2.6. The Norman conquest of England

The strongest state in Europe was Normandy. The Normans were related to the Danes. They settled down on land conquered from the French king – a territory which is still called Normandy after them. They lived under the rule of their own duke who was as strong and the king himself. They coined their own money and could unleash a war against the king himself, the Norman knights were the best in Europe.

In 1066 William, the Duke of Normandy, began to gather an army to invade Britain. The pretext for the invasion was William’s claims to the English throne. He was related to the King Edward the Confessor who died in1066. He called upon all the Christian warriors of Europe to help him gain his rights to the E throne. No pay was offered but W promised land to all who would support him.

W landed near the small town of Hastings on October 14, 1066. The N outnumbered the A-S forces led by Harold Godwin who had been chosen the king by English nobility. The superior military tactics of N were unknown in E, but the A-S stood firm. But N succeeded in breaking the line and won the battle. After the Normans encircled London, William was acknowledged the lawful king of England.

He ruled E for 21 years During the first 5 years of his reign the Normans had to put down many rebellions in different parts of the country. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle said: “The King William was severe beyond all measure to those people who resisted his will”. Wherever he encountered opposition he seized the lands of his foes and constructed the fortified castles in those districts. In this way he ended all the opposition to his rule. It was he who erected the White Tower to guard London from outside attacks. One-seventh of the country was made the royal domain. The other lands king granted to the Normans and Frenchmen who had taken part in the conquest. In England the rule “My vassal’s vassal is not my vassal” was broken in 1086. It became the duty of all the landlords to support the king. The country was divided into shires /counties/. William the first appointed a royal official in each shire to be his “sheriff”. The feudal registration of 1086 in the Doomsday Book consolidated the position of the conquerors.

The victorious Normans made up the new aristocracy and the Anglo-Saxon people became their servants. The Norman aristocracy spoke a Norman dialect of French, a tongue of Latin origin, while the Anglo-Saxons spoke English, a tongue of Germanic origin. Thus there were two different languages spoken in the country at the same time. Norman-French became the official language of the state, the court and the church. The richer Anglo-Saxons found it convenient to learn to speak the language of the rulers. But the peasants and townspeople spoke English.

In a few generations the descendants of the Normans who had come with William the Conqueror learned to speak the mother tongue of the majority of the population. In time English became the language of the educated classes and the official language of the state. As a result of the conquest, the English language changed greatly under the influence of the French language. Gradually the Normans mixed with the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes and from this mixture the English nation finally emerged.

With the Normans the era of invasions closed. The fusion of races and the process of unification were gradually completed.