Can I study an important historical figure? - Wednesday 3rd March 2021

Wednesday 3rd March 2021

Can I study an important historical figure?

William the Conqueror Fact File

William I (William the conqueror)

After defeating King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, William was crowned king of
England on Christmas day 1066 at Westminster Abbey.

But what did William do when he was King of England?

William was the first Norman king of England and there were many changes to the
country while he was in charge.

Watch the video below.

William the Conqueror video

Castles

To protect his new kingdom William started to build castles - lots of castles!
During Williams reign over 700 castles were built across England and Wales. Before
William the conqueror there were no castles in England.

William built a type of castle known as a Motte and Bailey castle. Because they were
quick to build.

Motte and bailey was the name given to the first real castles built in England. This
unusual name comes from France. Motte means 'mound' and bailey means
'closed/fenced-in' land. They have a French name because the Normans first built
them after they had won the Battle of Hastings in AD 1066.

The motte was a huge mound with a castle, or keep, built on top. It would have been
easy to defend, as people would have had to climb up it slowly to reach the keep.
Most mottes were surrounded by a deep ditch to stop attackers.

The bailey was a large area of ground, surrounded by a tall, wooden fence. Inside
the fence would be houses and buildings for all the people who would have worked
for and protected the family who owned the keep. There would be storehouses,
bakeries, barracks (buildings for soldiers) and kitchens to prepare food. It was like a
village inside a large fence.

The Normans stopped using wood and started using stone to build castles. They
kept the design the same and often replaced the wooden keep and fence with stone
ones. Some motte and bailey castles are still around today, but others are just ruins
or simply large mounds.
                                                 Upgraded to stone buildings

        Wooden buildings

                                   Keep
Motte

                                                     Bailey

 Pallisade
   wall

Many of the most famous castles in
                                             England were built by William the
                                             Conqueror.
                                             Castles at Dover, Pevensey,
                                             Hastings, Colchester, Durham and
                                             Norwich were all built on the orders of
                                             William.

                                             Windsor castle and the Tower of
                                             London were also built by him. Many
                                             of the castles started out as wooden
                                             motte and bailey castles but were
                                             upgraded to stone later.

Figure 1 The Tower of London

Figure 2 Windsor Castle

Monasteries and Cathedrals
William and the Normans were very religious. William wanted to have a lot of the
cathedrals rebuilt in a different style from France, which was known as Romanesque.
He started rebuilding Canterbury cathedral and had rebuilt nine of England’s 15
cathedrals before he died. He also rebuilt many abbeys.

Figure 3 Canterbury cathedral

Figure 4 Durham cathedral

Language

William the Conqueror didn’t speak English. He spoke Norman French, which
became the language of the court, government and the upper class for the next three
centuries. English continued to be used by ordinary people, and Latin was the
language of the church.

More than 10,000 French words found their way into English – words associated with
government, law, art, literature, food, and many other aspects of life. About three
quarters of these words are still used.

Beef, button, castle, chimney, duke, flowers, jury, justice, language, marriage, royal,
soldier and tailor are all Norman words that we still use today.

Domesday Book

In 1086 William decided he wanted to know about everything that people owned in
England.

He wanted to know how many people lived in each town and what land and
possessions they owned.

All this information was written down in a very famous book known as the Domesday
Book.

Why did William want to know about everyone and what they owned?

To ensure that he was getting as much money as possible from taxes to pay for
ruling England and making sure his large army had weapons and food. Although he
had conquered England, William still had to defend himself against Welsh and
Scottish attackers, as well as threats from the French and Bretons against
his land back in Normandy.

To find out exactly how much land his feudal lords owned and how much revenue
they had. He wanted to ensure they were not holding money back and that they
could not become too powerful.

To legalise and record arguments over the ownership of land, which had happened
since 1066.

The Domesday Book is one of the most important written records about life in
Norman England.

Figure 5 The Domesday book entry for Gillingham

Figure 6 The Domesday book