THE UNIFICATION OF ENGLAND

1. The first kings of the English

The ancient kingdom of West Saxons had been transformed into a kingdom of
the Anglo-Saxons by King Alfred the Great (849-899).

One of the most relevant in the history of the British Isles is the political
development process in the ninth and tenth centuries from the kingdom of the
West Saxons to the Kingdom of the English.

Alfred’s kingdom was spread across the river Thames until the ‘English’ Mercia,
creating the ‘kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons’.

His successor was his son Edward the Elder (899-924) spread West Saxon
control over the Danes of eastern England and the Mercians. The process was
taken a step further by Edward’s son Aethelstan, who gained York in 927 and
ruled over Northumbria, bringing a unified ‘kingdom of the English’ into
existence.

After the death of Aethelstan, in 939, the Dublin Norse re-established their links
with York but it was thus not until the reign of King Edgar (959-975) that the
unification of the kingdom of Britain was completed. When Edgar died, there
was an external threat, so the English suffered the Danish conquest in the early
eleventh century. Cnut (also known as Canute) took over the kingdom in 1016
and made it the centre of his ‘North Sea Empire’. He extended his rule over
Denmark (1018), over Norway (1028), and into some parts of Sweden.

The inheritance for Cnut’s successors, politically talking, was a kingdom divided
into two earls: Godwin of Wessex and Leofric of Mercia.

Another important figure is Queen Aelfgifu (Emma) who was the wife of King
Aethelred the Unready (978-1013, 1014-1016), and the wife of King Cnut
(1017-1035).

Edward the Confessor (1003-1066), the son of Ethelred II, lived in exile in
Normandy during the years when Cnut of Denmark and his successors rules
England (1061-1041) with his brother, Alfred. He returned to England in 1041,
and was recognized by Harthacnut, Cnut’s son, as heir to the thorne (1042-
1066). When Harthacnut died, the following year, Edward was chosen king.
 1.1. The Saintly King’s Legacy: Westminster Abbey
Edward lived in exile in Normandy. It was there that he first saw the
architecture which inspired him to create a great abbey.When he returned to
England and was recognised as a king he ordered the construction of a great
abbey church at Westminster. He wanted it to be an abiding legacy the country
over which he ruled. It was completely different from any other church in the
kingdom and more magnificent.

It was a builduing in the Romenesque style. He dedicated the minster to the

glory of God and St Peter and all of God's saints. On December 28, the great
abbey, although incomplete, was cosecrated, but Edward was too ill to be
present. He died on the eve of Epiphany (January 5, 1066) and was buried the
next day beneath a magnificent tomb in Westminster Abbey.

A year after Edward was buried, another royal occasion occurred, William,
conqueror of England was consecrated kin on Christmas Day 1066.

1.2. British Society on the Eve of the Norman Conquest

Edward the Confessor left behind him a prosperous and flourising kingdom.
Much of England's wealth came from her rich farmland. Nobles lived on great
manors and their duties were of military character. The bulk of the peasantry
were not “unfree” A man owed to his lord unpaid work and rent in money and
kind. He also paid his hearthpenny, a tax on erery dwelling to the Church. They
were not allowed to bear arms and had limited legal rights.

Town life also flourished. London, the largest city of the kingdom, had over
15,000 inhabitants. In towns men organised into trading guilds.
Demographically, England experienced growth between 800-1300.

Shires were divide into hundreds, and the legal work was transacted in the
Hundred Courts. Freemen in the hundreds were arranged in “tithings”, groups of
ten men who took corporate responsibility for the behavior of the men in their
group.

The responsible for the government was the king, who consulted powerful
churchmen and laymen in his council. He imposed gelds or land taxes on his
people. The coinage was the most stable in Western Europe.

The king's reeve, the shire-reeve or sheriff, looked after the royal rights in
each shire. The king's will was made known to the ealdormen and “ thegns”
(lords) through solemn writs.

2. The Normans
The Normans were originally Vikings of Scandinavian origin. They were mainly
Danes.

In 8th century, they raided the Atlantic coast of France, in 9th century (851), they
assaulted some European cities, such as London and Canterbury, in 10th
century, they settled in northwest France. They became Counts and later
Dukes of Normandy.

They adapted Frankish Law. They received feudalism, military tactics and
French language. In the middle of 11th century, Normandy was a powerful
dukedom. The Normans army, a mixture of Scandinavian courage and French
tactics, was one of the best in Europe.

