Hello, and thanks for joining me today for another Oak Academy history lesson.

My name is Mrs. Knox, and today I'll be guiding you through all of the resources and materials you need to be successful with this lesson.

So let's begin.

Today's lesson is part of the unit of work on Norman England, where we're asking the question, "How did the lives of ordinary people change after the Norman invasion?" In today's lesson, we'll focus on daily life in Norman England, and by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to assess the extent of which life changed for ordinary people in Norman England.

There are several keywords that we'll use in our lesson today, so let's take a look at those now.

The first term we'll use is feudal system, which is a system of landholding in which land is exchanged for service and loyalty.

We'll also use the term the built environment, which is the landscape created by buildings and infrastructure like roads and bridges.

We'll also use the term Romanesque, which was an architectural style based on the features of ancient Roman buildings.

And finally, we'll use the word inequality.

Inequality is differences in wealth, opportunity or status in society, for example, between the rich and the poor.

Today's lesson will come in three parts, so let's get started now with part one, which will focus on continuity in daily life.

Many aspects of daily life in England remained largely unchanged after the Norman Conquest.

The rural landscape where most of the population lived saw a continuation of traditional farming practises.

Villagers continued to cultivate the same crops, wheat, rye, barley and oats, and use the same farming methods.

The familiar three field system persisted where one field was sown in winter, another in spring, and the third was left fallow to recover its fertility.

Village life also maintained its structure and routine.

Villagers lived in simple houses made of wood and thatched with straw or reeds, just as they had before the Normans arrived.

These homes often had a single room where the family cooked, ate and slept, sharing the space with their livestock during the colder months.

The community's social and religious life continued to revolve around the local church, which served as a centre for worship, festivals and even trade.

Here's a check now of your understanding so far.

How did the three field system work? Did it A, have two fields kept fallow with one sown in spring? B, one field sown in winter, another in spring, and the third kept fallow? Or C, each spring a different crop was sown in each of the three fields such as barley, wheat and oats.

Press pause and then press play to hear the answer.

Well done if you said the correct answer was B, one field was sewn in winter, another in the spring, and the third was kept fallow.

Many Anglo-Saxon craftspeople continued their trades under Norman rule, just as they had before the conquest.

In both the countryside and towns, blacksmiths, millers, brewers and bakers, and in the towns, those in skilled occupations like weaving, tanning and pottery, all saw few changes, except perhaps for greater demand for their services from the new Norman residents.

For example, historians know from licences to mint coins that Anglo-Saxon moneyers were kept in their positions by the Normans due to their expertise.

Here's another check of your understanding now.

Which of the following students is describing the aspects of life which stayed the same under Norman rule? Press pause, and when you have your answer, press play.

That's right, you should have said that Jacob was describing the aspects of life which stayed the same under the Normans.

Jacob said, "Norman England still revolved around farming and craftsmanship.

People had simplistic lifestyles and the church was at the heart." Finally, in this section, I'd like you to complete the table by giving an example of how each of these features of life remain unchanged in Norman England.

Press pause to complete the table and then press play to see the correct answers.

Welcome back, let's see how you got on.

For jobs, you could have said that most people still farmed the land or worked as craftsmen.

For example, blacksmiths, bakers and millers.

For housing, you could have said houses were made of wood with thatched roofs.

They had a single room which was shared with livestock in the winter.

For housing, you could have said the houses were made of wood with thatched roofs.

They had a single room which was shared with livestock in the winter.

For beliefs, you have said the parish church was at the heart of the local community and used for celebrations, worship and trading.

And for where people lived, you could have said most people lived in rural farming communities.

We're ready now to move on to the second section of our lesson today.

This section will focus on change in daily life.

Norman rule also brought substantial changes to daily life in England.

One of the biggest, even if gradual changes, came from the feudal system, which altered the relationship between peasants and the lord of their manor.

Peasants had to work harder to meet the demands of the new Norman lords and freeman were gradually compelled to become villeins, tythed to their lord's service.

And farmers, who paid a fixed fee to manage an estate for a period, imposed harsh discipline on peasants in order to extract the maximum profit from their investment.

Normans disapproved of the Anglo-Saxons' use of enslaved labour.

