unsoundness of property bought, and money owed for a sale. The defendant
denied the accusation by sweating that "By the Lord, I am guiltless,
both in deed and counsel, and of the charge of which ... accuses me." A
compurgator swore that "By the Lord, the oath is clean and unperjured
which ... has sworn.". A witness swore that "In the name of Almighty
God, as I here for ... in true witness stand, unbidden and unbought, so
I with my eyes oversaw, and with my ears overheard, that which I with
him say."
If a theow man was guilty at the ordeal, he was not only to give
compensation, but was to be scourged thrice, or a second geld be given;
and be the wite of half value for theows.
- - - Chapter 4 - - -
- The Times: 1066-1100 -
William came from Normandy to conquer England. He claimed that the
former King, Edward, the Confessor, had promised the throne to him when
they were growing up together in Normandy, if Edward became King of
England and had no children. The Conquerer's men and horses came in
boats powered by oars and sails. The conquest did not take long because
of the superiority of his military expertise to that of the English. He
organized his army into three groups: archers with bows and arrows,
horsemen with swords and stirrups, and footmen with hand weapons. Each
group played a specific role in a strategy planned in advance. The
English army was only composed of footmen with hand weapons such as
spears and shields. They fought in a line holding up their shields to
overlap each other and form a shieldwall. The defeat of the English was
thought to have been presaged by a comet.
At Westminster, he made an oath to defend God's holy churches and their
rulers, to rule the whole people subject to him with righteousness and
royal providence, to enact and hold fast right law, and to utterly
forbid rapine and unrighteous judgments. This was in keeping with the
traditional oath of a new king.
Declaring the English who fought against him to be traitors, the
Conquerer declared their land confiscated. But he allowed those who were
willing to acknowledge him to redeem their land by a payment of money.
As William conquered the land of the realm, he parceled it out among the
barons who fought with him so that each baron was given the holdings of
an Anglo-Saxon predecessor, scattered though they were. The barons again
made oaths of personal loyalty to him [fealty]. They agreed to hold the
land as his vassals with future military services to him and receipt of
his protection. They gave him homage by placing their hands within his
and saying "I become your man for the tenement I hold of you, and I will
bear you faith in life and member [limb] and earthly honor against all
men". They held their land "of their lord", the King, by knight's
service. The king had "enfeoffed" them [given them a fief: a source of
income] with land. The theory that by right all land was the King's and
that land was held by others only at his gift and in return for
specified service was new to English thought. The original duration of a
knight's fee until about 1100 was for his life; thereafter it was
heritable. The word "knight" came to replace the word "thegn" as a
person who received his position and land by fighting for the King. The
exact obligation of knight's service was to furnish a fully armed
horseman to serve at his own expense for forty days in the year. This
service was not limited to defense of the country, but included fighting
abroad. The baron led his own knights under his banner. The foot
soldiers were from the fyrd or were mercenaries. Every free man was
sworn to join in the defense of the king, his lands and his honor,
within England and without.
The Saxon governing class was destroyed. The independent power of
earls, who had been drawn from three great family houses, was curtailed.
Most died or fled the country. Some men were allowed to redeem their
land by money payment if they showed loyalty to the Conquerer. Well-born
women crowded into nunneries to escape Norman violence. The people were
deprived of their most popular leaders, who were excluded from all
positions of trust and profit, especially all the clergy. The earldoms
became fiefs instead of magistracies.
The Conquerer was a stern and fierce man and ruled as an autocrat by
terror. Whenever the people revolted or resisted his mandates, he seized
their lands or destroyed the crops and laid waste the countryside and so
that they starved to death. This example pacified others. His rule was
strong, resolute, wise, and wary. He was not arbitrary or oppressive.
The Conquerer had a strict system of policing the nation. Instead of the
Anglo-Saxon self-government throughout the districts and hundreds of
resident authorities in local courts, he aimed at substituting for it
the absolute rule of the barons under military rule so favorable to the
centralizing power of the Crown. He used secret police and spies and the
terrorism this system involved. This especially curbed the minor barons
and preserved the public peace.
