Hello, welcome to History here at Oak National Academy.

My name's Mr. Newton and I'll be your teacher today, guiding you through the entire lesson.

Right.

Let's get started.

We've been thinking about our big inquiry question.

How far did Norman government changed England? This question we have used to investigate the nature of Norman England, and what life was like under Norman rule.

After the Normans had successfully conquered England, it still remained uncertain how they defeated Anglo-Saxons and then Norman conquerors would coexist in the same nation or state.

How would William rule England? What would he change? What would he keep the same? What was life like for ordinary people under Norman rule? Change in continuity is a key skill in history, and the Norman Conquest highlights how despite something as brutal as a military occupation, the underlying direction of a country is far harder to change.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain continuity and change in the government of Norman England.

Before we begin, there are a few keywords that we need to understand.

Continuity is the term used in history to mean things staying the same.

And legitimate is something that is legal, right and accepted.

Today's lesson is split into three parts.

We'll first look at King William and his leadership in government, before moving onto the feudal system in a "Domesday Book." And finally, the legal system and justice.

Right, let's start with King Williams' leadership and government.

Anglo-Saxon England had, for its time, a sophisticated system for governing the country.

So the question is then, to what extent did the Normans change how England was governed? There is good evidence that at first, William wanted as much continuity as possible in how England was governed.

He wanted to be seen as the legitimate heir of Edward the Confessor.

We can see Edward the Confessor in the scene from the Bayeux Tapestry on the right.

Rather than act like a conqueror, he planned to work with the Anglo-Saxon earls and prelates, the senior churchman, who had helped Edward govern England.

These men had submitted to William at Berkhamsted.

Men like earls Edwin and Morcar and the Archbishop Stigand on (indistinct).

And there was a problem, however.

William had also promised power and influence to those who had supported his invasion and fought with him at the Hastings.

William needed to reward his followers with land and power.

William got around this by breaking up the extensive earldoms of the Godwinsons.

This involved some legal propaganda from the Normans, which we can see in the scene from the Bayeux Tapestry on the right.

It shows Harold swearing an oath to William, which he then goes on to break.

So Norman Propaganda showed Harold being portrayed as a usurper and an oath breaker who had never been a legitimate king.

Therefore, according to the Norman view, Harold, his brothers and everyone who had fought against William at Hastings had actually acted against the rightful king of England, William I.

In other words, those who fought against him at Hastings were fighting against their legitimate king.

And that meant that all their lands and positions in government were forfeit, which meant William could hand them out to others.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Which of the following terms is used in history for when things stay the same? A.

Causation.

B.

Change.

C.

Consequence.

D.

Continuity.

Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew it was D.

Continuity.

True or false? As conqueror, William did not care if the English accepted his rule over them or not.

Is that true or false? Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew that was false.

But why is that false? I want you to justify your answer.

Is it false because, A.

William wanted the English to accept him as the legitimate heir to King Edward the Confessor.

Or B.

William wanted the English to accept that he had won the crown of England when he defeated King Harold II.

Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew the correct answer was A.

Okay, let's continue.

So by 1070, William had given up on sharing government with Anglo-Saxons.

There had not been a smooth transfer of power.

Instead, revolts and resistance had spread across England.

Edwin and Morcar had been disappointed by what power sharing looked like in practise.

For them this meant smaller earldoms and much less power and influence.

Normans took over positions of power in the earldoms and in the church.

Anglo-Saxon thegns across the land had found themselves answering to new Norman tenants-in-chief, who often found ways to take their lands for themselves.

The resistance to Norman control had included Anglo-Saxon prelates too.

William's response was to impose Norman military control.

Break up earldoms into smaller units based on shires, and to replace Anglo-Saxon earls with loyal Normans.

This was supported by castles, which became the symbol of Norman control and were often the centre of government's administration in the shire.

If you have a look at the illustration on the right, it shows a motte-and-bailey at Pickering, and this gives us an idea of how the Anglo-Saxons may have viewed the Normans as a foreign military occupation in their land.

This occupation also spread to the English church, where the church leadership was Normanized.

