The Anglo Norman Period

THE ANGLO-NORMAN PERIOD

The triumph of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings was the result of a
series of factors: the weakening of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy, exhausted by
constant warfare against the Norwegians, the hostility of the people to the new
Scandinavian aristocracy and the indecisiveness of the Earls, who were reluctant to
give troops to the King, and lastly, the favourable winds for the crossing of the
English Channel.
On 25 December 1066, William was crowned according to the traditional rules of the
Anglo-Saxon monarchy.
At the beginning of his reign, William wanted to be a continuator and maintained
most of the Anglo-Saxon frameworks in place. The Norman invasion was the least
disruptive of all the invasions. However, the revolts of several earls gradually forced
him to take control of the kingdom in an increasingly brutal manner. He then
established a Norman-style feudal regime for the sole benefit of his companions.
English was replaced by Latin in official texts, and was banned from the court and
replaced by French.

In the 11th century, the Norman feudal system was one of the most organised in
Europe. At the top of the ladder was the Duke of Normandy, at the bottom a group of
vassals.
The vassals held the landed wealth and the warriors were also lords with extensive
rights of justice over 'their peasants' and the power to demand multiple services.
The Normans, trusted men of William, were placed at the head of large
administrative districts with the title of earls, the most powerful lords of the various
counties were given the title of sheriffs.   In the seigneuries or manors, the vassals
are the justiciars.

The king, the supreme lord, receives the oaths of homage and loyalty from his
principal vassals and is at the top of the chain of vassalage.

He has the power to levy taxes and benefits from feudal services and royalties. He is
like the Anglo-Saxon kings, a monarch of divine right. He governs with the help of
the Curia Regis, the Great Council which brings together the main prelates and
barons of the kingdom.  He is more directly assisted by the "Little Council" of his
closest collaborators: the Chancellor, responsible for the dispatch of acts, the

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 preparation and interpretation of laws, the "Masters of the Treasury" (Exchequer),
the great officers of his court. The Grand Council meets for the major festivals of the
year: Christmas, Easter and Whitsun; it serves to maintain contact between the king
and his great vassals.  The Chancery and Exchequer manages the royal finances
and receives the money paid by the sheriffs.

In order to know exactly how his wealth was distributed and the fiscal and military
capacity of his new fiefs, William ordered the first census in English history in 1086:
the "Domesday Inquest". The results of this census are recorded in the Domesday
Book.  All the men in the kingdom, after taking an oath before the sheriff, had to
answer a list of questions: the name of the village, how much land was cultivated,
how many woods, meadows, mills, free peasants, dependents and slaves. This
inventory shows a deeply rural England, populated in part by slaves, dependent
peasants, or serfs - 45% of the rural population - and free men. Towns and cities
were rare and sparsely populated.

At the end of the 11th century, the ruling classes were separated from the rest of the
population and the language spoken added a further barrier between masters and
subjects. French and Latin remained for a long time the languages of the social and
educated elite. However, the needs of government and religious life gradually
imposed the knowledge of the popular language on masters from abroad. This led to
the introduction of French words into the popular vocabulary, and this linguistic
mutation led to the development of a language that was no longer Old English and
led directly to modern English. The same phenomenon can be observed at the social
level, the social hierarchy determined at the beginning of the Norman era by the
distinction between the Normans (the colonisers) and the English (the colonised)
disappears progressively as a result of the anglicisation of the aristocracy with the
shrinking of the continental domains of the English kings.

ECONOMY AND SOCIETY.

The Norman domination accentuated the rural character of society and modified the
conditions of economic life. Most of the villages were integrated into manors,
seigneuries that often grouped several settlements and were subject to the authority
of the lord; the men of the manor owed chores and royalties to the lord. Slavery
gradually disappeared, but servitude included former slaves and formerly free men
who became 'vilains', second-class subjects, subject to indentured servitude. Small
freeholders occupy the top of a diverse rural hierarchy, at the bottom of the ladder of
border labourers who are employed in case of need. The difference between the
vassals is the amount of land used and the payment or exemption from certain
taxes; the form and nature of the chores required.

