Hello, and thank you for joining me for another Oak Academy history lesson.

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

So let's get started now.

Today's lesson is part of a unit of work on Norman England.

We are asking the question, how did life change for ordinary people in Norman England? Today's lesson we'll focus on life in towns in Norman England, and by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to describe the features of town life, and changes to times under the Normans.

There are several key words we'll use in the lesson today.

Let's have a look at those now.

The first word we'll use is the word trade.

Trade is the buying and selling of products and services with the aim of making a profit.

We'll also use the word immigration.

Immigration is the process of people coming from one country to another to live there.

And finally, we'll use the word guild.

A guild is an organisation set up by craftspeople to fix the price of goods, to ensure quality and to protect wages and working conditions.

Now, our lesson today will be in three parts, and we are going to start now on part one of the lesson, which will focus on the growth of towns.

By 1086, there were 112 times in Norman England, and most of these were small.

Only 32 times had populations of over a thousand people and only seven had more than 4,000 people.

The biggest towns were London, which had 10,000 inhabitants and Winchester, which had 6,000 inhabitants.

Norwich, Lincoln, and York had around 5,000 inhabitants each.

The immediate impact of the Norman Conquest was not good for towns, especially towns that were involved in rebellions against Norman Rule.

York lost around half of its population between 4,000 and 5,000 people as a result of the harrying of the North.

Trade was also disrupted, especially in the North, where trade links to Scandinavia had been important.

Even where towns had not rebelled, castle building meant that houses were demolished.

This happened in Oxford, for example, where nearly 500 houses were cleared to make space for the New Castle.

Over the same time, the Norman landlords doubled the taxis paid by Oxford surviving 243 houses.

Okay, it's time to have a check of your understanding so far.

I'd like you to answer this question.

How many Norman towns had a population of over a thousand people in 1086? Was it A, 22; B, 32; or C, 42? Press pause and then when you're ready to hear the answer, press play.

Well done, if you said the correct answer was B.

There were only 32 times that had a population of over a thousand people in 1086.

Here's another question for you now.

I'd like you to answer this true or false question.

In the years following the Norman Conquest, the Norman's had a positive impact on English Times.

Is that true or false? Press pause and then press play when you are ready for the answer.

You should have said the correct answer was false.

Why was the answer false? What's the correct justification? Was it because the Normans lost control of England because the inhabitants of towns rebelled against them? Or because trade with Scandinavia suffered, houses were destroyed and the inhabitants of towns were killed if they rebelled? Press pause and then press play to hear the answer.

That's right, you should have said the correct justification was B, trade with Scandinavia suffered, houses were destroyed and the inhabitants of towns were killed if they rebelled.

So the years following the Norman Conquest did not see a positive impact on English towns.

However, most of the towns recovered and then began to grow under Norman Rule.

This was probably because the new Norman Lords invested in towns building castles and church buildings that they needed furniture and fittings, food and drink, servants and staff.

Norman Lords also had plenty of money because of high taxes and forcing peasants to work harder.

So this extra spending power probably helped towns to grow too.

Port towns such as Portsmouth, Boston, and Lynn grew because of improved trade links with Normandy and Flanders.

Disruption to trade in the North might have reduced economic growth there however.

The norms also created new towns, 21 between 1066 and 1100.

Some grew up around new castles, which provided protection for trade, some around new monasteries, for example, the town of battle.

And in the Marcher earldoms, new towns were set up by granting licensees for markets in the hope of encouraging more Normans to come and settle in towns to secure more land from the Welsh.

Time for another check of your understanding now.

Let's try this question.

Towns often develop next to which of the following? Was it A, castles and monasteries; B, schools and shops, or C, stone circles and fields? Press pause and then press play to hear the correct answer.

You should have said, the correct answer was A, towns often develop next to castles and monasteries.

Okay, finally, in this section, let's put everything you've learned into practise.

I'd like you to attempt this question: explain two reasons why towns started to recover and grow in Norman England.