And Lanfranc, the new Archbishop of Canterbury from 1070, made sweeping changes to the English church.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What I want you to do here is discuss this question with a partner.

How did Williams plan for the government of England change between 1066 and 1070? So pause the video, have a quick discussion, and then come right back.

Okay.

Welcome back.

Hopefully you had some great discussions there.

And there's many things that you may have discussed.

And perhaps you discussed something like, "At first, William wanted to share power with Anglo-Saxons who had submitted to him, but this changed after all the revolts he had experienced in opposition to his rule.

And therefore by 1070, William had put Normans in charge of governing." Okay, great.

Let's move on to task A.

What I want you to do here is complete the table below by identifying and then describing one example of continuity and one example of change in how William organised the government of England.

So you can see, in the left hand column, we have a row for continuity and change.

And in the next column we need an example for continuity and change.

And then we need to give some further description of that example.

Describe that example in terms of how William organised the government of England.

In other words, describe how William's government stayed the same or it changed.

Okay, pause the video, have a go at the task and then come right back.

Okay.

Welcome back.

So there's many ways you could completed that table.

So compare your table with my example table here.

So for the continuity row, the example I've given is Edwin and Morcar continued on as earls, representing a continuity in William's governments.

And just to offer some additional description of that example, after the earls had submitted to William at Berkhamstead, Edwin and Morcar kept their earldoms and role in government, although their influence was reduced.

And if we go onto the change row in the table, the example I've given is Normans are replaced by Anglo-Saxons.

If we describe that example, we know that after 1070, William replaced almost all the earls and prelates of England with Normans because of the revolts against his rule by Anglo-Saxon earls and prelates.

Okay, great.

Let's move on to the second part of the lesson where we look at the feudal system and "Domesday Book." So the feudal system was a change for Norman England.

But historians have disagreed about how big a change this was.

Most now agree that the changes were gradual and probably involved more of a tightening up of existing feudal relationships in England than anything radically new.

The feudal system, as it became known, was attractive to kings like William because it increased and concentrated the monarchs power and control.

In other words, William used his power over feudal relationships to increase his control.

As the owner of all the land, William could ensure the loyalty of his tenants-in-chief through his powers over forfeiture and inheritance.

The right of forfeiture gave him the power to take back land from those who had broken their oath of loyalty to him.

This meant his tenants-in-chief would have to govern their lands in a way he wanted, and would not try to build up their own control to rival his.

Not unless they wanted to risk losing everything.

If you have a look at the illustration on the right, it shows William receiving homage from one of his earls.

And this ceremony symbolises loyalty and the bond between the king and his nobles.

This bond increased William's control.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

William had the power to take back land from those who had broken their oath of loyalty to him.

What was that called? A.

The right of forfeiture.

B.

The right of inheritance.

C.

The right of tenure.

Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay.

Welcome back.

And well done if you knew it was A.

The right of forfeiture.

Okay, let's continue and have a look at the "Domesday Book." So the "Domesday Book" is evidence of both efficient Anglo-Saxon record keeping and the centralization of control by Norman government.

In 1085, towards the end of his reign, William ordered this enormous survey of much of his kingdom and this provided his government with invaluable information.

Who held what land and how much that land was worth? What taxes should be paid from the land, and what feudal obligations were owed? If you have a look at the illustration on the right, it shows the Domesday survey in action.

We can see King William's officers questioning a farm tenant for the national survey.

We can see that Norman soldiers have accompanied the officers, and we can see a chest to the left of the table full of scrolls detailing all the possessions of their various settlements they have previously visited.

And we can probably imagine that this might have felt like an interrogation.

What does the King want with this information? What would he do with it? Does he want to take the possessions? Will he raise taxes? The survey allowed the Norman government to work out what the (indistinct) tax would bring in the military strength were available for armies and garrisons, while also providing the Monarch with a reference guide to tenants-in-chief.

That's enabled management of issues, such as forfeiture and inheritance.

"Domesday Book" could not have been compiled as quickly as it was within a year without the efficient administrative system and the church land records of the Anglo-Saxon government, as most of the information already existed.

