Norman Conquest of England FINAL

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The early MiddleAges

The Norman Conquest and theFeudal System in England.


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Introduction

England has suffered many invasions during its life and all of them have boughtchanges to the country. The last success conquest was the Normans under

the leadership of William the Conquer, Duke of Normandy, in 1066. Heestablished a French-speaking monarchy and organized his kingdomaccording to feudal system which had already begun to develop before hisarrival. We are going to describe feudalism and its social organization aswell as its end.

Norman Conquest

In 1035 Edward, known as the confessor, was chosen as King of England. Ashis mother was daughter of a Duke in Normandy, Edward had spent most of hislife in that land and had brought many Normans to his court. This led to the

establishment of a powerful Norman interest in English politics.

When King Edward died at the beginning of 1066, the lack of a clear successorled to fight. Finally who was elected was Harold Godwinson (King Harold II), therichest and most powerful of the English aristocracy. Nevertheless, his right tobe the king was challenged by Duke William of Normandy who stated KingEdward has promises the king to him and that Harold in 1065 had promised himno to take the throne. In his defence Harold said the promise was made underobligation.

As a consequence, Harold not only had the Danish Vikings as enemies but alsoWilliams army. After defeating the Danish Vikings he went to the south wereWilliam had landed. Although Harold had a bigger army than Williams,Normans solder, which descended form Vikings, were better armed, betterorganized, and were mounted on horses.1 As a result Harold was defeated inthe Battle of Hastings and William was acclaimed King of England and crownedon 25 December.William had control over most of England, although rebellionsand resistance continued to approximately 1088.2

Feudalism

As it was stated before, William organized feudalism which, according to theeconomist Adam Smith, was a social and economic system defined byinherited social ranks, each of which possessed inherent social andeconomic privileges and obligations. In such a system wealth derivedfrom agriculture, which was organized not according to market forces buton the basis of customary labor services owed by serfs to landowningnobles.3

1 McDowall David. An illustrated history of Britain. Page 17.2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England. The dates change according to thesources.3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_Englandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_Englandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serf


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Henry had planned that after his dead Matilda his daughter would take his placebut indeed it was his nephew Stephen of Blois who was crowned in England.Consequently a civil war began when Matilda invaded England. Finally all wentfine when Matilda and Stephen made a deal where after Stephen deathMatildas son would take the throne. Henry II became the first unquestioned

ruler of the English throne. But struggles for the throne have not finished yet;their son fought against him and took the throne.

Henry was followed by his son Richard who in 1199 was killed in France. Hisbrother, John took the control of England. John was very unpopular amongnobles and the Church. He increased the amount of money the nobles had topay when their daughter get married and increased what nobles had to paybefore they could inherit their fathers land. He also quarreled with the Popeand closed every church in the country.

The end of Feudalism

On 15 June 1215 a sign that Johns power and, which is most important, thatfeudalism was changing appeared. It was the Mangna Carta an agreementbetween the king and his vassals which attempted to limit kings power. In thisagreement the nobles worked as a class in cooperation with the merchant classof towns. This document was very important the nobles did not allow Johnssuccessors to forget this promise. One of it most important clause is still onstatus and is clause number 29: No Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, orbe diseased of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, orexiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, norcondemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the land.We will sell to no man; we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice orRight6.

However, authors affirmed that Magna Carta did not actually give freedom tothe majority of the population because vassals were mostly interested indefending their rights. This agreement is mark as a collapse of the feudalsystem because it injured the links between lords and vassals.

Conclusion

England has passed for many invasions and many kings which oppressedEngland population based on different rights and privilege of people. Feudalismwas the exploitation of the peasants by the King and its nobles. Moreover, theexploitation was between nations. The Normand conquers put England underthe control of France and that could explain the rivality among those countriesthat continued for many centuries.

We could not end this work without mentioning Magna Carta which was thefist agreement between a King and his nobles. It limited kings power and it mayhave lead to what we now know as the parliamentary monarchy, the system inwhich England is ruled nowadays. Many of its articles were part of England

constitutions after the formation of England as a State.6 Magna Carta quoted in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta#cite_note-UKStatute-41
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_landhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_land


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Bibliography

McDowall David (1989). An illustrated history of Britain. Longman

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/normans/hudson_norman_01.shtml

http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Feudalism_and_Medieval_life.htm

http://www.learner.org/interactives/middleages/feudal.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/normans/hudson_norman_01.shtmlhttp://www.britainexpress.com/History/Feudalism_and_Medieval_life.htmhttp://www.learner.org/interactives/middleages/feudal.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_Englandhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/normans/hudson_norman_01.shtmlhttp://www.britainexpress.com/History/Feudalism_and_Medieval_life.htmhttp://www.learner.org/interactives/middleages/feudal.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England

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