Lecture 1: Prehistoric Britain

Early Britain

• c. 300,000 BC Britain is colonized by Homoerectus, taking advantage of an interglacial period of the Ice Age

• c. 250,000 BC Swanscombe Woman lives in Kent (the oldest surviving human remains found in Europe)

• c. 70,000 BC The first Neanderthals settle in England

• c. 35,000 BC The last Neanderthals are displaced by the ancestor of modern humans -Homo sapiens sapiens

• c. 12,000 BC the Ace Age came to an end.

• Around 9500 years ago-Ireland became separated from Britain.

• c. 7500 BC Britain became an island -the land bridge connecting Britain with Europe is covered by the sea.

• Fresh waves of settlers continued to arrive and settle in the low-lying southern and central sections of the island.

By c. 5,000 BC Britain became an island (map)

Neolithic period(4000-2500 BC)

• Iberian people arrived from Europe.

• Small, dark and long-headed people

• They took up agriculture as a way of life-stopped being nomadic hunter-gatherers.

• Neolithic farmers settled in stable communities, cleared land, planted wheat and barley; raised herds of domesticated sheep, cattle, and pigs.

Two types of communal graves:

• In the west-tombs built out of stone

• In the eastern areas-long barrows

By 3,000 BC

• Great circles of earth banks and ditches-wooden buildings and stone circles inside.

• megalithic henges - centres of religion, political& economic power.

• Stonehenge(three stages of construction between around 3100 -2000 BC, known as Stonhenge I, II, and III) in Salisbury Plain (the centre of pre-Celtic Britain)

• Avebury Circle-uncertain purposes, religious rituals, astronomic observatory, used later by Celtic druids -suggest importance of religious leaders among early British society.

BRONZE AGE(c. 2100 -750 BC)

• Arrival of the Beaker People (possibly early Celtic migrants from Germany and the Low Countries).

• Round-headed, strongly built, taller than Neolithic Britons.

• They brought with them a metal-working technology (they made use of Irish copper and Cornish tin to make bronze).

• These people buried the dead in individual graves(tumuli)with pottery jars (beakers).

• Indo-European language?

Building of many famous prehistoric sites:

• the later phases of Stonehenge(Stonehenge III c. 2000 BC),

• Seahenge (monument discovered in 1998 just off the coast of the English county of Norfolk at Holme-next-the-Sea.

c. 1,200 BC

• Evidence for agriculture in the south.

• Farms

• circular huts in groups,

• oblong fields,

• stock enclousers.

IRON AGE (700 BC -Roman conquest)

• In around 750 BC iron working techniques reached Britain from southern Europe.

• Iron-stronger and more plentiful than bronze,

• its introduction marks the beginning of the Iron Age.

• Iron working revolutionised many aspects of life-most importantly agriculture.

• Iron tipped ploughs could churn up land far more quickly and deeply than older wooden or bronze ones

• iron axes could clear forest land far more efficiently for agriculture.

• A landscape of arable, pasture and managed woodland.

• Many enclosed settlements and land ownership was important.

Celtic Britain

• Around 700 BC Celts became to arrive.

• Celts originated from the Alps region; they were the first group of Indo-European speakers to move across Europe.

• Tall, had fair or red hair and blue eyes.

• Celts drove older inhabitants westwards and northwards.

• Celts were called KELTOI by the Greeks, and CELTAI by the Romans. They were culturally unified but politically divided.

• Q-Celtic or Goidelic language forms the basis of modern Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx (spoken on the Isle of Man).

• P-Celtic or Brythonic: the basis of modern Welsh, Breton and Cornish.

Celtic immigration:

The secondary Celtic expansion (from the middle of the8th century)divided into two cultural phases (named after the archaeological sites in Germany and Switzerland where contrasting afterfacts were discovered):

• Hallstatt culture, and

• La Tene culture.

Overview of the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures (map)

Celtic immigration:

• 700 BC Celts invaded and settled in England

• 600 BC The Gaels or Gildels arrived

• 325 BC The Cymry and Britons

• 200BCThe Belgae

• By about 150 BC a Celtic people called the Belgae dominated southern England while East Anglia, the north and the west were split between Brythonic-speaking tribes such as the Iceni and Brigantes.

Celtic society:

• The threefold social system of the tribe, or "people”

• king,

• warrior aristocracy,

• freemen farmers.

The Druids:

• Druids recruited from families of the warrior class but ranked higher.

• The word Druidaeis of Celtic origin.

• Pliny the Elder believed it to be a cognate with the Greek work drus, an oak.

• Dru-wid combines the word roots "oak" and "knowledge" (wid means "to know" or "to see").

• The oak -an important sacred tree to the Druids.

• In the Celtic social system

• Druid -a title given to learned men and women possessing "oak knowledge" (or "oak wisdom").

• The earliest known records of the Druids come from the 3rd century BC.

• The Druids studied ancient verse, natural philosophy, astronomy, and the lore of the gods, some spending as much as 20 years in training.

• The Druids did not use any written language; they possessed the knowledge that was passed on from generation to generation in oral tradition.

Ogham (the letters)

• The principal doctrine -the soul is immortal and passes at death from one person into another.

• Human sacrifices for those who were gravely sick or in danger of death in battle.