By 1035, Normandy was very well ruled, William the Conqueror was duke. He
was extremely religious His predecessor Richard II imposed feudalism and
order. Normandy started to expand.

There were two acts of expansionism: In 1061, Robert Guiscard created the
Norman Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the claim to the English throne:
Edward the Confessor, the last Anglo-Saxon king died childless. The basis of
the claim was that Edward was a second cousin of William.

In 1042, Edward was crowned king of England and the court started to fill with
Normans.

In 1066, Edward died. Harold Godwinson, an Earl, of the House of Wessex,

whose daughter married Edward, was elected king. Edward had promised him
the throne of England an in a brief visit to England had forced Harold to
acknowledge him as a successor. The Pope had blessed his claim.

William, Duke of Normandy, defeated the English king Harold at the Battle of
Hasting, 14 October 1066. The British gained from Europe new ideas in
government, religion, art and war. They were prepared to contribute ideas of
their own.

William confiscated Anglo-Saxon estates and gave them to his Norman

followers. He dispossessed many of the Anglo-Saxon landowners, pressed the
peasantry into service on their new feudal territories and treated all the Anglo-
Saxons subjects with contempt. He taught better farming, develop the
economy, put an end to Vikings raids, and built many monuments such as
cathedrals and churches.

The consolidation of William’s might was obtain, moreover, thank to vast stone
castles such as the Tower of London, and great cathedrals and abbeys stood
up as citadels of Norman Christianity, commanded by harsh,
uncompromising prelates, in the heart of a hostile land.
His heir was William II Rufus, he reigned for 13 years, from 1087 to 1100 over
a nation torn by aristocratic quarrels and trampled down by foreign
mercenaries. After his death, the accession of Henry I to the throne was
carried out.

2.1 The Norman Conquest and the Transformation of

England.
The Norman conquest of England began in 1066 with the invasion of England
by Duke of Normandy and his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October
1066 The invading Normans (1066), led by their duke, William the Bastard,
vanquished the Anglo-Saxons under Harold Godwineson and William the
Conqueror won his throne by force.

William proclaimed himself king of England and not all England had accepted
him as king. His dominion was in the south (Wessex, Kent, Sussex and Essex)
and some part of Mercia. The earls of Mercia and Northumbria ( brothers
Edward and Morcar) accepted him because he had overthrown the Godwin
family and they thought that he wanted to conquest only Wessex. They faced
him but the old rivalries between Saxons families became their downfall and
finally William became renowned.

Saxon England’s leaders surrendered to William and he was crowned king of

England in 1066 and the rebellion continued. In 1068 Norman army was
massacred in Durham and weeks later the Normans fled from York, leaving it to
be occupied by the rebels. This was the most serious defeat suffered by the
Normans in England.

Hereward the Wake launched a campaign against the Normans. The Isle of Ely,
Hereward’s chief refuge was besieged by William’s army and the Conqueror
and his army was more powerful. The Norman Conquest led to changes:

-in the way the country was policed (from castles)

-in landholding patterns

-at the top of the hierarchy

-in the monastic orders developing in England

The Domesday Book was ordered by William I in order to discover the future
wealth of England, recording details of the property owned by everyone from
the king downwards. It was one of the first censuses. The originals volumes
were kept at Winchester and later at Westminster.

William the Conqueror married Matilda who was a direct descendent of Alfred
the Great, and that increased his authority and his cruelty was the basis of his
success in establishing his rule over England.
The Bayeux Tapestry

It is embroidery which is in a tourist centre in Bayeux (France), “The William the

Conqueror Centre”, which tells the tale of William the Conqueror’s invasion of
England through pictorial panels.

2.2 The Succession Problems

After the Conqueror’s death, his son William II (1087-1100), was the heir of the
thrown. His bellicose temperament and the dissolute court over that he
presided, deserved him the hostility of the Church, but his skill as a soldier
made him popular between the knightly classes. He patronized buildings such
as the Westminster Hall, in which interior monarchs are usually laying in state
after his death.

William II was suspiciously killed by an arrow when he was hunting. He did not
married and his brother Henry (Henry I), who was hunting with him, achieved
the throne and had to defend it against his other brother Robert.

