The Institute of Ecology, Linguistics and Low
Degree work
«BRITISH MONARCHY
AND ITS INFLUENCE
UPON GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS»
Dunaeva Nina
Moscow, 2003
Contents
Part One
INTRODUCTION
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Nothern Ireland 4
Direct meaning of the word «monarchy» 6
The British constitutional monarchy 7
Part Two
HISTORY OF THE MONARCHY
Kings and Queens of England 9
The Anglo-Saxon Kings 9
The Normans 23
The Angevins 30
The Plantagenets 33
The Lancastrians 42
The Yorkists 46
The Tudors 48
The Stuarts 58
The Commonwealth Interregnum 63
The Hanoverians 75
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha 85
The House of Windsor 87
Part Three
THE MONARCHY TODAY
The Queen’s role 91
Queen’s role in the modern State 91
Queen and Commonwealth 91
Royal visits 92
The Queen’s working day 92
Ceremonies and pageantry 92
The Queen’s ceremonial duties 93
Royal pageantry and traditions 93
Royal succession 93
The Royal Household 93
Royal Household departments 94
Recruitment 94
Anniversaries 95
Royal finances 95
Head of State expenditure 2000-01 95
Sources of funding 96
Financial arrangements of The Prince of Wales 96
Finances of the other members of the Royal Family 96
Taxation 97
Royal assets 97
Symbols 98
National anthem 98
Royal Warrants 99
Bank notes and coinage 100
Stamps 102
Coats of Arms 103
Great Seal 104
Flags 105
Crowns and jewels 105
Transport 105
Cars 106
Carriages 107
The Royal Train 108
Royal air travel 109
Part Four
THE ROYAL FAMILY
Members of the Royal Family 111
HM The Queen 111
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh 111
HRH The Prince of Wales and family 112
HRH The Duke of York 112
TRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex 112
HRH Princess Royal 112
HRH Princess Alice 113
TRH The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester 113
TRH The Duke and Duchess of Kent 113
TRH Prince and Princess Michael of Kent 114
HRH Princess Alexandra 114
Memorial Plaque
HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother 115
HRH The Princess Margaret 115
Diana, Princess of Wales 115
Part Five
ART AND RESIDENCES
The Royal Collection 116
About the Royal Collection 116
The Royal Collection Trust 117
Royal Collection Enterprises 117
Publishing 118
Royal Residences 118
Royal Collection Galleries 118
Loans 119
The Royal Residences 119
About the Royal Residences 119
Buckingham Palace 120
The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace 120
The Royal Mews 121
Windsor Castle 121
Frogmore 122
The Palace of Holyroodhouse 122
Balmoral Castle 123
Sandringham House 123
St James’s Palace 124
Kensington Palace 124
Historic residences 124
Bibliography 126
UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II (1952)
Government: The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and
parliamentary democracy, with a queen and a Parliament that has two houses:
the House of Lords, with 574 life peers, 92 hereditary peers, 26 bishops,
and the House of Commons, which has 651 popularly elected members. Supreme
legislative power is vested in Parliament, which sits for five years unless
sooner dissolved. The House of Lords was stripped of most of its power in
1911, and now its main function is to revise legislation. In Nov. 1999
hundreds of hereditary peers were expelled in an effort to make the body
more democratic. The executive power of the Crown is exercised by the
cabinet, headed by the prime minister.
Prime Minister: Tony Blair (1997)
Area: 94,525 sq mi (244,820 sq km)
Population (2003 est.): 60,094,648 (growth rate: 0.1%); birth rate:
11.0/1000; infant mortality rate: 5.3/1000; density per sq mi: 636
Capital and largest city (2000 est.): London, 11,800,000 (metro. area)
Other large cities: Birmingham, 1,009,100; Leeds, 721,800; Glasgow,
681,470; Liverpool, 479,000; Bradford, 477,500; Edinburgh, 441,620;
Manchester, 434,600; Bristol, 396,600
Monetary unit: Pound sterling (Ј)
Languages: English, Welsh, Scots Gaelic
Ethnicity/race: English 81.5%; Scottish 9.6%; Irish 2.4%; Welsh 1.9%;
Ulster 1.8%; West Indian, Indian, Pakistani, and other 2.8%
Religions: Church of England (established church), Church of Wales
(disestablished), Church of Scotland (established church—Presbyterian),
Church of Ireland (disestablished), Roman Catholic, Methodist,
Congregational, Baptist, Jewish
Literacy rate: 99% (1978)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2000 est.): $1.36 trillion; per capita $22,800.
Real growth rate: 3%. Inflation: 2.4%. Unemployment: 5.5%. Arable land:
25%. Agriculture: cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables; cattle, sheep,
poultry; fish. Labor force: 29.2 million (1999); agriculture 1%, industry
19%, services 80% (1996 est.). Industries: machine tools, electric power
equipment, automation equipment, railroad equipment, shipbuilding,
aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, electronics and communications
equipment, metals, chemicals, coal, petroleum, paper and paper products,
food processing, textiles, clothing, and other consumer goods. Natural
resources: coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt,
clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica, arable land. Exports: $282 billion
(f.o.b., 2000): manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals; food, beverages,
tobacco. Imports: $324 billion (f.o.b., 2000): manufactured goods,
machinery, fuels; foodstuffs. Major trading partners: EU, U.S., Japan.
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 34.878 million (1997);
mobile cellular: 13 million (yearend 1998). Radio broadcast stations: AM
219, FM 431, shortwave 3 (1998). Radios: 84.5 million (1997). Television
broadcast stations: 228 (plus 3,523 repeaters) (1995). Televisions: 30.5
million (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 245 (2000). Internet
users: 19.47 million (2000).
Transportation: Railways: total: 16,878 km (1996). Highways: total: 371,603
km; paved: 371,603 km (including 3,303 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km
(1998 est.). Waterways: 3,200 km. Ports and harbors: Aberdeen, Belfast,
Bristol, Cardiff, Dover, Falmouth, Felixstowe, Glasgow, Grangemouth, Hull,
Leith, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Peterhead, Plymouth, Portsmouth,
Scapa Flow, Southampton, Sullom Voe, Tees, Tyne. Airports: 489 (2000 est.).
International disputes: Northern Ireland issue with Ireland (historic peace
agreement signed 10 April 1998); Gibraltar issue with Spain; Argentina
claims Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas); Argentina claims South Georgia
and the South Sandwich Islands; Mauritius and the Seychelles claim Chagos
Archipelago (UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory); Rockall
continental shelf dispute involving Denmark and Iceland; territorial claim
in Antarctica (British Antarctic Territory) overlaps Argentine claim and
partially overlaps Chilean claim; disputes with Iceland, Denmark, and
Ireland over the Faroe Islands continental shelf boundary outside 200 NM.
