A Companion to Our Literary Journey/The Norman Conquest
1066, the Year that Changed Everything
[edit | edit source]When Edward the Confessor died without leaving an heir in 1066, it set in motion a series of events which would lead to the end of the Anglo-Saxon era in England.
There were three main rivals to the throne: Harold of Wessex, the King of Norway and the Duke of Normandy. The King of Norway got soon out of the picture because his attack was promptly countered by Harold of Wessex. When the Norwegian King was defeated by Harold, the dispute became mainly a family feud. Edward’s only blood relation was with William, Duke of Normandy. Harold was not blood-related to Edward but he was an in-law as his sister was betrothed to Edward and later married off to him for purely dynastical reasons. However, Edward was childless, he lived most of his later years in Normandy far from his wife, and promised his cousin William the throne of England at his death. William invaded England from the South and he faced an army that were already weary, due to their counterattack to the King of Norway. The Normans’ victory was as glorious as it was predicable at that stage.
It is undeniable that the impact of the conquest was profound, and it shaped England’s identity for centuries to come.
It is also worth remembering that no other conqueror has ever set foot on the British ground since the Norman Conquest, and that the only two Kings who died on the battlefield in the history of England are Harold of Wessex and Richard III, at the end of the War of the Roses in 1485.
Language
[edit | edit source]The Normans introduced many French and Latin words into Old English, which eventually led to the development of Middle English.
Structure of Society
[edit | edit source]The Normans brought to England the feudal system, replacing the Anglo-Saxon élite with Norman lords and reinforcing a hierarchy based on land ownership and on a pyramid-like structure, at the climax of which the King would be the overlord and would only respond to God.
Culture
[edit | edit source]The Normans influenced architecture, literature, and traditions, blending their own customs with those of the Anglo-Saxons. Churches, abbeys, castles started to have a distinct Norman "touch".
Nowhere is the magnitude of the change brought by the Normans more evident than in the magnificent embroidery known as The Bayeux Tapestry. Their clothes, their hygiene, their cuisine, their medicine are all depicted in this enormous cartoon-like artifact of the past, not to mention their horse-back riding, their sailing and their warfare tactics.