Henry I ruled well and introduced important reforms and expanded the system
of traveling justices in the shires. In Henry’s reign the Exchequer came into
existence (The Treasurer called on each Sheriff to give account of royal income
in their shire and then questioned them concerning debts owed by private
individuals). By this time the feeling of belonging to the same nation which has
its language, its law, its parliament, its taxes and its feudal system spread within
the highlands and sea boundaries.

Henry I married Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland, who had made
feudal submission to the Conqueror. Scotland adopted some of the changes
that Normans promoted in England. The death of Henry I in 1135 made
Mathilda, his daughter, the heir of the throne but Stephen, Henry’s nephew, was
unwilling to yield the crown to a woman, occupied the throne and started a civil
war against her. His reign was a time of anarchy and intermittent warfare with
invasions of Mathilda and his son from France.

The succession was resolved a year before Stephen’s death when he designed
Henry Plantagenet, Mathilda’s son, as his heir.
Bibliografía:

http://www.btinternet.com/~timeref/tree220.htm (family tree of William the

Conqueror)

http://es.wikipedia.org/ (The Exchequer and history of England)

3. The Plantagenets
This name derives from the nickname borne by Geoffrey, Count of Anjou,
father of Henry II, he wore a sprig of flowering broom as his personal badge.

The first Plantagenet king of England was Henry II, Thirteen more kings
followed him in a dynasty that ruled for 331 years, the last 86 rival families
struggling to seize the crown, took the names of Lancaster and York, even
being Plantagenets.

The greatest Plantagenet’s’ contribution was the development of English law,

especially the Common Law.

When Henry II (1154-1189) became king of England, he was already Count

of Anjou and of Touraine, and Duke of Normandy and of Aquitaine, his
territories in France exceeded even those of the French king.Henry began by
destroying the castles built by rebellious barons and regulating the power of the
Church.

The following king was Richard I (1189-1199), known as the Lionheart for his
cruzading zeal and his chivalry. He paid dearly for his faraway campaigns and
the huge ransom that secured his freedom, only to see him return to France
where he died.

John (1199-1216) acceded to the throne at the dead of his brother, Richard I.
He lost his French dominions and imposed a high level of taxation that had the
nobility up in arms against him. In 1215 they forced King John to sign the
Magna Carta, guaranteeing their rights. This led to civil war, which only ended
with John's dead.

Henry III (1216-1272) crowned king at the age of nine, England was ruled
tenporarily by two regents. In 127, Henry took full control of the government. In
1258, the English barons, led by Simon de Montfort, rebelled against Henry
misgovernment. They presented a list of grievances to Henry, who signed the
Provisions of Oxford, which limited royal power. In 1265 Simon de Montfort
summoned the first English Parliament.

Edward I (1272-1307) was the best king to rule medieval England: He

tranformed the law of England and made his crown the richest and most
powerful in Europe. His principal ambition was to unite Britain under one rule.
He united the kingdoms of England and Scotland and conquered Wales.

In 1284, Edward was in Wales and his wife Eleanor, gave birth to a son and
heir, Edward. Edward I held up his son at a gathering of Welsh nobles and said:
“Here is your Prince of Wales”, ever since that time, the monarch's eldest son
has received the title of Prince of Wales.

THE INVINCIBLE CASTLES

The building of impregnable castles was an art that the English learnt on their
Crusades to the Holy Land.The principle they brought back was the concentric
idea. His castles combined an outer curtain of massive walls and towers with a
complex barbican protecting the gatehouse of the inner ring of defence.The old
squared towers were replaced by round ones which had flew blind spots and
deflected boulders more easily.

The main weapon these castles had to face was the siege catapult and the
trebuchet, a device which could launch stones of a quarter of ton.

3.1. Magna Carta

Document that King John of England (1166-1216) was forced into signing, it
greatly reduce the power he held as the King. And allowed for the formation of a
powerful parliament. Most of its clauses recited specific complaints against
lawless behaviour of King John, and a promise that it would not be repeated. It
was considered to be the beginning of constitutional government in England.

The main aim of the Magna Carta was to curb the King and make him govern
by the old English laws (before Normans came). It was a collection of 37
English laws, some copied and old, some recollected and new.

