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 you need to be successful in this lesson.

So let's begin.

Today's lesson is part of the AQA GSCE historic environment topic on Norman England.

In today's lesson, we'll look at the historical context themes of Castle Acre Priory.

By the end of the lesson, you'll be able to recall and apply key themes from the historical context of Norman England.

Now, before we get started on the lesson, there are some keywords that we'll come across today.

Let's take a look at those now.

One word we'll use is inheritance, which is receiving property, or other items from a parent or other after their death.

We'll also use the word patronage, which is the support that an overlord provided to their vassal in return for homage.

We'll also use the word Romanesque, which is an architectural style inspired by the buildings of ancient Rome.

We'll also use the word investiture, which is the ability to choose and appoint bishops and abbots.

And finally we'll use the word vernacular, which is the language spoken by ordinary people in a region or country.

Today's lesson will be in three sections, so we'll get started now on section one, which will cover the Normans conquest and control.

So conquest and control is about both the process of conquering England, and how the Normans then went about getting control over it, and then keeping that control in the face of English resistance.

This is split into three main themes, the causes of the Norman conquest, military aspects, and establishing and maintaining control.

As we go through this diagram, think for yourself about what you already know about these topics.

Okay, let's start with the causes of the Norman conquest.

This includes the claims made by Harold, William and others, and William's claim to be the legitimate heir of Edward the Confessor.

This continues to be a theme throughout the whole of his reign.

Okay, let's now look at the military aspects, and we'll work through the mind map in a clockwise direction here.

So, if we start at the top of military aspects with the Battle of Stamford Bridge, this was Harold's victory against the Viking invasion, which came at a high cost.

Of course, military aspects would include the Battle of Hastings itself, where it delves deeper into Anglo-Saxon tactics, and Norman tactics in the Battle of Hastings, and the military innovations of cavalry, Norman Knights and castles.

Both knights and motte-and-bailey castles were new to England, which made a big difference to the Norman's capability to impose control on rebellious areas.

And finally, let's look at establishing and maintaining control, and we'll work through these aspects in an anti-clockwise direction.

So establishing and maintaining control includes the Anglo-Saxon revolts of 1067-1075, starting with revolts led by a thane called Eadric the Wild in the Welsh marches, and ending with the revolt of the Earls.

And this involved rebellions by William's own Norman earls.

The way that William controlled and put down these rebellions, includes the harrying of the north, and this took place in the winter of 1069-1070.

This is when William ordered such a savage repression of lands in Yorkshire, and parts of the Midlands that they were still classed as waste in 1086 when the Domesday survey was carried out.

Well, while harrying was not the only way that William responded to resistance, it was certainly the most brutal.

And finally, we'll also look at William I leadership and government in this theme, and how William II, William Rufus, became king of England after his father's death in 1087 with some Norman barons rebelling against William II in 1088 in support of his brother, the new Duke of Normandy, Robert Curthose.

Interestingly though, by this time the English rallied behind their new king, rather than taking the opportunity to resist Norman control.

Alright, let's have a quick check of your understanding so far.

Which two of the following are military aspects of Norman England? A, Anglo-Saxon and Norman tactics.

B, cavalry and castles.

C, the death of Edward the Confessor.

Or D, the inheritance of William II.

Press pause now, and then press play to hear the correct answer.

Firstly, you should have said that one military aspect of Norman England is Anglo-Saxon and Norman tactics.

You should also have said that cavalry and castles are another military aspect of Norman England.

Here's another quick check of your understanding now.

What aspect of Norman Conquest and control is missing from this diagram? Press pause to think of your answer, and then press play.

Well done if you said that the missing aspect is, causes of the Norman conquest.

Okay, let's continue.

We're going to delve a little deeper on those key themes for conquest and control.

So firstly, the Normans had a military culture, and this was slightly distinctive from the Anglo-Saxon military culture, as Normans had developed the use of castles and knights.

Furthermore, a key theme of William's conquest of England was his response to resistance, which combined destruction, harrying, violence and so on, but he would also use diplomacy and work with Anglo-Saxon government officials.

And defence, of course, castles dominated the landscape, and that domination included other architectural buildings such as churches and cathedrals built in the new Romanesque style.

William's leadership was also a key factor in battles together with knights, and with military innovation, which was distinctive to Norman military culture.