DIRECT MEANING OF THE WORD «MONARCHY»
Monarchy, form of government in which sovereignty is vested in a single
person whose right to rule is generally hereditary and who is empowered to
remain in office for life. The power of this sovereign may vary from the
absolute to that strongly limited by custom or constitution. Monarchy has
existed since the earliest history of humankind and was often established
during periods of external threat or internal crisis because it provided a
more efficient focus of power than aristocracy or democracy, which tended
to diffuse power. Most monarchies appear to have been elective originally,
but dynasties early became customary. In primitive times, divine descent of
the monarch was often claimed. Deification was general in ancient Egypt,
the Middle East, and Asia, and it was also practiced during certain periods
in ancient Greece and Rome. A more moderate belief arose in Christian
Europe in the Middle Ages; it stated that the monarch was the appointed
agent of divine will. This was symbolized by the coronation of the king by
a bishop or the pope, as in the Holy Roman Empire. Although theoretically
at the apex of feudal power, the medieval monarchs were in fact weak and
dependent upon the nobility for much of their power. During the Renaissance
and after, there emerged “new monarchs” who broke the power of the nobility
and centralized the state under their own rigid rule. Notable examples are
Henry VII and Henry VIII of England and Louis XIV of France. The 16th and
17th cent. mark the height of absolute monarchy, which found its
theoretical justification in the doctrine of divine right. However, even
the powerful monarchs of the 17th cent. were somewhat limited by custom and
constitution as well as by the delegation of powers to strong
bureaucracies. Such limitations were also felt by the “benevolent despots”
of the 18th cent. Changes in intellectual climate, in the demands made upon
government in a secular and commercially expanding society, and in the
social structure, as the bourgeoisie became increasingly powerful,
eventually weakened the institution of monarchy in Europe. The Glorious
Revolution in England (1688) and the French Revolution (1789) were
important landmarks in the decline and limitation of monarchical power.
Throughout the 19th cent. Royal power was increasingly reduced by
constitutional provisions and parliamentary incursions. In the 20th cent.,
monarchs have generally become symbols of national unity, while real power
has been transferred to constitutional assemblies. Over the past 200 years
democratic self-government has been established and extended to such an
extent that a true functioning monarchy is a rare occurrence in both East
and West. Among the few remaining are Brunei, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia.
Notable constitutional monarchies include Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain,
Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Thailand.
Constitutional monarchy: System of government in which a monarch has
agreed to share power with a constitutionally organized government. The
monarch may remain the de facto head of state or may be a purely ceremonial
head. The constitution allocates the rest of the government's power to the
legislature and judiciary. Britain became a constitutional monarchy under
the Whigs; other constitutional monarchies include Belgium, Cambodia,
Jordan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Thailand.
THE BRITISH CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY
"The British Constitutional Monarchy was the consequence of the Glorious
Revolution of 1688, and was enshrined in the Bill of Rights of 1689.
Whereby William and Mary in accepting the throne, had to consent to govern
'according to the statutes in parliament on."
A monarch does not have to curry favour for votes from any section of the community.
A monarch is almost invariably more popular than an Executive President,
who can be elected by less than 50% of the electorate and may therefore
represent less than half the people. In the 1995 French presidential
election the future President Chirac was not the nation's choice in the
first round of voting. In Britain, governments are formed on the basis of
parliamentary seats won. In the 1992 General Election the Conservative
Prime Minister took the office with only 43% of votes cast in England,
Scotland and Wales. The Queen however, as hereditary Head of State, remains
the representative of the whole nation.
Elected presidents are concerned more with their own political futures and power, and as we have seen (in Brazil for example), may use their temporary tenure to enrich themselves. Monarchs are not subject to the influences which corrupt short-term presidents. A monarch looks back on centuries of history and forward to the well being of the entire nation under his/her heir. Elected presidents in their nature devote much energy to undoing the achievements of their forebears in order to strengthen the position of their successors.
A long reigning monarch can put enormous experience at the disposal of
transient political leaders. Since succeeding her father in 1952 Queen
Elizabeth has had a number of Prime Ministers, the latest of whom were not
even in Parliament at the time of her accession. An experienced monarch can
act as a brake on over ambitious or misguided politicians, and encorage
others who are less confident. The reality is often the converse of the
theory: the monarch is frequently the Prime Minister's best adviser.
Monarchs, particularly those in Europe are part of an extended Royal
Family, facilitating links between their nations. As Burke observed,
nations touch at their summits. A recent example of this was the attendance
of so many members of Royal Families at the 50th birthday celebrations for
Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustav. Swedish newspapers reported that this this
was a much better indication of their closeness to the rest of Europe than
any number of treaties, protocols or directives from the European Union.
A monarch is trained from Birth for the position of Head of State and
even where, as after the abdication of Edward VIII, a younger brother
succeeds, he too has enormous experience of his country, its people and its
government. The people know who will succeed, and this certainly gives a
nation invaluable continuity and stability. This also explains why it is
rare for an unsuitable person to become King. There are no expensive
elections as in the US where, as one pro-Monarchist American says, "we have
to elect a new ' Royal Family' every four years." In the French system the
President may be a member of one party, while the Prime Minister is from
another, which only leads to confused governement. In a monarchy there is
no such confusion, for the monarch does not rule in conflict with
government but reigns over the whole nation.
In ceremonial presidencies the Head of State is often a former politician
tainted by, and still in thrall to, his former political life and
loyalties, or an academic or retired diplomat who can never have the same
prestige as a monarch, and who is frequently little known inside the
country, and almost totally unknown outside it. For example, ask a German
why is Britain's Head of State and a high proportion will know it is Queen
Elizabeth II. Ask a Briton, or any Non- German, who is Head of State of
Germany? , and very few will be able to answer correctly.
Aided by his immediate family, a monarch can carry out a range of duties and public engagements - ceremonial, charitable, environmental etc. which an Executive President would never have time to do, and to which a ceremonial President would not add lustre.
A monarch and members of a Royal Family can become involved in a wide range of issues which are forbidden to politicians. All parties have vested interests which they cannot ignore. Vernon Bogdanor says in ' The Monarchy and the Constitution' - «A politician must inevitably be a spokesperson for only part of the nation, not the whole. A politician's motives will always be suspected. Members of the Royal Family, by contrast, because of their symbolic position, are able to speak to a much wider constituency than can be commanded by even the most popular political leader." In a Republic, then, who is there to speak out on issues where the 'here today, gone tomorrow' government is constrained from criticising its backers, even though such criticism is in the national interest.
All nations are made up of families, and it's natural that a family should be at a nation's head.
While the question of Divine Right is now obsolescent, the fact that
"there's such divinity doth hedge a King" remains true, and it is
interesting to note that even today Kings are able to play a role in the
spiritual life of a nation which presidents seem unable to fulfil.
It has been demonstrated that, even ignoring the enormous cost of presidential elections, a monarch as head of state is no more expensive than a president. In Britain many costs, such as the upkeep of the Royal residencies, are erroneosly thought to be uniquely attributable to the monarchy, even though the preservation of our heritage would still be undertaken if the county were a republic! The US government has criticised the cost to the Brazilian people of maintaining their president.
