Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, c1060–88 · GCSE History

Anglo-Saxon England

Society: the king at the top; earls governed earldoms; thegns were local lords who owed military service; ceorls were free peasants; and about 10% of people were slaves.
Government: the Witan (the king's council) advised the king. England was divided into shires, each with a sheriff, and smaller hundreds. The king could call up the fyrd (a part-time army) and had his own housecarls (professional soldiers). Taxes (the geld) and coins were well organised. Burhs were fortified towns.
The Godwins were the most powerful family. Harold Godwinson was Earl of Wessex, and his brother Tostig was Earl of Northumbria until a rebellion in 1065 led Edward to exile him.

Edward the Confessor died childless on 5 January 1066, and the Witan chose Harold Godwinson as king.
William of Normandy claimed Edward had promised him the throne (in 1051) and that Harold had sworn an oath to support him (in 1064). Harald Hardrada of Norway based his claim on an earlier agreement. Edgar Atheling had royal blood but was young.
In 1066 came Gate Fulford (20 September), Stamford Bridge (25 September) and Hastings (14 October). William won with cavalry, archers and feigned retreats, helped by Harold's tired army, his decision to fight quickly, and luck.

The surviving English leaders submitted to William at Berkhamsted, and he was crowned on Christmas Day 1066. He built castles, rewarded his followers with land, and set up Marcher earldoms along the Welsh border (Hereford, Shrewsbury and Chester).
Rebellions: Edwin and Morcar (1068); risings in the north (1069), followed by the Harrying of the North (1069–70); Hereward the Wake at Ely (1070–71); and the Revolt of the Earls (1075), led by Ralph de Gael, Roger de Breteuil and Waltheof, who was executed in 1076.
Changes: the feudal system; church reform under Lanfranc, after Archbishop Stigand was removed in 1070; the Domesday Book (1086); forest law; and a Norman aristocracy replacing the Anglo-Saxon one.
Family problems: William's eldest son, Robert Curthose, rebelled (1077–80) and wounded his father at Gerberoy (1079). William's half-brother, Odo of Bayeux, was arrested in 1082. William died in September 1087.