Economic/social changes

• what was life like in Norman villages?

  -economy mostly based on sheep farming and growing crops

  -peasants lived in cottages, grew crops on strips of land and grazed animals on common land

  -peasants would work everyday but Sunday and holy days

  -all peasants paid 10 percent tax to church

  -lord kept 35 percent of land and peasants had rest but had to pay rent to lord
• what was the 10 percent tax to the church called?

  tithe
• what did the local church act as in Norman villages?

  store

  • prison
  • fortress in times of danger
• how much of the population lived in villages?

  95 percent
• what could bad harvests result in?

  starvation
• what were peasants homes like?

  -cold damps and dark

  -walls made of wattle and daub

  -most families had single room

  -thatched roofs vulnerable to fire
• what was the manor?

  -area in village owned directly by lord

  -included manor house and freemen homes for peasants

  -manor itself made of stone and much warmer and secure than peasants houses
• who were freemen?


  -peasants who paid the lord rent for their land

  -often also carried out boon work
• what was a demesne?


  Land owned and managed by a lord.
• what were villeins?


  -unfree peasants who worked on lords land for no pay

  -could not leave the land without lords permission
• what were bordars and cottars?

  poorer villeins who rarely had enough land of their own to live on
• what did Saxon peasants eat?

  -ate what they could grow

  -diet consisted of bread, oats and vegetables

  -eating meat was a luxury
• what did Norman Lords eat?

  -ate better quality bread than peasants

  -ate much more meat and fewer vegetables and dairy products
• who was the bailiff in Norman villages?

  -responsible for collecting taxes

  -ensured crops gathered and debts repaid
• who was the miller?

  -produced grain to make bread for whole village
• did the Normans end slavery?

  yes

  but largely due to the church disapproval of enslaving christians
• why did the number and size of towns increase under Norman rule?

  -Normans had greater trade links to mainland Europe

  -existing towns grew in importance as religious or administrative centres

  -Norman nobles encouraged towns to grow as way of developing foreign trade
• how many new towns developed between 1066 and 1100?

  21 new towns
• what did Norman towns look like?

  -Market square where most commercial business took place

  -high street which led from gates to market square

  -Saxon houses demolished to make space

  -Many towns now had castles

  -towns had churches often more than one

  -towns cramped and over crowded which led to greater risk of disease fires and theft
• what were burgesses?


  citizens of a town

  had right to buy and sell property but owed tax and services to local lord
• what was a charter in a Norman town?

  -town could govern itself through town council and elect mayor

  -town could hold a fair or market regularly

  -charter town could set its own taxes but still had to pay taxes to king
• what were guilds in Norman towns?

  -specialist organisations of merchants and craftsmen

  -often had significant power
• why did towns like droitwich grow


  as a result of production and sale of salt
• why did wool help Norman towns grow?

  -wool was often exported to rest of Europe which made many coastal towns centres of international trade
• how did metal works make town grow?

  towns like Gloucester became centres of iron and lead production