Аbstract Norman Conquest of Great Britain

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2020 г.

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Аbstract

"Norman Conquest of Great Britain"

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Content

1. The Norman conquest of England in 1066…………………………………..1

2. Anglo-Saxon uprisings of 1067-1070………………………………………10

3. Conclusion of a Contract in the summer of 1070 William with the Danes...12

4. Strengthening of Royal power in Europe during the High middle Ages…...18

1. The Norman conquest of England - the invasion of England in 1066 by the army of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, and the subsequent subjugation of the country.

The conquest of England began with the Norman victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, after which Duke William became King of England. Finally, the conquest ended with the subordination of the local feudal nobility to the new king by 1070-1075. As a result of the conquest, the classical forms of feudalism and the military-fief system were transferred to England, a centralized state with a strong royal power was created. The country's orientation towards continental Europe and its involvement in European politics has sharply increased, while traditional ties with Scandinavia have weakened. The conquest also had a significant impact on the development of English culture and language. As a result of the adaptation of the Northern French state and social institutions to the Anglo-Saxon legal tradition, the system of the Anglo-Norman monarchy was formed, which existed until the middle of the XII century, which formed the basis of the medieval English state.

At the end of the 10th century, England faced a massive wave of Scandinavian Vikings' raids on its territory. King of the Anglo-Saxons Ethelred II the Unreasonable, wanting to secure support in the fight against the Vikings, in 1002 married Emma, ​​the sister of the Norman Duke Richard II. However, Ethelred II did not receive help from the Normans and in 1013 he was forced to flee with his family to Normandy.

By 1016, the whole of England was conquered by the Vikings, and Knud the Great became king, uniting England, Denmark and Norway under his rule. The sons of thelred II and Emma spent almost 30 years in exile at the court of the Norman duke. Only in 1042 did Edward the Confessor, the eldest son of thelred, succeed in regaining the throne of England. Brought up in Normandy, Edward, throughout almost his entire reign, tried to orientate himself towards the Normans against the powerful Anglo-Danish nobility that dominated the state system of the country. In 1051, taking advantage of the expulsion of Earl Godwin, childless Edward proclaimed the young Duke of Norman William as his heir. However, in 1052 Godwin returned to England and regained control of the country's government. The Norman nobility was expelled from the country, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert of Jumieges. His pulpit was turned over to Godwin's supporter, Stigand. In the late 50s of the XI century, the Godwinson family owned the largest counties in England, which included a large territory of the kingdom. When Edward the Confessor died in early January 1066, the Anglo-Saxon Wittenagemot elected Godwin's son, Harold II, the leader of the national party, as king.

Harold's election was contested by William of Normandy. Relying on the will of King Edward, as well as on the oath of allegiance to Harold, probably made during his trip to Normandy in 1064/1065, and appealing to the need to protect the English church from usurpation and tyranny, William presented his claims to the crown of England and began preparation for an armed invasion. At the same time, the English throne was claimed by Harald the Severe, King of Norway, whose predecessor in 1038 concluded an agreement with the son of Knud the Great on the mutual succession of kingdoms in the event of the childlessness of one of the monarchs. The Norwegian king, having entered into an alliance with the exiled brother of Harold II Tostig Godwinson, also began to prepare for the conquest of England

The military resources of the Anglo-Saxon state were quite large, but poorly organized. At the end of 1066, King Harold did not even have a permanent fleet at his disposal, apart from a small number of ships provided by the ports of the southeast coast. Although it was possible to assemble a significant number of ships through requisition and collection in the tradition of the counties, it was impossible to organize a large fleet in a short time and keep it on alert. The core of the ground forces were the Huscarls of the king and the Earls. By the middle of the XI century, there were about 3,000 royal huscarls, the squad of a large earl consisted of 400-500 soldiers. In addition to them, Harold had detachments of military service nobility (ten) and a national militia of peasants - a fird. At full strength, the Anglo-Saxon army was probably the largest army in Western Europe. The main problems of the armed forces of England were the difficulty of concentrating soldiers in the required place, the impossibility of maintaining the army in combat readiness for a long time, the underdevelopment of the castle system as the basic unit of the defensive structure, poor acquaintance with modern methods of waging war in Europe, as well as inattention to such types of troops as cavalry and archers.