Even Royal Families which are not reigning are dedicated to the service of their people, and continue to be regarded as the symbol of the nation's continuity. Prominent examples are H.R.H. the Duke of Braganza in Portugal and H.R.H. the County of Paris in France. Royal Families forced to live in exile, such as the Yugoslav and Romanian, are often promoters of charities formed to help their countries.
KINGS AND QUEENS OF ENGLAND
The history of the English Crown up to the Union of the Crowns in 1603 is
long and varied. The concept of a single ruler unifying different tribes
based in England developed in the eighth and ninth centuries in figures
such as Offa and Alfred the Great, who began to create centralised systems
of government. Following the Norman Conquest, the machinery of government
developed further, producing long-lived national institutions including
Parliament.
The Middle Ages saw several fierce contests for the Crown, culminating in
the Wars of the Roses, which lasted for nearly a century. The conflict was
finally ended with the advent of the Tudors, the dynasty which produced
some of England's most successful rulers and a flourishing cultural
Renaissance. The end of the Tudor line with the death of the 'Virgin Queen'
in 1603 brought about the Union of the Crowns with Scotland.
THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGS
In the Dark Ages during the fifth and sixth centuries, communities of peoples in Britain inhabited homelands with ill-defined borders. Such communities were organised and led by chieftains or kings. Following the final withdrawal of the Roman legions from the provinces of Britannia in around 408 AD these small kingdoms were left to preserve their own order and to deal with invaders and waves of migrant peoples such as the Picts from beyond Hadrian's Wall, the Scots from Ireland and Germanic tribes from the continent. (King Arthur, a larger-than-life figure, has often been cited as a leader of one or more of these kingdoms during this period, although his name now tends to be used as a symbol of British resistance against invasion.)
The invading communities overwhelmed or adapted existing kingdoms and
created new ones - for example, the Angles in Mercia and Northumbria. Some
British kingdoms initially survived the onslaught, such as Strathclyde,
which was wedged in the north between Pictland and the new Anglo-Saxon
kingdom of Northumbria.
By 650 AD, the British Isles were a patchwork of many kingdoms founded
from native or immigrant communities and led by powerful chieftains or
kings. In their personal feuds and struggles between communities for
control and supremacy, a small number of kingdoms became dominant: Bernicia
and Deira (which merged to form Northumbria in 651 AD), Lindsey, East
Anglia, Mercia, Wessex and Kent. Until the late seventh century, a series
of warrior-kings in turn established their own personal authority over
other kings, usually won by force or through alliances and often cemented
by dynastic marriages.
According to the later chronicler Bede, the most famous of these kings
was Ethelberht, king of Kent (reigned c.560-616), who married Bertha, the
Christian daughter of the king of Paris, and who became the first English
king to be converted to Christianity (St Augustine's mission from the Pope
to Britain in 597 during Ethelberht's reign prompted thousands of such
conversions). Ethelberht's law code was the first to be written in any
Germanic language and included 90 laws. His influence extended both north
and south of the river Humber: his nephew became king of the East Saxons
and his daughter married king Edwin of Northumbria (died 633).
In the eighth century, smaller kingdoms in the British Isles continued to fall to more powerful kingdoms, which claimed rights over whole areas and established temporary primacies: Dalriada in Scotland, Munster and Ulster in Ireland. In England, Mercia and later Wessex came to dominate, giving rise to the start of the monarchy.
Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period the succession was frequently
contested, by both the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy and leaders of the settling
Scandinavian communities. The Scandinavian influence was to prove strong in
the early years. It was the threat of invading Vikings which galvanised
English leaders into unifying their forces, and, centuries later, the
Normans who successfully invaded in 1066 were themselves the descendants of
Scandinavian 'Northmen'.
HOUSE OF WESSEX AND ENGLAND
802 – 1066
EGBERT = Redburga
(802–839)
ETHELWULF = Osburga dau. of Oslac of Isle of
Wight
(839–855)
ETHELBERHT ALFRED the Great = Ealhswith
ETHELBALD (860–866)
ETHELRED (871–899)
(855–860)
(866–871)
Ecgwyn =
EDWARD THE ELDER= Edgiva
(899–924)
ATHELSTAN
(924–939)
Elgiva = EDMUND I
EDRED
(939–946)
(946–955)
EDWY Ethelfleda = EDGAR = Elfrida, dau. of Ordgar, Ealdorman of East Anglia
(955–959) dau. of (959–975)
Ealdorman
Ordmaer
EDWARD THE MARTYR
(975–979)
Elfgifu = ETHELRED II THE
UNREADY = Emma
(979–1016)
(later
(deposed 1013/14) married
CANUTE)
EDMUND II IRONSIDE
(Apr.–Nov.1016)
Godwin = Gytha
EDWARD THE = Eadgyth
HAROLD II
CONFESSOR (Edith)
(Jan.–Oct.1066)
(1042–1066)
EGBERT (802-39 AD)
Known as the first King of All England, he was forced into exile at the court of Charlemagne, by the powerful Offa, King of Mercia. Egbert returned to England in 802 and was recognized as king of Wessex. He defeated the rival Mercians at the battle of Ellendun in 825. In 829, the Northumbrians accepted his overlordship and he was proclaimed "Bretwalda" or sole ruler of Britain.
ЖTHELWULF (839-55 AD)
Жthelwulf was the son of Egbert and a sub-king of Kent. He assumed
the throne of Wessex upon his father's death in 839. His reign is
characterized by the usual Viking invasions and repulsions common to all
English rulers of the time, but the making of war was not his chief claim
to fame. Жthelwulf is remembered, however dimly, as a highly religious man
who cared about the establishment and preservation of the church. He was
also a wealthy man and controlled vast resources. Out of these resources,
he gave generously, to Rome and to religious houses that were in need.
He was an only child, but had fathered five sons, by his first wife,
Osburga. He recognized that there could be difficulties with contention
over the succession. He devised a scheme which would guarantee (insofar as
it was possible to do so) that each child would have his turn on the throne
without having to worry about rival claims from his siblings. Жthelwulf
provided that the oldest living child would succeed to the throne and would
control all the resources of the crown, without having them divided among
the others, so that he would have adequate resources to rule. That he was
able to provide for the continuation of his dynasty is a matter of record,
but he was not able to guarantee familial harmony with his plan. This is
proved by what we know of the foul plottings of his son, Жthelbald, while
Жthelwulf was on pilgrimage to Rome in 855.
Жthelwulf was a wise and capable ruler, whose vision made possible the beneficial reign of his youngest son, Alfred the Great.
ЖTHELBALD (855-8 (subking), 858-60)
While his father, Жthelwulf, was on pilgrimage to Rome in 855, Жthelbald
plotted with the Bishop of Sherbourne and the ealdorman of Somerset against
him. The specific details of the plot are unknown, but upon his return from
Rome, Жthelwulf found his direct authority limited to the sub-kingdom of
Kent, while Жthelbald controlled Wessex.