• Poets -performed the roles of: court's critics and advisors, entertainers -harp players, messengers and commentators.

• A bard(Scottish and Irish Gaelic) or bardd (Welsh) - a professional poet, employed to compose eulogies for his lord. (In Ireland Bards were one of two distinct groups of poets, the other being the fili - a member of an elite class of poets).

Celts

• Patriarchal family,

• Basic economy-mixed farming,

• Cattle raising more important than cereal cultivation.

Celtic legacy in Britain:

• hill forts-esp. Maiden Castle, Dorset, and Old Sarum, Salisbury, Wiltshire

• lake villages, esp. built on marshes for protection, e.g. Glastonbury, Somerset

• Celtic games(major centre Tara in Ireland)-e.g. hammer throw, pole vaults

• Halloween and colourful Celtic religious beliefs

• Celtic languages are still spoken

• introduction of gold coinage

• river names: Thames, Mersey, Severn, Avon, Esk, Ouse

• city names: Leeds, London, Dover

Lecture 2: Roman Britain

Why did the Romans decide to conquer Britain?

• Britain was, especially in the southeast, a very productive island.

• At the time there were still important deposits of gold and other valuable metals.

• Britain's mild climate, due to the Gulf Stream, together with the advanced ploughs of the Celts, permitted the Celts to export grain as well as slaves and hunting dogs to the Continent.

First invasion

• 55 BC and 54 BC

• Julius Caesar left without conquering. His forces opposed by Celtic leader Cassivellaunus.

• Caesar's description of Britain at the time of his invasions is the first coherent account extant.

Before 43 AD Britain was ruled by pro-Roman Catuvelauni chief Cunobelin(Shakespeare's Cymbelin) who for the first time in history called himself Rex Brittonum, making Colchester the capital (Londinummade capital by the Romans in the 4thc.)

43 AD Roman conquest by Emperor Claudius:

• The army of four legions led by Aulus Plautius.

• The decision of the emperor Claudius to conquer the island was the result partly of his personal ambition, partly of British aggression.

• The Romans defeated the Catuvellauni and their allies in two battles:

• a battle on the river Medway,

• on the Thames.

The Celts:

1. escaped before Roman army westwards and northwards;

2. stayed in Roman Britain and got assimilated; acquired Roman customs, dress, sent their sons to schools in Rome -they became the aristocratic sphere - coloni;

3. revolted against Roman occupation (61 AD Boudicca's revolt)

Boudicca:

• Prasutagus - king of the Iceni;

• After his death his private wealth went to his two daughters and to the emperor Nero;

• The Romans annexed his kingdom, humiliated his family, and plundered the chief tribesmen.

• While the provincial governor Suetonius Paulinus was absent in 60, Boudicca raised a rebellion throughout East Anglia.

• Initially successful defeating Romans at Londinum and Colchester; however the revolt quenched by Suetonius).

After conquering southern England, the Romans went on to conquer other parts of British Isles.

• Roman conquest of Wales complete by 78,

• Agricola's invasion of Scotland (Caledonia) failed (shortage of manpower).

• The Romans established a Romano-British culture across the southern part of Britain (from the river Humber to the river Severn).

• 122 Emperor Hadrian encouraged the construction of a clear barrier between `Roman' Britain and the `barbarian' north -Hadrian's Wall

Antonine Wall and Hadrian's Wall (map)

Roman administration:

• establishment of Roman province of Britannia ruled by governors

• Each municipality had jurisdiction over an area about as large as a present-day county. There were 5 of these governing municipalities or cities:

• York,

• Gloucester,

• Lincoln,

• Colchester,

• Verulamium.

Britannia divided into two provinces -

• Britannia Superior -with capital in Londinum;

• Britannia Inferior -with capital in Eburacum. (later York)

The rest of Britain divided into cantons that corresponded to Celtic tribal areas.

This was part of the Roman policy that tried to bring the Celtic people into the empire by maintaining tribal territories and by giving power to Celtic chiefs.

Roman legacy:

• The Romans brought the skills of reading and writing to Britain;

• an extensive network of roads;

• water and sewage systems;

• Britain's major cities, such as London, were founded by the Romans;

• Roman urban centers:

• Londinum - London

• Eburacum - York

• Verulamium - St. Albans

Romans left about 20 large towns (5,000 inhabitants) and a 100 smaller ones. The towns were at first army camps (Latin castra, camp -Gloucester, Leicester, Winchester, Chester, Lancaster).

The end of Roman Rule:

• In the 4th century - increasing attacks:

• from the Saxons in the east and

• the Irish in the west.

• When the Goths, Huns and Franks began attacking Gaul, modern day France, the Romans had to begin withdrawing their legions from Britain. The troops that remained in Britain were not numerous enough to defend against the Saxon and Pictish attacks.

• In 409 - Emperor Honorius breaks connections with Britain leaving the province decentralized; natives expelled the Roman civilian administration. The British legions leave Britain for the Continent.

• In 410 - an appeal for help by the British communities was rejected by the Emperor Honorius.

By tradition, the pagan Saxons were invited by Vortigern to assist in fighting the Picts and Irish.

Vortigern made use of Hengist and Horsa to protect his kingdom against the Picts and Scots and rewarded them for their services with a grant of land.