So the reduction in the number of enslaved people was another major change under Norman rule.

Architecturally the Normans left a lasting impact on England's built environment.

Their castles, a new type of building to the English, dominated the landscape in towns and in the Marcher earldoms. stone-built castles like the Tower of London were especially intimidating symbols of Norman authority and control.

Church reforms were accompanied by the demolition of smaller, often wooden, Anglo-Saxon churches and their replacement with stone-built larger churches in the Normans' favourite Romanesque style.

Cathedrals and monasteries were also rebuilt in awe inspiring grandeur.

Okay, let's have a check now of your understanding.

I'd like you to discuss this question with a partner.

The Norman's favoured Romanesque architecture.

Do you think they demolished wooden Anglo-Saxon churches and replaced them with stone to show how religious they were? Or did they do it to show how powerful they were? Press pause and when you finish your discussion, press play to see what you could have decided.

Welcome back.

You might have decided that they probably replaced the Anglo-Saxon wooden churches with Romanesque style stone buildings because they wanted to impress the English population with their power and their strength.

It would've been a way to intimidate and to inspire awe in the local people.

The introduction of forest law, which expanded areas of both the king's lands and those granted to his tenants, restricted local communities' access to resources they had previously relied on.

This law protected game animals for the king's hunting and limited the rights of peasants to use the forest for grazing animals, collecting firewood or hunting.

The economic strain on local populations increased as they faced fines and harsh penalties for breaking these forest laws.

Trade patterns also shifted under Norman rule.

Towns that had previously thrived on trade links with Scandinavia saw these connections disrupted, particularly in the north.

However, new trade routes developed with Normandy and other parts of continental Europe, fostering the growth of port towns like Portsmouth and Boston.

The Norman focus on improving infrastructure, such as building new roads and bridges, facilitated these changes and contributed to the economic development of England.

Here's another check of your understanding now.

Which of these areas of English life all changed under Norman rule? Was it A, religion, farming, and jobs? B, architecture, laws and trade? Or C, music, sport and literature? Press pause and when you're ready to hear the answer, press play.

You should have said the correct answer was B, architecture, laws and trade all changed under Norman rule.

Finally, in this section, I'd like you to provide two examples to support Sofia's statement.

"The most important change that happened under Norman rule was the population was more tightly controlled by the king and the Norman lords." Press pause and when you're ready with your examples, press play.

Welcome back, let's see how you got on.

You could have mentioned that ordinary people were no longer allowed to hunt in the forest land and they were punished harshly for breaking forest law.

More freeman had to remain within their lord's service, and the feudal system meant that the peasants had to work harder for their Norman lords.

Now, I'd like you to provide two examples to disagree with Sofia's statement.

Again, press pause, and when you're ready with your examples, press play.

Welcome back again, let's see how you got on.

You could have mentioned that the number of enslaved people was reduced by the Normans and the church continued to have a lot of power and was the centre of people's lives.

We're ready now to move on to the final section of today's lesson.

This section will look at the differences in daily life.

Society had been far from equal in Anglo-Saxon England, but the Norman Conquest increased the inequalities that already existed and introduced new differences in daily life.

One of the most significant differences was between the lives of the rich and the poor.

The Norman elite, including the king and his barons, lived in manor houses and stone-built townhouses with substantial wealth and resources at their disposal.

Their daily lives were marked by luxury, feasting and leisure activities like hunting.

In contrast, the vast majority of the population, primarily peasants, lived modestly, working long hours in the fields and struggled to meet the demands of their lords.

Another significant change was in the status of women in English society.

In Anglo-Saxon England women had legal rights, for example, they could own land, inherit land, and they could make wills that passed on their property to others.

This changed under Norman rule.

Women were no longer allowed to own anything.

Instead, this became the property of their husbands or their fathers.

The ban on clerical marriage meant that women who lived with unmarried priests were at risk of losing their homes.

There was an increase too in the number of richer women choosing to be nuns, perhaps as a way to escape the pressures on women in daily life in Norman England.

Regional differences also became more pronounced under Norman rule.

The north of England, in particular, experienced severe devastation following the Harrying of the North.

