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England after the Norman Conquest

England after the Norman Conquest. After the battle of hastings …. William, Duke of Normandy , managed to defeat the Anglo- Saxons and to kill their king , Harold. England had its new king in William himself .

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England after the Norman Conquest

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  1. Englandafter the Norman Conquest

  2. After the battle of hastings… William, Duke of Normandy, managed to defeat the Anglo-Saxons and to killtheirking, Harold. Englandhadits new king in William himself. On Christmas Day, 1066, he wascrownedas William I in Westminster Abbey.

  3. Duringhisreign, William dispossessed English noblemen of theirlands and replaced English clergymen with French and Italianchurchmen, but he allowedtownspeople and churchmen of lowerlevels to remain, to teach and keepalive English culture and religioustraditions. • William introduced the feudalsystem, so baronsobtainedtheirlands by becomingKing’stenants and payingtheir«rent» with military service. Itwasalsointroduced the so called «Doomsday Book»: itwas a survey, a list of the lands, the cattle, with theirnumber, theirtypes,theirproductivity information and theirowners’ names; itwasused to collect the «geld», or «propertytax».

  4. After the Norman Conquest, a languagerevolutionstarted: French and Latin languages, introduced by William, caused an evolution of Old English in Middle English and of itsmainfeatures. • Middle English: wasspoken by everyone in everydayspeech. • French: wasspoken by the King and hisèlite of nobles and used in governmentcontext. • Latin: wasspoken by the clergy, butwasalsoused in legal, administrative and intellectualcontexts.

  5. King henry ii THE Plantagenet (1154-1189) Duringhisreign, he introduced the «scutagetax»: with thistax, knightscouldchoose to stay at home in theirlands and avoid to go to war and the King couldpayprofessionalsoldiers (mercenaries). He alsointroduced, in 1160, the so called «travellingroyaljudges» whoadministrated the «Common law», thatwas a system of lawsbased on comparison of previouscases and previousdecisions.

  6. The crown and the church:Thomas becket and the constitution of clarendon In 1162 Henry II appointed Thomas Becketas the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Becketasserted the Independence of the Church from the King’spower; so Henry II introduced the «Constitution of Clarendon», whichstated the king’s supreme authority in civilmatters and the factthatallpeople, including the Clergy, weresubjected to the Crown. Thomas Becketrefused to accept the Constitution , he went to France where he remained in exile for 7 years. . After he went back to England, in 1170, Henry II sent out fourknights to killhim in Canterbury Cathedral. The Catholic Church made him a saint and a martyr : A lot of pilgrimswent to visithisshrine and Henry walkedbarefoot to Canterbury and wasflogged by monksat the door of the cathedral to restorehisreputation.

  7. Richard I «lionheart» and john I «lackland» • Richard I was King of England for tenyears, from 1189 to 1199, buthisreignlastedonlyoneyearbecause he joined the Third Crusade and set out for the Holy Land. He died in France on his way back to England in 1199. • John I succededhisbrother Richard afterhisdeath. He wascalled «Lackland» and «Softsword», because he lostallhis French territories and because he wasbadatusingweapons. He wasunpopular and verygreedy and imposedheavytaxation on allhissubjects

  8. The «magna carta» In 1215 the barons, the knights, the Clergy and townspeopleorganized a rebellionagainst the King and hisheavytaxation: theyrefused to pay the scutage, occupiedLondon and made King John sign the «Magna Carta» atRunnymede. The «Magna Carta» was an importantdocumentthat • Promisedfreedom to allpeople; • Protected the rights of ordinarypeople; • Gave the basis of a fair legalsystem; • Promised fair laws; • Preventedanyfreeman from beingpunishedwithout a proper trial.

  9. Edward i (1272-1307) In 1295 Edward I summoned a council of barons, churchmen (bishops), knights and tworepresentatives of the towns ; itwas the embryonal state of the future «ModernParliament», itrepresents the base of the modern English Parliament.

  10. Edward iii (1327-1377): the hundredyears war and the new idea of «chivalry» Edward III claimed the vacantthrone of France for dynasticreasons,because he was the grandson of the late French King Philip the Fair; he hadalso to protect the interest of English trade of wine in Glascony and of wool in the Flanders Thesereasonscaused the beginning of the so called «HundredYears War», whichlasted from 1337 to 1453. Thanks to Edward III ‘son, the «Black Prince», EnglandwonatCrecy, Poitiers and Calais.

  11. Edward III introduced the idea of «chivalry», whichwas a set of values- suchasbravery, loyalty, honesty and glory- that the perfectknighthad to respect. This idea waslinked to the cycle of Arthurianlegends. He alsointroduced the Order of Garter, inspired by the Knights of the Round Table, formed by 24 knights with high ideals of honour and service and whomet once a year on St. George’sDayat Windsor Castle.

  12. Richard ii and the peasants’ revolt Richard II introduced the «poll tax» in 1381: with thistax, every family had to pay 12 pennies for every male over 15. Wat Tyler marched to London with a crowd of people to ask King Richard II to abolish the tax; for thisreason he wasexecutedthough the King hadpromisedthat he would help the peasants. The King didnothing and had the leaders of the revoltexecuted.

  13. The «blackdeath», johnwycliffe and the end of the war • The HundredYears War wasinterrupted by tragiceventssuchas the so called «Black Death»: itwas a bubonicplaguewhich spread all over Europe, killingonethird of the population. Itwascaused by fleas, parasytes of rats, thatinfested the ships in the territories of Middle East and whichtradedall over Europe. • Asfewer and fewerpeoplewereleft to work the fields, landownersstartedpayingagriculturalworkerswages, so theyturnedserf service intopaidlabour. • In 1351 the Statute of Labourersfixedverylowwagelevels: a landownercouldpaylessthan the estabilished rate, while a labourercouldn’tdemand a higher rate.

  14. Duringthisperiod, John Wycliffe, a theologianfrom Oxford University, started to attack the corruption of the clergy, the supremacy of the Pope, the worship of relics and the habits of paying for masses. He influenced the Lollardheresy and translated the Bible from Latin into English. In 1401 heresywasconsidered a capital offence, so Wycliffewascondemned to death. • During the reign of King Henry VI in England, the French obtained a high number of victorythanks to Joan D’Arc, the «Pucelle d’Orleans»; butlatershewasbetrayed by herpeople, tried by the English and condemned to the stake. Shewas made a saint. • At the end of the war, Englandlostallits French possessions, except Calais.

  15. The war of tworoses The «War of TwoRoses» was a civil war fought by the twonoblehouses of York ( a white rose) and Lancaster ( a red rose). The war lasted 30 years and one of the causeswasthatboth families claimed the English throne. Itwaswon by Henry Tudor of the Lancastrian Party, whodefeated the Yorkist King Richard III at the battle of Bosworth in 1485. Henry wascrownedas Henry VII Tudor and he marriedElizabeth of York, unifying the two families and theiremblems ( a rose with white and redpetals). The Tudor dynasty and the English Renaissancestarted with hisreign.

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