If until 1060 Wilhelm was busy with internal problems and the defense of the borders from French and Angevin threats, then after 1060, thanks to the small age of the new king of France and civil strife in Anjou, the security of Normandy was provided for some time, which opened up opportunities for external expansion.

A well-developed military-fief system and a feudal hierarchy provided the Duke of Normandy with a sufficiently significant, well-trained and armed military force. The main striking force of the army was the knightly cavalry. Archers were widely used. A significant part of the army was a mercenary contingent. In Normandy there was a huge mass of small knights, over whom the dukes before William did not have effective control and whose belligerence found an outlet in campaigns to Italy, where the Norman county of Aversa and the duchy of Apulia had already formed. Wilhelm was able to collect and attract these knights to his service. Wilhelm was well acquainted with all aspects of modern martial arts. He enjoyed an excellent reputation as a knight and warlord, drawing manpower throughout northern France into his army.

The Normans had a lot of experience in military operations with small detachments of cavalry from fortress castles, which were quickly erected in the occupied territory, as strongholds, in order to further control it. The wars with the kings of France and the Counts of Anjou allowed the Normans to improve their tactics against large formations of the enemy and to establish clear interaction between the branches of the armed forces. Wilhelm's army consisted of a feudal militia of Norman barons and knights, cavalry and infantry contingents from Brittany, Picardy and other northern French regions, as well as mercenary troops. On the eve of the invasion of England, Wilhelm organized the massive construction of ships.

In early 1066, Wilhelm began preparations for an invasion of England. Although he received approval for this enterprise from the meeting of the barons of his duchy, the forces allocated by them were clearly not enough for such a large-scale and prolonged military operation outside Normandy. William's reputation secured an influx of knights into his army from Flanders, Aquitaine, Brittany, Maine and the Norman principalities of southern Italy. As a result, the Norman contingent itself was less than half of the troops. William also won the support of the emperor and, more importantly, of Pope Alexander II, who hoped to strengthen the papacy in England and remove the apostate Archbishop Stigand. The Pope not only supported the claims of the Norman duke to the English throne, but, having presented his consecrated banner, blessed the participants in the invasion. This allowed Wilhelm to give his event the character of a "holy war." The preparations were completed by August 1066, but the head wind from the north did not allow for a long time to start crossing the English Channel. On September 12, Wilhelm moved his army from the mouth of the Divus to the mouth of the Somme, to the town of Saint-Valery, where the width of the strait was much smaller. The total strength of the Norman army, according to modern researchers, numbered 7-8 thousand people, for the transport of which a fleet of 600 ships was prepared.

The English king was also preparing to repel the Norman invasion. He summoned a national militia from the southeastern regions of England and deployed troops along the southern coast. A new fleet was formed at a rapid pace, at the head of which was the king. In May, Harold managed to repel the raid of his rebel brother Tostig into the eastern regions of the country. However, in September, the Anglo-Saxon naval defense system collapsed: a lack of food forced the king to disband the militia and the fleet. In mid-September, the army of the Norwegian king Harald the Severe landed in northeastern England. Joining forces with Tostig's supporters, the Norwegians defeated the northern counties militia at the Battle of Fulford on September 20 and subdued Yorkshire. The king of England was forced to abandon his positions on the south coast and move swiftly north. Having united his army with the remnants of the militia, on September 25, in the battle at Stamford Bridge, Harold utterly defeated the Vikings, Harald the Severe and Tostig were killed, and the remnants of the Norwegian army sailed to Scandinavia. However, the significant losses suffered by the British in the battles of Fulford and Stamford Bridge, especially among the royal housecarls, undermined the combat capability of Harold's army.

T wo days after the Battle of Stamford Bridge, the direction of the winds in the English Channel changed. Immediately the loading of the Norman army on ships began, and in the late evening of September 27, William's fleet sailed from Saint-Valery. The crossing took the whole night, and there was a moment when the duke's ship, greatly torn away from the main forces, was left alone, but there were no English ships in the strait, and the transport of the army was safely completed on the morning of September 28 in the bay near the city of Pevensie. The Norman army did not stay in Pevensie, surrounded by swamps, but moved to Hastings, a more convenient port from a strategic point of view.