And William wanted to be seen as the legitimate king of England, and he ensured that the population knew he had legitimacy to be the genuine king of England.

Religion was also central to the Norman conquest and control, and the Normans carried out much reform of the English Church.

And finally, William II's inheritance involved challenges from other Normans, and the conquest of England was finally complete at that point.

Okay, I now want you to discuss this question with a partner.

How might a motte-and-bailey castle help Normans to control an area? Press pause to have your discussion, and then press play to see what you could have discussed.

You might have said in your discussion that troops could live in a castle, ready to go out and put down any trouble in the area.

If there was any threat, Normans could shelter behind the strong defences of the motte-and-bailey castles.

And local people would see the castle, and be intimidated by it.

Finally, in this section I'd like you to study this photo of Old Sarum in Wilshire.

What does it tell you about conquest and control in Norman England? Press pause now, and then press play when you're ready to hear the answer.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look at what your answer could have included.

There is plenty of flat land outside of the Iron Age fort where the Normans could have built a new cathedral, but instead they built it inside the fort, and next to a motte-and-bailey castle.

This suggests that Normans had defence as their main priority, so conquest had not been fully achieved.

Furthermore, having the castle and the cathedral together, side by side would've made a strong unit of control, as both would have dominated the landscape.

Alright, we're now ready to move on to the next section of today's lesson.

In this section, we'll look at life under the Normans.

Okay, so let's look a little deeper now at life under the Normans.

There are two main topics to this theme, both of which cover quite a lot of ground, feudalism and government is one, and the second is economic and social changes.

So we'll start with feudalism and government, and starting with the landholding and lordship at the top we'll work anti-clockwise towards patronage.

So a big part of this theme is how the Normans changed who held the land in England.

There was a huge transfer of land from the Anglo-Saxons to the Normans, and also they developed the feudal system, which put William firmly in control of land, and land holding.

The feudal system tightened up the relationship between overlords and their vassals, and brought in stronger ties of patronage.

This was a support that an overlord provided to their vassal, in return for homage.

It also placed stricter control over inheritance, not to mention the requirements that William's tenants in chief, the men who held land directly from him, should provide knights or military service as part of their feudal obligations to their overlord, the king.

That made a big difference to the military power of a Norman King.

Okay, so now let's look at the Anglo-Saxon, Norman government systems, and work our way anti-clockwise towards the Domesday Book.

While historians have argued about when the feudal system was introduced, and how big a change it brought to Norman England, there is much more agreement that the Normans made relatively few changes to the Anglo-Saxon government systems, or to the justice and the legal system.

This was mainly because these systems worked very well for the Normans, enabling them to extract wealth from England through the tax system, to govern the country from the centre using the effective Anglo-Saxon administration of Shires and hundreds, and simply change who is making the judgments in Anglo-Saxon courts, and enforcing Anglo-Saxon laws from Anglo-Saxons to Normans.

It was the efficient Anglo-Saxon administration that meant the Domesday Book could be compiled so quickly, giving William a detailed guide to who held what, and what taxes and military service they could be providing.

Okay, let's now move on to economic and social changes and their consequences.

In this section, we'll go through Anglo-Saxon and Norman life, and look at the ways people lived in towns and villages, and how these ways of life changed, if they did, from Anglo-Saxon England to Norman England.

So let's start with towns.

Towns did see important changes under the Normans, and it is from towns and the Domesday Book that we can often see the economic changes that happened in Norman England.

If we have a look at buildings, there are interesting links between castle building and town prosperity.

This, for example, helps us to understand the different functions that castles could have, as well as the military role for which they were generally first constructed.

Towns were where trade was taxed in Norman England, and we can see more evidence of economic changes in the authorization of more markets and fairs in towns.

Furthermore, under Norman rule, we saw in England the development of guilds, and the increase in trade in salt and wool.

William also promised to preserve the traditional rights of towns people.

So there is an overlap here between economic changes, and the Norman government.

In terms of social change, the Normans disapproved of the use of enslaved people in Anglo-Saxon society, and reduce the numbers of enslaved people.

However, the feudal system also brought in a reduction in the number of free peasants.

As more peasants became much more strictly tied to the manner under Norman rule, this condition called serfdom was very like slavery in many respects.

Alright, let's have a check again of your understanding.

