when larger fleets began arriving and won some major victories, killing, for example, Raedwulf, king of Northumbria, in battle in 844. Attacks escalated further in 850 when a fleet, said to number 350 ships, established a winter camp on the Isle of Thanet near the mouth of the River Thames. Nevertheless, England suffered less severely from Viking attacks in this period than Francia or Ireland.
The decisive Viking intervention in England began with the arrival of an exceptionally large Danish army under Ivar Halfdan in the kingdom of East Anglia in 865. The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms did not cooperate effectively against the invaders, and by 876 the Danes had occupied East Anglia, eastern Mercia and southern Northumbria. Only the kingdom of Wessex, under Alfred the Great, successfully resisted Danish attacks.
Conquest was followed by widespread Danish settlement in eastern England and the foundation of small kingdoms, the longest of which was based in York. This Danish-settled area later came to be known as the Danelaw because of its distinctive Scandinavian-influenced customs. Around 900 Norse settlers, many of them from Ireland, began to settle quietly in north-west England.
Once the Vikings settled down, they lost their main military advantage - their mobility - and they became vulnerable to counter-attack. Alfred's successor, Edward the Elder, aided by his sister Aethelflaed, the ruler of Mercia, conquered the Danish-controlled areas south of the River Humber in 912-918, while the Danish kingdom of York came under Norse control in 919. Edward's son, Athelstan, captured York in 927, becoming the first king to rule over all of England. Not all Anglo-Saxons welcomed the rule of Wessex; some preferred the Danes and even fought for them. After Athelstan's death in 939 the Norse recaptured York, but could never hold it securely, and its last Viking king, Erik Bloodaxe, was overthrown and killed in 954.
Notes from Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Thames & Hudson 2000. p64
The decisive Viking intervention in England began with the arrival of an exceptionally large Danish army under Ivar Halfdan in the kingdom of East Anglia in 865. The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms did not cooperate effectively against the invaders, and by 876 the Danes had occupied East Anglia, eastern Mercia and southern Northumbria. Only the kingdom of Wessex, under Alfred the Great, successfully resisted Danish attacks.
Conquest was followed by widespread Danish settlement in eastern England and the foundation of small kingdoms, the longest of which was based in York. This Danish-settled area later came to be known as the Danelaw because of its distinctive Scandinavian-influenced customs. Around 900 Norse settlers, many of them from Ireland, began to settle quietly in north-west England.
Once the Vikings settled down, they lost their main military advantage - their mobility - and they became vulnerable to counter-attack. Alfred's successor, Edward the Elder, aided by his sister Aethelflaed, the ruler of Mercia, conquered the Danish-controlled areas south of the River Humber in 912-918, while the Danish kingdom of York came under Norse control in 919. Edward's son, Athelstan, captured York in 927, becoming the first king to rule over all of England. Not all Anglo-Saxons welcomed the rule of Wessex; some preferred the Danes and even fought for them. After Athelstan's death in 939 the Norse recaptured York, but could never hold it securely, and its last Viking king, Erik Bloodaxe, was overthrown and killed in 954.
Notes from Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Thames & Hudson 2000. p64
Anglo-Saxons
The population of England before the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Anglo-Saxons were originally three Germanic peoples from northern Germany and Jutland - the Angles, Saxons and Jutes - that invaded and settled in eastern and southern Britain in the 5th century AD. Though they were still divided into several independent kingdoms, by the 8th century the three groups were beginning to develop a common English identity. The term Angli Saxones was first used by early medieval continental writers to distinguish the invaders from the native Celtic population of Britain.
Notes from Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Thames & Hudson 2000. p24
There are a number of websites on the Anglo-Saxons including BBC history - Anglo-Saxons
Notes from Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Thames & Hudson 2000. p24
There are a number of websites on the Anglo-Saxons including BBC history - Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the single most important primary source for the history of Anglo-Saxon England from its beginnings in the 5th century up to the Norman Conquest in 1066: without it very little would be known about the Viking Age in England. The Chronicle is not a single source but a group of related chronicles that all derive from a common original compiled during the reign of Alfred the Great of Wessex, probably in the late 880s or early 890s. Copies of this original chronicle were circulated to several centres, where they were subsequently kept up to date by local annalists. All versions of the Chronicle share virtually the same information up to 890-2, but there are considerable differences between them from 893 onwards. Most versions of the Chronicle were discontinued soon after the Norman Conquest, but at Peterborough it was continued until 1154. Seven manuscripts of the Chronicle, written in the original Old English have survived, and the existence of several others, now lost, is known from extracts quoted in later Latin sources and entries in medieval library catalogues.
Though it is written mostly in a detached, dispassionate style, the Chronicle is not an objective record of events and it was probably begun on Alfred's orders as part of a propaganda campaign to present the Wessex dynasty as the leading defender of the Christian English from the heathen Vikings.
Notes from Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Thames & Hudson 2000. pp23-4
This is one of a number of versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle available online.
Though it is written mostly in a detached, dispassionate style, the Chronicle is not an objective record of events and it was probably begun on Alfred's orders as part of a propaganda campaign to present the Wessex dynasty as the leading defender of the Christian English from the heathen Vikings.
Notes from Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Thames & Hudson 2000. pp23-4
This is one of a number of versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle available online.
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