Here William built a castle and began to await the approach of British troops, sending small detachments deep into Wessex to conduct exploration and procurement of provisions and fodder.

Learning in York about the Norman landing, Harold II sent out orders throughout the country to call in new militias and, without waiting for reinforcements, quickly marched south. The speed of his advance was so great that it did not allow additional contingents recruited in the counties to join the royal army. Moreover, part of the army, mainly light infantry and archers, lagged behind the main forces. In ten days Harold covered the distance from York to London and, wasting no time, set out to meet the Norman army. The king's advisers, including his brother Geert, suggested waiting for the complete collection of troops and only then attacking the enemy.

Historians consider this to be his main strategic mistake: since William was in hostile territory, cut off from his bases by the English Channel, time played into the hands of the British. Apparently, Harold tried to avoid the ruin of his personal possessions. Anglo-Saxon troops numbered about 7,000 people, mainly participants in the Battle of Stamford Bridge and militia from the vicinity of London. Despite the speed of movement of the British, the effect of surprise was missed. Upon learning of Harold's approach, on October 14, 1066, Norman troops attacked the Anglo-Saxon army.

At the Battle of Hastings, despite heroic resistance, the British forces were defeated. The battle lasted for a very long time - more than ten hours, which was quite a rare occurrence in the Middle Ages. The victory of the Normans was due to the better fighting efficiency of the soldiers, as well as the massive use of archers and heavy cavalry. King Harold and his two brothers were killed, and several thousand selected English soldiers were left to lie on the battlefield. There was no leader left in the country capable of organizing resistance to the Normans. The Battle of Hastings marked a turning point in English history.

After the Battle of Hastings, England was exposed to the conquerors. During October - November 1066, Kent and Sussex were captured by the Norman army. Queen Edith, the widow of Edward the Confessor and the sister of Harold II, recognized William's claims, transferring control to the ancient capital of the Anglo-Saxon rulers - Winchester. The main center of resistance remained London, where Edgar Eteling, the last representative of the ancient Wessex dynasty, was proclaimed the new king. But William's troops surrounded London, devastating its surroundings. The leaders of the national party - Archbishop Stigand, Earls Edwin and Morkar, and young Edgar Eteling himself - were forced to submit. At Wallingford and Berkhamsted they took an oath of allegiance to William and recognized him as king of England. Moreover, they insisted on the immediate coronation of the duke. Norman troops soon entered London. On December 25, 1066, William was crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey.

Although the coronation of William I took place in accordance with the Anglo-Saxon tradition, which was supposed to convince the population of the legitimacy of the new king's rights to the English throne, the rule of the Normans at first relied exclusively on military force. Already in 1067, the construction of the Tower of London began, and then Norman castles grew throughout southern and middle England. The lands of the Anglo-Saxons who participated in the Battle of Hastings were confiscated and given to the soldiers of the invading army. By the end of March 1067, the position of William the Conqueror had strengthened somewhat, and he was able to make a long trip to Normandy. He was accompanied by the leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Party - Prince Edgar, Archbishop Stigand, Earls Morkar, Edwin and Waltheof, as well as hostages from other noble families. During the king's absence, England was ruled by his closest associates: the Earl of Hereford, William Fitz-Osbern, and William's half-brother, Bishop Odo.

The situation in England was quite tense. The Norman administration controlled only the southeastern regions of the country. The rest of the kingdom was ruled only thanks to the large Anglo-Saxon magnates who expressed their loyalty to Wilhelm. Immediately after his departure, a wave of revolts swept, especially large in southwest England. Harold Godwinson's sons, finding shelter in Ireland, began to gather their supporters. Opponents of the new government sought support at the courts of the rulers of Scandinavia, Scotland and Flanders. The situation demanded an early return of William to England. At the end of 1067, after spending summer and autumn in Normandy, he returned to the conquered kingdom. The southwest of England was pacified, then the attempt of Harold's sons to land in Bristol was repelled. In the summer of 1068, William's wife Matilda was crowned Queen of England.

