Conquest Norman of England

The conquest Norman of England is the invasion of the Royaume of England by the Duc of Normandy William the Conqueror, which culminated with the Bataille of Hastings in 1066 and which resulted in the appropriation of this territory by the Normands.

Far from limiting to the only year 1066, it is prolonged nearly five years, until in 1070. It is a capital event in the medieval history for several reasons. It holds for consequence the first meeting of the Duché of Normandy and the Royaume of England under the authority of the same man: William the Conqueror. Each state preserved however its personality, its own administration. This conquest represents, for a good number of reasons, an important dividing line in the history of England and even of Europe. England was indeed completely upset by the event. The Anglo-Saxon elite, overcome, disappeared with the profit from an other, come from the Continent. The conquerors brought their language and their culture. Detached from the influence of the Scandinavia, the country will be henceforth much more closely related to the continental Europe. Especially, 1066 prepare the rise to power of England which soon will integrate the circle of the most powerful monarchies of Europe. Lastly, the conquest sets up the elements of a conflict with France which will be prolonged until the 19th century.

To date, the exploit of the duke of Normandy remains the last successful conquest of England.

Origins

The bonds between England and Normandy largely precede the conquest by 1066. A long time commercial, they are reinforced around the year 1000. Two treaties are concluded. The Norman ones in particular swear not to support the Viking S which since several tens of years intensify their raids on England. In 1002, the Anglo-Saxon king Ethelred II wife Emma, the sister of the duke of Normandy Richard II. The attacks Vikings against England become such extensive that in 1013, Ethelred and its two sons flee their kingdom and take refuge in Normandy. Richard II accommodates exiled. On the other side of the channel, the Viking Knut II of Denmark goes up on the throne (1016). It is only in 1042 that the oldest son of Ethelred, Edouard the Confessor, strongly normanized, can turn over to England to reign.

The death of Edouard, in 1066, without child nor direct heir with the throne, creates an institutional vacuum which three competitor parties try to occupy. First Harald Hardraada the Norwegian, bound by blood to the Anglo-Saxon family is . Second Guillaume Bastard the is , that the late one would have designated as heir. The third is a powerful Anglo-Saxon aristocrat of the name of Harold Godwinson, elected king with the traditional Anglo-Saxon manner by the Witan English. Actually, there exists a fourth applicant with the throne, often forgotten history, in the person of Edgar Ætheling, great nephew of Edouard the Confessor and direct descendant of the king Edmond Dimension-of-Iron. This only sons of Exiled Edouard the unfortunately old only thirteen or fourteen years with not having died of Edouard the Confessor, Witan prefers Harold Godwinson to him.

Preparations

Learning that Harold is assembled on the throne, Guillaume convenes the principal Norman barons and convinces them to launch out to the conquest of the kingdom, with the assistance of the Pope Alexandre II which threaten the restive ones of excommunication. In less than ten months, he manages to gather in the estuary of the Dives a fleet of invasion of approximately 600 ships and an army estimated at 7 000 men. One finds among them the Norman ones of course, but also of Breton, Flemings, of Manceaux, Boulonnais…

He reached us the list of the contributions in the ships of the principal Norman barons:

Robert de Conteville, half-brother of the duke, count de Mortain: 120 ships
Odon de Conteville, bishop of Bayeux, the other half-brother of the duke: 100 ships (40 according to the Romance of Rou )
Guillaume, count d' Évreux, 80 ships
Roger II of Montgomery: 60 ships
Robert, Count of Have: 60 ships
Guillaume Fitz Osbern: 60 ships
Hugues d' Avranches, Viscount of Avranches: 60 ships
Roger de Beaumont: 60 ships
Hugues II of Montfort-on-Risle: 50 ships and 60 soldiers
Foulques d' Aunou: 40 ships
Gerald the seneshal: 40 ships
Gautier Giffard: 30 ships and 100 soldiers
Nicolas, abbot of Saint-Ouen of Rouen: 15 ships and 100 soldiers
Romo, the chaplain of Fécamp (later bishop of Lincoln): 1 ship and 20 soldiers

These preparations also include/understand important diplomatic negotiations. It is a question of being initially allies. According to Guillaume of Poitiers, the official biographer of William the Conqueror, this last gains with its cause the Pape Alexandre II which transmits its own standard to him. It is also a question of preventing that the close principalities (Brittany, Flanders, Anjou, etc) do not benefit from the countryside to seize the Normandy. Moreover, Guillaume indicates the large vassal ones: Roger de Beaumont, Lanfranc, Roger II of Montgomery and Hugues d' Avranches to control the duchy in its absence. Many soldiers in his army are puînés to which the right of seniority leaves little chance to inherit a stronghold. Guillaume promises to them, if they unite with him while bringing their own horse, an armor and weapons, that it will reward them with grounds and titles in his new kingdom.