Жthelwulf died in 858, and full control passed to Жthelbald. Perhaps
Жthelbald's premature power grab was occasioned by impatience, or greed, or
lack of confidence in his father's succession plans. Whatever the case, he
did not live long to enjoy it. He died in 860, passing the throne to his
brother, Жthelbert, just as Жthelwulf had planned.
ЖTHELBERT (860-66 AD)
Very little is known about Жthelbert, who took his rightful place in
the line of succession to the throne of Wessex at around 30 years of age.
Like all other rulers of his day, he had to contend with Viking raids on
his territories and even had to battle them in his capital city of
Winchester. Apparently, his military leadership was adequate, since, on
this occasion, the Vikings were cut off on their retreat to the coast and
were slaughtered, according to a contemporary source, in a "bloody battle."
ЖTHELRED I (866-71 AD)
Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex, and son of King Жthelwulf, who ruled England during a time of great pressure from the invading Danes. He was an affable man, a devoutly religious man and the older brother of Alfred the Great, his second-in-command in the resistance against the invaders. Together, they defeated the Danish kings Bagseg and Halfdan at the battle of Ashdown in 870.
ALFRED «THE GREAT» (871-899)
Born at Wantage, Berkshire, in 849, Alfred was the fifth son of
Aethelwulf, king of the West Saxons. At their father's behest and by mutual
agreement, Alfred's elder brothers succeeded to the kingship in turn,
rather than endanger the kingdom by passing it to under-age children at a
time when the country was threatened by worsening Viking raids from
Denmark.
Since the 790s, the Vikings had been using fast mobile armies, numbering
thousands of men embarked in shallow-draught longships, to raid the coasts
and inland waters of England for plunder. Such raids were evolving into
permanent Danish settlements; in 867, the Vikings seized York and
established their own kingdom in the southern part of Northumbria. The
Vikings overcame two other major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, East Anglia and
Mercia, and their kings were either tortured to death or fled. Finally, in
870 the Danes attacked the only remaining independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom,
Wessex, whose forces were commanded by King Aethelred and his younger
brother Alfred. At the battle of Ashdown in 871, Alfred routed the Viking
army in a fiercely fought uphill assault. However, further defeats followed
for Wessex and Alfred's brother died.
As king of Wessex at the age of 21, Alfred (reigned 871-99) was a strongminded but highly strung battle veteran at the head of remaining resistance to the Vikings in southern England. In early 878, the Danes led by King Guthrum seized Chippenham in Wiltshire in a lightning strike and used it as a secure base from which to devastate Wessex. Local people either surrendered or escaped (Hampshire people fled to the Isle of Wight), and the West Saxons were reduced to hit and run attacks seizing provisions when they could. With only his royal bodyguard, a small army of thegns (the king's followers) and Aethelnoth ealdorman of Somerset as his ally, Alfred withdrew to the Somerset tidal marshes in which he had probably hunted as a youth. (It was during this time that Alfred, in his preoccupation with the defence of his kingdom, allegedly burned some cakes which he had been asked to look after; the incident was a legend dating from early twelfth century chroniclers.)
A resourceful fighter, Alfred reassessed his strategy and adopted the
Danes' tactics by building a fortified base at Athelney in the Somerset
marshes and summoning a mobile army of men from Wiltshire, Somerset and
part of Hampshire to pursue guerrilla warfare against the Danes. In May
878, Alfred's army defeated the Danes at the battle of Edington. According
to his contemporary biographer Bishop Asser, 'Alfred attacked the whole
pagan army fighting ferociously in dense order, and by divine will
eventually won the victory, made great slaughter among them, and pursued
them to their fortress (Chippenham) ... After fourteen days the pagans were
brought to the extreme depths of despair by hunger, cold and fear, and they
sought peace'. This unexpected victory proved to be the turning point in
Wessex's battle for survival.
Realising that he could not drive the Danes out of the rest of England,
Alfred concluded peace with them in the treaty of Wedmore. King Guthrum was
converted to Christianity with Alfred as godfather and many of the Danes
returned to East Anglia where they settled as farmers. In 886, Alfred
negotiated a partition treaty with the Danes, in which a frontier was
demarcated along the Roman Watling Street and northern and eastern England
came under the jurisdiction of the Danes - an area known as 'Danelaw'.
Alfred therefore gained control of areas of West Mercia and Kent which had
been beyond the boundaries of Wessex. To consolidate alliances against the
Danes, Alfred married one of his daughters, Aethelflaed, to the ealdorman
of Mercia -Alfred himself had married Eahlswith, a Mercian noblewoman - and
another daughter, Aelfthryth, to the count of Flanders, a strong naval
power at a time when the Vikings were settling in eastern England.
The Danish threat remained, and Alfred reorganised the Wessex defences in recognition that efficient defence and economic prosperity were interdependent. First, he organised his army (the thegns, and the existing militia known as the fyrd) on a rota basis, so he could raise a 'rapid reaction force' to deal with raiders whilst still enabling his thegns and peasants to tend their farms.
Second, Alfred started a building programme of well-defended settlements
across southern England. These were fortified market places ('borough'
comes from the Old English burh, meaning fortress); by deliberate royal
planning, settlers received plots and in return manned the defences in
times of war. (Such plots in London under Alfred's rule in the 880s shaped
the streetplan which still exists today between Cheapside and the Thames.)
This obligation required careful recording in what became known as 'the
Burghal Hidage', which gave details of the building and manning of Wessex
and Mercian burhs according to their size, the length of their ramparts and
the number of men needed to garrison them. Centred round Alfred's royal
palace in Winchester, this network of burhs with strongpoints on the main
river routes was such that no part of Wessex was more than 20 miles from
the refuge of one of these settlements. Together with a navy of new fast
ships built on Alfred's orders, southern England now had a defence in depth
against Danish raiders.
Alfred's concept of kingship extended beyond the administration of the
tribal kingdom of Wessex into a broader context. A religiously devout and
pragmatic man who learnt Latin in his late thirties, he recognised that the
general deterioration in learning and religion caused by the Vikings'
destruction of monasteries (the centres of the rudimentary education
network) had serious implications for rulership. For example, the poor
standards in Latin had led to a decline in the use of the charter as an
instrument of royal government to disseminate the king's instructions and
legislation. In one of his prefaces, Alfred wrote 'so general was its
[Latin] decay in England that there were very few on this side of the
Humber who could understand their rituals in English or translate a letter
from Latin into English ... so few that I cannot remember a single one
south of the Thames when I came to the throne.'
To improve literacy, Alfred arranged, and took part in, the translation
(by scholars from Mercia) from Latin into Anglo-Saxon of a handful of books
he thought it 'most needful for men to know, and to bring it to pass ... if
we have the peace, that all the youth now in England ... may be devoted to
learning'. These books covered history, philosophy and Gregory the Great's
'Pastoral Care' (a handbook for bishops), and copies of these books were
sent to all the bishops of the kingdom. Alfred was patron of the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle (which was copied and supplemented up to 1154), a patriotic
history of the English from the Wessex viewpoint designed to inspire its
readers and celebrate Alfred and his monarchy.
