The Historic Battle That Ended Anglo-Saxon Monarchy
The Battle that set the old England on a new track to tread
A Short Introduction to England before Norman Conquest
Britain has had a chequered history. The land has been an abode to many tribes, nations, and people belonging to Europe.
Many wars were fought and many struggles were made to own the land throughout history. Various dynasties accomplished and vanished over the years. However, some persisted for a long time while others gave a new shape to the land.
The early known history of Britain and its people is associated with the nation called Celts and their descendants such as Welsh, Cornish, and Bretons. The Celtic Britons are considered the indigenous people of Britain. Predominantly, the Celtic Britons migrated from mainland Europe and settled there during British Iron Age.
However, under the rule of Emperor Claudius of the Roman Empire, a gradual process of conquering Britain started in 43 AD, and the conquest completed in 87 AD. The conquest brought much of Britain directly under the rule of the Roman Empire.
The Romans finally withdrew from Britain in 410 AD and various Sub-Roman Britain native kingdoms were formed. The land was subject to barbarian attacks before the Roman conquest as well as during the Roman Empire. Before leaving, the Romans improved their agriculture system and left their art of urban planning, architecture, and other industrial related productions.
The Romans has fended Britain in the period of their rule but when the Roman empire needed its stationed troops to secure other parts of the empire and withdrawn them in 410 AD, the Germanic tribes successfully invaded the sub-Roman divisions.
The period after Roman withdrawal is known as ‘Migration’ in history. This period roughly extends from 375 to 800 AD. People across Europe moved from one place to another in search of a better life.
Some of the tribes only looted other minor kingdoms and left for their own places while conquered and settled in subdued places. The migrant Germanic tribes were Lombards, Suebi, Franks, Frisii, Goths, Vandals, Angles, and Saxons.
Britain was invaded by Germanic tribes after the Roman left. These major Germanic tribes were Angles and Saxons. They have conquered Britain over time and settled there. They have established their own rule and small kingdoms.
The period of Angles and Saxons’ settlement actively began in the mid 6th century. From 560–610, they have developed their society. They have developed various small and large kingdoms which later on merged into one great kingdom.
These were the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons at that time:
Four main kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon England
- The Kingdom of Wessex
- The Kingdom of Northumbria which included sub-kingdoms Deira and Bernicia
- The Kingdom of East Anglia
- The Kingdom of Mercia
These were the small kingdoms
- Kent
- Essex
- Sussex
Besides these kingdoms, many other small areas were either ruled independently by a king or given to earls and dukes by the major kingdoms.
The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms fought with each other and with the Vikings and Danes for centuries. Many historic battles led to the rise and fall of various kings. But at last, England was unified under one king in 937 AD.
Æthelstan, the elder son of King Edward The Elder, annexed Northumbria and forced other kingdoms of Wales and other small kingdoms of England at that time to submit to his power.
He also defeated the alliance of the Danes, the Vikings, and the scots, and all other kings submitted to his might and recognized him as the King of all England in 937 AD at the Battle of Brunanburh.
The last of kings of the House of Wessex, of Anglo-Saxons, was Edward the Confessor. He was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. Emma was William’s aunt and in that regard Edward and William were cousins. Edward ruled England from 1042 to 1066.
Norman Conquest
King Charles II of France gave a large tract of land to a Viking chief Rollo as a piece gesture and with a purpose to protect Nothern France from further Viking attacks.
Rollo and his Northmen settled in the area given to them in northern France in 911 AD, which later came to be known as Normandy. Rollo became the first Duke of Normandy. Over a hundred years, they have completely adopted the French language and culture.
William I of Normandy, who later came to be known as William the conqueror, was a descendent of Rollo. William became the Duke of Normandy in 1035 onward.
Here in England, the last king of Anglo-Saxons, Edward the Confessor, died on 5th January 1066. The next day, the Witan( the council of Anglo-Saxons) appointed Edward’s brother-in-law Harold Godwin, Earl of Essex, as the king of England.
The struggles for the England kingship stemmed from the fact that Edward was childless and had no direct heir to the throne. Harold Godwinson was his bother-in-law and William I of Normandy was the cousin of Edward.
After Harold was selected as a king, his problem started. William didn’t accept the decision of Witan and claimed that Edward had promised me the kingship in 1051 when he visited him in England.
He also denied Harold's claim to the throne and claimed that Harold had sworn to support his claim to the throne in 1063. But now Harold had broken his promise and proclaimed the kingship of England.
Harold’s brother Tostig had also planned to acquire the English throne and joined hands with the king of Norway, Harold Hardrada, and invaded North of England.
Harold Godwin also marched his English army from London to the north to fight the enemy and landed in Tedcaste on 24th September 1066. After a bloody war, Harold won a decisive victory over his enemy and killed both Harold Hardrada of Norway and his brother Tostig.
Upon victory, he got the news that William has invaded the South of England and is here to claim his throne. William arrived at Pevensey, East Sussex on the 28th of September. Harold had to force his exhausted army to march another 300 hundred miles back to fight William of Normandy.
Harold was sick, tired, and weak when he reached the battlefield. His army was also depleted and had little will power to fight another bloody battle after all this. On the other hand, William’s army was at ease, rested, and fresh.
This historic and great battle began on October 14th, near Hasting. At first, the battle went in the favor of King Harold, but William’s army gained control very soon. King Harold was shot by an arrow in his eye and died of that but the battle dragged on until all of Harold’s loyal knights were slain.