Its content was drafted by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, and

the most Powerful Baron of England. Magana Carta was originally called the
"Articles of the Barons” after that The Royal Chancery produce a formal royal
grant, which became known as Magna Carta, on June 15, 1215

There were some events that led up to King John to be forced into the signing
of the Magna Carta:

• In 1205 King John quarrelled with Pope Innocent III about who should
be archbishop of Canterbury, The Pope wanted: Stephen Langton (who
draft it), King John swore he should never come to England.
• In 1209, the Pope excommunicated King John and banned all church
services in all parish churches. During that time John attacked the
Church without mercy, confiscated part of its wealthy, forced 7 English
bishops to flee.
 • In1212 King John imposes taxes on the Barons in his attempts to regain
the lost lands of Aquitaine, Poitou, Anjou. King John quarrels with
Barons; they felt aggrieved at their exclusion from royal favours. There
was a powerful opposition.
• In 1213, the King left England to camping in France, His absence gave
the barons enough time to plan their moves carefully
• In January 1215, Barons took up arms against King John and captured
London in May 1215, on June (2115) the Barons, took King John by
surprise at Windsor and agreed to a meeting at Runnymede in Egham.
• On June 10, 1215, King John signed and sealed the document.
• On June 15, 1215 The baron renewed the Oath of Fealty to King John.
• Between 1215 and 1217, there was a Barons war due to King’s
nonconformity with the Magna Carta.
• In 1216 Prince Louis son of the king of France invades England and
arrived to London, there, the rebel Barons support him, and was
proclaimed and accepted as King of England. (Although not actually
crowned)
• In 1216, King John dies in October, the Barons turn on Price Luis and
supports King John's son who became King Henry III of England.

The Magana Carta mixed specific complaints with some principles of law:

• John was no to levy unauthorised taxes or fine men excessive amounts

for trivial offences.
• His officers could no longer seize corps without pay for them
• Knight were no tot be forced to served the king overseas
• The Church could not be oppressed, no its wealth confiscated.
• No one will we sell, deny or delay right of justice
• The King could no be above the law
• The King must govern his subjects according to its terms and not
according to his own whim.
• If a monarch were to break the terms of the charter, he would be
overthrow.
The most important thing about this charter was not what it said, but the fact
that it was granted at all. Wrested from the hands of a unwilling monarch.

The Magna Carta became the basis for the English citizen's rights and liberties
it was considered to be the beginning of constitutional government in England
and hence America Liberties.

3.2. The Independence of Scotland

Between twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the English penetration was
peaceable. The western isles were divided for the Norwegians kings, but king
Magnus looked like pushing into the mainland, formally too. After the death of
Scottish King Alexander, King Edward I of England, who was a friend and
brother-in-law of the King Alexander, marched to the north of Scotland and took
over the country as an English colony.

After this, William Wallace (or Sir William Wallace) was driven by the conviction
that he was Scottish, Edward was English, and the Scotland must be free of the
king called the Hammer of the Scots. Wallace retook the castles that Edward
had captured. Their great victory was in September 1297 at Stirling Bridge and
Wallace became the master of Scotland. Wallace was hanged, drawn and
quartered because he was charged with treason.

The next Scot to fight for independence was Robert the Bruce, the Earl of
Carrick in Ayrshire and a trusted ally of Edward. Bruce had himself crowned
king at Scone in March 1306. Despite his coronation Bruce was soon in trouble,
attacked by Edward's men and forced to flee Scotland and hide on the island of
Rathlin, off the Irish coast.

Bruce tried and tried again and he conquered most of Scotland. He climax was
the Battle of Bannockburn, which has engraved the date 1314 on the heart of
Scottish patriots ever since. The English mustered 20,000 men, Bruce has 6000
and an inflexible determination.

The English territories north of York and Lancaster became a reluctant but
hapless supply source to the Scots. In 1320 the English king Edward II secured
a two-year truce in these Northern provinces. In 1322, Robert I came south and
burned Lancaster. In 1322 fighting in the area was so fierce.

The defeated King Edward III of England could not quite admit that he was
finished. In 1327 negotiations for peace began again, and by March 1328 they
were concluded. Edward III finally a treaty was signed in Edinburgh on 17
March and ratified by the English parliament at Northampton on 4 May.

As Scotland's economy was good the wars of independence were not so

damaging. It may have been the case that the profits of raiding the farms and
blackmailing the northern countries of England, and the booty of Bannockburn,
were so great that the wealth of Scotland actually increased, despite the costs
of the fighting a war.

4. The Houses of Lancaster and York

From the middle of the 15tn century, England was torn by a vicious and
violent struggle between rival claimants to the throne. The conflict lay in the
deep bitterness of dynastic rivalry. From the sons of Edward III has sprung two
great families, the Houses of York and Lancaster.

