Hello, welcome to History here at Oak National Academy.

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

Right, let's get started.

Over the next few lessons we'll be thinking about our big inquiry question.

How did Norman government impact England? This is the question we'll use to investigate the nature of Norman England.

By the end of this session, you'll be able to explain what was important about the disputed succession to William I.

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

Succession is the process in which someone automatically inherits a position or property after someone else.

A realm is an area ruled by a monarch, duke or other legitimate ruler.

Primogeniture is the custom of a family's property going to the eldest son when the father dies.

Today's lesson is split into two parts.

First, we'll look at a family revolt against William the Conqueror, before looking at William's final days, his death and disputed succession.

Okay, let's begin the lesson by looking at William the Conqueror and family revolt.

William the Conqueror had grown up on the battlefield.

He became a formidable warrior who asserted his control over Northern France, despite multiple attempts to overthrow him.

Chronicles state that William was wise and strong-willed, and that he had a stern personality.

He also showed devotion to God and led a pious life.

However, this was contrasted with a capacity for violence, as witnessed by the Harrying of England.

The "Anglo-Saxon Chronicles" stated that William had a thirst for land and gold, and he was prepared to be ruthless to get possession of them.

William was married to a Matilda of Flanders and they had nine children together.

Robert Curthose was the eldest surviving son.

Robert had a talkative character, and like his father, he was courageous in battle.

But unlike his father, he was short.

William even supposedly nicknamed him Curthose, meaning Shorty Pants.

This nickname pointed towards deeper tensions, however.

Although Robert was a brave warrior, he was not good at government.

He gave away lands to his friends too freely and was always struggling with money.

William must have worried that Robert's relaxed attitude would throw away all his hard work to make England secure and profitable.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What I want you to do here is working with your partner, describe William the Conqueror's personality.

So you could do this as a discussion or you could jot down some ideas on a piece of paper.

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

Okay, welcome back.

So there's many things that you may have discussed or written down on your piece of paper, but you may have mentioned the following about William the Conqueror's personality.

So he was brave and respected as a formidable warrior.

Some of the chronicles suggest he was wise and strong-willed, but he could also have a very stern personality.

And we know that he teased his son, nicknaming him Robert Curthose, Curthose meaning Shorty Pants.

We also know that he was very pious, he was very religious, and that the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" described him as being greedy and violent, and we know that he conducted much harrying and plunder in England.

Okay, let's continue.

Before the Norman Invasion of England, William had formally recognised Robert as the heir to Normandy.

This was because the invasion of England was risky and could have resulted in William's death.

So he wanted to secure the succession of Normandy to Robert.

If you have a look at the left, it's an illustration of nobles paying homage to their lord.

And we can imagine that given that Robert had been formally recognised as the next duke of Normandy, with many nobles swearing allegiance to him in this way, in 1066, Robert would've been eagerly anticipating the power and wealth that came with being duke.

However, as we know, the Invasion of England was a success, and 10 years later, Robert was still waiting to be given more authority.

So then by 1077, Robert felt that his father was not giving him enough power and responsibility.

Robert requested to take charge of Normandy, but William refused as his realm was facing threats from King Philip I of France.

Then a fight broke out between Robert and his younger brothers, William Rufus, Rufus meaning redhead, and Henry.

If you have a look at the illustration, we can see William Rufus on the left and Robert Curthose on the right.

The story goes that the younger brothers had dumped water on Robert's head.

With Robert already feeling second rate because he had not been given more authority in Normandy, this incident made him snap and the brothers fought, causing such a fracas that their father had to break up the fight.

The next day, still feeling insulted, Robert and his men attempted and failed to take control of Rouen Castle.

William ordered for all of those involved to be arrested.

Robert and his men fled into exile.

This caused a divide in the Norman aristocracy, those who sided with Robert and those who sided with William the Conqueror.

To make matters worse, Robert took refuge with his father's enemy, Philip I, king of France.

Philip jumped at the chance to host Robert as he had for Norman territory and could see how supporting Robert would weaken William and Normandy.

In 1078, the king of France placed Robert in the castle of Gerberoy right on the eastern border of Normandy.

In the illustration, we can see the castle of Gerberoy on the hill in the background.

From here, Robert and his supporters made frequent raids into Normandy.

Robert was also secretly supplied with gold from his mother, Matilda.