Raids by:

• Picts who came from the north

• the Scots, who were originally from Ireland

• tribes from Germany and Jutland -

• the Angles, Saxons and Jutes.

• These Germanic tribes first came to Britain as Roman mercenaries,

• when Rome abandoned Britain, other came as conquerors.

• The Britons (the Celts who had adopted Roman ways) put up some resistance: they won a major battle at Mons Badonicus.

• The Roman Celts were pushed steadily westward until they lived only in the mountainous region called by the Saxons `Wealas' or `Wales' (land of the foreigners).

• Other Celts were driven into the lowlands of what is now known as Scotland.

Lecture 3: Anglo-Saxon Britain

Reasons for the invasion of Anglo-Saxons of Britain in the 5^th century AD:

• migrations of peoples in Europe and weakening of the Roman Empire;

• earlier deployment of Germanic tribes for defence of Roman Britain, who settle as Roman foederati along Litus Saxonicum - SAXON SHORE

• By tradition a British Celtic leader Vortigern invited Jutes led by Hengest and Horsa to Kent (449) against Picts and Irish pirates raiding Britain since the 4thcentury.

Paths of invasions of Anglo-Saxon tribes from the Continent:

• Jutes - Kent

• Saxons - along the Thames toward Cornwall (Cerdic-the founder of Wessex dynasty lands in Wessex in 514)

• Angles - Midlands, northward

Anglo-Saxon peoples in 600 (map)

Heptarchy

Heptarchy - seven kingdoms:

Saxon kingdoms:

• ESSEX (London)

• SUSSEX (Chichister)

• WESSEX (Winchester)

Anglian kingdoms:

• EAST ANGLIA (Cambridge)

• NORTHUMBRIA, including sub-kingdoms Bernicia and Deira(York)

• MERCIA (Oxford, Chester)

Jutish kingdom:

• KENT (Canterbury)

• Since the 7thc. individual kingdoms gain supremacy over the remaining parts of the Heptarchy.

• The supreme ruler is called Bretwalda - the ruler of all Britain,

• but in fact the first king of England appears in 829.

• 829 King Egbert of Wessex unites the Heptarchy into the Kingdom of England;

• the House of Wessex - the first royal English dynasty;

• Winchester -the first capital of England.

• 843 the Kingdom of Scots - Dalriada and Picts form Kingdom of Scotland under Kenneth MacAlpin - the first king of Scotland.

Supremacy order:

1. 6^th cent. - Kent

2. 7^th cent. - Northumbria

3. 8^th cent. - Mercia

4. 9^th cent. - Wessex

Anglo-Saxons

• organised in family groups where loyalties to the family and the lord of the tribal group were the most important social bonds.

• wergild (man-payment) -one of the legal institutions(the money that the murderer paid to the victim's family to free the murderer from the vengeance of the victim's family).

• In Anglo-Saxon law -the wergild established in accordance with the victim's rank in society.

• The Anglo-Saxons did not come in organised legions as the Romans had.

• They came in scattered bands that would sail up rivers and attack and pillage any towns they could find.

• These groups were led by a king and his followers called thegns.

Anglo-Saxon administration:

• England -administratively divided into:

• shires ruled by the:

• ealdorman,

• sheriffs (scir-gerefa, i.e. shire reeve),

• bishop,

• and hundreds.

The ealdorman:

• appointed by the king,

• administered justice,

• made sure that the land was properly divided,

• collected taxes from the villagers,

• organised the Anglo-Saxon army known as the fyrd.

Witan:

An informal group of advisers made up of:

• ealdormen,

• thegns, and

• bishops

summoned by the king to

• give advice and

• witness acts of royal administration(grants of charters and church benefices, new laws, and royal decisions on taxation, foreign policy, and defence.)

Economy:

• The Saxons changed the way in which land was farmed:

• before the Saxons came:

• the Celts used small light ploughs that could be pulled by one animal or by two persons;

• the Celts tended to divide up their land into small square plots that were farmed by individual families that were not beyond by administrative connections.

• The Saxons used heavier ploughs that required eight oxen to pull them.

• the land around each village was divided up into three sections.

• Each of these three sections was then divided up into narrow strips suitable for the Saxon plough.

• One used for spring crops,

• the second for autumn crops,

• the third was left fallow.

• The strips within each section were assigned to various families who altogether would have about 20 acres of land to work.

The language:

• The dialects of English spoken by the Anglo-Saxons became Old English (the language spoken in England from the 5thc. until the Norman Conquest).

• Old English was almost completely Germanic (the dialects had very few Celtic words -about 20).

Celtic borrowings:

• crag and tor meaning a high rock;

• names of some English cities, London, Leeds are Celtic;

• the word dubris (water) became Dover;

• the river names Avon, Esk, Ouse, Thames(meaning dark water);

• the names: England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales;

• the town names ending in -ing, -ington, -ingham (ing - folk; ton - settlement; ham -home);

• the words: lord - (loaf ward); lady - (loaf kneader);

Anglo-Saxon legacy:

• English language, administration, law

• legend of Lady Godiva -11thc.

