End of English Aristocracy

• What was William beliefs about working with the English Aristocracy after the Conquest

  • He had envisaged ruling with the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy
  • He had allowed Edwin and Morcar their earldoms and even promised Edwin the hand of his daughter
  • He handed the North to Gospartic and Waltheof, sons of great A-S earls
  • When his wife Matilda was crowned Queen in Spring 1068, attendants such as Edwin, Morcar and Archbishops Ealdred and Stigand were present
• How had William's belief with the Aristocracy change?

  • Shortly after Matilda's crowning in Spring 1068, Edwin and Morcar fled North
  • With the upcoming rebellions, William's treatment shifted, and he wanted to destroy the aristocracy
  • Domesday survey records: 13/1000 tenants in chief were English, 10% out of 8000 subtenants were English, the Thengly class of once 4-5000 had vanished
• Changes of Land after the Norman Conquest

  • Subinfuedation = William granted land to loyal supporters who in turn handed them to their followers
  • In the immediate conquest, William granted large blocks to his closest supporters (Odo received Kent, FitzOsbern Isle of Wight and Montgomery Shropshire)
  • Rapes were stripes of land, primarily seen in Sussex
• More changes of Land Tenure

  • Normans were rewarded by being directly transferred into an Anglo Saxons estate - Geoffrey de Mandeville stepped into the shoes of Ansgar the Staller
  • Land was taken illegally and by force, as seen by Richard FitzGilbert seizing 3 manors in Surrey. Church property was also being ravaged, and William was forced to write to his magnates and sheriffs to return any church land
• New earldoms and growth of Norman Influence

  • Domesday records that by 1086, half the land in England was held by just 200 Normans, and 50% of that was in the hands of 10 magnates
  • Earl Hugh of Chester owned 300 manors giving him an income of £800
  • William allowed the defection of all the great earldoms, and replaced them with small earldoms such as: Kent, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire
• Declining Influence of the Norman Earls

  • During EtC reign, he had been dominated by the Godwin family, who owned as much land as he did, hence why he couldn't remove them in 1051
  • However, even the top 10 magnates in England after 1066 could not match William, who doubled their land ownership, while he had an ownership of £12,500
  • Their limitless power was shown when Odo was arrested and imprisoned in 1082, with no resurgence
• The Knights of Anglo-Norman England

  • Both Saxon and Norman had similar ties: warriors of the age; strong bonds of loyalty to overlord; fully equipped with saddled horse, armour, sword and shield and both would have fought to the death
  • However they had differences: A thegn's military service stemmed from his rank, while a Norman stemmed from his land holding; a thegn had to hold 5 hides or more, but Norman knights varied; thegn's also fought on foot, while Norman knights fought on horseback; thegns held land for their lifetime, while Normans it became hereditary at the end of William's reign