The topic of 'Life under the Normans' includes the church and religious life.

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

You should have said the correct answer is false.

Press pause again and write an explanation about why the answer is false.

You could have said that the reason the answer is false is the topic is focused on government, and the feudal system, as well as economic and social change, rather than religion.

Here's another check of your understanding.

What key source of information on feudalism and government in Norman England is missing from the diagram? Press pause, and when you're ready to hear the answer, press play.

The missing answer was the Domesday Book.

Okay, let's go into little more detail now on the key themes for feudalism and government.

So firstly, land was transferred from Anglo-Saxons to Norman control.

And the Domesday Book showed this transfer going from thousands of Anglo-Saxon thanes to a few hundred Norman lords.

William's feudal system strictly enforced rules and responsibilities, and the relationship between an overlord and their vassals was based on homage and patronage.

Anglo-Saxon government and laws worked very efficiently, and the Normans generally did not change much.

And finally, the Domesday Book records the normalisation of large landholding, and gives evidence of economic and social change.

Also, let's look in a little more detail at the key themes for economic and social changes.

Towns were promoted by the Normans, however, villages and work probably saw limited changes.

Areas that experienced harrying took a long time to recover economically, but the security provided by Norman control helped economic growth in England.

The Normans rebuilt English churches and cathedrals, often in Romanesque style.

This was used in church buildings across Normandy, and together with castles, buildings saw a big change.

Forest law was a big change for many rural areas, and was resented as it reserved these areas as Williams' personal hunting grounds, and restricted ordinary people from hunting there, and was enforced with severe punishments.

William II promised to end this, but it did not.

Here's another true or false question now.

The Romanesque style of architecture was one of the changes introduced to England by the Normans.

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

You should have said the correct answer was true.

Press pause again to write an explanation about why the answer is true.

You could have said that the Normans had used this style for churches and cathedrals across Normandy.

Finally, in this section I'd like you to study the map of Norman England.

What does it suggest about changes to life in England after the Norman conquest? Press pause, and when you're ready to see what you could have written, press play.

Your answer could have included some of the following, the map shows castles built across the whole of Norman England.

This suggests that many people, especially in towns, would live every day under the shadow of a Norman Castle.

This was especially true in the Marcher earldoms. This might have been intimidating, or people might have valued the security the castle gave them.

Large areas of the countryside did not have castles, in these areas, life might have been quite similar to before the Norman conquest.

Next, I'd like you to study this photograph of a Norman Cathedral, which is built in a Romanesque style.

I'd like you to describe two or three of the features you can see.

Press pause, and when you're ready to hear what you could have written, press play.

In your answer you could have said that you can see thick columns with zig-zag patterns, there are round arches with decorative patterns, very high ceilings with criss-cross arches.

It's made of stone rather than wood, with plain stone work and light-colored stone and the big windows let in a lot of light.

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

In this section we'll be examining the Norman Church and monasticism.

This theme has two topics, the Norman Church and monasticism, and there are many overlaps between these two topics.

Okay, let's start with the church.

One big overlap between the church and monasticism is Archbishop Lanfranc and his reforms, since these apply to the church and to monasteries.

So we'll start by looking at the four top points of this mind map, and then work in an anti-clockwise direction.

Historians debate how far behind the Anglo-Saxon Church really was compared to Normandy, but the Normans made a big deal about the need for reform of the English Church.

The main areas of criticism were to do with corruption amongst church men.

This involved selling possessions within the church, the lack of any real separation between religious life and secular life, and the unofficial nature of some traditional Celtic and Anglo-Saxon saints.

Lanfranc's reforms added more religion and religious discipline to the lives of churchmen, such as priests and monks, separating our lives from ordinary ways of living.

A good example is Lanfranc's efforts to stop priests from marrying.

He thought that priests would be able to focus much more on spiritual life, if they refrain from any sexual relationships.

Okay, let's move on to another aspect.

Church organisation and church courts.

Cases involving wrongdoing by people from the church should not, Lanfranc argued, be judged by the same courts that dealt with ordinary people and their crimes.

Also, we saw a massive programme of church and cathedral building under Lanfranc.

This represented a huge aspect of change in Norman England and it is one that is often a big part of our historic environment studies.

Okay, let's now look at church-state relations and William II.