Guillaume shows in the achievement of this frightening task sound better aspect: that of an administrator to the higher talents, talent which was to help to once ensure its domination on England this one conquered.

Waiting

Delayed a few weeks by unfavourable winds and contrary weather conditions, the army Norman waits in bay of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme the favourable moment to embark while the fate of the England continues to be played in the north of England invaded in September by the Norwegian king Harald Hardraada which conquers York the September 20th and finds allies (Morcar de Northumbrie, the Écossais, etc). Harold II of England, whose forces are joined together with goes-quickly, walk nevertheless towards north and, the September 25th, surprises the Vikings with the Bataille of Stamford Bridge. It is a victory for the Anglo-Saxon king. The Norwegian king dies there.

The unloading

Pushed by a finally favorable wind, the armada Norman unloads meanwhile in bay of Pevensey (Sussex) the September 28th 1066 a few days hardly after the victory of Harold over the Norwegians. This delay proves to be crucial: if the unloading had taken place in August, date on which it had been initially projected, Harold which, after its victory in north relaxed its army and must join together a news of it to face its new competitor, would have awaited it with fresh troops and a higher force of number. Guillaume is not long in taking for base the village close to Hastings where it sets up a castle of ground and wood. The choice of Sussex as place of unloading is a direct provocation for Harold because this area was its personal field. Guillaume immediately starts to devastate the ground what perhaps encourages Harold to answer in precipitation instead of awaiting reinforcements of London. This also played in favor of Guillaume who, if it had directed its forces towards the interior of England, could have been crossed of his ways of supply, encircled by the army of Harold made up of his personal guard, the Housecarls, and of troops raised in the south of the country.

The conquest

The battle of Hastings

Crowning

After his victory with Hastings, Guillaume moves towards London, while passing by the Kent. He meets a wild resistance to Southwark. He takes the Roman Voie then of Stane Street to join another army Norman on Pilgrims' Way close to Dorking in the Surrey. After having carried out their junction, these armies sail round London to go up the valley of the Thames in direction of the town of Wallingford in the Oxfordshire, whose Saxon lord, Wigod, had supported the cause of Guillaume.

He will receive there the tender of Stigand, the Archevêque of Canterbury. One of the favorites of Guillaume, Robert d' Oyley of Lisieux will also marry the girl of Wigod there, certainly in order to consolidate the allegiance of his/her father with Guillaume. Guillaume moves then to the North-East along the escarpment of Chiltern towards the Saxon fort of Berkhamstead in the Hertfordshire from where it awaits the tender of London. The remainder of noble Saxon being returned with him, it is proclaimed King d' Angleterre and is at the end of October crowned the December 25th 1066 with the Abbaye of Westminster.

Stages of the conquest

In spite of the rapid tender of the south of England to Norman, Guillaume must still overcome pockets of resistance. The years which follow are remembered by rebellions, initially Anglo-Saxon but soon also Normans.

February 1067: at the request of English opponents, Eustace II of Boulogne tries to seize Dover;
August 1067: the Welsh devastate the Herefordshire;
Beginning 1068: Guillaume takes Exeter, one of the centers of Anglo-Saxon resistance, and occupies the Cornouailles and the counties of Gloucester and Worcester;

End of the conquest (1068-1070)

See also: Devastation of the north of England

At the summer 1068, an organized movement of resistance is created in Northumbrie, and goes towards the south. It disintegrates as of the first signs of a counter-offensive Norman. The Conqueror, who does not control yet completely the the Midlands and all the north of England, begins a campaign from construction of castles.

In January 1069, an army accompanying Robert de Comines, who has just been named Count de Northumbrie in north, is decimated with Durham by the Anglo-Saxon rebels. Those connect by attacking York. The Conqueror arrives at their rescue making flee the English in front of him.

At the summer 1069, a Danish fleet appears on the sides Western of England. The English proposed the throne with Sven II of Denmark. This fleet is equivalent of number to that which had come in 1066, and had been beaten with Stamford Bridge. Once unloaded, the Danes and the English go on York. At the end of September, the Norman ones in garrison in the two castles are made massacre by trying desperate exits. It is the largest defeat which the Norman ones in England will undergo. The rebels do not seek to push their advantage, and with the first rumor of the arrival of the king, it is the rout.

The rumor of the Danish unloading causes risings in all the country: Devon, Cornouailles, Somerset and Dorset etc. The insurrections in the west of the Mercie and the north of the Wessex are most virulent. The revolt carried out by Eadric the Savage is propagated in the Cheshire and the Staffordshire. The king is obliged to come in person to repress this rising.