Like other West Saxon kings, Alfred established a legal code; he
assembled the laws of Offa and other predecessors, and of the kingdoms of
Mercia and Kent, adding his own administrative regulations to form a
definitive body of Anglo-Saxon law. 'I ... collected these together and
ordered to be written many of them which our forefathers observed, those
which I liked; and many of those which I did not like I rejected with the
advice of my councillors ... For I dared not presume to set in writing at
all many of my own, because it was unknown to me what would please those
who should come after us ... Then I ... showed those to all my councillors,
and they then said that they were all pleased to observe them' (Laws of
Alfred, c.885-99).
By the 890s, Alfred's charters and coinage (which he had also reformed,
extending its minting to the burhs he had founded) referred to him as 'king
of the English', and Welsh kings sought alliances with him. Alfred died in
899, aged 50, and was buried in Winchester, the burial place of the West
Saxon royal family.
By stopping the Viking advance and consolidating his territorial gains,
Alfred had started the process by which his successors eventually extended
their power over the other Anglo-Saxon kings; the ultimate unification of
Anglo-Saxon England was to be led by Wessex. It is for his valiant defence
of his kingdom against a stronger enemy, for securing peace with the
Vikings and for his farsighted reforms in the reconstruction of Wessex and
beyond, that Alfred - alone of all the English kings and queens - is known
as 'the Great'.
EDWARD «THE ELDER» (899-924)
Well-trained by Alfred, his son Edward 'the Elder' (reigned 899-924) was
a bold soldier who defeated the Danes in Northumbria at Tettenhall in 910
and was acknowledged by the Viking kingdom of York. The kings of
Strathclyde and the Scots submitted to Edward in 921. By military success
and patient planning, Edward spread English influence and control. Much of
this was due to his alliance with his formidable sister Aethelflaed, who
was married to the ruler of Mercia and seems to have governed that kingdom
after her husband's death.
Edward was able to establish an administration for the kingdom of
England, whilst obtaining the allegiance of Danes, Scots and Britons.
Edward died in 924, and he was buried in the New Minster which he had had
completed at Winchester. Edward was twice married, but it is possible that
his eldest son Athelstan was the son of a mistress.
ATHELSTAN (924-939)
Edward's heir Athelstan (reigned 925-39) was also a distinguished and audacious soldier who pushed the boundaries of the kingdom to their furthest extent yet. In 927-8, Athelstan took York from the Danes; he forced the submission of king Constantine of Scotland and of the northern kings; all five Welsh kings agreed to pay a huge annual tribute (reportedly including 25,000 oxen), and Athelstan eliminated opposition in Cornwall.
The battle of Brunanburh in 937, in which Athelstan led a force drawn from Britain and defeated an invasion by the king of Scotland in alliance with the Welsh and Danes from Dublin, earned him recognition by lesser kings in Britain.
Athelstan's law codes strengthened royal control over his large kingdom; currency was regulated to control silver's weight and to penalise fraudsters. Buying and selling was mostly confined to the burghs, encouraging town life; areas of settlement in the midlands and Danish towns were consolidated into shires. Overseas, Athelstan built alliances by marrying four of his half-sisters to various rulers in Western Europe.
He also had extensive cultural and religious contacts; as an enthusiastic and discriminating collector of works of art and religious relics, he gave away much of his collection to his followers and to churches and bishops in order to retain their support.
Athelstan died at the height of his power and was buried at Malmesbury; a
church charter of 934 described him as 'King of the English, elevated by
the right hand of the Almighty ... to the Throne of the whole Kingdom of
Britain'. Athelstan died childless.
EDMUND I (939-46)
Son of Edward the Elder, succeeded his half-brother, Жthelstan, with whom
he had fought at Brunanburh. Combated the Norse Vikings in Northumbria and
subdued them in Cumbria and Strathclyde. He entrusted these lands to an
ally, Malcolm I of Scotland. Edmund met his death when he was killed at
Pucklechurch, in Gloucestershire, by a robber.
EADRED (946-55)
King of Wessex and acknowledged as overlord of Mercia, the Danelaw and
Northumbria. A challenge to Eadred, which serves to illustrate one of his
chief qualities, developed in the north, in the early 950's. Eric Bloodaxe,
an aptly named, ferocious, Norse Viking who had been deposed by his own
people, established himself as king of Northumbria at York, apparently with
the fearful acquiescence of the Northumbrians. Eadred responded by marching
north with a considerable force to meet the threat. He proceeded to ravage
the Norse-held territories, then moved back to the south. He was attacked
on the way home by Eric's forces. Eadred was so enraged that he threatened
to go back to Northumbria and ravage the entire land.
This prospect frightened the already frightened Northumbrians into
abandoning Eric Bloodaxe. It must be that they viewed Eadred as more
formidable than a bloodthirsty Viking, who had been thrown out of a society
known for its bloodthirstiness, because he was too bloodthirsty and
tyrannical for them. In any case, according to the "AngloSaxon Chronicle",
"the Northumbrians expelled Eric."
As to his personal side, William of Malmesbury provides some
illumination. He says that Eadred was afflicted with some lingering
physical malady, since he was, "constantly oppressed by sickness, and of so
weak a digestion as to be unable to swallow more than the juices of the
food he had masticated, to the great annoyance of his guests." Regarding
his spiritual side, apparently the pillaging, ravaging and laying waste
that he did, had no deleterious effects on him. As Malmesbury states, he
devoted his life to God, "endured with patience his frequent bodily pains,
prolonged his prayers and made his palace altogether the school of virtue."
He died while still a young man, as had so many of the kings of Wessex,
"accompanied with the utmost grief of men but joy of angels."
EADWIG (EDWY) (955-59 AD)
On the death of Eadred, who had no children, Eadwig was chosen to be king
since he was the oldest of the children in the natural line of the House of
Wessex. He became king at 16 and displayed some of the tendencies one could
expect in one so young, royalty or not. Historians have not treated Eadwig
especially well, and it is unfortunate for him that he ran afoul of the
influential Bishop Dunstan (friend and advisor to the recently deceased
king, Eadred, future Archbishop of Canterbury and future saint), early in
his reign. An incident, which occurred on the day of Eadwig's consecration
as king, purportedly, illustrates the character of the young king.
According to the report of the reliable William of Malmesbury, all the
dignitaries and officials of the kingdom were meeting to discuss state
business, when the absence of the new king was noticed. Dunstan was
dispatched, along with another bishop, to find the missing youth. He was
found with his mind on matters other than those of state, in the company of
the daughter of a noble woman of the kingdom. Malmesbury writes, Dunstan, "
regardless of the royal indignation, dragged the lascivious boy from the
chamber and...compelling him to repudiate the strumpet made him his enemy
forever." The record of this incident was picked up by future monastic
chroniclers and made to be the definitive word on the character of Eadwig,
mainly because of St. Dunstan's role in it.