2. Norman conquest of England in 1066 and the Anglo-Saxon uprisings of 1067-1070

In 1068, the position of William the Conqueror aggravated: Edgar Etheling fled to Scotland, where he received the support of King Malcolm III, and a rebellion broke out in the north of England. Wilhelm acted decisively. Having built a castle at Warwick, he went to the North English counties and took York without resistance. The local nobility took an oath of allegiance to the king. On the way back, castles were erected at Lincoln, Nottingham, Huntingdon and Cambridge, which allowed them to control the way to northern England. However, at the beginning of 1069, a new uprising broke out in the north, in which not only feudal lords, but also peasants took part. On January 28, 1069, Anglo-Saxon troops broke into Durham, destroyed the squad of the Norman Count of Northumbria, Robert de Comin, and burned him alive. Then the revolt against the conquerors spread to Yorkshire, and York itself was captured by the supporters of Edgar Etheling. Wilhelm's second campaign to the north made it possible to occupy York and suppress the rebellion, brutally cracking down on the rebels. Until the fall of 1069, the Normans managed to eliminate the centers of resistance with relative ease, since the rebels in different parts of England did not have common goals, a single leadership and did not coordinate actions with each other.

In the fall of 1069, the situation changed radically. The English coast was attacked by a huge fleet (250-300 ships) under the command of the sons of the Danish king Sven II Estridsen, heir to the House of Knud the Great, who also claimed the rights to the English throne. King Malcolm of Scotland married Edgar's sister Margaret and recognized the rights of him to the English throne. Edgar himself made an alliance with Sven. At the same time, an anti-Norman uprising broke out in the County of Maine, supported by the Counts of Anjou and King Philip I of France. William's opponents entered into relations with each other, thereby forming a coalition. Taking advantage of the Danish invasion, the Anglo-Saxons rebelled in Northumbria again. A new army was formed, led by Edgar Eteling, Gospatrick and Walteof, the last representatives of the large Anglo-Saxon nobility. Teaming up with the Danes, they captured York, defeating its Norman garrison. The uprising engulfed northern and central England. The Archbishop of York expressed support for the rebels. The opportunity arose to carry out the coronation of Edgar in York, which would have called into question the legitimacy of William. However, the approach of the Anglo-Norman army forced the rebels to retreat from York. The king was soon forced to leave the north again, facing revolts in western Mercia, Somerset and Dorset. Only after the suppression of these uprisings, Wilhelm was able to take decisive action against the North British rebels.

At the end of 1069, the troops of William the Conqueror again entered northern England. The Danish army retreated to the ships and left the area. This time the Normans engaged in the systematic devastation of the lands, the destruction of buildings and property of the Anglo-Saxons, trying to eliminate the very possibility of a repeat of the uprising. Villages were burned en masse, and their inhabitants fled south or to Scotland. By the summer of 1070, Yorkshire was in ruthless ruin. County Durham was largely deserted as survivors fled from the burned-down villages. William's troops reached Tees, where Cospatrick, Waltheoph and other Anglo-Saxon leaders submitted to the king. The Normans then swiftly crossed the Pennins and fell on Cheshire, where the devastation continued. The ruin came to Staffordshire. Further, an attempt was made to destroy what allowed the inhabitants to exist. Famine and plague gripped the north of England. By Easter 1070, the campaign went down in history as Harrying of the North, has been completed. The consequences of this devastation were still vividly felt in Yorkshire, Cheshire, Shropshire and the "area of ​​the five burgs" decades after the conquest.

In the spring of 1070, the Danish fleet, now led by King Sven himself, remained in English waters, settling on the island of Ile. The last representatives of the unconquered Anglo-Saxon nobility also flocked here. The poor Ten Hereward became the leader of the resistance. Among the participants in the uprising were not only nobles, but also peasants. Anglo-Danish troops launched harassing raids on the coast of East Anglia, destroying Norman formations and ravaging Norman possessions.

3. However, in the summer of 1070, Wilhelm managed to conclude an agreement with the Danes to evacuate them for a huge ransom. After the departure of the Danish fleet, the defense of Ile was led by Hereward, which was joined by more and more detachments from other regions of the country. Thus, one of the most influential Anglo-Saxon aristocrats, Morkar, the former Earl of Northumbria, arrived on the island of Eli. It was the last stronghold of the Anglo-Saxon resistance.