He turns over then in north, and instead of directly attacking the Danes who settled in York, he repeats the strategy which enabled him to subject London earlier three years. He makes devastate a broad belt of territory in the north and the west of the city, in order to insulate it. Quickly, the Danes turn over to their boats, and are paid to give up their claims. Guillaume authorizes them to remain on Humber until the end of the winter.

Definitively to solve the problem arising from Northumbrie, and in order to prevent a new rebellion, it continues its devastation campaign. It passes the festivals of Christmas to York, then takes again its countryside. It burns whole villages, massacres the inhabitants, destroys the reserves of food and the herds. The survivors find themselves in full winter completely stripped, not having more anything to survive, and succumb in mass. The chronicler Florence de Worcester writes that the survivors were obliged to nourish human cats, dogs and corpses to escape the famine.

While arriving at the Tees, it receives the tender of Waltheof and Gospatrick, sign which Anglo-Saxon resistance is broken. The countryside will have lasted from January in March 1070.

Consolidation

In 1070, it creates the Count Palatines to control the Welsh border: Herefordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire;
1071, the county of Durham is set up in Marche vis-a-vis the Scotland;
Fine 1071, Guillaume represses a focus of resistance in the Fenland;
In July 1072, king Malcolm of Scotland penetrates in England. Guillaume imposes his suzerainty on the Lothian and makes recognize the Cumberland like English;
In 1075, Raoul Ier de Gaël, Count de Norfolk, Roger de Breteuil, Count de Hereford and other barons raise;
In 1076, the count Waltheof, last Anglo-Saxon count, is decapitated for the events of 1075. He will be the only person with being carried out for political reasons by Guillaume, of all his reign.
In August 1079, the King d' Écosse enters again to England and devastation Cumberland. In 1080, Guillaume enters in his turn to Scotland and devastation Lothian, forcing the Scot to treat.
In 1086, the King de Danemark claims in its turn with the English throne, but dies before to have been able to achieve its project.

Divide of England

Control of England

Once conquered England, the Norman ones had to face a certain number of challenges to preserve the control of England. The normannophones were, by comparison with the indigenous English population, of extremely limited number. The historians estimate their number at 5 000 knights in armor. The Anglo-Saxon lords were accustomed with being entirely independent, contrary to the system of government centralized of Norman which displeased to the Anglo-Saxons. The revolts started almost immediately as of the crowning of Guillaume, carried out by family members of Harold or noble dissatisfied Anglo-Saxons. Guillaume takes up these challenges of several manners. The new Norman lords build various forts and Château X such as the feudal mounds in order to provide a place cut off against popular risings (or them attacks, increasingly rare, of the Vikings) and to dominate the city and the surrounding countryside. Any Anglo-Saxon lord refusing to recognize the legitimacy of Guillaume to the throne or revolting was summarily stripped titles and grounds which are redistributed with the Norman favorites of Guillaume. Any Anglo-Saxon lord died without succession was always replaced by a Norman successor. Thus the Norman ones eliminated the indigenous aristocracy and took the control of the higher levels of the capacity.

The maintenance of the unit and the honesty of the Norman lords was quite as important, any friction being able to give to the anglophone autochtones an easy chance of division in order to overcome the minority normannophone. Guillaume achieved this by granting parcelled out grounds. A typical Norman stronghold was scattered a little everywhere in England and Normandy. Thus, a lord trying to separate from the king could not, at any moment, to defend that a restricted number of his strongholds. This system, which proved to constitute a very effective deterrent power against the possible rebellions, made it possible to preserve the fidelity of the nobility Norman at the king.

Later on, however, this same policy considerably facilitated the contacts between the nobility of various areas and had as a result to encourage it to organize themselves and act, unlike what passed in other feudal countries, as a class rather than on an individual or regional basis. Moreover, the existence of a strongly centralized monarchy encouraged the nobility to form bonds with the townsmen, phenomenon which is, thereafter, translated by the rise to power of parliamentarism into England.

Hating Stigand, the Anglo-Saxon archbishop of Canterbury, Guillaume operates to obtain his replacement in 1070 by the Italian Lanfranc before naming the Norman ones with the ecclesiastical functions.

Range

The range of the changes due to the conquest Norman was significant as well for the development of England as of Europe.

The conquerors brought their language giving to birth to the Anglo-Norman, évinçant the Anglo-Saxon of Germanic origin in the leading classes. Enjoying the statute of language of prestige during nearly three centuries, the Anglo-Norman had a significant influence on modern English. It is because of this first principal surge of the Latin or Romance languages in the prevalent spoken language in England, that this one started to lose much of its Germanic and Scandinavian vocabulary, although it has, in number of case, maintained the structure of the Germanic sentence.