Dunstan was, after that incident, never exactly a favorite of Eadwig's, and it may be fair to say that Eadwig even hated Dunstan, for he apparently exiled him soon after this. Eadwig went on to marry Жlgifu, the girl with whom he was keeping company at the time of Dunstan's intrusion. For her part, "the strumpet" was eventually referred to as among "the most illustrious of women", and Eadwig, in his short reign, was generous in making grants to the church and other religious institutions. He died, possibly of the Wessex family ailment, when he was only 20.
EDGAR (959-975)
Edgar, king in Mercia and the Danelaw from 957, succeeded his brother as
king of the English on Edwy's death in 959 - a death which probably
prevented civil war breaking out between the two brothers. Edgar was a firm
and capable ruler whose power was acknowledged by other rulers in Britain,
as well as by Welsh and Scottish kings. Edgar's late coronation in 973 at
Bath was the first to be recorded in some detail; his queen Aelfthryth was
the first consort to be crowned queen of England.
Edgar was the patron of a great monastic revival which owed much to his
association with Archbishop Dunstan. New bishoprics were created,
Benedictine monasteries were reformed and old monastic sites were re-
endowed with royal grants, some of which were of land recovered from the
Vikings.
In the 970s and in the absence of Viking attacks, Edgar - a stern judge -
issued laws which for the first time dealt with Northumbria (parts of which
were in the Danelaw) as well as Wessex and Mercia. Edgar's coinage was
uniform throughout the kingdom. A more united kingdom based on royal
justice and order was emerging; the Monastic Agreement (c.970) praised
Edgar as 'the glorious, by the grace of Christ illustrious king of the
English and of the other peoples dwelling within the bounds of the island
of Britain'. After his death on 8 July 975, Edgar was buried at Glastonbury
Abbey, Somerset.
EDWARD II «THE MARTYR» (975-979)
The sudden death of Edgar at the age of 33 led to a succession dispute
between rival factions supporting his sons Edward and Ethelred. The elder
son Edward was murdered in 978 at Corfe Castle, Dorset, by his seven-year-
old half-brother's supporters.
ETHELRED II «THE UNREADY» (979-1013 AND 1014-1016)
Ethelred, the younger son of Edgar, became king at the age of seven
following the murder of his half-brother Edward II in 978 at Corfe Castle,
Dorset, by Edward's own supporters.
For the rest of Ethelred's rule (reigned 978-1016), his brother became a
posthumous rallying point for political unrest; a hostile Church
transformed Edward into a royal martyr. Known as the Un-raed or 'Unready'
(meaning 'no counsel', or that he was unwise), Ethelred failed to win or
retain the allegiance of many of his subjects. In 1002, he ordered the
massacre of all Danes in England to eliminate potential treachery.
Not being an able soldier, Ethelred defended the country against
increasingly rapacious Viking raids from the 980s onwards by diplomatic
alliance with the duke of Normandy in 991 (he later married the duke's
daughter Emma) and by buying off renewed attacks by the Danes with money
levied through a tax called the Danegeld. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1006
was dismissive: 'in spite of it all, the Danish army went about as it
pleased'. By 1012, 48,000 pounds of silver was being paid in Danegeld to
Danes camped in London.
In 1013, Ethelred fled to Normandy when the powerful Viking Sweyn of
Denmark dispossessed him. Ethelred returned to rule after Sweyn's death in
1014, but died himself in 1016.
SWEYN (1013-1014)
The son of a Danish king, Sweyn 'Forkbeard' began conquering territory in
England in 1003, effectively devastating much of southern and midland
England. The English nobility became so disillusioned with their existing
king, Ethelred 'The Unready', that they acknowledged Sweyn as king in 1013.
Sweyn's reign was short, as he died in 1014, but his son Canute the Great
soon returned and reclaimed control of England.
EDMUND II, IRONSIDE (1016)
Edmund was King of England for only a few months. After the death of his
father, Жthelred II, in April 1016, Edmund led the defense of the city of
London against the invading Knut Sveinsson (Canute), and was proclaimed
king by the Londoners. Meanwhile, the Witan (Council), meeting at
Southampton, chose Canute as King. After a series of inconclusive military
engagements, in which Edmund performed brilliantly and earned the nickname
"Ironside", he defeated the Danish forces at Oxford, Kent, but was routed
by Canute's forces at Ashingdon, Essex. A subsequent peace agreement was
made, with Edmund controlling Wessex and Canute controlling Mercia and
Northumbria. It was also agreed that whoever survived the other would take
control of the whole realm. Unfortunately for Edmund, he died in November,
1016, transferring the Kingship of All England completely to Canute.
CANUTE «THE GREAT» (1016-1035)
Son of Sweyn, Canute became undisputed King of England in 1016, and his
rivals (Ethelred's surviving sons and Edmund's son) fled abroad. In 1018,
the last Danegeld of 82,500 pounds was paid to Canute. Ruthless but
capable, Canute consolidated his position by marrying Ethelred's widow Emma
(Canute's first English partner - the Church did not recognise her as his
wife - was set aside, later appointed regent of Norway). During his reign,
Canute also became King of Denmark and Norway; his inheritance and
formidable personality combined to make him overlord of a huge northern
empire.
During his inevitable absences in Scandinavia, Canute used powerful English and Danish earls to assist in England's government - English law and methods of government remained unchanged.
A second-generation Christian for reasons of politics as well as faith,
Canute went on pilgrimage to Rome in 1027-8. (It was allegedly Christian
humility which made him reject his courtiers' flattery by demonstrating
that even he could not stop the waves; later hostile chroniclers were to
claim it showed madness.)
Canute was buried at Winchester. Given that there was no political or
governmental unity within his empire, it failed to survive owing to discord
between his sons by two different queens - Harold Harefoot (reigned 1035-
40) and Harthacnut (reigned 1040-42) - and the factions led by the semi-
independent Earls of Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex.
HAROLD HAREFOOT (1035-1040)
Harold Harefoot was the son of Canute and his first wife, Elfgifu. The
brothers began by sharing the kingdom of England after their father's death
- Harold Harefoot becoming king in Mercia and Northumbria, and Harthacanute
king of Wessex. During the absence of Hardicanute in Denmark, his other
kingdom, Harold Harefoot became effective sole ruler. On his death in 1040,
the kingdom of England fell to Hardicanute alone.
HARDICANUTE (1035-1042)
Harthacnut was the son of Canute and his second wife, Emma, the widow of
Ethelred II. His father intended Hardicanute to become king of the English
in preference to his elder brother Harold Harefoot, but he nearly lost his
chance of this when he became preoccupied with affairs in Denmark, of which
he was also king. Instead, Canute's eldest son, Harold Harefoot, became
king of England as a whole. In 1039 Hardicanute eventually set sail for
England, arriving to find his brother dead and himself king.