However, collecting the data in a systematic way and compiling it into one easy to use database shows again how the Norman government was focused on control from the sensor.

The "Domesday Book" is also evidence for historians of the significant transfer of landholding from Anglo-Saxons to Normans.

In fact, the biggest change in Norman England was this transfer of land from Anglo-Saxons to Normans.

In terms of who was doing the local government of England, Anglo-Saxon earls and thegns were out, and Norman barons and knights were in.

Out of the 180 tenants-in-chief with the biggest landholdings in 1086, only two were Anglo-Saxons.

These would be the important men of Norman England who were involved in government, the earls and lords of the manor, et cetera.

There were then around 1,400 tenants-in-chief holding smaller amounts of land.

Of those, around 100 were Anglo-Saxons.

Again, a huge reduction in landholding.

The map and the pie chart demonstrate this points.

We can see that William has broken up the large Anglo-Saxon earldoms and provided them amongst his Norman lords.

If you have a close look next to the pie chart, we can see a list of Williams tenants-in-chief, the top landowners in the kingdom.

They are all Norman.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

I want you to discuss with a partner the following.

Name one way in which "Domesday Book" is evidence of continuity from Anglo-Saxons and Norman England.

And name one way in which "Domesday Book" is evidence of change from Anglo-Saxon to Norman England.

Pause the video, have a quick discussion, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

So your answers may have included the following.

So for example, for one of the continuities, you might have said that "Domesday Book" relied on Anglo-Saxon records and administration.

And for the change you might've said that "Domesday Book" allowed the Norman government to focus on central control.

It was bringing change to the government of England because it was helping William to centralise his power and control.

Okay, great.

Let's move on to task B.

What I want you to do here is read the interpretation at the bottom.

And then identify the main point it is making and write it down in your own words.

And then secondly, explain in one or two sentences whether you agree with it or not.

And I want you to use evidence to support your answer.

So let's read the interpretation first.

"William the Conqueror did not greatly change the relationship between lords and vassals that had existed in Norman England.

What he did change was, firstly, who owned the land, and secondly, the control that, he as King, had over those who held their land from him, his tenants-in-chief." So what do you think the main point of that interpretation is? Write that down in your own words.

And then explain whether you agree with it or not.

Try use evidence or contextual knowledge that you have from the lesson so far to help you to answer that question.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay.

Welcome back.

So for the first part of task B, you need to explain in your own words what the main point of the interpretation was.

So you may have written something like this.

"The relationships between lords and vassals did not change, but there was a big change in who owned land and in William's control over his tenants-in-chief." And for the second part of task B, you needed to explain in one or two sentences whether you agreed with it or not, and then back up your arguments with evidence and knowledge.

And your answer could have included the following.

"I agree that mostly the feudal system was not new but a tightening up of existing relationships between lords and vassals.

I agree that the transfer of land to Normans was the biggest change." And we've got a lovely bit of evidence coming up now.

"Out of the 180 tenants-in-chief with the biggest landholdings in 1086, only two were Anglo-Saxons: That was a very significant change." Okay, great.

Let's move on to the final part of the lesson.

The legal system and justice.

The Anglo-Saxon administrative and legal systems were sophisticated, and the Normans kept much more than they changed.

The Normans kept the shire and hundreds and the shire courts and hundred courts.

And as you'll remember from the diagram on the left, the Anglo-Saxons have developed government administration units, such as the shires, hundreds, tithings and hides.

And William kept the shires and hundred administrative system, and maintained their local courts.

So this represents a continuity.

Furthermore, sheriffs or shire reeves, were another example of continuity.

These were the king's representatives in each shire who oversaw law and order, collected taxes and ensured the shire met its military obligation.

However, within this continuity, there was actually change too.

William replaced almost all Anglo-Saxon sheriffs with Normans, and also boosted their authority within the shires.

They were also often the castellar of the castle in the shires town.

Some of the new sheriffs took advantage of their powerful position by extracting higher taxes, keeping some for themselves and stealing land.