The English people, who outnumbered the Normans by 300 to 1, were
disarmed. Curfew bells were rung at 7:00 PM when everyone had to remain
in their own dwellings on pain of death and all fires and candles were
to be put out. This prevented any nightly gatherings, assassinations, or
seditions. Order was brought to the kingdom so that no man dare kill
another, no matter how great the injury he had received. The Conquerer
extended the King's peace on the highways, i.e. roads on high ground, to
include the whole nation. Any individual of any rank could travel from
end to end of the land unharmed. Before, prudent travelers would travel
only in groups of twenty.
The barons subjugated the English who were on their newly acquired
land. There began a hierarchy of seisin [rightful occupation] of land so
that there could be no land without its lord. Also, every lord had a
superior lord with the king as the overlord or supreme landlord. One
piece of land may be held by several tenures. For instance, A, holding
by barons' service of the King, may enfeoff B, a church, to hold of him
on the terms of praying for the souls of his ancestors, and B may
enfeoff a freeman C to hold of the church by giving it a certain
percentage of his crops every year. There were about 200 barons who held
land directly of the King. Other fighting men were the knights, who were
tenants or subtenants of a baron. Knighthood began as a reward for valor
on the field of battle by the king or a noble. The value of a knight's
fee was 400s. [20 pounds] per year. Altogether there were about 5000
fighting men holding land.
The essence of Norman feudalism was that the land remained under the
lord, whatever the vassal might do. The lord had the duty to defend the
vassals on his land. The vassal owed military service to the lord and
also the service of attending the courts of the hundred and the county
[formerly "shire"], which were courts of the King, administering old
customary law. They were the King's courts on the principle that a crime
anywhere was a breach of the King's peace. The King's peace that had
covered his residence and household had extended to places where he
might travel, such as highways, rivers, bridges, churches, monasteries,
markets, and towns, and then encompassed every place, replacing the
general public peace. Infraction of the King's peace incurred fines to
the King.
This feudal bond based on occupancy of land rather than on personal
ties was uniform throughout the realm. No longer could a man choose his
lord and transfer his land with him to a new lord. He held his land at
the will of his lord, to be terminated anytime the lord decided to do
so. A tenant could not alienate his land without permission of his lord.
In later eras, tenancies would be held for the life of the tenant, and
even later, for his life and those of his heirs.
This uniformity of land organization plus the new requirement that
every freeman take an oath of loyalty directly to the king to assist him
in preserving his lands and honor and defending him against his enemies,
which oath would supersede any oath to any other man, gave the nation a
new unity. The king could call men directly to the fyrd, summon them to
his court, and tax them without intervention of their lords. And the
people learned to look to the king for protection from abuse by their
lords.
English villani, bordarii, cottarii, and servi on the land of the
barons were subjugated into a condition of "villeinage" servitude and
became "tied to the land" so that they could not leave the land without
their lord's permission, except to go on a pilgrimage. The villeins
formed a new bottom class as the population's percentage of slaves
declined dramatically. They held their land of their lord, the baron. To
guard against uprisings of the conquered people, the barons used villein
labor to build about a hundred great stone castles, with moats and walls
with towers around them, at easily defensible positions such as hilltops
all over the nation.
A castle could be built only with permission of the King. A typical
castle had a stone building of about four floors [a keep] on a small,
steep hill. Later it also had an open area surrounded by a stone
curtain-wall with towers at the corners. Around the outside of the wall
were ditches and banks and perhaps a moat. One traveled over these via a
drawbridge let down at the gatehouse of the enclosing wall. On either
side of the gatehouse were chambers for the guards. Arrows could be shot
through slits in the enclosing walls. Inside the enclosed area might be
stables, a granary, barracks for the soldiers, and workshops. The only
winter feed was hay, for which the horses, breeding animals, milkcow,
and workoxen had a priority over other animals. The bulk of the cattle
were usually slaughtered and salted.