EDWARD III, THE CONFESSOR (1042-66 AD)
The penultimate Anglo-Saxon king, Edward was the oldest son of Жthelred
II and Emma. He had gone to Normandy in 1013, when his father and mother
had fled from England. He stayed there during the reign of Canute and, at
his death in 1035, led an abortive attempt to capture the crown for
himself. He was recalled, for some reason, to the court of Hardicanute, his
half-brother.
Canute had placed the local control of the shires into the hands of
several powerful earls: Leofric of Mercia (Lady Godiva's husband), Siward
of Northumbria and Godwin of Wessex, the most formidable of all. Through
Godwin's influence, Edward took the throne at the untimely death of
Hardicanute in 1042. In 1045, he married Godwin's only daughter, Edith.
Resulting from the connections made during Edward's years in Normandy, he surrounded himself with his Norman favorites and was unduly influenced by them. This Norman "affinity" produced great displeasure among the Saxon nobles. The anti-Norman faction was led by (who else?) Godwin of Wessex and his son, Harold Godwinsson, took every available opportunity to undermine the kings favorites. Edward sought to revenge himself on Godwin by insulting his own wife and Godwin's daughter, Edith, and confining her to the monastery of Wherwell. Disputes also arose over the issue of royal patronage and Edward's inclination to reward his Norman friends.
A Norman, Robert Champart, who had been Bishop of London, was made
Archbishop of Canterbury by Edward in 1051, a promotion that displeased
Godwin immensely. The Godwins were banished from the kingdom after staging
an unsuccessful rebellion against the king but returned, landing an
invasionary force in the south of England in 1052. They received great
popular support, and in the face of this, the king was forced to restore
the Godwins to favor in 1053.
Edward's greatest achievement was the construction of a new cathedral,
where virtually all English monarchs from William the Conqueror onward
would be crowned. It was determined that the minster should not be built in
London, and so a place was found to the west of the city (hence
"Westminster"). The new church was consecrated at Christmas, 1065, but
Edward could not attend due to illness.
On his deathbed, Edward named Harold as his successor, instead of the
legitimate heir, his grandson, Edgar the Жtheling. The question of
succession had been an issue for some years and remained unsettled at
Edward's death in January, 1066. It was neatly resolved, however, by
William the Conqueror, just nine months later.
There is some question as to what kind of person Edward was. After his
death, he was the object of a religious cult and was canonized in 1161, but
that could be viewed as a strictly political move. Some say, probably
correctly, that he was a weak, but violent man and that his reputation for
saintliness was overstated, possibly a sham perpetrated by the monks of
Westminster in the twelfth century. Others seem to think that he was deeply
religious man and a patient and peaceable ruler.
HAROLD II (1066)
On Edward's death, the King's Council (the Witenagemot) confirmed
Edward's brother-in-law Harold, Earl of Wessex, as King. With no royal
blood, and fearing rival claims from William Duke of Normandy and the King
of Norway, Harold had himself crowned in Westminster Abbey on 6 January
1066, the day after Edward's death. During his brief reign, Harold showed
he was an outstanding commander.
In September, Harald Hardrada of Norway (aided by Harold's alienated
brother Tostig, Earl of Northumbria) invaded England and was defeated by
Harold at the Battle of Stamford Bridge near York. Hardrada's army had
invaded using over 300 ships; so many were killed that only 25 ships were
needed to transport the survivors home.
Meanwhile, William, Duke of Normandy (who claimed that Harold had
acknowledged him in 1064 as Edward's successor) had landed in Sussex.
Harold rushed south and, on 14 October 1066, his army of some 7,000
infantry was defeated on the field of Senlac near Hastings. Harold was hit
in the eye by an arrow and cut down by Norman swords.
An abbey was later built, in 1070, to fulfil a vow made by William I, and
its high altar was placed on the spot where Harold fell. The ruins of
Battle Abbey still remain with a stone slab marking where Harold died.
THE NORMANS
The Normans came to govern as a result of one of the most famous battles in English history, the Battle of Hastings in 1066. From 1066 to 1154 four kings ruled. The Domesday Book, that great source of English landholding, was published, the forests were extended, the Exchequer was founded and a start was made on the Tower of London. In religious affairs, the Gregorian reform movement gathered pace and forced concessions, while the machinery of government developed to support the country while Henry was fighting abroad. Meanwhile, the social landscape was altered, as the Norman aristocracy came to prominence. Many of the nobles struggled to keep a hold on both Normandy and England, as divided rule meant the threat of conflict.
This was the case when William the Conqueror died. His eldest son,
Robert, became Duke of Normandy, while the next youngest, William, became
king of England. Their younger brother Henry would become king on William
II's death. The uneasy divide continued until Henry captured and imprisoned
his elder brother.
The question of the succession continued to weigh heavily over the
remainder of the period. Henry's son died, and his nominated heir Matilda
was denied the throne by her cousin, Henry's nephew, Stephen. There then
followed a period of civil war. Matilda married Geoffrey Plantagenet of
Anjou, who took control of Normandy. The duchy was therefore separated from
England once again.
A compromise was eventually reached whereby the son of Matilda and
Geoffrey would be heir to the English crown, while Stephen's son would
inherit his baronial lands. All this meant that in 1154 Henry II would
ascend to the throne as the first undisputed King in over 100 years - proof
of the dynastic uncertainty of the Norman period.
THE CONTINENTAL DYNASTIES
1066 - 1216
HAROLD BLUETOOTH,
King of Denmark
Gunhilda of = SWEYN FORKBEARD
Styrbjorn = Thyra
Poland
Richard I, Duke of
Sweden
of Normandy
Thorgils Sprakalegg
Elgiva of (1) = CANUTE = (2) Emma, widow of Judith
= Richard II,
Northampton (1016–1035) ATHELRED II
daughter of Duke of Gytha =
Godwin,
Conan I Normandy
Earl of
Wessex
HAROLD HARDICANUTE
HAREFOOT (1040–1042)
Robert I = Herlиve
(1035–1040)
Duke of
Normandy
HAROLD
II EDWARD THE=Eadgyth
(1066)
CONFESSOR
(1042–1066)
WILLIAM I
= Matilda, dau. of
THE CONQUEROR
Baldwin V, Count
(1066–1087) of Flanders
WILLIAM II
Adela = Stephen, Adela of =
HENRY I,
(1087–1100)
Count of Louvain
(1100–1135)
Blois
STEPHEN
Matilda = Geoffrey, Count
(1135–1154) of Anjou and Maine
HENRY II =
Eleanor of
(1154–1189)
Aquitaine, divorced
wife of LOUIS VII,
King of
France
RICHARD I JOHN
= Isabella, dau. of
(1189–1199) (1199–1216)
Count of
Angoulкme
HENRY III
(1216–1272)
WILLIAM I «THE CONQUEROR» (1066-1087)
Born around 1028, William was the illegitimate son of Duke Robert I of
Normandy, and Herleve (also known as Arlette), daughter of a tanner in
Falaise. Known as 'William the Bastard' to his contemporaries, his
illegitimacy shaped his career when he was young. On his father's death in
1035, William was recognised by his family as the heir - an exception to
the general rule that illegitimacy barred succession. His great uncle
looked after the Duchy during William's minority, and his overlord, King
Henry I of France, knighted him at the age of 15. From 1047 onwards,
William successfully dealt with rebellion inside Normandy involving his
kinsmen and threats from neighbouring nobles, including attempted invasions
by his former ally King Henry I of France in 1054 (the French forces were
defeated at the Battle of Mortemer) and 1057. William's military successes
and reputation helped him to negotiate his marriage to Mathilda, daughter
of Count Baldwin V of Flanders. At the time of his invasion of England,
William was a very experienced and ruthless military commander, ruler and
administrator who had unified Normandy and inspired fear and respect
outside his duchy. William's claim to the English throne was based on his
assertion that, in 1051, Edward the Confessor had promised him the throne
(he was a distant cousin) and that Harold II - having sworn in 1064 to
uphold William's right to succeed to that throne - was therefore a usurper.