The House of Lancaster (1399-1461) was a short dynasty of the three kings, all
named Henry. Henry IV, Henry V.

Until 1450’s, the energies of England’s great families have been spent in the
French wars. But when the Hundred Years’ War, against France, ended in final
defeat, the nobles transferred their ambitions, passions and quarrels from the
soil of France to that of English itself. The loss of the French possessions,
together with the weak government of Henry VI, led to the outbreak of The War
of the Roses, that can be seen can be seen quite simply as the military
expression of an on-going family quarrel between two branches of the royal
house of Plantagenet.

As the government of Henry VI became more inefficient, there was a

growing clamour for Richard Plantagenet to govern the country. In 1460 Richard
formally claimed the throne but he was killed in battle Wakefield.

Richard’s son, Edward took up his father’s cause. The Lancastrians met
defeat in their turn, and when Edward seated himself upon the throne in
Westminster hall on March 4, 1461. Edward was proclaimed the first Yorkist
king.

Edward IV proved himself an able ruler, and during his reign, which was
briefly interrupted (1461-70, 1471-1483), the country enjoyed a well-deserved
period of peace.

Richard III (1483-1485) succeeded his brother Edward IV after confining his
two nephews, in the Tower of London, and after a few months the two brothers
were never seen again. Richard III was king for barely two years.

On 22 August 1485, the seemingly triumphant Yorkists were challenged by

the last oh the Lancastrian line, the young Prince Henry Tudor’s army in
field just outside the Town of Marker Bosworth in Leicestershire. And with the
death of Richard III, the last of the Plantagenets, on Boswoth Field, there came
to the throne a new dynasty which was to reunite a divided land and lead back
to the greatness: The House of Tudor. The Yorkist dynasty only lasted until
1485, but in this time England enjoyed a leap forwards in national prosperity.

5. Medieval Society in the British Isles

Middle Ages: from the V century (the fall of Rome) to 1492 ( European
discovery of America).

Characteristics of the Middle Ages: universality and immobility.

Two types of immobility: horizontal (spatial) and vertical (social)

The medieval society was agricultural and so that they had serious problems in
orders to obtain a continuous supply of food.

Rigidly hierarchized society:

At the apex of medieval society were the king or the emperor, and the Pope.
They claimed to derive their authority from Heaven.

Under these, aristocracy and upper hierarchy (closed classes) who were land-
owning classes.

The next step in the pyramid was constituted by the lesser nobility (Knights and
feudal lords) and regular clergy. Knights were men of free birth following a non-
servile-service to an aristocrat. Feudal lords owned lands laboured by their
serfs. Regular clergy was a social group composed by clerks following a rule
and forming a monastic society or a military order.

The next social groups are free laity and secular clergy. Some of the free
laymen lived in towns and they were merchants. They were known as
burgesses (inhabitants of the burg “town”). Another of these free laymen was
the free peasants who had a plot of land and who also had to perform some
services on the lord’s domain. Secular clergy was formed by parish priests who
were under the centralisation of the Church government at Rome and they
didn’t own any property.

The last group was the serfs who were unfree people, lord’s property and had
no public rights.

5.1. The Medieval Church: the Secular Church, the

Monastic Orders and the Friars
In the 13th century new orders of friars arrived.

Those at the head of the English Church were wealthy, aristocratic and cosmopolitan
ecclesiastics. That created a conflict between Church and the State and the
Archbishop Thomas Becket was involved in it. Henry II wanted to limit papal power in
England. Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170, by royal command apparently.

New religious orders were introduced to England to increase the Benedictine houses,
the sole monastic order available to Saxon England. Agustine houses were the most
numerous religious houses in England by the end of monastic period. In 1129, the first
Cistercian house was founded in England.
Great monastic buildings were created. Archaeology has illuminated the diverse range
of activities at monastic sites: masonry carving and tiling, iron smelting and milling. The
production of wool supported these activities.

The founding of Benedictine monasteries inspired a new age of book-making. Groups

of scribe produced fine manuscripts in Latin and Anglo-Saxon.

The friars preached and thought in Christian doctrine and they institutionalised poverty.
By 1350 a vast majority of towns in England had a convent of one or several orders of
friars. The activities of friars confronted with the bishoprics when lay people preferred
the churches of friars rather than their own parish churches.