Although William won the great battle of Hasting, it took him a few more weeks to enter the city of London, the capital of England. The good folks of Anglo-Saxons resisted and blocked his ways to cross the River Thomas.
However, after much persuasion, fights, threats, and bribes, William’s army entered the capital city of London, in December, on the day of Christmas. William was crowned as a king of England by Archbishop Ealdred of York on 25 December 1066. However, this did end Williams’s problems and active resistance continued from various lords and ladies till 1071.
The last of the resistance was ended at the Isle of Ely, where William defeated the last of rebellions and stormed the island. Morcar and Hereward, the leaders of the rebellion, were captured. Morcar was imprisoned for a lifetime and Hereward was pardoned later on and had his land returned to him.
The aftermath of the complete conquest
The conquest was not only the substitution of kings but had profound effects on the whole life of old English people and society. The immediate influence was that the conquest ushered the monarchy of Normandy and ended the Kingship of Anglo-Saxons.
Here are the consequences of the conquest of England:
English Elites were replaced by Normans
The immediate effect of the invasion was that William deposed all the Old English aristocracy. Their lands were confiscated and were given to his almost 8000 continental followers who supported William in his invasion of England.
Church was reorganized
Natives were removed from high governmental offices and were replaced in ecclesiastical offices too. The English were only occasionally given small offices in had little control over the matters.
By 1096, all the English were removed from offices and were very uncommon in offices. Bishops and abbots were transported from France and were installed in the English offices. He also built great cathedrals and monasteries.
Political Relations
The Norman invasion ended the political relation of England with Denmark and linked the country with France and continental Europe.
Before the conquest, England had strong links with the Scandinavian countries. The end of Old English rule and the advent of new French rule destroyed those relations and changed the whole of England.
English Migration
After the conquest, many English, including nobles, migrated to Scotland, Ireland, and other Scandinavian countries. King Harold’s family ran to Ireland and started a rebellion against William from there.
In the 1070s alone, a large number of Anglo-Saxons fled to the Byzantine Empire. It was the largest exodus in which a fleet of 235 sailed to the Byzantine.
The people settled there on the coast of the Black Sea and established their towns with names such as New London and New York.
Government System
The Normans kept the old English system of government as the English have developed an advanced system of taxes, judiciary, Royal courts worked as a central power while there were small courts in every shire. The Shire was the name of the division as England was divided into divisions and sub-divisions and was run by Sharieffs.
Old England had a permanent treasury at Winchester and was the source of power for the kings. There was also a system of issuing writs to the government officials in the form of instructions or notification of removal or appointment of new officers.
Social Changes
The conquest brought a wave of freedom for the slaves. Slaves were freed partly because the Church didn’t support it and partly because a slave was dependent on his own master for survival. So, slaveholding was difficult.
Before the Conquest, the women had enjoyed a somewhat high status and had had shares in the land as an heir. The Conquest brought a feudalist system that denied the shares of the women in inheritance.
However, the historians are not agreed on this fact as the aristocratic women could own land both before and after the conquest. They had also the ability to use their property as they wish.
Effects on Language
The obvious effect of the invasion was that on the language. The English language was replaced with the French language. The courts and ecclesiastical offices used French and Latin languages which were not used by the common English people.
The Effect was also visible on the general psyche of the people. The English adopted French names such as William, Robert, Richard, etc. The English named their children with these names most commonly. However, Normans have little or no effect on the names of the place. The names of the places remained unchanged after the conquest.
There was also a huge gap between the rulers and the common people. The nobles, for much of the century, could not understand Old English and the common people could not comprehend Norman French and Latin. The rulers were not interested in developing a channel to communicated easily.
However, over the centuries, the French, Latin, and Old English mingled and refined the English language which we use today.
Effect on Literature
The English literature also came under the immense influence of the Norman Invasion.
English literature went under a drastic change and English emerged as a simplified language in its structure, spelling, and vocabulary. The English expressions were changed under the influence of the French language and culture.
The Old English race had a strong and natural tendency toward poetry. The French softer and simpler vocabulary seeped into the English rigid words and shaped a new form of expression. The French also introduced the element of romance to their poetry and the English gradually left the old songs sung in the praise of hero and heroism behind and added romance and love songs to their poetry.
The Norman conquest opened up English literature to Continental literature. The wisdom of East, Spain, and the cultural wonders of Baghdad. This replaced the old English melancholic psyche and ushered a streak of youthful spring and hope into poetry.
The form of Allegory, lyrics, and various stressed and unstressed syllables were introduced. The alliterative verses of the Anglo-Saxon Age were now replaced by the French lyrical poetry. French literary influences broadened the scope of English literature and many new subjects were added to English.
Over the centuries, the French assimilated completely into English culture. However, English was not used as a vernacular of courts and parliament until the alienation of France after the Hundred Years of War.
After the loss of the French hold, a sense of English nationalism swept across England and its people and a new era began. England never looked back and embarked upon a new journey and achieved a new destiny for centuries to come.
Conclusion
Britain has gone through many political, lingual, and social changes. The Celtic-Britain occupied the land since Iron Age and later became the colony of the imperial Roman Empire. However, the imperial power of Romans ended at the start of the 5th century and Britain was left to another way of invasion and settlement.
In the mid-fifth century AD, the Germanic tribes such as Anglo-Saxons and Jutes predominantly captured Britain and established their small kingdoms. Their period ends with the Norman Conquest of England by William the Conqueror.
The Norman Conquest not only changed the kings but also brought their culture, language, governmental system, and literature. The Norman Invasion completely shaped the Old English ways of life and directed them to a new horizon in every sphere of life.
