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History Notes History of the British Isles II: 1042-1330 Notes

History Of The British Isles Ii Notes

Updated History Of The British Isles Ii Notes

History of the British Isles II: 1042-1330 Notes

History of the British Isles II: 1042-1330

Approximately 60 pages

These notes offer comprehensive cover of a breadth of topics relevant to the British History II (1042-1330) paper. The topics are designed in order to fit a wide range of tutorial foci, and are organised under the following headings:
'The Norman Conquest'
'Gender'
'National Identities'
'Literature and the Arts'
'Religion'
'Angevin Queenship'
'Plantagenet Kingship'
These notes are the sole resource that I used to revise for my finals examination in 2015, in which I achieved a score of 69%....

Available here

The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our History of the British Isles II: 1042-1330 Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:

University of Oxford Final Examinations

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLES II, 1042-1330

REVISION NOTES: CONTENTS

Topic 1: The Norman Contest Page 1

Topic 2: Gender Page 19

Topic 3: National Identity Page 24

Topic 4: Literature and the Arts Page 38

Topic 5: Religion Page 40

Topic 6: Angevin queenship Page 44

Topic 7: Plantagenet kingship Page 48

Colour coding:

Blue = Historiography

Orange = key facts/evidence

Topic 1: The Norman Conquest.

1. Why was the Norman Conquest a success?

  • England had a long history of invasion:

  • Emphasised by E John: “Eng was a polit community whose structure had been greatly impaired by the stresses and strains of 300 yrs of Viking raids”.

    • Edmund Ironside, brother of EtC and son of Aethelred nicknamed ‘Unraed’ (‘ill-counselled’) – lost Eng to Viking invasions 1016 (Canute). These invasions “in certain respects, foreshadowed the NC” (Thomas).

  • Cross-over with Normandy:

    • Aethelred’s marriage to Emma, from Normandy, 1002.

      • EtC grew up in Normandy.

    • Then when Aethelred died, Canute married Emma – she was still on the scene.

    • Clash between Godwines and Normans: dispute in Dover in 1051 – clash between Normans and locals.

      • Godwine ordered by king to lay waste to Dover, but refused.

      • Godwines temporarily exiled.

    • “No-one could afford to ignore Normandy” (E John).

    • The Normans obv did not have to deal with this problem.

  • England was a rewarding country to invade:

    • Domesday showed richness

      • e.g. tens of thousands of herrings paid in rent every year to landlords who owned coastal fisheries; 10s of thousands of eels from inland fisheries.

      • Also non-agricultural: >6000 water mills. Winchester had streets named for butchers, goldsmiths, shoemakers, shield makers, wood sellers, tanners.

      • Wills show wealth of nobility – weapons with precious metals, jewelry, gold crucifixes, cloth died purple.

      • Eng “a tempting target” (Hugh Thomas).

  • Lack of clear succession:

  • Emphasised by E John: “chronic dynastic instability”.

    • Canute’s death, 1035, caused confusion for 7 years.

      • Exacerbated noble tensions.

      • Harold I was the illegit son of Canute. After Canute’s death, he tried to take power.

      • Emma opposed Harold, along with Godwine – they both supported Harthacanute (Emma and Canute’s son).

      • Eventually Harold I won and made peace with Godwine – ruled until 1040.

      • 1040: Harthacanute challenges Harold with Danish fleet. However, Harold dies from illness just before his arrival.

      • Harthacanute rules for 2 years, bringing mother Emma and her son Edward the Confessor (EtC) over.

      • Harthacanute dies 1042 – EtC succeeded peacefully.

    • Edward the Confessor’s death, 1066, without issue.

      • Had two grandnephews – Edgar Atheling, and Harold. Both were children.

      • Had nominated – apparently – both Harold Godwineson and William of Normandy.

      • “succession to EtC was wide open upon his death” (Hugh Thomas).

      • Led to Godwineson dominance:

        • Godwinesons “dominated England” (E John).

        • Harold Godwineson took throne on EtC’s death.

        • Harold’s father Godwine was a favourite of king Canute - earl with responsibility for Wessex.

        • When Harold I succeeded, Godwine had helped him, selling out his original favourite (Harthacanute).

        • When Harthacanute arrived, Godwine claimed he had only acted previously under force. Gifted him a great warship with 80 warriors.

        • When EtC succeeded, Godwine presented him with a huge ship with purple sails and arranged his marriage to his daughter Edith.

        • Godwine’s two sons Swein (rubbish) and Harold (good) became earls.

        • Robert Fleming emphasises wealth – estimated that if Godwine’s children could collect all of their estates’ rents, they would have had >2 mill silver pennies per year. 3 tonnes of silver.

  • Strengths of William the Conqueror (WtC):

    • Important followers: Half-brothers Robert count of Mortain and Odo bishop of Bayeux; Roger of Montgomery.

    • Grant given by EtC?

      • No source records, but AS Chronicle records WtC coming to Eng while Godwine was in exile.

    • Weak enemies:

      • King of France weak – Henry I had died 1060, leaving a young son.

      • Just had success in Brittany.

    • Had rep as strong lord and warrior. Thomas emph’s his personal impact on persuading people to undertake conq.

    • Had many ships built.

    • Huge army gathered from August. Seem quite well-organised: didn’t do significant damage to duchy in this time.

      • Note logistical challenge of feeding and cleaning – emph’d by Bernard Bachrach.

    • Harold didn’t know when WtC would strike – stationed forces along south coast, but had to disband on 8th Sept 1066.

    • One of the first things WtC did was build a motte-and-bailey castle at Hastings.

    • Still, invasion was risky – “a breathtaking gamble” (Thomas).

      • Many leading men claimed Norman resources weren’t strong enough.

  • Other threats to Harold:

    • Some threats from brother Tosti:

      • Then went to Norway and allied with Harald Hadrada. 20 Sept: fought Edwin and Morcar in the north. Harold went to meet, at Stamford Bridge on 25th Sept – success in travelling v quickly (although many killed).

    • Harold travelled so quickly from Stamford Bridge that some sources say he would have gathered more forces going slower. Even some historians agree e.g. R Allen Brown.

      • Thomas disagrees.

        • Lands were being ravished – had to act quickly to prevent this and maintain English support.

        • Could have wanted to take by surprise.

      • Note difficulty of determining accurate numbers.

        • Historians originally said about 10000 each, based on ability to feed.

        • William’s biographer said 60,000.

        • Michael K Lawson reassessed.

          • Said gov’ts were better than we thought at looking after.

          • Partly based on Bayeux Tapestry.

  • Battle tactics:

    • Harold takes high ground, packs troops densely – meant Norman cavalry inept, allowed English to use long axes.

    • Thomas argues this encouraged Normans to fight better.

    • William had initiative on when to attack.

    • Norman archers could continue fight while soldiers rested.

    • “the battle was a long, hard-fought, and v even struggle” (Thomas).

    • At one point, rumour spread that WtC was dead...

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