The relationship between church and state was a good one when it was William and Lanfranc who were managing it.

But after William's death, this was an area of growing tension and conflict in Norman England.

The Investiture Controversy was about who had the power to choose, and appoint bishops and Abbots, the monarch or the Pope.

This controversy was a power struggle between the Pope and monarchs.

If the pope was the overlord of kings, then that meant that bishops and abbots would answer not to their monarch, but to the Pope in Rome, not an attractive proposition to a Norman King.

Okay, so now let's look at monasticism.

Monasticism is often very relevant to our historic environment studies too.

Let's start at the top of the mind map, and work in a clockwise direction.

So starting with the huge programme of church and cathedral rebuilding, the Normans invested heavily in building new abbeys and monasteries, and these buildings were designed to reflect new ideas about how monks should live and worship, that were a big part of Lanfranc's reforms. The Normans were big fans of monastic orders such as the Benedictines and the Cluniac's who followed strict rules, and very carefully controlled ways of life to maximise their spirituality.

Okay, let's now look at learning and education.

Reforms of monasteries also changed education, which had previously been provided by monks.

And the new church schools began to be established with the main purpose of educating future clergymen.

These are the people working for the church and administrators.

And finally, let's look at the use of Latin and vernacular language.

The reforms did all lot to change the use of vernacular language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons, old English, and this was replaced by Latin as the language used in church services, and in official records.

Okay, it's time for another check of your understanding now.

The topic of the Norman Church and monasticism, includes religious reforms. Press pause now, then press play to hear the answer.

You should have said the correct answer is true.

Press pause again to write your justification, or why the answer is true.

You might have said that the topic considers both reforms of monasticism, and of the English Church.

Here's another quick check now.

The name of which key individual is missing from this diagram? Press pause again, then press play for the answer.

That's right, you should have said that the missing name was Archbishop Lanfranc.

Okay, so let's look at the key themes of the Norman Church.

So, the Normans viewed the Anglo-Saxon Church as backward, corrupt, and not following religious laws, and generally believed that it was in decline.

So after 1070, Lanfranc led a reform of the English Church, which included an anti-corruption drive, stricter controls over church life, church courts for any churchmen accused of crimes, instead of them going to the hundred courts, and the integration of bishops and archbishops into the feudal system.

Lanfranc also began a huge programme of church building, building lots of cathedrals across the country.

And William and Lanfranc kept tight control over the English Church, and did not allow the Papacy, that's the Pope, to increase influence.

Okay, let's have a look at the key themes for monasticism.

So monasteries had been in decline in Anglo-Saxon England.

Lanfranc's reforms were heavily influenced by monastic orders such as the Cluniacs.

Reforms introduce more discipline into monastic life, increasing the separation of monk's lives from ordinary life.

And also, some of the leading Norman landowners funded the building of new abbeys and monasteries, and brought over orders of monks from France.

Monastic reform reduced the role of monasteries in education and monks worshipped in Latin, not the vernacular English.

Here's a check now of your understanding again, I'd like you to discuss this question with a partner.

Why did Lanfranc think that the English Church needed to be reformed? Press pause and then once you've had your discussion, press play to see what you could have discussed.

Your discussion might have included that he thought the English Church was backward, that is not up to date.

He thought the English Church was corrupt, its leaders were not following religious laws.

And finally, he thought that the English Church was in decline, that is, it was not as important as it should be.

Finally in this section I'd like you to read Aisha's brief description of Lanfranc's reform of the English Church.

You then need to add two more points to improve her description.

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

Let's see how you got on.

You could have said that the main feature of Lanfranc's reform was a huge programme of church building and rebuilding.

Lanfranc also considered the Anglo-Saxon Church to be corrupt, so he began an anti-corruption drive with stricter rules for church life.

He introduced church courts, so that any churchmen accused of crimes were not tried in the ordinary hundred courts.

Who've now reached the end of today's lesson, so let's have a summary.

The historical context of Norman England includes conquest and control, life under the Normans, and the Norman Church and monasticism.

Recalling key themes from these three topic areas is important for making links between Norman England historic environments, and the historical context of Norman England.

Many thanks for all of your hard work in our lesson together today.

I hope you feel confident that you've met your learning objective for the lesson.

I look forward to you joining me in a future Oak Academy history lesson.