Here's a way you could start your answer, so press pause, to complete the work and then press play when you're ready.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look at what you might have written.

You could have said that one reason why towns started to recover and grow in Norman England was because of the investment of Norman Lords.

They had a lot of money, so built castles and churches.

These projects required trades people and provided jobs which attracted people to towns and made them grow in size.

A second reason why towns started to recover and grow was because new towns were created, for example, in the Welsh Marches.

The potential to gain lands encouraged some Normans to live there.

We're ready to move on now to the second part of the lesson where we'll be having a look at occupations in towns.

Most people in Norman towns still formed land for themselves and for Lord and all towns, even the largest were surrounded by fields and inhabited by farmers and farm workers.

But there were also craftspeople and merchants in towns who probably only did a small amount of farming.

Town occupations included millers, bakers, butchers and fishmongers, brewers, goldsmiths and silversmiths, potters, weavers and dyers who dyed different cloth, different colours, tanners who worked with leather, leeches who were doctors, plumbers, farriers who shoot horses and ostler who looked after horses.

In Canterbury, there was a school of embroidery where the bio tapestry was almost there to be made.

The work produced by the women at this school was famous throughout Europe for its high quality.

Here's a quick check now of your understanding.

I'd like you to match each Norman occupation to the relevant description.

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

Welcome back.

Let's see how you got on.

You should have said that a tanner is someone who makes leather goods.

A farrier is a maker of horseshoes.

An ostler is someone employed to look after horses.

A leach is a doctor and a miller is someone who makes flour.

Well done if you've got them all correct.

Generally speaking, these town occupations did not change from Anglo-Saxon times and experienced Anglo-Saxon craftspeople continue to do well under Norman rule.

They were not replaced by Normans.

One example is moneyers, who literally made money in mints which were located in towns.

Norman England only had one coin, the silver penny and the mints carefully controlled the amount of silver used to make these coins, so they kept their value.

William was careful to keep on the experienced Anglo-Saxon moneyers who made the coins.

Towns also experienced change from immigration.

For example, in Shrewsbury in 1086, 43 houses were occupied by Normans.

Most probably they were craftspeople brought in to build a new abbey at St.

Peter and servants of the Norman Lords.

By 1110, 61% of residents of Winchester had Norman names.

Another important change was Jewish immigration.

A Jewish community in Rouen in Normandy had greatly improved Rouen's economy, and William allowed Jewish immigration to England.

Jewish communities settled in London and then in York and Lincoln.

On the screen now, you can see a photograph of Shrewsbury Abbey, which brought many new people into the area.

Okay, it is time for a check of your understanding.

Let's try this question.

What percentage of Winchester residents had Norman names by 1110? Was it A, 16%; B, 37%; or C, 61%? Press pause and then press play to hear the correct answer.

You should have said the correct answer was C.

61% of Winchester residents had Norman names by 1110.

As town grew, merchants and craftspeople began to organise into guilds.

They did this to control the quality and the prices of their products to stop any competition from people outside of the guild, and so they could protect each other from being exploited by local lords or the sheriff who collected town taxis.

For example, bakers had to grind the grain they used to make bread in mills owned by the local Lord of the manor and then use ovens owned by the Lord to bacon.

This situation gave the Lord of the manor a lot of leverage to overcharge individual bakers, but it was harder to do that against a guild.

Okay, it is time for a check again, if you're understanding.

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

Anglo-Saxons were famous in Europe for their quality of their craft work.

For example, embroidery, goldsmithing and book illustration.

Do you think that these craftspeople had to find different jobs under the Normans or do you think that they got to keep their jobs? Press pause to have your discussion and when you're ready to see what you might have discussed, press play.

Welcome back.

You might have decided that they probably kept their jobs because the Normans were very wealthy and they needed skilled craftspeople to make things for their new buildings.

Immigration from Normandy did bring in some craftspeople, but these were mostly builders who constructed the new buildings.

Alright, let's put everything you've learned in this section now into practise.

I'd like you to provide two examples to support Sofia's statement.

