![bayeaux tapestry]() |
The Bayeaux tapestry shows how the military might of the
Normans defeated Harolds exhausted army. Once established as king, William
I continued in the vein of might being right |
| The Tower of London was built with the express aim of
showing the inhabitants of London who was in charge now. William continued
with a demonic round of castle building across the whole country. The
uniqueness of the Norman conquest in British history is that not only did
the ruler change, but also the whole of the ruling class changes, and
there was even a new language. The English nobility lost their lands, and
the new landowners built castles like Warwick and Windsor that survive to
this day. By the time William died in 1087 around 100 major castles had
been built |
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The other major legacy of William's reign is the
Domesday Book. William wished to know the existing and potential
value of his new kingdom. Surveyors were sent out across the whole
country and their report was the massive Domesday Book which noted
land down to individual landholdings |
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The other Norman Kings, William II, Stephen, Henry I and
Henry II were no pussycats, but they had little efffect on posterity until
Henry II ascended to the throne in 1154 |
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Remember that William I had been duke of Normandy as
well as King of England (map left). Henry II expanded this empire,
as he wasDuke of Aquitaine (right) though his wife's title. England
was there a major player on Continental Europe, and continued to
hold parts of France for 500 years until Calais was finally lost in
1558 | |
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Henry II is known for his ordering the murder of the
Archbishop Of Cantabury, Thomas Becket, in Cantabury Cathedral -
stabbed at the high alter in 1170. (shown in the medieval manuscript
on the right. It did not do to cross the king | |
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