Another direct consequence of the invasion is the quasi-total disappearance of the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy, as well military as ecclesiastical. Guillaume having confiscated the grounds of the rebels to give them to his Norman defenders, it does not remain any more, at the time of the establishment of the Domesday Book that two English landowners of importance to have survived the purgings. In 1096, all évêchés passed to the hands of the Norman ones. In the current of the 12th century, the assimilation progressed. So much so that certain descendants of Norman conquerors were regarded mainly as English.

No other conquest in Europe of the Moyen-âge had such disastrous consequences for the overcome reigning class. The prestige of Guillaume among his partisans received an extraordinary impulse due to its capacity to be allotted to them to low costs vast grounds. Its rewards were also used to affirm its own capacity, each new lord being subjected to the obligation to build a castle and to subject the autochtones. The conquest was thus a system in perpetual renewal.

Systems of government

Even before the arrival of Norman, the Anglo-Saxons had one of the governmental systems most sophisticated in Western Europe of the time. All England had been divided into administrative areas of rather uniform size and form called “ shires ” and managed by civils servant known under the name of sheriffs. Of autonomous tendency the shires missed coordinated direction. The Anglo-Saxons abundantly had recourse to written documentation, which was not very common for the kings of Western Europe of the time and gave a government more effective than those functioning by verbal instructions.

The Anglo-Saxons had also established permanent places of government at one time when the majority of the medieval governments were always moving, establishing their court where time, the vivres or others were the best for the moment. This shape of government resulted in to limit the size and the possible sophistication of any government to the size of what could be packed on a horse and a carriage, including the treasure and the library. By contrast, the Anglo-Saxons had established a permanent treasure with Winchester, a governmental bureaucracy and permanent documentary files had started to develop.

Under the aegis of Norman, this sophisticated shape of medieval government developed with even more force. The Norman ones centralized the autonomous system of the shire. The Domesday Book exemplifie the coding practices which allowed the assimilation Norman of the territories conquered through a centralized Recensement. This first census on a kingdom scale ever carried out in Europe since the Roman Empire allowed a more effective imposition on the new Norman kingdom.

The sophistication of the systems of Comptabilité also developed. Henri Beauclerc established a ministry for finances called Échiquier which was located starting from 1150 at Westminster.

Relations between French and Anglo-Normans

The political relations between French and Anglo-Normans became very complicated and somewhat hostile after the conquest Norman. Preserving their strongholds in Normandy, the Anglo-Normans always remained, as a such, vassal of the king of France. In same time, they were, as kings d' Angleterre, its equal. They owed him fidelity as dukes of Normandy but not as kings d' Angleterre because they were its pars. With the creation of the Empire Plantagenêt in the Years 1150, the Norman ones control half of France and all England, reducing of as much the power of France from which they however remained the vassal ones in France. The Made in 1204 by the king of France Philippe Auguste of all the possessions Normans and angevines in continental France, except for the Aquitanian , opens a crisis which will lead to the Guerre One hundred Year old when the Anglo-Norman English kings try to recover their dynastic possessions in France.

The vast ground profits of Guillaume were not without causing, of alive sound, large alarms not only in the king of France, but also the counts of Anjou and Flanders. Each one endeavouring of sound to better try to decrease the possessions and the power of Normandy, will create centuries of skirmishes and battles in the area.

English cultural development

An interpretation of the conquest consists in affirming that the conquest of England in made an economic and cultural desert on nearly one century and half. Few kings d' Angleterre really resided for a significant duration in England, preferring their fatherland Norman Normandy and to concentrate on their more lucrative French possessions. Indeed, four months after the battle of Hastings, Guillaume left the load of England to his/her half-brother while it turned over to Normandy. The country remained an appendix of no importance of the grounds Normans and later of the strongholds angevins of Henri II.

Contrary, another interpretation affirms that the Norman kings neglected their continental territories where they owed, in theory, fidelity with kings de France, in order to consolidate their power in their new sovereign kingdom of England. The resources invested in construction of Cathedral S, Castle X and in the administration of the new kingdom would have diverted energy and the concentration required by the defense of Normandy. In the same way, the barons would have gradually neglected their grounds Normans to develop to them English patrimone, often more important and more rich person.

The loss of the control of continental Normandy divided the families whose members had to choose between the honesty and the conservation of their grounds.

The conquests similar Normans include the conquests of the Apulie, of the Sicily, the Principauté of Antioche and the Ireland.

References

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