Norman Domination

The comprehensive impact of Norman rule upon the English population

Headlines are in brown.

Dates are in red.

Hyperlinks to other pages are in dark blue.

References and citations are in turquoise.

Context and local history are in purple.

Geographical context is in green.

After he faced rebellion, William I adopted a more ruthless approach to governing the country.

· There was military domination. The Normans built initially wooden and later stone castles across the countryside. William was ruthless in supressing rebellion.

· There was political domination. The Normans dispossessed the indigenous aristocracy. He now proclaimed that every part of the kingdom belonged to him by right of conquest. The Domesday Book provided William with administrative dominance over 13,400 named places.

· There was social domination. The local populations, the nativii, were regarded as mere peasants and to be scorned and laughed at.

· There was cultural domination. The Normans purged the church. Libraries of written material were lost. The Normans stopped using English in documents by 1070.

However there were some building blocks from the pre Norman history of the nation that survived this time of ruthless change. William was persuaded to show some element of continuity to cement his rule – he did after all place significance in persuading of natural succession to Edward the Confessor. There were aspects of Anglo Saxon government that continued, and English saints started to return into the cultural tradition.

The Norman castles started to provide a trading focus and towns grew around them.

England started to be drawn in to a player in the struggles of the European nations. Yet, it remained relatively stable and unified. It continued to be influenced by forces from Scandinavia and from Scotland.

There is an In Our Time podcast on ‘the Norman Yoke’ – the idea that the Battle of Hastings sparked years of cruel Norman oppression for the Anglo Saxons.

William I died in 1087.

By the early twelfth century, writing started to reflect a greater recognition of an English identity and the Conquest started to be downplayed. There was an increasing absorption of conquerors into English culture.