The Battle of Hastings
William ruled the dukedom of Normandy. William's army was formed of about 8,000
warriors. He had a cavalry of 3,000 men. Harold's soldiers fought on foot. The two armies
faced each other near Hastings on 14h October 1066. The turning point of the battle came
when Harold was hit in the eye by an arrow and then killed by four Norman knights. The
Anglo-Saxons escaped to the woods and the Normans declared victory. William was later
crowned William I (1066-87) in Westminster Abbey, in London, on Christmas Day, 1066.
The consequences of the invasion 1066 is perhaps the most famous date in English history
because there were political, social and cultural transformations.
The feudal system was established: the new French barons obtained their land by becoming
the king's tenants. They sublet their lands to lesser tenants in return for their services.
Noblemen decrease because many Anglo-Saxon noblemen died in battle, were exiled or
dispossessed of their lands. Two groups of Englishmen with power remained: the
townspeople and the churchmen of lower levels.
The Normans replaced English with French: Latin remained the main language in legal,
administrative ecclesiastical and intellectual contexts, while English survived in everyday
speech.
William the Conqueror claimed to be the lord of the land. His power was demonstrated by
the Domesday Book which gave the king detailed information on the country. The
Domesday Book listed the different types of land-and their use, the number of productive
people and their status and animals.
Henry II The Plantagenet
When William I the Conqueror died in 1087 there was a period of civile war, called the
Anarchy. The last Norman king was Henry II Plantagenet. He was the most powerful
monarch in Europe.
Military reform
During Henry Il's reign, the feudal duty of military service was replaced with a tax known as
scutage: In this way knights could choose to remain on their land and the king pay
professional soldiers.
Legal reforms
In the 1160 Henry introduced traveling royal judges. The law they administered become
know as common law because It was use in everywhere. English lawyers created a different
system of law based on custom and comparisons of previous decisions.
Henry II and the power of the Church
In 1162 Henry appointed one of his favorites Thomas Becket (1118-70), to be Archbishop of
Canterbury. In 1164 Henry written the Constitutions of Clarendon to limita the Power of the
Church. Becket refused to accept the Constitutions of Clarendon. Becket was murdered in
Canterbury Cathedral: he became a martyr and a Saint.
Edward III and the Order of the Garter
Edward first was succeded by his own Edward II hand and by Edward II. Edward III claimed
the crown (reclama la corona) of France because his mother was the French king's sister.
This was the beginning of the Hundred Years' War that was interrupted in 1348 by a terrible
plague.
King Edward III introduced the idea of chivairy,a name given to a set of values (loyalty,
honesty and glory) which the perfect knight had to respect. Edward founded the Order of
the Garter it was formed of a group of 24 knights, the same number the legendary Arthur
had chosen.
The peasant revolt
The peasant revolt began when John Gaunt in 1381 imposed the poll tax on every adult. A
craftsman (un artigiano) named Wat Tyler gathered a huge crowd of people (riuní una
grande massa di persone) and marched on London to ask the king to abolish the duties of
peasants to their landlords. The mayor (il sindaco)of London killed Tyler and the king
executed the leaders of the revolt.
John Wycliffe
John Wycliffe was the most important religious reformer before Luther. He was a supporter
of a poor church end of the poorest precepts of the Christian Faith.
His ideas were more radical, including attacks on papal authority. Wycliffe was an early
advocate for translation of the Bible into the common language.Translating parts of Scripture
was not new but the combination of an English Bible and heresy was explosive.
Wycliffites would encourage ordinary people to lead a more active and autonomous religious
life.
Wycliffe's followers were insultingly nicknamed Lollards; many of them were killed during the
final repression of the peasants' revolt.