A higher level of authority for sheriffs also meant tensions with them and the earls, whose influence was reduced in Norman England.

These tensions were partly responsible for The Revolt of the Earls in 1075, for example.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Which statement best reflects the Norman's approach to the Anglo-Saxon legal system? A.

They discarded the Anglo-Saxon legal system completely.

B.

They kept most features of the Anglo-Saxon legal system.

C.

They went back to Viking or Danish laws and legal systems. Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew it was B.

They kept most features of the Anglo-Saxon legal system, representing a continuity.

Okay, let's continue.

The Norman's changed very few laws, too.

Part of this was William's desire to be seen as the legitimate heir of Edward the Confessor.

This meant he was keen to stress the continuity between Edward's reign and his own.

Law was a big part of that.

William often referred to how he governed England according to the law of Edward.

And it is true that very few laws were changed.

If you have a look at the image on the right, it's a seal of William I.

With one side portraying him as a king, giving out justice.

We can see William is seated like a judge with his sword of justice.

Anglo-Saxon coins from the time of Edward the Confessor had a very similar image of Edward.

However, again, within that continuity there were some changes.

The new laws that were brought in were about protecting Norman lives and property.

The murdrum fine meant that everyone in the hundred where a Norman was killed, paid a fine if the killer escaped.

Furthermore, William enforced strict forest laws to protect his hunting grounds, the royal forests, from any harm.

In the royal forest, ordinary people were not allowed to hunt as a pastime, or even if they needed food or to chop wood to use for fuel.

The severe punishments for breaking these Norman laws like Norman control of the courts and law enforcements, shows that justice was firmly on the side of the Normans.

Even dogs were banned from forests, unless they had their claws removed, making them unable to hunt animals.

If you have a look at the image, we can see a sheriff on the right overseeing the removal of a dog's claws in the bottom left of the illustration.

The dog's owner is using a chisel to remove the claws, and we can see people watching on who are not at all happy about being forced to obey the forest laws.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Which two are examples of new laws introduced into England by the Normans? A.

Forest law.

B.

Fyrd law.

C.

The law of Edward.

D.

The murdrum fine.

Pause the video.

Select your two correct examples, and then come right back.

Okay.

Welcome back, and well done if you knew it was A.

The forest law and D.

The murdrum fine.

Okay, great.

Let's move on to the final task, task C.

And I've got a statement here for you.

"There was more continuity than change in the government of Norman England." What I want you to do is explain why this statement is correct using evidence to support your answer.

Now, obviously we have evidence to suggest that the statement is incorrect.

However, this question is specifically asking you to explain why there was more continuity in the government of Norman England.

So we need to collect all of our evidence and our knowledge from the lesson to support that argument.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

So there's many ways you could've written that answer, but compare your answer with what I've got here.

"After 1066, the Normans did not significantly change English government.

Although William centralised royal power and placed Normans in most positions of leadership, he continued using Anglo-Saxon government systems because they worked very well.

For example, William kept the local government of the shires and hundreds, and maintained their local courts.

He also kept sheriffs, although Normans took over from Anglo-Saxons, and continued Anglo-Saxon laws to show he was Edward's legitimate heir.

Therefore, most people did not experience significant change in their interactions with local government and with the law from their experience before the Conquest." Okay, excellent.

Let's summarise today's lesson, continuity and change In Norman government.

"William originally planned to keep as much continuity as possible in the way England was governed, but this changed following revolts.

By 1070, he began replacing Anglo-Saxons in positions of power, such as earls and sheriffs with Normans.

The feudal system was a gradual change in how relationships between those in power and those they governed.

William used feudal rights to gain significant control over his tenants-in-chief.

Although William centralised royal power, he continued using the Anglo-Saxon government administration and legal system because it worked well and it helped his claim as the legitimate heir of Edward the Confessor." Well done on a brilliant lesson, and I hope you now have a good overview of some of the major changes and continuities of the Anglo-Norman government.

Hopefully this unit has peaked your interest and will lead you to dig further into this period of history and beyond.

I will see you next time.