What’s important about 1066?

 Marks the end of the Viking Age

 Led to the development of a centralized, feudal state in England
 The beginning of a long conflict between the English and the French

The Normans
 The Normans were the descendants of a group of Viking raiders
 Attacked the Frankish kingdom and settled in northwestern France
 Their chief, Hrolf the Ganger (or Rollo the Walker) became first duke of
Normandy

Normans cont’d
 The Normans (Northmen) began speaking French and developed a
powerful feudal state
 Ruled by the dukes of Normandy
 Officially vassals of the kings of France; in reality much more powerful
 Europe around 1000 A.D.

Norman Expansion
 Norman knights attacked not just England, but Sicily under Robert
Guiscard
 Many later joined the crusades
 Perfected the use of heavy cavalry

Duke William of Normandy

 Illegitimate son of the old duke—fought his way to the top
 After the death of King Edward of England, William (a distant relative)
claimed the throne of England

King Harold Godwinsson of England

 Harold, an Anglo- Saxon noble, took the throne after Edward’s death
 Faced rebellion from powerful nobles
 Barely defeated an invasion by King Harald Hadrada of Norway in 1066

The Battle of Hastings—1066

 William and his Norman army invaded
 Recorded on the Bayeux Tapestry
 Norman knights crushed the Anglo-Saxons and killed King Harold
 Duke William became King William the Conqueror of England
Organizing England
 The Normans set up a centralized feudal system in England
 The king was in charge—his nobles owed their position to him
 Lords had to report directly to the king
 The Domesday Book: complete record of people and property in England

Development of England (1066- 1215)

 Centralized leadership under William’s descendants, but lords also kept
their traditional rights
 The Magna Carta (1215)—spelled out rights of nobles which kings could
not violate
 Parliament (represented nobles and merchants) advised king and had to
approve new taxes
 Introduction of French changed the English language  Difference
between Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales

Conflict between English and French

 The Norman kings of England still had control over Normandy and other
territories in France
 Gained even more when King Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine in
1152
 The English owned almost half of France— most of the rest was
controlled by powerful nobles, not the French kings