By now an older man and not the formidable warrior of his youth, William and his army surrounded his son's castle at Gerberoy.

A battle ensued, which resulted in William being thrown off his horse.

However, realising the danger, Robert gave his elderly father another horse to escape on.

And in the foreground of the illustration, we can see Robert on the right helping his father on the ground after he was unhorsed.

This encounter, together with discovering Matilda's secret involvement, dealt a sore blow to William.

However, in 1080, after much pleading from Matilda and leading nobles, William forgave Robert and confirmed that he would still inherit Normandy.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What led Robert to rebel against his father, William, in 1077, A, a dispute over the control of the castle of Gerberoy, B, his father refusing to make the nobles of Normandy swear allegiance to Robert, C, his father not sharing power to govern Normandy? Pause the video, have a think, and come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew it was his father not sharing power to govern Normandy.

Okay, let's move on to task A.

What I want you to do here is starting with the earliest, sort these events into time order.

And you can see I've given you four events on the left hand side, which I want you to place in the correct time order in the boxes on the right.

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

Okay, welcome back, let's check those answers.

So the first event was that Robert requested to take charge of Normandy.

He'd already been formally recognised as the heir in 1066, so he is itching to take control.

In the second event, Robert failed to take Rouen castle and fled into exile.

So at this point, Robert is clearly agitated, he has a fight with his brothers.

Him and his men try to take Rouen Castle, but fail, William orders for their arrest and Robert flees, ending up taking refuge with the king of France, who hosts him in his castle right on the eastern border of Normandy, and that leads us onto the third event where Robert continually raids Normandy and he fights with his father.

And the final event, William, after much pleading from Matilda and other Norman nobles, forgave Robert.

Okay, excellent, we've reached the halfway point of the lesson, let's move on to William's death and the disputed succession.

So in July 1087, William fell ill.

By now, he was in his late 50s, and whilst harrying and conducting a raid against Philip the king of France, he injured his stomach in a horsing accident.

William returned to Rouen, the capital of Normandy and spent the last weeks of his life in pain.

Here he repented his sins, released prisoners, including Earl Morcar, Roger de Breteuil, and later, Odo, and insisted his treasures should be used to rebuild some of the areas he had harried.

William also announced his plan for succession.

Robert Curthose would, as promised, be Duke of Normandy.

However, as England had been acquired through conquest and the loss of many lives, William said he was afraid to name and heir, and so entrusted it to God.

But the conqueror also stated that his second son, William Rufus, could be king of England if that was God's will.

Finally, William promised 5,000 pounds to his youngest son, Henry.

Okay, let's check your understanding.

In William's succession plans, what would happen to England, A, William recommended William Rufus as king if God accepted this, B, William wanted Robert Curthose to be king of both Normandy and England, C, William wanted his third son, Henry, to inherit England and made his two eldest sons Henry's regents? Pause the video, have a think and come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew it was A, William recommended William Rufus as king if God accepted this.

So on the 9th of September, 1087, William the Conqueror died.

But because William's succession plan had been quite vague, key questions remained, for example, were England and Normandy to operate as two separate realms, with Robert ruling Normandy and William Rufus ruling England? And if that was the case, did Robert have superiority as the eldest brother? How would Robert respond to William Rufus' actions? What sort of ruler of Normandy would Duke Robert be? Initial signs were not encouraging.

Robert Curthose was not present for his father's death, and his absence caused anarchy, as it seemed no one was now in charge of the realm.

As you can see from the illustration on the left, often when there is no sign of authority, chaos ensues, and there was chaos on the streets of Rouen.

Norman lords quickly rode to protect their properties against attack.

This left royal servants to loot William the Conqueror's personal items before fleeing the scene.

William Rufus was quick to seize his opportunity.

On the 26th of September, 1087, William Rufus was crowned William II, King of England by Archbishop Lanfranc.

Lanfranc's support had been crucial in turning William I's recommendation into William II's coronation.

Robert was not alone in being unhappy with his share of power.

Primogeniture dictated that Robert, as the eldest son, deserved to inherit both realms. In other words, Robert believed it was his right to inherit Normandy and England.

Many Norman nobles supported Robert's claim because they held land in both England and Normandy.

The nobles were concerned about dealing with the demands of two rulers, especially if they were at war with one another.

There was also a perception that Robert, the weaker brother, would be much easier to control than his brother William Rufus.

