Norwich in the Norman Period.
THE Norman Conquest of England caused many changes in Norfolk and
Norwich. One of the immediate results of the invasion, in 1066, was a
vast influx of foreigners into the county and city; and the pressure of
the Norman yoke was felt as much in Norwich as in any part of the
kingdom. It was about the same period that Jews began to settle here for
the first time, enriched by the extortions incident to a conquest, and,
as Fuller says, “buying such oppressed Englishmen’s goods as Christians
did not care to meddle with.”
William the Conqueror caused a survey to be made of all the lands in the
country, the register of which is called the DOMESDAY BOOK, and was
finished in 1081. It is written in Roman with a mixture of Saxon, and is
still preserved in the chapter-house at Westminster, amongst the national
archives. It was printed in the 40th of George III. for the use of the
members of both houses of parliament, and the public libraries of the
kingdom. It specifies the extent of the land in each district; the state
it was in, whether meadow, pasture, wood, or arable; the name of the
proprietor; the value, &c. Domesday Book, p. 13, states:—
“In Norwic, in the time of King Edward, were 1320 burgesses, of whom
one was so much the king’s vassal, that he might not depart or do
homage (to any other) without his licence. His name was Edstan; he
possessed 18 acres of land and 12 of meadow, and two churches in the
burgh and a sixth part of a third, and to one of these churches there
belonged one mansion in the burgh and six acres of meadow: these six
acres Roger Bigod holds by the king’s gift. And of 1238 (of the said
burgesses) the king and the earl had soc, sac, and custom; and of 50
Stigand had the soc, sac, and patronage; and of 32 Harold had the
soc, sac, and patronage,” &c., &c.
Soc, sac, and custom was the entire jurisdiction, for _soc_ is the power
that any man had to hold courts, wherein all that dwell on his land, or
in his jurisdiction are answerable to do suit and service; _sac_ is the
right of having all the amerciaments and forfeitures of such suitors; and
_custom_ includes all other profits. At this time, also, there were no
fewer than 136 burgesses who were Frenchmen, and only six who were
English in the new burgh, which comprised the parishes of St. Giles’ and
St. Peter’s Mancroft. The Dutch and the Flemings, about this time, came
over the sea and located themselves in the city and county, and
introduced the worsted and other manufactures.
William I. gave the Earldom of the city of Norwich to Ralph de Guader,
who designed to wed the daughter of one William Fitz-Osbern, sister of
Roger Earl of Hereford, and a relative of the king. This matrimonial
scheme not pleasing the king, it was prohibited, but barons in those days
would sometimes have a will of their own, and the fair affianced was made
a bride within the castle walls, whose doorway in an angle marks the site
of the act of disobedience to the sovereign. After the sumptuous feast,
with its attendant libations, a rebellion was planned by Waltheof, Earl
of Northumberland, Huntingdon, and Northampton, and Roger, Earl of
Hereford. Having carried the forbidden marriage into effect, they became
bold in their language and designs, until a chorus of excited voices
joined them in oaths as conspirators against their lord the king.
Treachery revealed the plot, and the church lent its aid to the crown to
crush the rebels. Lanfranc, then the primate and archbishop, sent out
troops, headed by bishops and justiciaries, the highest dignitaries of
church and law, to oppose and besiege them. The bridegroom fled for
succour to his native Brittany, leaving his bride for three months to
defend the garrison with her retainers, at the end of which time the
brave Emma was forced to capitulate, but upon mild terms, obtaining leave
for herself and her followers to flee to Brittany. Her husband became an
outlaw, her brother was slain, and scarcely one guest present at that
ill-fated marriage feast escaped an untimely end.
Nor did the city go unscathed. The devastation carried into its midst
was heavy; many houses were burnt, many were deserted by those who had
joined the earl, and it is curious to read in the valuation of land and
property, taken soon after this event, how many houses are recorded as
void, both in the burgh or that part of the city under the jurisdiction
of the king and earl, and in other portions, subject to other lords; for
it would seem that the landlords of the soil on which the city stood were
the king or earl of the castle, the bishop, and the Harold family.
Clusters of huts were then built round the base of the hill, and
constituted the feudal village; its inhabitants consisting of villains,
of which there were two classes, the husbandmen or peasants annexed to
the manor or land, and a lower rank described as villains in gross, or
absolute slaves, transferable by deed from one owner to another, the
lives of these slaves being a continual state of toil, degradation and
suffering.
After the banishment of Earl Ralph, the king, having obtained possession
of the castle, appointed Roger Bigod constable, with a limited power as
bailiff, he having to collect the rents and revenues belonging to the
crown. He retained these honours during the reign of the succeeding
monarch, William Rufus, though he joined in the fruitless attempt to
place that king’s elder brother, Robert Curthose, on the throne. These
troubles were not ended till 1091, when the king made peace with his
brother Robert, agreeing that the lands of those who had assisted him
should be restored to them.