Harold I Turning Point

The year 1066 marked a significant turning point in the history of England. Edward the Confessor, the current king of England, died without leaving any heirs to the throne. Harold II was anointed and crowned king of England. The Duke of Normandy, William I, believed he was the ‘rightful’ one to succeed Edward. When he learned the Harold II was crowned king, William decided he would take England by force. Later that same year, he and his Norman troops invaded England. At the battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066, Harold and William’s armies fought bitterly against each other. By evening, Harold was killed and his army defeated. Normandy was victorious and William was now king of England. Now that a new king was forced upon England what was

William established a feudal system. The remaining land he did not use was parceled out the rest to his friends (lords/barons) and those who had supported him throughout the war. This system was setup so that the lord, who possessed a very large piece of land, would section that off to his vassals who in turn would allow peasants to live on their property in return for their labor. And so, the countryside was restructured around perpetual manorial units. As the Norman lords (barons) took over, some of the agricultural work were taken away from the peasants. To make matters even worse, William imposed high taxes to deal with the infrastructural changes in his kingdom (the tax hike did much increase the king’s income as well as that of his government). Though this tax increase affected the entire population, the ones who felt this impact the most were the peasants. In the article, How Norman Rule Reshaped England, the unknown author states “To fund the infrastructure heavier taxes had to be levied on peasants, which ‘forced them to work harder’” (p.4). William made certain that besides the revenue he received from his nobles, he would get his dues from the peasants as well. He authorized the Domesday Book, a survey and census of England that not only catalogued the land and its resources, but also justified the extent to which taxes could be raised. In this manner,

How were they expected to survive on the measly resources at their disposals? Their way of life was nothing to brag about. These poor people lived in cramped and deplorable conditions. The wooden frames of their huts were usually made of straw, mud and manure; their floors were lined with straw. Their barely insulated homes would contain a roughly hewn table and a mattress which everyone shared. The same water supply used had a three-fold purpose: cleaning, cooking, and dumping waste…this led to widespread diseases. Sadly, many peasant children did not make it to or past their first birthday; their fragile biology could not deal with the diseases that afflicted their household. Those children who did make were not privy to a happy childhood. They were expected to help around the house, in any way possible, until they were old enough to work in the fields with the rest of the family. With all these burdens placed upon the peasants, it would have been nice to be shown some mercy from their lords. But that was not the