Therefore, Robert, his uncle, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, and six of William's largest landholders, plotted to remove William II as king of England.

Small rebellions occurred across England and Odo launched his attack from Rochester Castle in Kent.

William II second successfully defeated these rebellions as much of the English population sided with him instead of Robert and Odo, perhaps due to Odo's actions from 1067, when as regent, he had taken the opportunity to steal land and loot monasteries.

The illustration on the left shows Bishop Odo surrendering at Rochester Castle.

Subsequently, William II made Odo forfeit his estates and exiled him from England for the rest of his life.

William II had also positioned a fleet in the English Channel, which prevented Robert from invading England.

The diagram on the left shows William II's fleet in the English Channel, and once again, we can see how important the channel was in any attempted invasion of England.

As a thank you to the English population for their support in helping him to overcome his brother and uncle's rebellion, William II promised to restore Anglo-Saxon laws, which were popular in the reign of Edward the Confessor.

He also promised lower taxes and to abolish the Forest laws.

Those were the unpopular laws where large areas of land were reserved solely for the king's use.

Predictably, for a son of William I, William II did not in the end do either of these things.

Okay, let's check for understanding.

Why did Robert and some Norman lords plot to remove William II as king of England? Select two correct answers.

A, they believed that primogeniture dictated that Robert deserved to inherit Normandy and England, B, they believed William II was too young and inexperienced, making him easier to control, C, they supported Robert due to concerns over having two rulers for their lands in both England and Normandy, D, they were dissatisfied with William II's taxation policies across England and Normandy.

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

Okay, welcome back.

Well done if you knew it was A, they believed that primogeniture dictated that Robert deserved to inherit Normandy and England and C, they supported Robert due to concerns over having two rulers for their lands in both England and Normandy.

Okay, great, let's move on to task B.

What I want you to do here is with your partner, discuss why William's succession plans led to a revolt.

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

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you had some great discussions and there's many things that you may have brought up, but you may have discussed the following.

So firstly, although William had made up with Robert, his deathbed succession plans showed he still did not trust Robert to rule both Normandy and England.

But separating the rule of his duchy and his kingdom created huge problems, and of course, eventually leading to revolt.

You are right, due to primogeniture, Robert believed he should inherit Normandy and England.

Many Norman lords with land in both realms were also not happy about dealing with the demands of two rulers.

They quickly plotted to remove William II as king of England.

Okay, let's move on to the second path of task B.

What I want you to do here is explain what was important about the division of William's realm after his death.

So hopefully the first path of the task helped you to recap William's succession plans and how they led to revolt.

And now I want you to use that information and knowledge from the wider lesson to explain what was important about the division of William's realm after his death.

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

Okay, welcome back.

So there's many ways you could have answered this question, but compare your answer with what I have here.

William's deathbed succession plans were vague and resulted in the division of his realm, which caused significant problems. The fact that William had not explicitly named Robert as the sole successor showed he still did not trust Robert to rule both Normandy and England.

As the eldest son and due to primogeniture, Robert believed he should inherit Normandy and England.

Importantly, other Norman lords were also not happy with the divided realm.

They held land in both England and Normandy and were concerned about dealing with the demands of two rulers.

This is important because they then sided with Robert, believing he would be much easier to control.

This resulted in Robert, his uncle, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, and six of William's largest landholders, attempting to remove William II as king of England.

However, the resulting rebellion revealed that William II had popular support.

Okay, excellent, let's summarise today's lesson.

William had a strong and pious character, which made him a formidable warrior, but could also mean he was quick to use violence or bully his son Robert.

Robert revolted in 1077 as he believed that William was denying him power.

William's succession plan had not been clear about what should happen to England, and by suggesting William Rufus as king, he had divided his kingdom between two rulers.

Due to primogeniture, Robert believed he should inherit Normandy and England, and other Norman lords were not happy about dealing with the demands of two rulers, so they plotted to remove William II as king of England.

However, the English population sided with William II.

Well done on a brilliant lesson, and we've seen how England, by the time of William the Conqueror's death, was a country locked down by castles, ruled over by a wealthy foreign nobility, which held land across both England and Normandy.

And when the powerful conqueror died, leaving vague succession plans, Robert was more than willing to attempt to oust his brother William Rufus.

This would not be the last of the troubles between the brothers and William the Conqueror's descendants would have a major impact on the kingdom of England.

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

I'll see you next time.