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IN THE MIDDLE AGES

In the middle Ages, man’s faith in the Christian religious was unshakeable. They
attributed natural phenomena to a divine intervention. This is the case of Halley’s
Comet in 1066, which was regarded as a sign of God to punish King Harold for
breaking an oath.

5.2. The Medieval Economy

Economic activity in the British Isles was dominated by agriculture. At least
three-quarters of the population lived and worked on the land and landed wealth
was the foundation of social status and political power.

The influence of trading links with Europe drew trade and prosperity towards the
Southeast where international trade fairs and urban centers of the cloth trade
were concentrated.

th th
In 12 and 13 centuries the economy was agrarian: raw materials were
exported and manufactured products were imports. The main port was London
where important foreign companies had their British headquarters there. The
Channel and the North Sea offered the greatest opportunities for the British
Isles commerce.

There was a wide network of trading places created by Kings and lords whose
main aim was to profit from trade. In the 13th England and Scotland money
supply grew faster than the population and monetized economy was introduced
to the English lordship of Ireland.

Bulk goods traveled most cheaply by water so overseas commerce grew in

importance.
 5.3. The Black Death and Its Social and Economic
Consequences
In the middle Ages sickness, disease and death was a constant threat. The
average Englishman lived only 38 years in the mid-14th. In times of peril, men
looked to God rather than to science for assistance.

The plague of the Black Death swept through England in 1348. It was originated
in Asia and the epidemic followed commercial trade routes. It may have been
carried by infected rats in ships and traveled in the merchandise. With the
opening up of the trade routes in the East, the bacillus was brought to the
Europe. Once it reached Europe, its progress was steady and rapid. A plague
without know cause or cure led many to go on pilgrimages that were the ideal
conduit for the transmission of the plague. At the end of June the plague was
spreading towards England. The disease spread rapidly in every direction.

Its symptoms inspired terror. Horrible swellings of the glands appeared as the
whole body turned black. Violence increased in the towns and resentment
against the clergy and the rich erupted into riots.

The plague created social problems. Men were afraid to travel so little food
reached the towns adding starvation to the sufferings. In the countryside the
population was halved in some places. Landowner´s profits fell sharply as
Labourers demanded 2 o 3 times their usual wages. The government tried to
intervene issuing the Labourers, a measure wich laid down the wages and tried
to control prices, but the policy failed and the Peasant´s revolt explode in 1381.
One-third of the England´s population was destroyed.

The trading links between Ireland and western coast of England caused that the
plague filtered into Ireland in 1348. It is difficult to say to what extent the Black
Death affected the Irish population but it penetrated all regions of the country. In
1351 this outbreak had run its course but there were outbreaks in following
years.

These recurring outbreaks had a profound effect on slowing the population

recovery in Europe (particularly in Ireland). The result was zero population
growth for many years.
The plague disrupted work and living patterns. It engendered human migrations,
rural dwellers left for larger manors, towns and cities in pursuit of work and
better opportunities.

SCHEMES
1. The first kings of the English
• 849-899 King Alfred the Great transformed the ancient kingdom of the
West Saxons into the kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons.
• Important political development from the kingdom of the West Saxon to
th English kingdom.
• Alfred spread the kingdom across the river Thames. He promoted the
idea of “Englishness”.
• Edward the Elder ( Alfred's son) expanded the kingdom to the Danes
eastern England and the Mercians.
• Edward's son Aethelstan gained York in 927.
• King Edgar ( 959-975) completed the unification of the kingdom of
Britain.
• In 1016 the Danish king Cnut invaded Britain and took over the kingdom.
• Cnut's successors inherited a kingdom divided between two earls:
Godwin of Wessex and Leofric of Mercia.
• Another important figure at this time was Queen Aelfgifu, she was the
wife of King Aelthered the Unready (978-1013, 1014-1016) and the wife
of King Cnut (1017-1035).
• Edward the Confessor (the son of Ethelred II) who lived in exile in
Normandy, returned to England in 1041 and was recognised by
Harthacnut(Cnut's son), as heir to the throne.

1.1. The Saintly King’s Legacy: Westminster Abbey

• Edward saw the Norman architecture which inspired him to create the
great Westminster Abbey.
 • In 1041 he returned to England and was able to fulfil his ambition when
he was named the throne's heir.
• In 1065, on 28 December the great abbey, although incomplete, was
consecrated.
• On January 5, 1066 Edward died and was buried beneath a tomb in
Westminster Abbey.
• In 1066, 25 December William the Conqueror had himself consecrated
king.