The castle building typically was entered by an outer wood staircase to
the guard room on the second floor. The first [ground] floor had a well
and was used as a storehouse and/or dungeons for prisoners. The second
floor had a two-storied great hall, with small rooms and aisles around
it within the thick walls. There was also a chapel area on the second
floor. There were small areas of the third floor which could be used for
sleeping. The floors were wood and were reached by a spiral stone
staircase in one corner of the building. Sometimes there was a reservoir
of water on an upper level with pipes carrying the water to floors
below. Each floor had a fireplace with a slanted flue going through the
wall to the outside. There were latrines in the corner walls with a pit
or shaft down the exterior of the wall, sometimes to the moat. Furs and
wool clothes were hung on the walls there in the summer to deter the
moths. The first floor had only arrow slits in the walls, but the higher
floors had small windows.
Some curtain-wall castles did not have a central building. In these,
the hall was built along the inside of the walls, as were other
continuous buildings. The kitchens and chapels were in the towers.
Lodgings were in buildings along the curtain-walls, or on several floors
of the towers.
The great hall was the main room of the castle. The hall was used for
meals and meetings at which the lord received homages, recovered fees,
and held the view of frankpledge [free pledge in Latin], in which
freemen agreed to be sureties for each other. At the main table, the
lord and his lady sat on benches with backs or chairs. The table was
covered first with a wool cloth that reached to the floor, and then by a
smaller white linen cloth. Everyone else sat on benches at trestle
tables, which consisted of planks on trestles and could be dismantled,
e.g. at night. Over the main door were the family arms. On the walls
were swords ready for instant use. On the upper parts of the walls could
be fox skins and perhaps a polecat skin, and keepers' and huntsmen's
poles. There were often hawk perches overhead. At the midday dinner,
courses were ceremonially brought in to music, and ritual bows were made
to the lord. The food at the head table was often tasted first by a
servant as a precaution against poison. Hounds, spaniels, and terriers
lay near the hearth and cats, often with litters, nestled nearby. They
might share in dinner, but the lord may keep a short stick near him to
defend morsels he meant for himself. Hunting, dove cotes, and carp pools
provided fresh meat. Fish was compulsory eating on Fridays, on fast
days, and during Lent. Cooking was done outside on an open fire,
roasting on spits and boiling in pots. Some spits were mechanized with a
cogged wheel and a weight at the end of a string. Other spits were
turned by a long handle, or a small boy shielded from the heat by a wet
blanket, or by dogs on a treadmill. Underneath the spit was a dripping
pan to hold the falling juices and fat. Mutton fat was used for candles.
Bread, pies, and pastry dishes were baked in an oven: a hole in a
fireproof stone wall fitted with an iron door, in which wood was first
burnt to heat the oven walls. It could also be used for drying fruit or
melting tallow. Fruits were also preserved in honey. Salt was stored in
a niche in the wall near the hearth and put on the table in a salt
cellar which became more elaborate over the years. Salt was very
valuable and gave rise to the praise of a man as the salt of the earth.
Costly imported spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, pepper,
and a small quantity of sugar were kept in chests. Pepper was always on
the table to disguise the taste of tainted meat. Spices were tried for
medicinal use. Drinks included wine, ale, cider from apples, perry from
pears, and mead. People carried and used their own knives. There were no
forks. Spoons were of silver or wood. People also ate with their fingers
and washed their hands before and after meals. It was impolite to dig
into the salt bowl with a knife not previously wiped on bread or napkin,
which was linen. It was unmannerly to wipe one's knife or one's greasy
fingers on the tablecloth or, to use the tablecloth to blow one's nose.
Feasts were stately occasions with costly tables and splendid apparel.
There were practical jokes, innocent frolics, and witty verbal debating
with repartee. They played chess, checkers, and various games with cards
and dice. Most people could sing and some could play the lute.
Lighting of the hall at night was by oil lamps or candles on stands or
on wall fixtures. For outside activities, a lantern [a candle shielded
by a metal cage with panels of finely shaved horn: lant horn] was used.