• Cadmon, Beowulf, Widsith and other literary pieces

Mythodology:

• Wodan - the forefather of all Anglo-Saxon kings (apart from Sussex)

• Names of weekdays after Germanic gods:

• Sunday - Old English sunne-day of sun

• Monday - OE mona-day of moon

• Tuesday - (Tiw-Germ. god of war)

• Wednesday - (Woden-Germ. head god)

• Thursday - (Thor -Germ. god of thunders)

• Friday - (Frigg -Germ. goddess of marriage)

• Saturday - Rom. day of Saturnus

• Name of Easter - (Eostre-Germ. goddess of dawn)

Historical chronicles:

• Gildas - Welsh monk, more of a preacher than historian -polemical work De excidio et conquestu Brittanniae (548)

• The Venerable Bede (673-735) - monk at Jarrow, history of Christianity in England also pertaining to political events - Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (731) -translated into Old English by Alfred the Great

• Nennius (8/9c.) -Welsh chronicler Historia Britonum - based on earlier chronicles.

• Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (891-1154) -important annual records of Anglo-Saxon England; anonymous, written in few versions in monasteries, even after the Norman conquest, the last version -Peterborough Chronicle (1154)

Lecture 4: Christianisation

• The date of the introduction of Christianity to Britain is not known;

• an organized Celtic church was in existence by the early 4thcentury.

The Anglo-Saxon invasions drove the Celtic Britons into:

• Wales,

• Cornwall and

• the southwest.

• Some went to Brittany (named after the Britons) in France.

• St. Patrick converted Ireland around 450,

• Monasteries found in Ireland that start to run missions to Britain and later all over Europe;

• Introduction of writing destroys the power of Irish druids;

• Ireland becomes a learning and religious centre of Europe.

• 563 -St Columba founded a monastery on the island of Iona -the centre of Celtic Church in Britain. St Columba converts Scots and Picts in Scotland.

• 635-St Aidan arrived from Iona to Northumbria and established a monastery on the island of Lindisfarne.

• 597-St Augustine arrived in Kent (on a mission from the Pope Gregory the Great)on the invitation of King Ethelbert and founded Canterbury.

• In result -formation of two rival trends:

• Roman Church -stress on authority and organization,

• Celtic Church -stress on conversion of ordinary people.

• Augustine and his monks had very little success with the common people.

• The Irish missionaries

• travelled around the countryside on foot preaching.

• lived a simple life, which appealed to the people.

• In this way they managed to convert Northumbria and then began to send out even more missionaries to other parts of Britain.

• Other differences between the two rival churches in Britain include:

• differences in liturgy;

• Easter date;

• the Celtic Church is monastic in nature, lack of dioceses -abbots are the leaders, not bishops, due to tribal structure of Celtic lands

Whitby 664

• Differences between the Celtic and Roman churches resolved in favour of Rome.

• The centralized organisation of the English church under Theodore of Tarsus.

• 672-the Synod of Hertford summoned by the Archbishop of Canterbury Theodore of Tarsus gives Canterbury authority over all the English Church.

• establishment of dioceses;

• establishment of parochial system;

• establishment of monasteries (Eng. minsters - e.g. Westminster) -also serving as learning centres.

Northumbria

• Northumbria - the finest centre of scholarship where Celtic and classical influences met,

• missionaries brought books from Ireland,

• Englishmen went to Ireland to study,

• Northumbrians went abroad, especially to Rome;

• Benedict Biscop brought the learning acquired in Canterbury to Northumbria.

• He founded the monasteries at Wearmouth (674) and Jarrow (682), where the Venerable Bede (673-735) spent his life.

The Roman Church:

• developed a parish system in England;

• planted churches all over England.

• Canterbury, Worcester, York, and Winchester cathedrals built within the remains of Roman defences.

• The churches attracted tradesmen, craftsmen and servants small communities began to form which developed into towns.

The Roman Church contributed greatly to the power of kings in England:

• The missionaries tried gain the support of kings through their wives,

• the Church gave the king the “support of God”.

• During this period the succession of kings was not an established matter-the oldest son of a king did not automatically become king upon the death of his father.

• Any member of the royal family who had enough armed supporters might become king.

The Anglo-Saxons borrowed a number of Latin words from the Roman Christians -about 450 appear in Old English literature.

• words connected to the Church and education:

munuc (monk) and scól (school)

• words for things in the house:

fenester (window) and cest (chest).

• verbs from Latin:

spendan (to spend), sealtian (to dance), and tyrnan (to turn).

Lecture 5: The Vikings

TheVikings:

• the Norse (Scandinavian) explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates,

• they raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century.

• These Norsemen used their famed long ships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far west as Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland.

Vikings Expansion (map)

• 787 -first Viking raid on Britain

• 793-795 -the Vikings sack monasteries in Iona, Lindisfarne and Jarrow

• Paths of Viking invasions:

• Norwegians-north, Scotland, Man (the base) and Ireland.

• Danes-East Anglia -westward

the 9^th century - the raids intensified, the Vikings settled north of the Thames in East Anglia and Mercia threatening the whole country -the struggle against the Vikings begins.

• Egbert defeated a large Viking force in 838 that had combined with the Britons of Cornwall,

• Aethelwulf won a great victory in 851 over a Viking army that had stormed Canterbury and London and put the Mercian king to flight.

• 865 -a large Danish army came to East Anglia;

• by 871it had already captured York, been bought off by Mercia, and had taken possession of East Anglia.

• Many battles were fought in Wessex (a Danish defeat at Ashdown in 871).