In the spring of 1071, Wilhelm's troops surrounded the island and blocked supplies. The defenders were forced to capitulate. Hereward managed to escape, and Morkar was captured and soon died in prison.

The fall of Ely marked the end of the Norman conquest of England. Resistance to the new government ceased. Only skirmishes continued on the border with Scotland, where Edgar Etheling again found refuge, but in August 1072, William's army, with the support of large forces of the fleet, invaded Scotland and reached Thay without hindrance. The Scottish king Malcolm III concluded a truce with William in Abernathy, brought him homage and pledged not to support the Anglo-Saxons. Edgar was forced to leave Scotland. The conquest of England was over.

Anglo-Norman monarchy in 1087 and the most important English castles. Cheshire and Shropshire stamps are highlighted in green

The main principle of organizing the system of government of conquered England was the desire of King William to appear as the legitimate successor of Edward the Confessor. The constitutional foundation of the Anglo-Saxon state was fully preserved: the Wittenagemot was transformed into the Grand Royal Council, the prerogatives of the Anglo-Saxon kings were fully transferred to the Anglo-Norman monarchs (including the rights of taxation and the sole issuance of laws), the system of counties headed by the royal sheriffs was preserved. The extent of landowners' rights was determined as of the time of King Edward. The very concept of monarchy had an Anglo-Saxon character and was in sharp contrast to the state of royal power in modern France, where the sovereign fought desperately for his recognition as the largest barons of the state. The principle of succession to the Anglo-Saxon period was especially clearly manifested in the first years after the conquest (before the uprising in Northern England in 1069), when a significant part of the Anglo-Saxon magnates retained their positions at court and influence in the regions.

However, despite all the appearance of a return to the "good times" of King Edward (after the usurpation of Harold), the rule of the Normans in England rested mainly on military force. Already in December 1066, the redistribution of lands began in favor of the Norman knights, which after the "Desolation of the North" 1069-1070. acquired a universal character. By the 1080s, the Anglo-Saxon nobility was completely destroyed as a social stratum (with a few exceptions) and was replaced by northern French knighthood. A small group of the most noble Norman families - Wilhelm's closest associates - received more than half of all land allotments, and the king directly took possession of about a fifth of the lands of England. The nature of land holdings has completely changed, which acquired the classic feudal features: the lands were now provided to the barons under the condition that a certain number of knights, if necessary, to the king. The whole country was covered with a network of royal or baronial castles, which became military bases providing control over the district, and the residences of barons or officials of the king. A number of areas of England (Herefordshire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Kent, Sussex) were organized as paramilitary territories in charge of border defense. Of particular importance in this regard were the Cheshire and Shropshire marks, created by Hugo d'Avranche and Roger de Montgomery on the border with Wales.

Having seized England, William divided its territory into 60,215 lands, dividing them among his vassals. The specificity of the distribution of land holdings in England after the conquest was that practically all new barons received land in separate plots scattered throughout the country, which, with rare exceptions, did not form compact territories. Although it is probably impossible to argue that the fragmentation of the land holdings provided by the feud was a well-thought-out policy of King William, this feature of the organization of land ownership in Norman England did not allow the emergence of feudal principalities like French or German, which played a huge role in the subsequent history of the country, and provided an advantage king over the barons.

The conquest created a new ruling class - knights and barons of Norman descent. The new nobility owed their position to the king and performed a whole range of duties in relation to the monarch. Chief among these duties were military service, participation three times a year in the Royal Grand Council, as well as filling various positions in the government (primarily sheriffs). After the conquest and destruction of the Anglo-Saxon tradition of the vast Erls, the role of the sheriffs increased dramatically: they became a key element of the royal administration on the ground, and in terms of their possessions and social status they were not inferior to the Anglo-Norman counts.