Sofia says, Anglo-Saxons with skills in crafts and industries did well under Norman Rule.

Press pause and then when you've got your answer, press play.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look at some of the examples you might have given.

You could have said that the Anglo-Saxon moneyers were kept on by the Normans.

You could have said that the Normans spent money on products made by skilled Anglo-Saxon craftspeople, such as Goldsmiths, and you could have said that guilds were formed to protect skilled craftspeople from exploitation.

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

In this section, we'll look at life in towns.

Most houses in towns were made of wood with straw roofs clustered together along streets.

This made fire a real hazard in Norman towns and strong winds were also a problem.

One chronicler records that a storm in 1091 destroyed 600 houses in London.

The richest town residents had houses built of stone.

Canterbury had 30 stone houses by 1200, for example.

Here's a quick check of your understanding.

What material were most townhouses made of? Was it A, stone; B, wood, or C, brick? Press pause and then press play to hear the correct answer.

That's right.

You should have said the correct answer is B.

Most town houses were made of wood.

Norman towns were not healthy places.

Sanitation was basic, which led to disease.

Houses shared a privy which was a toilet over a (indistinct).

Some privies were also built over streams. Pollution meant that water in towns was not safe to drink and people drank beer instead.

Dogs roamed around the town streets sometimes in packs that terrified visitors.

On the positive side, bigger towns did have a lot more to do than in the countryside, such as wrestling matches, horse racing, bull baiting and bear baiting.

Markets were generally held on Sundays when people were free to shop and many towns also had an annual fair, which would usually last several days and were combined with fun activities and church festivals.

Merchants from across the country would travel to the fairs and foreign traders also attended the largest ones such as St.

Giles's Fair in Winchester and St.

(indistinct) fair in Boston.

Here's another check of your understanding now.

I'd like you to answer this true or false question.

Norman Towns in England were unhealthy places in which to live.

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

The correct answer is true, but why is it true? Is it because there was a lot of air and noise pollution in town from factories or B, families had to share privies and it was unsafe to drink the water? Press pause and then press play to hear the answer.

That's right, you should have said the correct justification was B, families had to share privies and it was unsafe to drink the water.

Finally, today, we're going to put everything you've learned now into practise by answering this question.

Life was good for ordinary people in English towns under Norman rule.

How far do you agree with this statement? To help with your answer, you can use the sentence starters provided.

Press pause to complete your answer and then press play to see how you could have written it.

Welcome back.

Let's see how you got on.

Your answer could have included the following.

On the one hand, life under Norman rule was good for ordinary people because skilled craftsmen were allowed to continue their work as they had done under Anglo-Saxon rule.

The towns provided plenty of employment for workers who worked as bakers, goldsmiths, potters, fishmongers and in many other areas too.

There were guilds to protect the craftsmen who worked in towns and markets every Sunday with plenty of customers, including merchants and foreign traders.

There was also lots to do in Norman towns such as attending the annual fair or watching wrestling matches.

However, not every aspect of life for ordinary people in Norman towns was positive.

For example, there were dangers to health due to the lack of sanitation.

Shared privies and dirty drinking water contributed to the spread of disease.

The houses were also made from wood with straw roofs, which made the risk of fire a real danger.

Those who could afford it constructed their houses from stone, but the majority of people were unable to afford to do this.

Therefore, I agree to a limited extent that life was good for ordinary people in Norman towns as housing and health issues were real issues.

We've now reached the end of our lesson today.

So let's have a quick summary of what you should have learned.

Most of Norman England's a hundred towns had small populations of a few hundred inhabitants.

In the immediate aftermath of the Norman Conquest, towns suffered with houses destroyed and trade disrupted.

However, gradually investment from Norman Lords led towns to grow and prosper.

Anglo-Saxon craftsman did well in Norman England with guild set up to protect them, and Norman and Jewish immigration was a feature of town life.

Thanks for all of your hard work in the lessons today.

I hope you feel confident that you've met your learning objective, and I look forward to you joining me in a future lesson on Norman England.