• 878 - King Alfred defeated Danesat Ethandun (Edington).

England divided into two:

• the northern and eastern part, known as the Danelaw (controlled by the Vikings)

• the rest of England (controlled by King Alfred).

The Danelaw (map)

871-901 Reign of Alfred the Great (king of Wessex)

King Alfred:

• reorganized his finances and the services due from thegns,

• issued an important code of laws,

• scrutinized carefully the exercise of justice.

• saw the Viking invasions as a punishment from God,

• deplored the decay of Latin,

• wished all young freemen of adequate means to learn to read English,

• aimed at supplying men with "the books most necessary for all men to know," in their own language.

• Alfred decided to make English the language of education and literature.

• He began translating books with help of scholars from Mercia, the Continent, and Wales into English.

• available works of

• Bede and Orosius,

• Gregory and Augustine,

• Boethius(De consolatione philosophiae)

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

891- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle starts (891-1154) -important annual records of Anglo-Saxon England a diary of events, written by monks in different parts of the country.

The first book of its kind in western Europe.

Reforms of Alfred:

• Improvement of fyrd - division into parts: one fights, one works on farms;

• Origination of Royal Navy;

• Alfred as a law giver -establishment of oral and customary law with no Roman influences;

• Improvement of scholarly activity -translation of many works of art and science into Anglo-Saxon, building schools and monasteries

• establishment of burghs-fortified towns.

• Disastrous rule by King Ethelred the Unready (978-1016) leads to:

• ruling without counsel,

• Danegeld - money paid by the English to Danes to buy peace,

• wars and massacres of the Danes in England; numerous Danish raids renewed by the end of the 10thcentury.

Canute the Great (c.994-1035)

• King of Denmark Canute the Great invadedEngland-beginningof Danish dynasty in England (1016-42):

ENGLAND, NORWAY and DENMARK under one rule - the North Sea Empire;

Canute - a wise and peaceful ruler; introduces legal and military reforms.

The country divided into four EARLDOMS:

• Northumbria

• East Anglia

• Mercia

• Wessex

The rule of Canute's sons:

• Harold I, Harefoot (1035-1040)

• Harthacnut (1040-42)

• The empire (which depended on Canute's personal abilities) went to pieces,

• England's ties with Scandinavia were broken.

• 1042 -Witan chose Edward the Confessor to be king.

• The new pius king more interested in Church than in kingship.

• He started a new church fit for a king at Westminster.

The troubles came from:

• The excessive power concentrated in the hands of the rival houses of

• Leofric of Mercia and

• Godwine ( Godwinson) of Wessex,

• resentment caused by the king's introduction of Norman friends.

1066

• Edward diedinJanuary

• Harold Godwinsonchosento be thenextking

• William of Normandy claimsto theEnglishthrone:

• King Edward had promised it to him,

• Harold(visited William in 1064 or 1065)promised William not to take the throne for himself.

Legacy of theVikings:

place names with -by (farm, town) e.g. Whitby, Derby

Place names endingin -thorp(e), `small village', -toft, piece of land'; e.g. Scunthorpe and Blacktoft.

Scandinavian borrowings in English -through similarity -she, they.

Lecture 6: The Norman Conquest and First Norman Kings

The Normans

• A mixture of Gauls of France and the Viking invaders under the leadership of Rollo (Hrolf Gange).

• In 911 king of France, Charles the Simple recognised the rule of Hrolf Gange, over the small lower Seine area this area expanded over time to become the Duchy of Normandy.

• The Norman people gradually attained French continental patterns -language, culture, politics.

1066 -four successors to the throne of England

• Harold Godwinson-Earl of Wessex,

• Harald Hardraada-king of Norway(supported by King of Scotland and Tostig-Harold's brother),

• William the Bastard -duke of Normandy,

• Edgar Aetheling-king of England (1066), the grandson of Edmund I the Ironside.

• William landed at Pevensey on 27 September, 1066,

• rushed to Hastings -a better harbour to sail from if defeated,

• built a motte-and-bailey castle

• William waited for Harold who had gone to Yorkshire -a battle at Stamford Bridge

Motte-and-bailey castle

Events of 1066

The Bayeux Tapestry

• a strip cartoon(approx. 71 metres long),

• sewn in wool on linen,

• bishop Odo of Bayeux(William the Conqueror's brother) had it made,

• still hangs in Bayeux

Anglo-Saxon resistance against Normans

• resistance in various parts of the country, including attacks of the Welsh, Scots and Danish and Norman intrusions - end in 1071.

• enormous burning, destruction and pillage of the country.

• the Norman system of power based on territory

• William I gave out the land to his followers -services (military in nature) in return for the right to hold the land.

• Tenants-in-chief or barons-men who held the land directly from the king.

• Tenants-in-chief divided up the land among other people who then owed services to the tenants-in-chief.

Distribution of land

• Few Saxon lords kept their lands.

• By 1086, only two of the greater landlords and only two bishops were Saxon.

• Over 4,000 Saxon landlords were replaced by 200 Norman ones.

Feudal terms:

homage-the act of submission made by a feudal tenant to his lord. Kneeling, the tenant gave his joined hands to be clasped by his lord, whom he undertook to service.

oath of fealty-the loyalty sworn by a vassal to his lord on the Bible or sacred relics.

investiture-an act in which the lord gave to the vassal a piece of earth to symbolise the transfer of the fief to the vassal.