Each land holding (feud, flax) was provided by the king under feudal law. The owner of the fief was obliged to exhibit a certain number of armed knights to the king. According to modern estimates, the total number of knights exhibited from all lands of the barons during the reign of William was a huge figure for a devastated country: more than 4,000 people. This power was provided by no more than two hundred barons, who kept their possessions directly from the king. In addition, about 800 knights were due to the royal army from the church holdings. To fulfill this duty, barons, bishops and abbots provided part of their lands to petty knights (the process of subinfeudalization). As a result, a significant mass of small knights formed in England, who in their social status did not differ in any way from the magnates who kept their possessions directly from the king. These knights inherited from their Anglo-Saxon predecessors judicial jurisdiction over the peasants of their area, which quickly transformed into a relationship of personal dependence of the peasantry. Moreover, in the first time after the conquest, these knights carried out constant service at the courts of the king and their overlords, which strengthened the militarized nature of early Norman society.

Norman influence was especially strong in church circles. All of Wilhelm's actions in the church sphere were carried out with the full support of the Holy See. One of the first decisions was the resumption of the annual payment to Rome of "St. Peter's mite". A few years after the conquest of England Archbishop Stigand of Canterbury was removed, and the closest adviser to King Lanfranc became his successor. All vacant seats were provided not to the Anglo-Saxons, but to foreigners, primarily immigrants from France. Already in 1087, Wulfstan of Worcester remained the only bishop of Anglo-Saxon origin. At the beginning of the 13th century, as a result of the emergence of mendicant monastic brotherhoods, consisting almost entirely of foreigners, the influence in church circles of foreigners increased even more. Many schools were opened, in which, unlike the continent, where instruction was in Latin, instruction was in French. The influence of the church authorities increased. The division of secular and ecclesiastical jurisdiction was carried out. As a result of the unified integration, interchurch influence was strengthened. Wilhelm's decree, stating that all ecclesiastical proceedings should be heard by bishops and archbishops in their own courts "in accordance with canons and episcopal laws," made it possible to further implement the adoption of canon law. The Normans transferred the diocesan thrones to those cities where they still exist. The episcopal structure of the Church in England, created by the Normans, remained almost unchanged until the Reformation.

At the same time, Wilhelm very toughly defended his sovereignty in relations with Rome. Without his knowledge, not a single feudal lord, including church lords, could correspond with the Pope. Any visit by papal legates to England was subject to agreement with the king. The decisions of the church councils were possible only with his approval. In the confrontation between Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII, William adhered to strict neutrality, and in 1080 he refused to bring homage to the Pope on behalf of his English kingdom.

With regard to the organization of the central administration of the conquered country, King William largely followed Anglo-Saxon traditions. Although at his court there were positions of steward, butler, chamberlain, borrowed from the French administration, they had mainly honorary functions. An important innovation was the establishment of the post of chancellor in 1068, responsible for organizing the king's office. The Grand Royal Council, which was attended by all the barons of the country, was the successor of the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot. In the early Norman period, he began to meet regularly (three times a year), but lost much of his influence on political decision-making, giving way to the royal curia (Latin Curia regis). The latter institute was a meeting of the barons and officials closest to the king, who helped the monarch with advice on the current problems of the state. The Curia became the centerpiece of the royal administration, although its meetings were often informal.

The basic foundations of the fiscal system after the Norman conquest have not changed. Funding for the royal administration continued to be based on receipts from the domain lands (with an annual income of over £ 11,000), payments from cities and proceeds from legal proceedings. These sources were joined by receipts of a feudal nature (relief, custody, formarage). The practice of imposing a general tax on the population (“Danish money”) was continued, and the consent of the population to levy this tax was not required. The principles for distributing taxes by counties, hundreds and guides also survived from Anglo-Saxon times. To bring the traditional taxation norms in line with the current state of the economy and the new system of land holdings in 1086 a general assessment of lands was carried out, the results of which were presented in the "Book of the Last Judgment".

After the Norman conquest, which was accompanied by massive abuses and illegal seizures of land, the importance of legal proceedings, which became an instrument of royal power in regulating land and social relations in the country, increased dramatically. In the reorganization of the judicial system, an important role belonged to Geoffroy, Bishop of Coutance, and Archbishop of Lanfranc. The division of secular and ecclesiastical jurisdiction was carried out, a harmonious system of judicial bodies was created, and baronial courts arose. An important innovation was the widespread use of jury trials, the origins of which can be traced both in Norman practice and in the traditions of Danelagh.

