The Normans

• government - england was ruled by edward the confessor and the country was divided into areas ruled by earls
• land - most of southern britain was covered in forests. there were small villages where the forest had been cleared and land was farmed
• society - the population was organised into a hierachy with the king on top, and then the church and at the bottom were the earls and the peasants
• religion - anglo saxons were very religious. they were roman catholics. the head of the church was the pope and lived in the vatican in rome. they were seen as gods representatives on earth
• population - there were 2 million people who lived in Britain. there were hardly any castles and so England had poor defence
• defence - the king and earls had 2500-3000 housecarls who were professional soldiers. the earls would call on peasants to fight if necessary
• wealth - england was wealthy and was a target for foreign raiders such as the vikings. there were lots of natural resources such as wool which could be used for trade. king edward the confessor was brought up in normandy and had good trade links with france. england made its own coins and had an advanced economy compared to european countries
• the godwins - king canute split england into four earldoms (wessex, northumbria, mercia and east anglia)
• earl godwin became the earl of wessex
• in 1051 the godwins rebelled against king edward and were exiled from england
• the vikings - they raised england for many years, england offered them money to leave but they came back for more and the invasion was led by king canute and defeated king aethelred
• canute then murdered king aethelreds family and ruled england until 1035
• the normans - after king aethelreds death, his wife emma and two sons Alred and Edward fled to normandy to be protected by emmas brother richard
• richard raised the two sons as normans and forced emma to marry canute. he was influenced by the english throne
• Harold godwinson - he was not blood related to edward the confessor but he was brother in law. the godwins were the most powerful family and dominated the witans to return to england. he had a strong military and could protect england
• Harald hardrada - 1066 he was an inexperienced as king (sat on the throne of normandy for 20 years), many people in northern england had viking ancestors and were likely to support Harald Hardrada. he was a powerful ruler and lead the varangian guard
• william of normandy - during earl godwins rebellion in 1051, he sent norman soldiers to protect edward. william was a good leader in Normandy and wanted to expand his power and influence in England
• the invaders at fulford gate were : Harald Hardrada, king of Norway, Tostig, younger brother of harold the 2nd, 7000 viking soldiers
• the defenders at fulford gate were Earl edwin, earl morcar and 3500 saxon soldiers
• a the battle of fulford gate, the saxons attacked early and many viking soldiers were not on the battlefield. as time went on more viking soldiers arrived and overwhelmed the saxons. Harald Hardrada won and both sides suffered heavy losses. the saxon army was scattered and edwin and morcar fled
• the battle of fulford gate happened in 25th september 1066
• Harold travelled to york in 190 miles , 4 days
• the vikings camped on the far side of river derwent and did not defend stamford bridge properly
• Harald Hardrada and Tostig were killed at the battle of stamford bridge
• 28th september 1066, news arrived that william of normandy arrived on the south coast of england when harold the 2nd was celevrating his victory
• the battle of stamford bridge took place in 25th september 1066
• King harold lost at the battle of Hastings due to poorly trained and tired troops
• harold mostly had fyrds (peasant soldiers) and there were approximately 7000 soldiers. Housecarld and thegns were well armed and trained with some armour. housecarls and thegns had had axes, pikes and large circular shields. fyrds used pitchforks, farming equipment and weapons from fallen soldiers
• the saxon army marched to meet Harald Hardrada in 4 days and once they defeated Hardrada they fled to south england and arrived in london on the 6th of october
• the saxon army reached hastings on the 11th october and the army was exhausted
• the battle of hastings took place on the 14th october 1066
• leadership - king harold the 2nd was a well experienced ruler. he rushed to meet william at hastings and could have picked up 20,000-30,000 soldiers from the south west to fight the normans. harold fought on foot and struggled to give orders or communicate
• poor tactics - for shield formation, most of harolds soldiers werent on horseback. king harold the 2nd was at the centre of the line and he had already fought with the normans in 1064 and was already familiar with the norman tactics. He used the old fashioned anglo saxon wall formation and william knew
• bad luck - harold split up his army. he sent half north and the other half south. bad weather delayed williams invasion. invasions by the vikings and the normans occured during harvest. harolds men returned home to help on farms
• william of normandy had trained troops
• william had a mixture of mercenaries from normandy and western europe with approx 8000 soldiers
• williams knights trained from the age of three and they rode horses which were trained to kick and bite, infantry attacked on foot with archers
• william had good tac tics - soldiers were organised into divisions with each commander. they used gofanon (flags) to communicate and change tactics. knights were on horseback and carried lances. Norman soldiers were proffessional and practised manouvres. Soldiers in norman army tried to run away and saxon followed (they were slaughtered)
• william had good leader ship - duke william conquered many areas in Normandy, he was on horseback and communicated effectively and gave out orders, they arrived at hastings before harold and rested well, 12pm he moved his archers to the front of his lines to fire at the saxon without hitting any norman soldiers, he ordered cavalry charges once the wall was broken
• william of normandy was supported by king phillip the first of france and pope alexander the second