The residence of the lord's family and guests was at a screened off area
at the extreme end of the hall or on a higher floor. Chests stored
garments and jewels. Iron keys and locks were used for chests and doors.
The great bed had a wooden frame and springs made of interlaced rope or
strips of leather. It was covered with a feather mattress, sheets,
quilts, fur covers, and pillows. Drapery around the bed kept out cold
drafts and provided privacy. There was a water bowl for washing in the
morning. A chamber pot was kept under the bed for nighttime use. Hay was
used as toilet paper. The lord's personal servants slept nearby on
benches or trundle beds. Most of the gentlemen servants slept communally
in a "knight's chamber". The floor of the hall was strewn with straw, on
which common folk could sleep at night. There were stools on which to
sit. Cup boards (boards on which to store cups) and chests stored spices
and plate. One-piece iron shears were available to cut cloth. Handheld
spindles were used for weaving; one hand held the spindle [a small stick
weighted at one end] while the other hand alternately formed the thread
and wound it around the spindle. On the roofs there were rampart walks
for sentry patrols and parapets from which to shoot arrows or throw
things at besiegers. Each tenant of the demesne of the king where he had
a castle had to perform a certain amount of castle guard duty for its
continuing defense. These knights performing castle-guard duty slept at
their posts. Bathing was done in a wooden tub located in the garden in
the summer and indoors near the fire in winter. The great bed and tub
for bathing were taken on trips with the lord. The entire household was
of men, except for the lord's lady with a few lady companions. The
ladies rode pillion [on a cushion behind the saddle] or in litters
suspended between two horses.
Markets grew up outside castle walls. Any trade on a lord's land was
subject to "passage", a payment on goods passing through, "stallage", a
payment for setting up a stall or booth in a market, and "pontage", a
payment for taking goods across a bridge.
The Norman man was clean shaven on his face and around his ears and at
the nape of the neck. His hair was short. He wore a long- sleeved
under-tunic of linen or wool that reached to his ankles. Over this the
Norman noble wore a tunic without sleeves, open at the sides, and
fastened with a belt. Over one shoulder was his cloak, which was
fastened on the opposite shoulder by being drawn through a ring brooch
and knotted. He wore tight thick cloth stockings to protect him from the
mud and leather shoes. Common men wore durable, but drab, wool tunics to
the knee so as not to impede them in their work. They could roll up
their stockings when working in the fields. A lady wore a high-necked,
long- sleeved linen or wool tunic fitted at the waist and laced at the
side, but full in the skirt, which reached to her toes. She wore a
jeweled belt, passed twice around her waist and knotted in front. Her
hair was often in two long braids, and her head and ears covered with a
white round cloth held in place by a metal circlet like a small crown.
Its ends were wound around her neck. In winter, she wore over her tunic
a cloak edged or lined with fur and fastened at the front with a cord.
Clothes of both men and ladies were brightly colored by dyes or
embroidery. The Norman knight wore an over-tunic of leather or heavy
linen on which were sewn flat rings of iron and a conical iron helmet
with nose cover. He wore a sword at his waist and a metal shield on his
back, or he wore his sword and his accompanying retainers carried spear
and shield.
Norman customs were adopted by the nation. As a whole, Anglo-Saxon men
shaved their beards and whiskers from their faces, but they kept their
custom of long hair flowing from their heads. But a few kept their
whiskers and beards in protest of the Normans. Everyone had a permanent
surname indicating parentage, place of birth, or residence, such as
Field, Pitt, Lane, Bridge, Ford, Stone, Burn, Church, Hill, Brook,
Green. Other names came from occupations such as Shepherd, Carter,
Parker, Fowler, Hunter, Forester, Smith. Still other came from personal
characteristics such as Black, Brown, and White, Short, Round, and Long.
Some took their names from animals such as Wolf, Fox, Lamb, Bull, Hogg,
Sparrow, Crow, and Swan. Others were called after the men they served,
such as King, Bishop, Abbot, Prior, Knight. A man's surname was passed
on to his son.