Feudal burdens:

• military service,

• financial aid,

• relief -the sum of money payable to a feudal lord before an heir could inherit his estates.

• merchet-money paid by a peasant to his lord upon the marriage of a woman

New institutions:

• Curia regis replaced the witan.

• Ecclesiastical courts and feudal (secular) courts instead of shire and hundred courts.

• The office of sheriff transformed into a position resembling that of the Norman vicomte.

The Domesday Book-1086

Everything was recorded:

• how many acres of land,

• how many sheep,

• how many oxen,

• how many ploughs,

• how many villeins,

• how many priests and churches.

• The land divisions used in the Domesday Survey reflect the feudal system.

• Within each shire the unit used was the land held by a tenant-in-chief of the king.

• This basic economic unit was not the village but the manor of the baron.

Villein

• A medieval peasant,

• The name derives from the Latin villanus villager

• The class of person most frequently mentioned in the Domesday Book.

• Villeins cultivated land in the village fields in return for labour services on the manorial farm.

The Church and the State

• The upper ranks of the clergy Normanized and feudalized, following the pattern of lay society,

• Normans get large Church properties,

• Church becomes a strong policy supporter with separate judicial system and separate common law.

• 1070 -Lanfranc replaced Stigand as archbishop of Canterbury.

• Lanfranc and William worked together to introduce discipline and order into the English Church.

• The see of York got subordinated to Canterbury,

• William refused fealty to the pope,

• William and Lanfranc resisted Pope Gregory VII's claim to papal supremacy.

William II, Rufus(1087-1100)

• Tough Norman ruler in conflict with the church and barons

• conquest of Wales (MARCHES); and Scotland -homage enforced from King of Scotland Malcolm III

• securing the Welsh border by building castles

William Rufus manipulated feudal law to the benefit of the royal treasury:

• shire courts levied heavy fines,

• confiscation and forfeitures harshly enforced,

• exorbitant inheritance taxes imposed.

William's fiscal policies included (and antagonized) the Church he bolstered the royal revenue by leaving sees open and diverting the money into his coffers.

• Ranulf Flambard,

• Anselm, Abbot of Bec.

Henry I, Beauclerc

1100 -granted a Charter of Liberties:

• Church -all the vacant sees and benefices will be filled up;

• Barons-all oppressive feudal laws will be abolished;

• The pope -the laws of Edward the Confessor will be restored.

Henry I (1100-1135)

• Reforms in the royal treasury system,

• numerous legal reforms of the country,

• wars against France,

• invasions of Wales (1114, 1121).

• Henry established the office of justiciar,

• Roger of Salisbury, the first justiciar, instrumental in organizing an efficient department for collection of royal revenues, the Exchequer

The White ship sinking

• 1120 -Henry's only son, William drowned,

• 1126 -Henry forced the nobility to recognise his daughter Matilda as heiress to the throne,

• 1128 -Matilda married Count Geoffrey of Anjou(nicknamed Plantagenet)

Stephen of Blois(1135-1154) -son of William I's daughter Adela

• Period of anarchy-"Christ and his saints slept".

• Increasing role of barons -building unlicensed adulterine castles to defy the king and prey around.

• War with Matilda -Henry's daughter -Scots invade England but are defeated in the battle of the Standard (1138).

• 1139 -a period of anarchy(civil wars) -the position of the nobility and Church strengthened.

• 1141 -with the help of Robert of Gloucester (her half-brother) Matilda defeated Stephen.

• 1153 -the Treaty of Wallingford-Matilda's son acknowledged as Stephen's successor.

Norman society and culture

• Construction of enormous castles (The Tower of London).

• Norman officials replaced English ones in the government and in the Church.

• Most Norman kings spend their time in France.

• Norman French became the language of the governing classes; French and Latin used in government, the law and literature; very little written in English (English monks did continue writing The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle until 1154).

• Beginnings of wool trade with Flanders -consequences for future economic wealth building -trade cities: Hull, Newcastle.

• Wool enriched towns which soon obtain charters -self-government and privileges -choice of mayor and council; towns freed from local loyalty -beginnings of early “capitalism” in England.

• Merchants and craftsmen organized into craft guilds vs. trade guilds.

• Norman (Roman) style in architecture -new cathedrals built in England (19 in all), e.g. Winchester, Ely, Durham.

Normans established English offices known until today after modifications:

Curia Regis fulfilling three roles:

1.Royal government;

2.Judicial court;

3.Legislative body.

Yielded to:

• Chancery(writing office) -privy seal stamped on acts.

• Exchequer(1130) (finance office) -checkered cloth helpful in counting taxes.

Lecture 7: Early Plantagentes

Henry (1154-1189)

Henry Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

• the first of the Plantagenet kings,

• brought to England with him the best European learning of the day,

• inherited much land

• Normandy and Brittany from his mother Matilda,

• Anjou, Maine and Touraine fromhis father Geoffrey Plantagenet, Countof Anjou,

• Aquitane from his wife Eleanor of Aquitane (ex-wife of King Louis VII of France).

