The Norman Conquest of England in 1066

By the middle of the eleventh century the Norman duchy had reached full bloom. The feudal system contributed to the creation of fine military detachments, which the duke was supplied by his vassals, and the heavily armed knightly cavalry of Normandy gained fame. In addition, the state had a large income from all possessions. And the powerful central authority, which crammed both vassals and the church, was clearly stronger than English. The Norman conquest of England was thus predetermined.

Wilhelm vs. Harold

Declaring Harold II, the brutally brutal English Danish king, a usurper and perjurer, and enlisting the support of Pope Alexander II, Wilhelm set out on a campaign: recruited volunteers outside the duchy to help his not-so-weak army, built many transport ships, armed and stocked with food. And soon everything was ready, so that the conquest of England by William of Normandy took place.

The camp of the duchy was boiling from the abundance of troops - the knights arrived from all the surrounding areas: Brittany, Picardy, Flanders, Artois. Historians were unable to establish the exact number of Wilhelm's troops, but he had at least seven hundred ships, and therefore the troops that the country of England took on his southern shores, turns out at least seven thousand. For the first time, so many people crossed the English Channel overnight.

Harold knew about the training. The ships and troops assembled in the south of England were waiting for Wilhelm to arrive fully armed. But Wilhelm was even more cunning than Harold suspected. In the north of England the allies of Wilhelm from Norway and the disgraced Englishmen, Harold's opponents, suddenly landed. Harold managed to turn the troops and even smash the attackers, but then, without a day's delay, the Norman conquest of England from the south began.

Harold's army

The enemy's landing made them turn the weakened and tired army back to the Gasting, along the way there were attempts to collect militia units. However, everything happened so quickly that even in London the arrival of Harold did not gather the militia. Unlike Wilhelm, he did not have heavily armed cavalry, the bulk of his troops were pedestrian and heterogeneous. There were Huskerly and peasants, armed as well, and the peasants with axes and cudgels, the Ehrl with the Huskerly had swords, shields and battle axes, but they did not have horses, and Harold did not manage to start archers and battle cavalry.

Meeting old with new

The Norman conquest of England in 1066 was accomplished on October 14. Wilhelm brought a well-trained fight directly from the saddle, battle-hardened knightly cavalry and detachments of archers. The defeat of the Anglo-Saxons was simply a foregone conclusion. The defeat was quick and final - very few people escaped. Harold also died.

Wilhelm gave rest to the army in robberies and raids on peasant neighborhoods, he had nowhere to hurry. While the Dover, Kentbury and London leaders understood and comprehended what had happened, they accepted and accepted William the Conqueror as coming by the right of the strong, a few days passed. But England did not soon recover after the Norman conquest!

After five days, William moved the army to Dover. It was a triumph! Not only the London citizens cowardly huddled home, fearing pogroms, but for the most part the English lords, counts, sheriffs, bishops fell to Wilhelm's feet and sought to make friends with him. South England did not give Wilhelm any resistance at all. In a very short time, the North also submitted.

Anointing the Kingdom

And it happened: on the Christmas holiday at the junction of 1066 and 1067, William the Conqueror arrived in Westminster for a solemn event. The situation was unpredictable. England after the Norman conquest broke out in revolts here and there. A false denunciation of treachery was received, and the retinue of William reacted in a peculiar way.

All the houses around the cathedral, where the anointing took place on the kingdom, were set on fire, and the fire victims were beaten to death, without understanding the field, age and religion. The temple was abandoned by everyone except priests who continued their service, brought the sacrament to the end, and Wilhelm met the first minutes of triumph in proud solitude. So strangely ended the Norman conquest of England at its first stage.

Reign

Despite the promise of William to be the guarantor of the observance of the good laws of King Edward, the new Normans continued violence and robbery. The population permanently rebelled, it was cruelly suppressed by fire and sword. For the sublime obedience of the citizens of London began the construction of the famous royal fortress - the Tower.

The northern regions of England were so tired of Wilhelm's insurrections that in 1069 he applied to them the tactics of the scorched earth (the Hitlerites in Khatyn were by no means the first). The punitive expedition of Wilhelm did not leave a whole house or a living person in the whole of the York Valley until Durham, not one. This desert lasted until the twelfth century, when little by little it began to colonize. But this, of course, is not the main consequence of the Norman conquest of England.

Organization of management

Considering all the Anglo-Saxons as rebels, William the Conqueror continued to call himself the legitimate heir of Edward the Confessor. Immediately after the accomplishment of the "English Khatyn," all the lands of England became the property of the king. The confiscation was not only the rebels, but also those who were not loyal enough to the new government.

The huge lands belonging to the crown brought a colossal income: a rent from surrender to the sheriffs, which then knocked it out from the common people. That rent, in comparison with the times of Edward the Confessor, has become more than fifty percent higher. The country agreed to this. What was the purpose of the Norman conquest of England? Briefly - for profit. But not only.

Of course, Wilhelm did not keep everything, although his share was truly a lion. Feuds, which were received by his approximate, were ten times more available in their territory in Normandy. Church Wilhelm for a long time did not offend, the land did not take away.

Throughout England, castles were built - and those that are simpler, on simple embankments with ditches and fences, and complex engineering structures capable of withstanding a long siege. The huge stone citadels, like the Tower, Rochester, Hedingham, were multiplying. These locks were not baronial. They all belonged to the king. The conquest of England by William of Normandy continued.

"The Last Judgment Book"

So called the land census of 1085, which Wilhelm conducted in England. It was a very detailed book. Data was divided into three sections: before conquest, year 1066 and year 1085. It was rewritten: the composition of the land of each county and each hundred, the exact incomes, composition and number of inhabitants, their condition. The respondents were all barons, sheriffs, elders, free men and six serfs from each village. All of them testified under oath. Thus, thirty-four counties out of thirty-eight were rewritten.

Policy

It was a good move to see the main consequences of the Norman conquest of England. Wilhelm this census directly gave information on possible incomes and suggested a way to systematize the weaning of "Danish money". The book turned out to be huge, detailed and authentic. Wilhelm realized that it was quite possible to recoup the Norman conquest of England by means of extortion. In short, there is no point in describing such a book.

The estates that Wilhelm gave to one of the barons never coexisted with the allotments that the Baron already owned. For example, Robert of Merton had about eight hundred manors, which were located in forty counties. Others have a slightly smaller one, but the principle is the same.

It would seem absurd. But here is just a clear calculation. No baron can strengthen his influence in any single county, which, of course, contributes to the strengthening of royal power. Exceptions were only border guard lords guarding the approaches from the sea and land. They had great rights and even privileges. England after the Norman conquest first began to feel itself as a single state.

The king as the supreme owner of all the land in England was the suzerain of all the landholders, from whom and under what circumstances they received it. Wilhelm of all landowners tied the oath of service to the king (Salisbury oath). A purely English feudal arrangement is the service to the king through the head of all his other vassals. The king gained additional support and authority. The country after the conquest has intensified as a state, despite many sorrows and sufferings. This is the main consequence of the Norman conquest of England.