This campaign led to widespread destruction of villages and a significant loss of life, causing long-term economic and social disruption in the region.

Many villages remained desolate and unproductive for years, contrasting sharply with the more prosperous and stable conditions in the south.

Time for a quick check of your understanding again.

Here's a true or false question.

Under Norman rule, life in the north of England was more prosperous than in the south.

Is that true or false? Press pause and then press play to hear the answer.

That's right.

You should have said the correct answer was false.

But why was it false? Is it because A, the north of England remained out of the control of the Norman kings and therefore went into decline? Or B, the Harrying of the North caused the destruction of northern villages and instability? Press pause and then press play for the answer.

You should have said, the correct justification is B.

The Harrying of the North caused the destruction of the northern villages and led to instability.

The Normans and the English populations usually led very different lives.

The Normans had all the positions of privilege and power.

Changes to laws and customs always benefited the Normans rather than the English.

The English were relegated to the lower status positions and they continued their traditional ways of life, but now they were under the watchful eye of the Norman overlords.

This cultural and social divide was evident in many aspects of daily life from the foods that they ate to the languages they spoke.

Like colonisers everywhere, the Normans quickly developed a contempt for their English subjects.

One Norman lord supposedly referred to going to the toilet as "doing an English." Here's another check of your understanding again.

True or false, the Norman and English populations had very similar lives under Norman rule.

Press pause and when you're ready to hear the answer, press play.

That's right.

You should have said the correct answer was false.

But why is it false? Is it because A, the English remained in the powerful positions they had held before the Norman Conquest? Or B, the Normans occupied all the positions of privilege and power whilst the English held the lower social positions? Press pause and then press play for the correct answer.

That's right, you should have said the correct answer was B.

The Normans occupied all the positions of privilege and power whilst the English held the lower social positions.

It's time now to put everything you've learned in this section into practise.

I'd like you to complete the table by deciding whether each feature of life in Norman England was a change or a continuity.

Press pause to complete the task and when you're ready, press play.

Let's see how you got on.

You should have said for the feudal system and the location of power, that that was a change in Norman England.

For farming practises and life in the villages, that was a continuity.

The appearance of the built environment was a change.

The rights of women was a change.

The work of craftspeople in the towns was a continuity.

Regional and class inequalities was a change, and finally, forest law was a change.

Finally, today, I'd like you to attempt this question.

There was more change than continuity in English life under the Normans.

How far do you agree with this statement? To help you with your answer, you could use some of the points in the table on the previous task to help you to write a balanced answer.

There are also some suggestions on the screen as to how you might want to structure your answer.

Press pause now to complete the task and then press play to see what you could have written.

Welcome back, let's see how you got on.

You could have said, on the one hand, there was more change than continuity in English life under the Normans, because the feudal system led the Norman elite to have more power over the lives of the English population than under the Anglo-Saxons.

The Norman lords now held the positions of highest privilege and power and freemen were now tied to a particular landowner.

In addition, women no longer had legal rights and there was more inequality between the north and the south of England.

Moreover, even the look of the built environment changed due to castle and monastery building.

However, some aspects of life did stay the same, such as the farming practises and routines in the countryside.

The three field system continued to produce the same crops, and villagers still lived in the simple houses of wood and thatch construction.

Many of the Anglo-Saxon craftspeople in towns were able to keep their jobs that they'd held before the Norman Conquest as there was a need for skilled workers such as blacksmiths, weavers and tanners.

Overall, I agree to a large extent that many aspects of life changed under Norman rule, such as where power lay.

However, the day-to-day existence of the people remained similar, if a little harder, for the poorest and those in the north.

We've now reached the end of today's lesson, so let's have a summary of everything you should have learned.

Many aspects of daily life did not change much after the Norman conquest, especially life in the countryside.

There were significant changes in some laws affecting daily life, including forest law and in the church buildings people saw every day.

Normans also took over positions of authority.

There were also some regional differences across the country, particularly in relation to the Harrying of the North.

Finally, daily life for the rich was also very different from the daily lives of the poor.

Thanks for all of your hard work in our lesson today.

I hope that you feel confident that you have met your learning objective, and I look forward to seeing you join me in a future history lesson.