•The continental empire ruled by Henry and his sons included the French counties of Brittany, Maine, Poitou, Touraine, Gascony, Anjou, Aquitane, and Normandy(AngevinEmpire).

Angevin Empire

Henry -

• technically a feudal vassal of the king of France,

• in reality, owned more territory and was more powerful than his French lord.

Although King John (Henry's son) lost most of the English holdings in France, English kings laid claim to the French throne until the fifteenth century.

Territory extension in the British Isles

•Henry retrieved Cumbria and Northumbria form Malcom IV of Scotland and settled the Anglo-Scot border in the North.

•invaded Ireland and secured an English presence on the island(Richard de Clare of Pembroke (Strongbow) conquered Ireland and founds the Pale around Dublin (1170), first English colony).

Ireland

•Anglo-Norman influences begin in Ireland -western Ireland remains in Celtic hands

•Henry becomes the Lord of Ireland

Legal reforms:

• Demolishing of unauthorized castles built during the previous reign,

•Monetary payments replaced military service-scutage

• Revitalisation of the Exchequer,

• Replacement of incompetent sheriffs,

•Assize of Clarendon (1166)-establishment of institution of charging jury.

The Jury

• Juries are first for giving evidence in cases involving property,

• then for judging evidence -the jury of presentment or accusation (each man could choose twelve good and true men).

• Henry's reforms allowed the emergence of a body of common law to replace the disparate customs of feudal and county courts.

• Jury trials initiated to end the old Germanic trials by ordeal or battle.

• In 1215 Pope Innocent III forbade all priests to take part in trials by ordeal, which helped greatly to develop the system of trial by jury in England.

Henry II's conflict with the Church

• 1162 -the Archbishop of Canterbury, Theobald died,

• Henry II made his friend Thomas Becket(chancellor since 1155) the Archbishop.

• leading churchmen's protests:

-Becket had never been a priest,

-had a reputation as a cruel military commander,

-was very materialistic.

• Henry wanted the King's court to be able to judge many of the cases which had been considered cases to be tried in the Church courts.

• Clerks-thousands of servants who obtained the benefit of clergy;

Psalm 51 known as `neck verse'

•Becket refused to give up any of the Church's powers to the Crown.

•Becket convicted in a royal court on false charges his lands taken away & he had to escape to the Continent.

The Constitutions of Clarendon 1164

• The most controversial clause related to `benefit of clergy'

• The king decided that clergymen found guilty of serious crimes should be handed over to his courts,

• Becket's objection to this clause brought him into open conflict with the king.

1164

•Becket involved in a dispute over land,

•Henry ordered Becket to appear before his courts-Becket refused,

•the king confiscated his property.

•Becket claimed to have had stolen £300 from government funds when Chancellor.

•Becket decided to run away to France.

•Under the protection of king Louis VII, Becket organised a propaganda campaign against Henry.

1170

•Becket returned to Canterbury,

•Excommunication of the Archbishop of York and other leading churchmen who had supported Henry,

•Henry's reaction: “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?”

•Four of Henry's knights, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy, Reginald Fitz Urse, and Richard IeBret, who heard Henry's angry outburst decided to kill Becket.

29th December, 1170

St Thomas Becket

• canonized -he became the saint martyr,

• his tomb received pilgrimages,

• Henry did penance.

• 1173 -Henry II's sons wishing to gain independent dominions revolt against his father being supported by William I, the Lion of Scotland,

• the years between 1175 and 1182 marked the zenith of Henry's prestige and power,

• 1189 -Henry died of a broken heart.

Richard I, the Lion Heart (1189-99)

• a renowned and skilful warrior,

• mainly interested in

-the Crusade to recover Jerusalem

-the struggle to maintain his French holdings against Philip Augustus.

• He spent only about six months of his 10-year reign in England.

•Participated in the third crusade,

•Captured on his way home by Duke Leopold of Austria and handed to the emperor Henry VI,

•A ransom of 150,000 marks demanded,

•1194 Richard left England for ever.

•Engaged in war with Philip II Augustus.

•Richard's campaigns placed a heavy burden on England's finances.

Various methods of raising money:

•an aid, or scutage;

•a carucage, or tax on plough lands;

•a general tax of a fourth of revenues and chattels,

•a seizure of the wool crop of Cistercian and Gilbertine houses.

Hubert Walter (d. 1205)

•The archbishop of Canterbury,

•justiciar from 1193 to 1198,

•chancellor from 1199 to 1205

•virtual ruler of England after king Richard's final departure for the Continent(1194).

•Introduced financial and judicial reforms.

Lecture 8: King John and Magna Carta

John the Lackland (1199-1216)

• Weak, cruel and cowardly, already in power during Richard's absence.

• John's reign started with the contest with Prince Arthur -his elder brother Geoffrey's son, who claimed the Crown of England.

• The contest resulted in the loss of Normandy in 1204.

By 1206 England lost all the territories in France except the Channel Islands.

The conflict with the Pope:

• John involved in a conflict with Pope Innocent III over the choice of an archbishop.

• John forced the election of one of his confidants, John de Grey, bishop of Norwich,

• Innocent III engineered the election of the learned and talented cardinal Stephen Langton,

• John refused to receive Stephen and seized the revenues of Canterbury,

• England without an archbishop.

• 1208 -Innocent imposed an interdict on England,

• 1209 -the Pope excommunicated John.

