Norman Conquest
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Norman Conquest
William the Conqueror’s England
1066 was a very important year for England. When king Edward "the Confessor" died three people wanted the throne. Take a look at this timeline to find out more.
1066 Timeline|||| (Powerpoint)
All the arguments over succession to the English throne came to an abrupt end when William, Duke of Normandy, won the Battle of Hastings. On Christmas Day he was crowned King of England. Many swore allegiance to the new king, however there were many in the country who wanted to resist the Norman invasion. There were revolts up and down the country, including around Stafford. The Normans soon realised they needed to build a series of castles and they needed to build them quick.
(c) Ben Cunliffe
The Harrying of the North
The North perhaps suffered worse than Staffordshire, as the revolts there were dealt with very harshly in what became known as the Harrying of the North:
“on Christmas Day, and so all the winter on land . . .and food of every kind should be brought together and burned to ashes with consuming fire, so that the whole region north of the Humber might be stripped of all means of sustenance. In consequence so serious a scarcity was felt in England, and so terrible a famine fell upon the humble and defenceless that more than 100,000 Christian folk of both sexes, young and old alike, perished of hunger.'
". . . so great a famine prevailed that men, compelled by hunger, devoured human flesh, that of horses, dogs, and cats, and whatever custom abhors; others sold themselves to perpetual slavery, so that they might in any way preserve their wretched existence; others, while about to go into exile from their country, fell down in the middle of their journey and gave up the ghost. It was horrific to behold human corpses decaying in the houses, the streets, and the roads, swarming with worms, while they were consuming in corruption with an abominable stench. For no one was left to bury them in the earth, all being cut off either by the sword or by famine. Meanwhile, the land being thus deprived of any one to cultivate it for nine years, an extensive solitude prevailed all around. There was no village inhabited between York and Durham; they became lurking places to wild beasts and robbers, and were a great dread to travellers."
Orderic Vitalis 'Historia Ecclesiastica' by Marjorie Chibnall
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