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 In this manorial economy, the quantities produced are mainly for local consumption.
Yields were low, and the English peasant often had a hard time living. However, the
fees, corvées, justice rights, tolls, etc., were the basis of the fortune of the main
lords, particularly the ecclesiastical lords.

The development of agriculture, the clearing of land and the draining of marshes
transformed the appearance of the English countryside: the social hierarchy is
reflected in the importance of the castles, the thousands of churches and chapels
and monasteries.

From the 12th century onwards, towns and cities developed as a result of the growth
of trade. This development brought new elements in the social hierarchy. The factors
of urban development are multiple: first of all, peace favours the development of
ecclesiastical life, the construction of schools and monasteries attracts a workforce
of builders and creates the conditions for an intense commercial life. The resources
of the soil and subsoil, the wool of the sheep, the wood of the forests, provided both
export products and the raw material for industrial work.

The towns, old and new, developed. Ports multiplied: Newcastle exported coal, lead
and wool and linked England to Norway; Bristol became the great port of connection
with Scandinavia and France and imported wines from the continent. Among the
ancient cities, London remained the most important and active.

Among the inhabitants of the cities, the differences in fortune can be considerable
between the rich merchant, the shopkeeper; the craftsman, the journeyman. From
the 12th century onwards, guilds were formed to defend the interests of the trades.
The first and most prestigious were the merchants' guilds. In addition to the
opportunities for social advancement offered by wealth or influence in the guilds,
there was also the possibility of exercising municipal functions.   Previously, towns
had been administered by officers of the king and the lords, but from the end of the
12th century, the public authorities increased the number of charters of franchise and
created municipal bodies. The powers granted to the boroughs were more or less
extensive in terms of police, justice and economy and were listed in the charter of
each of them. The office of "mayor", which existed on the Continent, was thus
created.

At the beginning of the 14th century, the social hierarchy was largely controlled by
the privileges of the lords and the Church, but the growth of the cities, linked to
trade, added a new element to the social structure: the wealthy bourgeois, liberated
and invested with responsibilities, claimed his place in the upper ranks of society and
also in the State.

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 THE CHURCH AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE.
From the eleventh to the thirteenth century the Church of England was deeply
influenced by the Church of Rome.
These were periods of intense faith, which saw the crusades and gave rise to
thousands of churches and schools and universities.
The Archbishop of Canterbury LANFRANC, who arrived with William the Conqueror,
profoundly reorganised the Church of England in the 11th century. Several orders
(Dominicans, Franciscans) from the Continent settled in England and gave a
considerable boost to intellectual life.  William favoured the strengthening of the
Church on condition that it was subject to him. Archbishops, bishops and abbots
were given extensive fiefs, subject to the same services as secular fiefs, in return for
which bishops and abbots had to be appointed by the king. But from the end of the
11th century, a quarrel over investitures broke out: it was finally settled in 1106 by
concessions from King Henry I: the prelates paid homage to the King for their fiefs
but received the investiture of their ecclesiastical offices from the Church. At the
beginning of the 13th century a new quarrel broke out, as King John Lackland
refused to recognise the election of the Archbishop chosen by the Pope for the
Archbishopric of Canterbury. This quarrel resulted in a crushing defeat for the King,
who was obliged to recognise the archbishop elected by the Church, to become the
Pope's vassal and to pay tribute to him. The sovereign retained the right to confirm
the election of a prelate, but undertook to respect the freedom of the vote.
Throughout this period the faith of the people was very strong. This fervour was
expressed in the enthusiasm for the crusades in which many lords and also King
Richard the Lionheart (1190-1192) took part. Many churches and cathedrals were
also built.

