Establishing Control

• Establishing control


  1. William's victory at Hastings destroyed the power of King Harold and the Godwinsons

  2. William waited at Hastings to see if the remaining Saxon nobles would come to him and admit defeat

  3. The surviving Saxons fled to London and chose Edgard Aethling as King

  4. William sent troops to Winchester to seize the gold in the Saxon Royal treasury

  5. William and his army marched on London to force the remaining Saxons to surrender

  6. At Berkhamsted, the Saxon leaders surrendered to William and offered him the crown of England
• William of Normandy


  William the Conqueror, was crowned king of England in Westminster cathedral, on Christmas Day (25/12/1066)
• William swore to rule England as best as he could, in return for loyalty from the Saxon English
• William rewarded Saxon loyalty by allowing important Saxons like Stigand, Edwin and Morcar to keep their jobs
• William's Norman followers had been promised rewards for taking part in William's risky invasion
• William's actions to pay his soldiers

  1. Used gold from the treasury in Winchester

  2. Set up a heavy new 'geld tax'
• William declared that as the new King, all of England's land belonged to him
• Any Saxon who had fought at Hastings automatically lost their land (i.e all of Wessex!)
• Big winners of William's land distribution

  • William's half-brother Bishop Odo of Bayeux (he got all of Kent)
  • William Fitzosbern (Hampshire, Isle of Wight and most of the West)
  • Robert of Montgomery (Essex and Sussex)
• William was worried about the threat from Wales
• William's actions to deal with the threat from Wales


  1. Set up three new earldoms on the England-Wales border, each with a Norman earl

  2. These earldoms were smaller and compact, making them easier to control and less powerful

  3. The three earls had the power to set up new 'burghs' (towns) and encouraged Norman people to come to England and colonise this part of the country

  4. These earldoms also got easier taxes and were encouraged to create new castles and spend money on defences
• March earls


  • Had a lot of independence and were able to deal with trouble directly and rapidly
  • But they were not as powerful as the King and still owed him military service
• Castles


  • A 'Motte' was a mound or hill of earth that the castle stood on, a 'Bailey' was an outer protection ring around the motte, built with wood or stone
  • Motte and Bailey castles were intended to be quick to build and hard to attack, they had several rings of defences which were designed to benefit the defenders massively
• Castles


  • Built in strategic locations, ie at a river crossing
  • The local earl or lord used the castle as a strong base from which to launch invasions into enemy land
  • Allowed the Normans to dominate the surrounding land and provided them with somewhere to retreat to
  • Were symbols of Norman power
• Often Saxon peoples' homes were knocked down so that the castle could be built – the local peasants were forced to help build the new castles (taking between 4 and 9 months)
• The Anglo-Saxon chronicle of 1067: 'The Normans…built castles far and wide throughout the land, oppressing the unhappy people, and things went ever from bad to worse.'