Q1 How convincing is the interpretation Practice Questions: Norman England

Read Interpretation A below, then answer the question.

Interpretation A: from a book about the rival claimants to the English throne in 1066, written for general readers in 2015.

Written for practice: not a real historical interpretation.

In law, William of Normandy had the weakest case of all the claimants. His blood link to Edward the Confessor was thin, and the Witan played no part in choosing him. What William had instead was preparation and nerve. He built a fleet, recruited soldiers from beyond Normandy, secured his own borders and persuaded the Pope to bless his cause. In the end his crown rested not on any promise made to him, but on the gamble he took in battle.

Read Interpretation A below, then answer the question.

Interpretation A: from a general history of England after the Norman Conquest, written for the general reader in 2016.

Written for practice: not a real historical interpretation.

Feudalism was not a Norman invention. Anglo-Saxon lords had already held land in return for service. What the Normans did was make the bargain exact. Every tenant-in-chief held his land directly from the King, swore an oath of homage, and owed a fixed number of knights for a fixed number of days. Estates were deliberately scattered so that no baron could gather a private army in one place. Under the Normans, everyone from earl to villein knew precisely what he owed, and to whom.

Read Interpretation A below, then answer the question.

Interpretation A: from a short history of the medieval English Church, written in 2018 for visitors to an English cathedral.

Written for practice: not a real historical interpretation.

The English Church that William found in 1066 was not corrupt, but it was old-fashioned by European standards. The man who changed it was Lanfranc. As Archbishop of Canterbury from 1070 he held councils, attacked married clergy and the buying of Church offices, and insisted that Canterbury should rule over York. Yet his reforms served the King as much as the Pope. Lanfranc defended royal authority against Rome's demands, and the great new cathedrals of his age were statements of Norman power as well as of faith.

Read Interpretation A below, then answer the question.

Interpretation A: from a history of the year 1066 written for the general reader in 2011.

Written for practice: not a real historical interpretation.

Stamford Bridge was the most complete English victory of 1066. Harold's march north took the Norwegians entirely by surprise, and the invading army was destroyed so thoroughly that the survivors needed only a fraction of their ships to carry them home. Yet the victory ruined him. His best troops were killed or worn out, and when word came that William had landed in Sussex, Harold had to drag the same exhausted army the length of England to fight a second battle within three weeks.

Read Interpretation A below, then answer the question.

Interpretation A: from a book about everyday life in medieval England, written for general readers in 2015.

Written for practice: not a real historical interpretation.

The Normans brought with them a passion for hunting, and with it a new kind of law. Great stretches of countryside were declared royal forest, where the deer and the trees belonged to the king alone. Villagers who had always taken wood and game from the woods were suddenly poachers, and the punishments were savage. Whole settlements were cleared away to make room for the king's sport. Of all the Conqueror's changes, Forest law was the one the English felt most bitterly in their everyday lives.