The arts (especially architecture) and culture developed under the impulse of the
Church. Throughout Europe, education was under the direct control of the Church. It
was taught in Latin and was marked by the rapid spread of new ideas and
knowledge from one country to another. In England, the most famous schools were
attached to monasteries: Oxford, Cambridge. The teachers were English but also
foreign.

THE BIRTH OF A NEW MONARCHY

In 1086, the Anglo-Norman monarchy was feudal, but the great barons accepted the
framework of a unitary monarchy and sought to integrate themselves into it while
preserving their prerogatives.  But this was not without its problems. Indeed, the

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 barons' revolts were frequent. William the Red, successor to William the Conqueror,
had to face two major revolts in 1088 and 1095. From 1135 to 1154, the kingdom
was plunged into anarchy, with Stephen, a descendant of the Anglo-Saxon kings,
and the Empress Matilda, granddaughter of William the Conqueror, fighting for the
throne. The barons took advantage of this division to pledge allegiance to one or the
other. These sporadic revolts forced the sovereigns to promulgate, willy-nilly,
charters that they were more or less obliged to respect. The most important of these,
the Magna Carta, was signed in 1215. The rights and powers of each party were
increasingly defined. According to the historian Marc BLOCH, the concept of the
unity of the kingdom and the idea of a parliament moderating the monarchy were
preserved.
The rights of the sovereign

From the 11th to the 14th century, the rights of the sovereign were clarified while an
increasingly efficient central administration developed. The prerogatives of the Great
Council were defined, as well as those of Parliament.
The royal power never ceased to assert itself before being circumscribed.  Divine
right, right of conquest, heredity are constantly mentioned. The king is at the head of
the feudal pyramid, theoretically his powers are unlimited and his word is law. But in
reality, the barons' revolts forced him to respect custom and not to innovate without
consulting his Grand Council. From the 14th century onwards, the sovereign was
obliged to collaborate with his Parliament; the absolutist pretensions were
increasingly contested.
The evolution towards a Parliament

The development of a bourgeoisie invested with municipal functions and a

knighthood of minor nobles representing the royal authority played in favour of a
national representation of the interests of the free men of England. The decisive
turning point came with Edward I in 1295 with his "Model Parliament" with two
houses - the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The Commons remained
inferior in dignity to the House of Lords, but both Houses played a major role in tax
raising and legislation.

At the beginning of the 14th century, the King, with the help of his Great Council,
ruled the country, but Parliament tended to limit his prerogatives
FOREIGN POLICY.

Throughout this period, English sovereigns were also warlords. Indeed, they never
ceased to enlarge and unify their territory. Wales was conquered by Edward I in

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 1284, in 1171-72, Henry II had conquered Ireland.  Their greatest failures were in
Scotland, which managed to preserve its independence until 1707.
At the same time, the dream of a continental kingdom did not die out.  The Anglo-
Norman rulers never gave up their rights or their continental domains. Economic
interests played a role in favour of colonisation on the Continent and contributed to
rallying the bourgeoisie to the plans of the sovereigns.

Between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries, the history of England was marked
by constant extreme conflicts. The kings of France found it increasingly difficult to
accept the presence of powerful vassals of a foreign king on French soil. Indeed, the
conquest of England by Normandy was followed by the conquest of Normandy by
England. When Henry II ascended the throne of England in 1180, the kingdom
included half of France (Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, Aquitaine and a whole
united area from Rouen to Bayonne, from the Somme to the Basses-Pyrénées).

External wars and civil wars.

The XIV and XV centuries are marked by internal and external wars. The kings were
weakened by the struggles on the Continent, where they exhausted their troops and
their money. To support the war effort, they take increasingly unpopular measures.
Dissatisfied with the arbitrary decisions of the kings, the failures and taking
advantage of this unpopularity, the great lords and pretenders to the throne rebel and
try to impose their views. The royal person ceases to be inviolable. King Edward II
was deposed and replaced by his son in 1327, and three dynasties succeeded each
other on the throne: that of the Lancasters in 1398, that of York in 1461 and finally
that of the Tudors from 1485.

