Norman Conquest

\nThe term Norman Conquest traditionally refers to the conquest of England by William, Duke of Normandy, subsequently King William I. William's victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 effectively guaranteed the eventual success the conquest, regarded as an important watershed, the start of "conventional" English history. (For the importance of the concept in mass culture, note the spoof history book 1066 and All That as well as the iconic status of the Bayeux Tapestry). The Viking invasion of northern England by Harald III of Norway in September 1066 provided one factor aiding the ease of the Norman takeover - it left Harold Godwinson unable to gather a large enough army to fend off the adversary from across the English Channel. Moreover, Norman cultural and political influence in England had built up over the years prior to 1066, and William had an arguably legitimate dynastic claim to the throne of England. This enabled him to claim enough support among the English nobility to prevent a wholly united front against his ascent of the throne. Note that the conquest of Wales by the Normans took place piecemeal and finished only in 1282, during the reign of King Edward I. The same king, though he subdued Scotland, did not truly conquer it, as it re-asserted local sovereignty, remained an independent kingdom until 1707 and retained a separate monarchy until 1603. The Norman conquerors introduced Norman French as the language of the ruling classes in England, displacing Old English. Norman French retained the status of a prestige language for nearly 300 years. The efficient centralised Norse system of government brought by the Normans to England contrasted with the localised collective form of government practised by the Saxons. The Domesday Book exemplifies the practical codification which enabled Norman assimilation of conquered territories (it is to be remembered that the Norman conquest of the territory in the province of Neustria that became known as Normandy had occurred as recently as 911 with the annexation of the Cotentin Peninsula and the Channel Islands being completed by 933 - just over a century before the Norman urge to expansion extended to England). One interpretation of the Conquest maintains that England became a cultural and economic backwater for almost 150 years. Few kings of England actually resided for any length of time in England, preferring to rule from cities in Normandy such as Rouen and concentrate on their more lucrative French holdings. The country remained an unimportant appendage of Norman lands and later the Angevin fiefs of Henry II. Another interpretation has it that the Norman Duke-Kings neglected their continental territories, where they in theory owed fealty to the Kings of France, in favour of consolidating their power in their new sovereign realm of England. The resources poured into the construction of cathedrals, castles and the administration of the new realm arguably diverted energy and concentration from the need to defend the Duchy, alienated the local nobility and weakened Norman control over the borders of the territory, at the same time as the power of the Kings of France grew. The crisis of the Anglo-Norman commonwealth came in 1204 when the French king Philip II seized all Norman and Angevin holdings in France except Gascony. This would later lead to the Hundred Years War when English kings tried to regain their dynastic holdings in France. The loss of control of continental Normandy divided landed families as members chose loyalty over land or vice-versa. The conquerors remained ethnically distinct from the native population of England but over the centuries, particularly after 1348 when the Black Death pandemic carried off a significant number of the English nobility, the two groups merged and have become barely distinguishable. Compare the Norman conquests of Apulia, of Sicily, of the Principality of Antioch and of Ireland. See also: British military history, UK topics

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\nAlan Ayckbourn wrote a series of plays entitled The Norman Conquests. Their subject matter has nothing to do with the Norman conquest of England.