WEEK #14 ()
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Week #14 Homework:  WORK ON BUILDING TERM LISTS FOR THE FOUR CULTURES OF JAPAN, NORMAN, VIKING, CAROLINGIAN WERE COMPLETED IN CLASS

WEEK 14 NOTES (THE NORMANS- FOR VIKING NOTES SEE WEEK 13)
​Middle Age England

• Prerequisite
  
  • Germanic people called the Angles and Saxons invaded Britain in the early 400’s CE
    
    • They took over much of the country from the Celts and set up many small kingdoms
      
  • In the late 800’s, the Vikings attacked Britain
    
  • King Alfred of Wessex, later known as King Alfred the Great, united the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and drove away the Vikings
    
    • United kingdom became known as “Angleland” or England
      
    • Extremely Catholic
      
    • Ruled from 871-899 CE
      
    • Founded schools and hired scholars to rewrite Latin books in the Anglo-Saxon language
      
  • 900’s: the Vikings conquered part of Western France across the English Channel from England
    
  • This region came to be called Normandy, after Vikings, or Norsemen, who ruled it
    
  • William the Conqueror
    
    • By the middle of 1000’s CE, Normandy was ruled by William, a descendent of the Viking ruler who had conquered Normandy
      
    • 8th - 9th centuries, Vikings ventured down in their long boats each summer from their Scandinavian homelands to raid the monasteries and towns, reaching Paris in 845
      
    • After a few years they began to stay through winter in the region
      
    • Bu 911 CE, the Viking “Jarl” or leader, Rollon, Count of Rouen, was powerful enough to force the French king to sign a treaty ceding part of the province to him, from which it took the name of Normandy, the country of the Northmen
      
    • In the following century and half, Rollon and his successors, converted to Christianity and became vassals of the French king
      
    • They also expanded their domains by conquest until they covered roughly the area of today’s normandy
      
    • Rollon’s grandson Richard I “the fearless” eventually took the title of Duke and the family name, St Clair or Sinclair, where the original treaty had been signed
      
    • This “Duke” title is passed down through generation after generation
      
    • In 1035, with the death of Duke Robert of Normandy, the title passed to his illegitimate son William, then 8 years old
      
    • William quickly learned the arts of war and politics in the violent society of 11th century Normandy
      
    • William is knighted by the French King Henry I at the age of 15, a few years later he was successfully leading his troops to put down rebellions and invasions
      
    • He also was a cousin of King Edward of England
      
    • When king edward dies, a noble named Harold Godwinson claimed England’s
      

……….

• In 1066, William and his army of Norman Knights landed in England
  
• They defeated Harold and his foot soldiers at the Battle of Hastings… a battle that really shaped the future of Medieval England
  
• We know about the Battle of Hastings in great detail because of the Bayeux Tapestry
  
  • Its an embroidered cloth, not an actual painting nearly 230 ft long.
    
  • It depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy and harold, Earl of Wessex, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings
    
  • Consists of some fifty scenes on linen with colored woollen yarns
    
  • Likely that it was commissioned by Bishop Odo, William's half brother, and made in England in the 1070s
    
  • In 1729 the hanging was rediscovered by scholars and was displayed annually in Bayeux Cathedral
    
• When King Harold last the battle, the Normans went on a rampage throughout England
  
• The Anglo Saxon period officially came to an end when William
  
• William wanted to know all about his new Kingdom, so he conducted the first census in Europe since Roman times
  
• The census was known as the Domesday Book and counted the people, manors, farms, animals, and various other elements of his land
  

• The Normans, in turn, kept many of the Anglo - Saxons’ government practices
  
  • For example they depended on local officials called Sheriffs
    
  • The word “Sheriff” comes from the term “Shire Reeve”
    
  • A shire Reeve was a royal official responsible for keeping the peace throughout a shire or county on behalf of the king of England
    
  • The term was preserved in England throughout the Norman Conquest
    
  • From the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms the term spread to several other regions, for scotland, to Ireland, and the united states
    
• As more and more Normans and Anglo-Saxons married, their ways of conducting their lives merged into a new English culture
  
• History Mystery
  
  • One of the most important archaeological sites in all of Europe is at Sutton Hoo in Eastern England, a site of two 6th and early 7th century cemeteries
    
  • One site contained an undisturbed burial ship 80 feet long and a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artifacts of outstanding historical significance
    
  • The grave is thought to be from an Anglo-Saxon king from the mid 600’s
    
  • Historians have found many artifacts of gold and silver including some from the Byzantine Empire
    
  • By studying these artifacts archeologists have learned much about life in seventh century England
    
• Henry II and the Common law
  
  • The power of the English King increased under Henry II
    
  • Henry ruled England from 1154 to 1189 and really used the country's laws and court system to increase his power
    
  • He set up a central court system with trained lawyers and judges to dispense justice fairly
    
  • Then he appointed circuit judges, who travelled across England hearing cases and dishing out justice
    
  • Henry also established Common law
    
    • Laws that are the same throughout the entire kingdom
      
  • Henry set up juries to handle arguments over land and other minor disputes and in time two major jury’s were developed
    
  • The Grand Jury decided whether people should be accused of crime
    
  • The Trial Jury decided whether an accused person was innocent or guilty
    
  • Henry’s son John became King of England in 1199 when his father died
    
  • King John (brother - Richard the lion hearted) raised taxes in England and punished his enemies without trials, jury’s or even justice
    
  • Magna Carta
    
    • Latin for “Great Charter”
      
    • it sets down the rights which became part of English law and which are now the foundation of the constitution of all countries which speak English
      
    • It did not grant any new rights, but it did protect existing rights in writing
      
    • These rights included the basic right of anyone convicted of a crime to a jury trial, protection of private property, reasonable limits on taxes and a degree of guaranteed religious freedom
      
    • Influence on the long historical process that has resulted in the rule of constitutional law today
      
    • Removed some of the king's power and really limited what he could do with his kingdom
      
    • The king could no longer collect taxes unless a group called the Great Council agreed
      
    • Many English nobles resented the King’s power and refused to obey him unless he could guarantee them certain rights
      
    • King John had a reputation for being tyrannical
      
    • His reign was blemished by continuous war losses, beginning with the loss of Normandy to Philippe Auguste of France and ending with England torn by civil war
      
    • King John risked being forced out of power because of his mismanagement
      
    • By 1215, England’s nobility was fed up with paying extra taxation and nobles rebelled and captured London
      
    • The nobles met with King John at a meadow called Runnymede in 1215
      
    • There they forced John to sign a document of rights called the Magna Carta, or the Great Chapter
      
    • The Magna Carta was full rules for all of England. Freemen accused of crimes had the right to fair trials by their peers or equals
      
    • Habeas corpus was introduced, which protects a person from being imprisoned indefinitely without a trial
      
    • The Magna Carta also stated that the King and Vassals both had certain rights and duties
      
    • The Magna Carta was extremely important due to the fact that it helped to establish the idea that people have rights and that the power of the government should be limited
      
    • In the 1200’s, another English King, Edward I, called for a meeting of people from different part of England
      
    • Their job was to advise the King and help him make laws that were best for England
      
    • This gathering, called the Parliament, was an important step toward a representative government
      
    • At first, Parliament was made up of two Knights from every county two people from every town and all high ranking nobles and church officials
      
    • later , Parliament divided into two separate houses - high ranking nobles and church officials met as the House of Lords
      
    • Knights and townspeople met as the House of Commons
      
    • Primary Source: this excerpt from the Magna Carta describes the right to a trial by jury: “no free man shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised “seized”, outlawed. Banished or in any way destroyed, nor will we proceed