The Hundred Years' War.

The Hundred Years' War was the last attempt by the kings of England to consolidate
and extend their kingdom on the Continent.  This royal ambition was supported by
the barons, who had never accepted the loss of their lands on the Continent, and by
the bourgeois merchants, who saw an economic interest. The parliaments therefore
voted the necessary funds for the war.

The war that began in 1337 was a dynastic war, as the French throne was vacant in
the absence of a direct heir to Charles IV. King Edward III believed that he was the
legitimate heir to the throne through his mother and claimed the throne. The French
chose Philip Valois, cousin of the deceased king, to face him.

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 This war also had economic reasons, the king wanted to keep the French and
Flemish borders open to English goods.

In 1422, the young Henry VI was proclaimed "King of England and France" and his
uncle became regent on the Continent.  Many French people accepted the fait
accompli. But the intervention of Joan of Arc, the birth of a French national
sentiment, a more organised and efficient French military organisation changed the
course of events. In addition to this, the English subjects became weary and the
Crown's finances dwindled. The English defeat was sealed in 1453 with the capture
of Bordeaux by the army of Charles VII.

The Consequences of these wars.

1. A) National sentiment.

These foreign wars contributed to the development of the English nation. All social
classes joined the army and felt concerned by the war. National feeling was united
by hatred of the enemy and euphoria at victories and bitterness at defeats.

The French language was rejected by the elites and English became the official
language of the Kingdom. In 1386 the poet CHAUCER wrote the first masterpiece of
"English" literature, the "Canterburry Tales".

1. B) The crisis of the monarchy

To finance these wars, the kings were obliged to convene the parliaments and to
deal with them. Endowed with privileges and jealous of their prerogatives, the Lords
and Commons played an essential role in the fiscal domain: kings were given the
power to levy new taxes without the agreement of Parliament. In the 15th century, it
was Parliament that voted on taxes.

The War of the Two Roses.

The Hundred Years' War had barely ended and England was plunged into a dynastic
crisis.  Two families claimed the throne: the Lancasters and the Yorks. This war
between the Lancasters and the Yorks plunged England into anarchy between 1455
and 1485.  In 1485 Henry VII of Lancaster won the war and consolidated his throne
by marrying Elizabeth of York.
To secure his kingdom, in 1502 after a series of victorious campaigns against
Scotland, he sealed the peace by giving his daughter Margaret in marriage to James
IV Stuart.  He linked the English crown to that of Spain by marrying his son Arthur,

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 heir to the throne, to Catherine of Aragon. Arthur dies a little later but his widow
Catherine stays in England and marries the youngest son who will become Henry
VIII.

Henry VII responded to the economic aspirations of his subjects. He gave English
ships a monopoly on trade with France and opened up Mediterranean traffic to
them.  In 1497 and 1509 English explorers discovered Nova Scotia and Hudson Bay.
The increase in customs revenue brought prosperity. The good economic situation
serves the royal prestige and makes the king popular. On the strength of his
popularity, Henry VII tried to make the regime evolve in a more authoritarian
direction. During his 25-year reign, Parliament met only seven times. The
accumulation of tax revenues and a better administration of the royal domain
allowed Henry VI to have the financial means of absolute power. At his death he left
a well-filled treasury.

The reign of Henry VIII will accelerate the movement towards royal absolutism.
Henry VIII was a knight-king with great literary skills. According to historians, the
young ruler was "one of the most remarkable, perhaps the most intelligent, that
England has ever known". He continued his father's economic policy, while paying
more attention to the plight of the peasants.

The Tudor age and the time of the Stuarts correspond to a considerable period of
development of English wealth. The poor England of the early period was succeeded
by an enriched country that was more prosperous than its continental neighbours. It
was the period of the awakening of England's maritime vocation, with merchants,
shipowners and politicians looking more and more to the sea and beginning to
compete with the Spanish and Portuguese for new lands.

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