William I in Power Flashcards
All 28 cards in this deck
What was the submission of the earls in 1066?
Leading Anglo-Saxons — Edwin, Morcar, Edgar the Aethling and Archbishop Ealdred of York — surrendered to William at Berkhamsted and accepted him as king.
What were the Marcher earldoms?
Earldoms set up to control England's border with Wales; their earls had special rights, such as building castles without the king's permission and creating boroughs.
What were the first Norman castles in England like?
Motte and bailey castles of earth and wood, built very quickly, often by peasant labour; the bailey was an enclosed area holding houses and stables.
True or false? Norman castles were built only on England's borders and coasts, to protect against invasion.
False. Many were built inside England, e.g. at Exeter, Nottingham and York, to control areas where there had been Anglo-Saxon rebellions.
Give one reason Earls Edwin and Morcar revolted in 1068.
William reduced the size of their earldoms, so they lost land and status. (Edwin was also angry that William broke his promise that he could marry William's daughter.)
True or false? Edwin and Morcar were executed after their revolt in 1068.
False. William marched an army north quickly, building castles on the way; the earls surrendered and were pardoned.
What did Edgar the Aethling do in 1069?
He led rebellion in the North with Danish support; rebels took York, killing about 3,000 Norman soldiers, but the rebels scattered and the Danes withdrew when William marched north.
Who was Hereward the Wake?
An Anglo-Saxon thegn who led the rebellion at Ely, 1070–71, joined by Earl Morcar.
How was the rebellion at Ely (1070–71) defeated?
William paid the Danes to sail home, and local monks betrayed the rebels by showing his forces a secret route through the Fens, so the rebels surrendered.
Give one reason William ordered the Harrying of the North (1069–70).
To take revenge for the northern rebellions and destroy rebel support, so the North could not be used as a base for a Danish invasion.
What did William's forces do during the Harrying of the North (1069–70)?
They burned villages, homes and crops and killed livestock across a large area of northern England.
Give one consequence of the Harrying of the North.
An estimated 100,000 people died from the violence and the famine that followed; some people resorted to cannibalism.
True or false? The effects of the Harrying of the North could still be seen in the Domesday Book of the 1080s.
True. Many parts of northern England were still recorded as uncultivated and depopulated.
Who led the Revolt of the Earls in 1075?
Ralph de Gael, Earl of East Anglia, and Roger de Breteuil, Earl of Hereford, joined at first by Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria.
Give one reason for the Revolt of the Earls in 1075.
Ralph and Roger resented William reducing the power and rights of their earldoms; they plotted at Ralph's wedding feast at Norwich, held without William's permission.
Give one reason the Revolt of the Earls (1075) failed.
The Danish fleet sent to help the rebels arrived too late, and then refused to fight William.
True or false? Waltheof told William's side about the plot of 1075.
True. He informed Archbishop Lanfranc and the king, but was still executed in 1076.
What happened to the lands of those who fought against William at Hastings, such as the Godwinsons?
They lost the right to their lands, which were given to William's loyal followers as a reward.
True or false? By 1087 most of the land in England was still held by Anglo-Saxon landowners.
False. After the rebellions and the Revolt of the Earls, Anglo-Saxon landowners were dispossessed and almost all large landholdings were in Norman hands.
Which Marcher earldoms were given to William FitzOsbern, Roger de Montgomery and Hugh d'Avranches?
Hereford (FitzOsbern), Shrewsbury (Montgomery) and Chester (d'Avranches): all three had supported William's invasion.
Give one reason the English leaders submitted to William in 1066 instead of fighting on.
Any one of: many of England's best warriors had died at Hastings; William's army circled London, threatening to cut off its supplies; William held the royal treasury, leaving Edgar the Aethling nothing to reward followers with.
In a motte and bailey castle, what were the motte and the keep?
The motte was an artificial earth mound, usually 5–7 metres high. The keep was the wooden tower built on top of it, serving as a lookout and the defenders' last refuge.
How did the regents Odo and William FitzOsbern help provoke Anglo-Saxon revolt after 1066?
While William was in Normandy in 1067, they seized English land unlawfully and failed to punish Norman soldiers who committed serious crimes against the English.
What happened to Robert Cumin at Durham in January 1069?
The Norman William had just made earl of northern Northumbria was killed there with his men by rebels angered by his soldiers' looting.
Roughly how much of England's land was still held by Anglo-Saxon aristocrats in 1087?
Only about 5%, mostly in small estates. Of the roughly 190 tenants-in-chief who held over half the land, just two were Anglo-Saxons.
What happened to Earls Roger and Ralph after the Revolt of the Earls failed?
Roger, Earl of Hereford, was captured, imprisoned and lost his lands. Ralph, Earl of East Anglia, fled to Brittany; some of his Breton followers were captured and blinded.
Give one way Anglo-Saxons helped defeat the Revolt of the Earls in 1075.
Any one of: Bishop Wulfstan of Worcester and the abbot of Evesham stopped Roger's army crossing the River Severn; English forces joined Norman garrisons to keep Ralph's army penned in East Anglia.
What part did Archbishop Lanfranc play in the Revolt of the Earls (1075)?
He was ruling England as regent while William was in Normandy. When he could not persuade Earl Roger to back down, he excommunicated him and organised loyal forces to contain the revolt until the king returned.