Furthermore, William had the support of Emperor Henry IV and papal
approval. William took seven months to prepare his invasion force, using
some 600 transport ships to carry around 7,000 men (including 2,000-3,000
cavalry) across the Channel. On 28 September 1066, with a favourable wind,
William landed unopposed at Pevensey and, within a few days, raised
fortifications at Hastings. Having defeated an earlier invasion by the King
of Norway at the Battle of Stamford Bridge near York in late September,
Harold undertook a forced march south, covering 250 miles in some nine days
to meet the new threat, gathering inexperienced reinforcements to replenish
his exhausted veterans as he marched. At the Battle of Senlac (near
Hastings) on 14 October, Harold's weary and under-strength army faced
William's cavalry (part of the forces brought across the Channel) supported
by archers. Despite their exhaustion, Harold's troops were equal in number
(they included the best infantry in Europe equipped with their terrible two-
handled battle axes) and they had the battlefield advantage of being based
on a ridge above the Norman positions. The first uphill assaults by the
Normans failed and a rumour spread that William had been killed; William
rode among the ranks raising his helmet to show he was still alive. The
battle was close-fought: a chronicler described the Norman counter-attacks
and the Saxon defence as 'one side attacking with all mobility, the other
withstanding as though rooted to the soil'. Three of William's horses were
killed under him. William skilfully co-ordinated his archers and cavalry,
both of which the English forces lacked. During a Norman assault, Harold
was killed - hit by an arrow and then mowed down by the sword of a mounted
knight. Two of his brothers were also killed. The demoralised English
forces fled. (In 1070, as penance, William had an abbey built on the site
of the battle, with the high altar occupying the spot where Harold fell.
The ruins of Battle Abbey, and the town of Battle, which grew up around it,
remain.) William was crowned on Christmas Day 1066 in Westminster Abbey.
Three months later, he was confident enough to return to Normandy leaving
two joint regents (one of whom was his half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux,
who was later to commission the Bayeux Tapestry) behind to administer the
kingdom. However, it took William six years to consolidate his conquest,
and even then he had to face constant plotting and fighting on both sides
of the Channel. In 1068, Harold's sons raided the south-west coast of
England (dealt with by William's local commanders), and there were
uprisings in the Welsh Marches, Devon and Cornwall. William appointed earls
who, in Wales and in all parts of the kingdom, undertook to guard the
threatened frontiers and maintain internal security in return for land. In
1069, the Danes, in alliance with Prince Edgar the Aetheling (Ethelred's
great-grandson) and other English nobles, invaded the north and took York.
Taking personal charge, and pausing only to deal with the rising at
Stafford, William drove the Danes back to their ships on the Humber. In a
harsh campaign lasting into 1070, William systematically devastated Mercia
and Northumbria to deprive the Danes of their supplies and prevent recovery
of English resistance. Churches and monasteries were burnt, and
agricultural land was laid to waste, creating a famine for the unarmed and
mostly peasant population which lasted at least nine years. Although the
Danes were bribed to leave the north, King Sweyn of Denmark and his ships
threatened the east coast (in alliance with various English, including
Hereward the Wake) until a treaty of peace was concluded in June 1070.
Further north, where the boundary with Scotland was unclear, King Malcolm
III was encroaching into England. Yet again, William moved swiftly and
moved land and sea forces north to invade Scotland. The Treaty of Abernethy
in 1072 marked a truce, which was reinforced by Malcolm's eldest son being
accepted as a hostage. William consolidated his conquest by starting a
castle-building campaign in strategic areas. Originally these castles were
wooden towers on earthen 'mottes' (mounds) with a bailey (defensive area)
surrounded by earth ramparts, but many were later rebuilt in stone. By the
end of William's reign over 80 castles had been built throughout his
kingdom, as a permanent reminder of the new Norman feudal order. William's
wholesale confiscation of land from English nobles and their heirs (many
nobles had died at the battles of Stamford Bridge and Senlac) enabled him
to recruit and retain an army, by demanding military duties in exchange for
land tenancy granted to Norman, French and Flemish allies. He created up to
180 'honours' (lands scattered through shires, with a castle as the
governing centre), and in return had some 5,000 knights at his disposal to
repress rebellions and pursue campaigns; the knights were augmented by
mercenaries and English infantry from the Anglo-Saxon militia, raised from
local levies. William also used the fyrd, the royal army - a military
arrangement which had survived the Conquest. The King's tenants-in-chief in
turn created knights under obligation to them and for royal duties (this
was called subinfeudation), with the result that private armies centred
around private castles were created - these were to cause future problems
of anarchy for unfortunate or weak kings. By the end of William's reign, a
small group of the King's tenants had acquired about half of England's
landed wealth. Only two Englishmen still held large estates directly from
the King. A foreign aristocracy had been imposed as the new governing
class. The expenses of numerous campaigns, together with an economic slump
(caused by the shifts in landed wealth, and the devastation of northern
England for military and political reasons), prompted William to order a
full-scale investigation into the actual and potential wealth of the
kingdom to maximise tax revenues. The Domesday survey was prompted by
ignorance of the state of land holding in England, as well as the result of
the costs of defence measures in England and renewed war in France. The
scope, speed, efficiency and completion of this survey was remarkable for
its time and resulted in the two-volume Domesday Book of 1086, which still
exists today. William needed to ensure the direct loyalty of his feudal
tenants. The 1086 Oath of Salisbury was a gathering of William's 170
tenants-in-chief and other important landowners who took an oath of fealty
to William. William's reach extended elsewhere into the Church and the
legal system. French superseded the vernacular (Anglo-Saxon). Personally
devout, William used his bishops to carry out administrative duties.
Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1070, was a first-class
administrator who assisted in government when William was absent