• John made the most of the opportunity to collect the revenues of the sees vacated by bishops who had gone into exile.

• highly successful expeditions to Scotland, Wales, and Ireland,

• 1213 -John reconciled with the papacy(impending invasion of England by Philip II Augustus of France),

• John surrendered England to the Pope, receiving it back as a fief.

• a coalition of rulers in Germany and the Low Countries to assist John against the French king Otto IV, king of Germany and Holy Roman emperor.

• Plans for a campaign in Poitou proved very unpopular in England(especially with the northern barons).

• In 1214 John's allies defeated at Bouvines.

Extensive taxation of all classes:

• new taxes,

• massive reliefs (inheritance duties).

• First Barons' War (1215-17)

• Cause: John's attempt to recapture Normandy -new war, new taxes

• The barons rebelled and forced the king to issue...

Magna Carta Libertatum

The Great Charter

• June 15, 1215-the rebellious barons met John at Runnymede ,

• The king presented with the `Articles of the Barons', on which Magna Carta was drawn up.

• Magna Carta aimed to provide protection for all freemen,

• an attempt to provide guarantees against the sort of arbitrary disregard of feudal right.

Magna Carta

• comprises a preamble and sixty-three clauses,

• a quarter of the clauses deal with matters concerning inheritance and tenure;

• nine others limit royal financial exactions; eight curtail the power of royal officials;

• the others guarantee the expulsion of royal mercenaries and make concessions to baronial allies.

Clause39

No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or disseized[dispossessed], or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way harmed--nor will we go upon or send upon him--save by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

Clause 40

To none will we sell, to none will we deny, to none will we delay right or justice.

• The charter to be enforced by a council of 25 barons.

• Limitation of royal power -liberties for the Church, barons, justice for everyone, no sentence without a trial.

• Approval of common council necessary for taxation.

• Nobility acts as a social class not as vassals.

Economy and society:

• From about 1180 the pace of economic change quickened,

• a shift to "high farming."

• The direct management of estates replaced by a rentier system.

• A marked price and wage inflation,

• Daily wages for a knight rose from eight pence a day (early in Henry II's day)to two shillings (under John).

• Landlords responded:

• by taking manors into their own hands,

• by profiting from direct sales of demesne produce at market.

• A new class of professional estate managers, or stewards, began to appear.

• Towns continued to prosper, many bought privileges of self-government from Richard I and John.

• The importance of weaving industry England noted as a producer of very high quality woollen cloth.

• development of textile industry -

• wool trade flourished with Flanders,

• development of salt and coal mining

• Newcastle, Yorkshire

12th-century Renaissance:

• Scholars at the court,

• works on law and administration(the `Dialogue of the Exchequer')and the law book attributed to Ranulf de Glanville show how modern ideas were being applied to the arts of government.

• ecclesiastical architecture -new methods of vaulting gave builders greater freedom(the choir at Canterbury, rebuilt after a fire in 1174 by William of Sens).

• military architecture-the traditional rectangular plan abandoned in keeps (Orford and Conisborough.)

Universities

• 1168 - beginnings of the University of Oxford.

• allusions to Oxford as a studium and a studium generale began to multiply.

• 1209 - a university at Cambridge founded.

Early universities:

• no buildings,

• lectures given in hired halls or churches,

• various colleges of Oxford -originally endowed boarding houses for impoverished scholars.

• intended primarily for masters or bachelors of arts who needed financial assistance to enable them to continue study for a higher degree.

Univeristy of Oxford:

• The earliest colleges:

• University College(founded in 1249)

• Balliol College (founded c.1263)

• Merton College (1264).

• Reputation of Oxford based on:

• theology and

• the liberal arts.

University of Cambridge:

• 1209 - scholars from Oxford migrated to Cambridge to escape Oxford's riots of "town and gown".

• the first college, Peterhouse, founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, bishop of Ely.

• 1318 -Cambridge received formal recognition as a studium generale from Pope John XXII.

Henry III (1216-1271)

• little military ability,

• yielded readily to the Pope,

• did not always uphold national interests,

• incompetent ruler,

• his ineffectual government, financial mismanagement, and dependence upon foreign favourites provoked baronial opposition and led to the second Barons' War (1258-65).

Causes of the 2nd Barons' War:

• Henry's ambition to take the Sicilian and German crowns,

• King's control of treasury,

• Surrounding with foreign advisers,

• Heavy war taxation opposed by the nobility.

1258 - under pressure from Simon de Montfort, brother-in-law to the king, Henry III forced to grant the Provisions of Oxford.

• Executive power was invested in the king and a council of 15.

• Parliament to meet three times a year and elect standing commission of 12.

• Local administration placed in the hands of the council.

• Henry III allied himself with the Pope Louis IX.

• the Peace of Paris (1259)

• Henry III to abandon Normandy, Maine, Anjou and Poitou

• recognise the French king's overloard ship of the Duchy of Guyenne (Aquitaine).

• 1264 - Simon de Montfort defeated Henry(the battle of Lewes).

• 1265 - Montfort summoned parliament including the barons, the clergy, and two knights from each shire and two burgesses from each borough(the fullest representation of England).

Henry III's son, Edward, defeated Simon de Montfort in the battle of Evesham.

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