1.2. British Society on the Eve of the Norman Conquest

• Edward the Confessor left behind him a prosperous and flourishing
kingdom.
• The England wealth came from her rich farmlands.
• The peasantry was not unfree, they owed unpaid work, rent in money
and kind. They had limited rights.
• Life in town also flourished, the largest city was London.
• Shires were divided into hundreds, the legal work was transacted in the
Hundred Courts. Freemen within the hundreds were arranged in
“tithings”.
• The king was responsible for government.
• The coin was the nost stable in Western Europe.
• The shire-reeve looked after royal rights in each shire.

2. The Normans
Normans: originally Vikings of Scandinavian origin (mainly Danes).

- 10th c.: settled in NW France (adopted Frankish Law).

- 11th c. (middle): Normandy→ powerful dukedom. Norman army (one of

the best in Europe).

- By 1035, Normandy→ very well ruled, William the Conqueror was duke.

Normandy started to expand:

- 1061→ Robert Guiscard created the Norman Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

- Edward the Confessor, (last Anglo-Saxon king died childless) claimed to the
English throne (basis of claim: Edward was a second cousin of William).

● 1042, Edward: crowned king of England (the court started to fill with
Normans).

● 1066, Edward died. Harold Godwinson, Earl, of the House of Wessex→

elected king.
● William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, defeated the English king Harold
at the Battle of Hasting, 14 October 1066.

William built many monuments (cathedrals, churches, etc.). His consolidation of

might thank to vast stone castle (Tower of London).

● William II Rufus (Edward’s heir): reigned (1087-1100). Died in 1100.

●Accession of Henry I to the throne.

2.1 The Norman Conquest and the Transformation of

England.
1051- Edward promised the throne to William, duke of Normandy.

1066- Edward died and Harold Godwineson was chosen as his successor.
William and his Norman army defeated the Saxon at the Battle of Hastings and
William was crowned King of England.

1067- William suppressed a Saxon revolt in the Southwest of England.

1068- Norman army was massacred in Durham.

1070- Hereward the Wake launched a campaign against the Normans.

1085- King William ordered the compilation of the Domesday Book.

1087- End of William’s reign

2.2 The Succession Problems

• From 1.087 to 1100, William II was the king of England: detested by the
Church but loved by knights, died mysteriously when he was hunting with
his brother Henry I, his heir.
• Henry I (1100-1135) ruled well and introduced the Exchequer. After his
death a civil war broke between his heir and daughter Mathilda and
Henry's nephew, Stephen, who usurped the throne.
• After 18 years of war and anarchy, Henry Plantagenet (Henry II), the son
of Mathilda, was designed king by Stephen and the war ended.

3. The Plantagenets
This name derives from the badge worn by Goffrey, Count of Anjou, it was a
sprig of flowering broom.

• Henry II, the first Plantagenet (1154-1189),with large territories in France.

• Richard I, the lionheart.
• John (1199-1216) acceded at the throne at the death of his brother,
 Richard I. In 1215, the lords forced the king to sign the Magna Carta.
• Henry III (1216-1272) crowned king at the age of nine. In 1227, took full
control of the government. In 1258 the English barons led by Simon de
Montfort rebelled against him. They presented a list of grievances to him
who signed the Provisions of Oxford, which limited royal power. In 1265
Simon de Montfort summoned the first English Parliament.
• Edward I (1272-1307). He transformed the law of England and made his
crown the richest and most powerful in Europe. He attempted to unite the
kingdoms of England and Scotland and conquered Wales.

3.1. Magna Carta

Document that King John of England (1166-1216) was forced into signing, it
reduce the power he held as the King, The main aim of the Magna Carta
was to curb the King and make him govern by the old English laws

Events:
• In 1205 King John quarrelled with Pope Innocent III
• In 1209, King John excommunicated, John attacks church
• In1212 King John imposes taxes on the Barons, they felt aggrieved
• In 1213, the King left England to camping in France, Barons´ time to
plan.
• In January 1215, Barons took up arms against King John and captured
London in May 1215, on June (2115) the Barons, took King John by
surprise at Windsor and agreed to a meeting at Runnymede in Egham.
• On June 10, 1215, King John signed and sealed the document.
• On June 15, 1215 The baron renewed the Oath
• Between 1215 and 1217 Barons war.
• In 1216 Prince Louis invades England the rebel Barons support him and
was proclaimed as King of England
• In 1216, King John dies, the Barons turn on Price Luis, and supports
King John's son who became King Henry III of England.