Those few coerls whose land was not taken by a baron remained free and
held their land "in socage" and became known as sokemen. They were not
fighting men, and did not give homage, but might give fealty, i.e.
fidelity. Many free sokemen were caught up in the subjugation by baron
landlords and were reduced almost to the condition of the unfree
villein. The services they performed for their lords were often
indistinguishable. They might also hold their land by villein tenure,
although free as a person with the legal rights of a freeman. The
freeman still had a place in court proceedings which the unfree villein
did not.
Great stone cathedrals were built in fortified towns for the
Conquerer's Norman bishops, who replaced the English bishops. Most of
the existing and new monasteries functioned as training grounds for
scholars, bishops, and statesmen rather than as retreats from the
world's problems to the security of religious observance. The number of
monks grew as the best minds were recruited into the monasteries.
The Conquerer made the church subordinate to him. Bishops were elected
only subject to the King's consent. The bishops had to accept the status
of barons. Homage was exacted from them before they were consecrated,
and fealty and an oath afterward. The Conquerer imposed knight's service
on bishoprics, abbeys, and monasteries, which was usually commuted to a
monetary amount. Bishops had to attend the King's court. Bishops could
not leave the realm without the King's consent. No royal tenant or royal
servant could be excommunicated, nor his lands be placed under
interdict, without the King's consent. Interdict could demand, for
instance, that the church be closed and the dead buried in unconsecrated
ground. No church rules could be made without his agreement to their
terms. No letters from the pope could be received without the King's
permission. The Archbishop of Canterbury was still recognized as a
primary advisor to the king. Over the years, the selection for this
office frequently became a source of contention among king, pope, and
clergy.
Men continued to give land to the church for their souls, such as this
grant which started the town of Sandwich: "William, King of the English,
to Lanfranc the Archbishop and Hugoni de Montfort and Richard son of
Earl Gilbert and Haimo the sheriff and all the thegns of Kent, French
and English, greeting. Know ye that the Bishop of Bayeux my brother for
the love of God and for the salvation of my soul and his own, has given
to St. Trinity all houses with their appurtenances which he has at
Sandwich and that he has given what he has given by my license." Many
private owners of churches gave them to cathedrals or monastic
communities, partly to ensure their long term survival, and partly
because of church pressure.
When the land was all divided out, the barons had about 3/7 of it and
the church about 2/7. Most of the barons had been royal servants. The
king retained about 2/7, including forests for hunting, for himself and
his family and household, on which he built many royal castles and
hundreds of manor [large private estate headed by a lord] houses
throughout the nation. He built the massive White Tower in London. It
was tall with four turrets on top, and commanded a view of the river and
bridge, the city and the surrounding countryside. The only windows were
slits from which arrows could be shot. On the fourth and top floor was
the council chamber and the gallery of the chapel. On the third floor
was the banqueting hall, the sword room, and the chapel. The king and
his household slept in apartments on these upper floors. Stairs went up
to the gateway entrance on the second floor, which were hidden by a
wall. The garrison's barracks were on the first floor (ground floor).
Any prisoners were kept in cells at a level below the first floor. The
other castles were often built at the old fortification burhs of Alfred.
Each had a constable in charge, who was a baron. Barons and earls had
castle-guard duty in the king's castles. The Conquerer was constantly
moving about the land among his and his barons' castles, where he met
with his magnates and conducted public business, such as deciding
disputes about holding of land. Near his own castles and other of his
property, he designated many areas as royal hunting forests. Anyone who
killed a deer in these forests was mutilated, for instance by blinding.
People living within the boundaries of the designated forestland could
no longer go into nearby woods to get meat or honey, dead wood for
firing, or live wood for building. Swineherds could no longer drive pigs
into these woods to eat acorns they beat down from oak trees. Making
clearings and grazing livestock in the designated forestland were
prohibited. Most of the nation was either wooded or bog at this time.