In social terms, the Norman conquest led to the destruction of the Anglo-Saxon military-service nobility (ten) and the formation of a new dominant stratum of feudal knighthood, built on the principles of vassal-fief relations and possessing judicial and administrative power over the peasant population. The semi-independent Earls of the Anglo-Saxon era were replaced by Norman barons, who were highly dependent on the king and owed him knightly duty for their possessions (setting up a certain number of armed knights). The higher clergy were also included in the feudal system. The process of enslavement of the peasantry, which began in the Anglo-Saxon period, accelerated sharply and led to the dominance of feudal-dependent categories of the peasantry in medieval England, which led to even greater enslavement. Free peasants were also taxed, which turned a previously free community into a serf community. From the peasants who had small plots of land, agricultural workers began to form - laborers. Villans (dependent), in addition, had to grind grain at the seigneur's mill and give a measure of grain, bake bread for the seigneur, etc. It was also necessary to pay tithes, pay marriage and posthumous fees. At the same time, it should be noted the almost complete disappearance of slavery in England.

The most important consequence of the Norman conquest in the social sphere was the introduction in England of classical feudal relations and a vassal-fief system on the French model. The genesis of feudalism in England began in the 9th-10th centuries, but the emergence of a social system based on land tenure, which is conditioned by the fulfillment of strictly defined military duties by the holder, whose volume depended not on the size of the plot, but on an agreement with the overlord, is an unconditional innovation of the Norman conquest. The pronounced military character of the land holdings also became one of the main consequences of the Norman conquest. In general, the social structure of society has become more strict, rigid and hierarchical.

4. Organizationally, the Norman conquest led to a sharp strengthening of royal power and the formation of one of the most durable and centralized monarchies in Europe during the high Middle Ages. The power of royal power is clearly evidenced by the conduct of a general census of land holdings, the results of which were included in the Book of the Last Judgment, an enterprise unprecedented and absolutely impossible in other modern European states. The new state system, although based on the Anglo-Saxon traditions of management, quickly acquired a high degree of specialization and the formation of functional governing bodies, such as the Chamber of the Chessboard, the Treasury, the chancellery, and others. Culturally, the Norman Conquest introduced a feudal culture of chivalry in England based on its French models. Old English was ousted from the sphere of government, and the Norman dialect of French became the language of administration and communication of the dominant social strata. It is believed that the Norman conquest had the most noticeable impact on the English language in the entire history of the latter. According to some estimates, about 80% of the Old English vocabulary has disappeared from the language. The Anglo-Norman dialect dominated the country for about three hundred years, and had a great influence on the formation of modern English. At the beginning of the 13th century, as a result of the emergence of mendicant monastic brotherhoods, consisting almost entirely of foreigners, the influence in church circles of foreigners increased even more. Many schools were opened, in which, unlike the continent, where instruction was conducted in Latin, instruction was conducted in French.

In political terms, there was a reorientation towards Western Europe, instead of the lost ties with the Scandinavians. A lot of Scandinavians had settled in England before and got used to a different government and independence. Many of them had to leave England, others, especially young people, had to go to Constantinople to serve the Greek emperor, who built a separate city for them - Hevetot.The Varangians, even in the centuries that followed after the XII century, were for the most part Englishmen who came from Britain. Their detachment in exile existed until the 15th century.

England turned out to be closely included in the system of international relations of Western Europe and began to play one of the most important roles on the European political scene. Moreover, William the Conqueror, who connected the kingdom of England with the Duchy of Normandy by personal union, became a powerful ruler of North-Western Europe, completely changing the balance of power in this region. At the same time, the fact that Normandy was a vassal of the King of France, and many new English barons and knights owned lands beyond the English Channel, sharply complicated Anglo-French relations. As dukes of Normandy, the Anglo-Norman monarchs recognized the suzerainty of the king of France, and as kings of England they had an equal social status with him. In the 12th century, with the creation of the Anjou Empire of the Plantagenets, the English king owned almost half of the territory of France, remaining legally a vassal of the French monarch. This duality was one of the reasons for the long Anglo-French confrontation, which was one of the central moments of European politics of the Middle Ages and reached its culmination during the Hundred Years War.

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England

2. https://www.britannica.com/event/Norman-Conquest

3. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Norman_conquest_of_England

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