Anglo-Saxon Resistance

• The revolt of Edwin and Morcar


  1068
• William's actions in 1067

  • Felt confident to return to Normandy
  • Took many important Saxons with him
  • Took most of the English treasure
• When William returned to England 8 months later

  He was under attack - by the Welsh and by a rebel Saxon thegn called Eadric the Wild
• Reasons for the Saxon rebellion

  • Morcar and Edwin ran away to join the rebellion
  • Saxons objected to harsh Norman rule
  • Felt the Normans were unfair, had taken too much land and money from them
• William's response to the rebels

  1. Marched north to confront them

  2. Built new castles as he went

  3. The rebels gave in almost immediately

  4. Edgar Aethling fled to Scotland

  5. Edwin and Morcar quickly surrendered
• The Marcher earls took revenge on the Welsh

  Led several invasions but did not end the Welsh threat
• Scotland and Wales presented threats to William

  Edwin and Morcar returned to William's court but did not stay long and escaped again in 1071
• Edgar Aethling and the rebellions in the North

  1069
• Rebels in Northumbria

  • Joined forces with Edgar Aethling who had been building support in Scotland
  • The King of Denmark sent a fleet of ships to team up with Edgar
• The King of Denmark's fleet and the rebels

  William later paid them off to leave England alone
• William's response to the rebellion in the North

  1. Recaptured York

  2. Laid waste to the city

  3. Built a new castle at York
• The threat of rebellion was not over

  The biggest threat to William was the Danish fleet
• William's response to the Danish threat

  1. Paid off the Danes to leave England alone

  2. Embarked on the 'Harrying of the North' campaign in 1069-70
• The 'Harrying of the North'

  • Burned crops, destroyed seed crops, killed livestock to make life impossible in the region
  • Thousands of Saxon peasants died of starvation
• Hereward the Wake and rebellion at Ely

  1070-71
• The Danish king Sweyn

  • Led a new fleet which landed on the Isle of Ely
  • Made alliances with local people, including Hereward the Wake
• Hereward the Wake

  • Had been exiled by Edward the Confessor
  • Worked as a mercenary soldier in Flanders
  • Returned to England to find Normans had taken his land
  • Led a 'guerrilla' war against the Normans
• The Danes and Hereward's actions

  1. Raided Peterborough Abbey together

  2. Prevented the Normans from seizing the treasure there
• Hereward was joined by Morcar and his men

  As William advanced, they prepared to defend the isle of Ely
• The Normans' response

  1. Captured Ely, possibly by bribing local monks

  2. Morcar was captured, Hereward escaped
• This rebellion was the last of the large-scale Saxon rebellions
• William's responses to different threats

  • Paying the Danes to go away
  • The 'Harrying of the North' to remove support for future invasions
  • Quickly responding to outbreaks of rebellion
  • Using trusted followers to keep areas under control
  • Leading larger forces to deal with serious unrest
  • Building castles to impose control
  • Seeking out and destroying rebel hideouts
  • Getting his knights and mercenary troops through constant marching by strong leadership and promise of reward
  • Leaving the north during rebellion to celebrate Easter at Winchester to look like a proper King
  • Levying English thegns from the south to defend towns against the rebels