3.2. The Independence of Scotland

• Around the twelfth and thirteenth: the English penetration was peaceable
and Edward I marched to the north of Scotland.

• In September 1297: great victory of Scots directed by William Wallace at

Stirling Bridge.

• In 1305: Wallace was hanged, drawn and quartered because he was

charged with treason.
 • In March 1306: Bruce had himself crowned king at Scone.

• In 1314: the Battle of Bannockburn where was the climax for Scottish.

• In 1320: the English king Edward II secured a two-year truce in these

Northern provinces.

• In 1322: Robert I came south and burned Lancaster and the fighting in
the area was so fierce.

• In 1327: negotiations for peace began again, and by March 1328 they
were concluded.

• On 17 March: Edward III finally a treaty was signed in Edinburgh.

• On 4 May: ratified by the English parliament at Northampton.

4. The Houses of Lancaster and York

• From mid-15th: England torn in violent struggles between rivals claimants
to the throne.
• Lancaster (1399-1461)
• York (1461-1485)
• Short dynasty of three kings. Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VI.
• The Hundred Year’s war: a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453
between two royal houses for the French throne (Valois and
Plantagenets).
• The nobles transferred their ambitions to England.
• The War of the Roses: the war between the houses of Lancaster and
York, two branches of the Plantagenets. Cause: weak + inefficient
government of Henry VI.
• York: Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III, Edward IV, Richard III.
• Bosworth field: fall of the last York, Richard III ------- The House of Tudor
 (Henry VII)

THE WAR OF ROSES

• The different royal houses wanted to rule England. These were the Houses of
Lancaster and York.

• Henry VI, a Lancaster king, had lost the French possessions and his
government was weak. This lead to the Wars of Roses, which would last 30
years. Most people wanted Richard, Duke of York, to govern the country. He
took up arms against the king and claimed the throne, but he was killed in battle
at Wakefield.

• Richard's son, Edward was proclaimed the first Yorkist king. During the
kingdom of Edward IV, the country lived a period of peace. The crown passed
directly to Richard III because Edward V had been declared an illegitimate son
of Edward IV. Richard III was king for barely two years. On his death, a new
dynasty, The House of Tudor, came to the throne.

5. Medieval Society in the British Isles

From V Century to 1492.

Hierarchized society (pyramid of the feudal system):

The king or the emperor

The Pope

Aristocracy

Upper hierarchy

Knights

Feudal Lords

Regular Clergy

Laymen

Secular Clergy

Serfs

5.1. The Medieval Church: the Secular Church, the

Monastic Orders and the Friars
Conflict between Church and the State.

Henry II limited papal power in England.

New religious orders introduced to England: Benedictine Houses, Agustine

Houses, Cistercian Houses.

Monastic buildings created. Activities in monastic sites: masonry carving, tiling,

iron smelting and miling. Principal supporting the production of wool.

New age of book-making.

By 1350 the great majority of towns in England had a convent of one or several
orders of friars.

Confrontation between churches of friars and parish churches.

Religious beliefs in the middle ages

Man’s faith unshakeable. Natural phenomena as divine intervention. Example:

Halley’s Comet.
 5.2. The Medieval Economy
Economic activity dominated by agriculture: foundation of social status and
political power.

The influence of trading links with Europe drew trade and prosperity. Main port
London.

Monetized economy was introduced to the English lordship of Ireland.

Bulk goods traveled cheaply by water so overseas commerce grew.

5.3. The Black Death and Its Social and Economic

Consequences
The Englishman lived 38 years: Men looked to God for assistance.

The plague swept England in 1348. Originated in Asia, followed commercial

trade routes. Pilgrimages spread it rapidly.

Created social problems: violence increased against the clergy and the rich.

Countryside the population was halved in some places.

Landowner´s profits fell. Labourers demanded 2 o 3 times their usual wages.

The government tried to intervene issuing the Labourers but failed and the
Peasant´s revolt explode in 1381.

One-third of the England´s population destroyed.

Trading links filtered the plague into Ireland. Following outbreaks caused zero
population growth for many years.

The plague disrupted work and living patterns.