This file contains all the material needed for the Edexcel History GCSE Anglo-Saxons and Normans paper. This summary is formatted to be optimal for exam revision as it is laid out in a similar way to an essay plan. Using these notes, I achieved 9 in my history GCSE.
,Key Topic 1: Anglo-Saxon
England and Norman Conquest,
1060-1066
,1. Anglo-Saxon Society
1. Social System
Social Class
• King: Protect his people and give them laws. In return they owed him service and
loyalty.
• Earls: They are the most important aristocrats. Only king was more important.
Relationship with king was based on loyalty. They competed for his favor because
this brought rewards and honors. Sometimes they challenged king.
• Thegns: They were the local lords. They were between 4000-5000. They held more
lands than peasants (more than 5 hides). They lived in a manor house with a turret and
church. They were the warrior class. They had to pay a special tax called “Herriot”
(war gear), which stated that they had to equip themselves for war.
• Ceorls: They rented land which they worked for themselves. They had to perform a
service for their lord, but they were free to work for other another lord if they wanted
to.
• Peasants: They rented land which they worked for themselves. They had to perform a
service for lord. If they didn’t they could lose land.
• Slaves: 10% of the population was slaves. They could be bought or sold. If they
committed a crime, they wouldn’t be as badly punished as free people (didn’t want to
damage their ability to work). They were seen as property not people. A free peasant
could sell themselves as a slave to help feed their family.
Social mobility
• Slaves could be freed by their masters
• Peasants could sell themselves as slaves.
• Merchants could become a thegn if they if they made trips abroad in their own ships.
• Thegns could become earls
• Earls could be demoted to a thegn
• Earls could become a king (rebellion).
• Peasants could become a thegn if they owned 5 hides of land and were taxed on it.
Society based on Loyalty and Land
• Boys that are age of 12 must swear an oath of loyal
• The more land you have, more power you exerted
• Peasants and other social classes have to perform services to the king
, 2. The power of the English Monarchy
The powers of the king
• Law making: created new laws and made sure they were enforced
• Landownership: owned large estates and could grant land out of his followers. Could
also take land away from those who acted against him.
• Taxation: decided when taxes should be paid and a national taxation system
delivered this tax to him
• Military Power: had the ability to raise a national army and fleet
• Money: controlled the production of the silver pennies used as money
Duties of the people
• To obey the law as it was passed down through the king’s local representative.
• To use the King’s coins. Forging coins was a very serious crime.
• Landholders had to provide and equip fighters for the army or fleet; otherwise they
were fined or lost the land
• Land carried with it obligations to the king. The main two obligations to the King
were payments of tax and military service.
• Landholders had to pay their taxes; otherwise they were fined or lost their land.
How powerful was Edward the Confessor?
• Edward was a respected law-maker. Anglo-Saxon society as a whole valued kings
who kept things peaceful, because quarrels between families were common and could
frequently break out into fighting that threatened everyone in a community.
• He was pious (very religious). Anglo- Saxon kings claimed a special link to God:
they were anointed as a representative of Christ on Earth. It was believed that a
worthy king could bring God’s blessings to his country and that God could also guide
his actions.
• However Edward was not military skilled. Kings of Anglo-Saxon England held
their power ultimately because they lead armies. Edward the Confessor was not a
warrior king, but his earls and their thegns were powerful military force and he relied
on his earls, especially Earl Godwin to protect England from attack. This lead to over
mighty earls.
• Godwin family was more powerful than the king. The Godwin family was just as
rich as the king and was more military powerful than the king. There was no reason
why Godwin family should not try pressure the king. In 1950, the king had ordered
Godwin to punish the people of Dover. Godwin had refused. Godwin was exiled and
in 1952, Godwin raised an army. He asked Edward if his earldom would be restored
to him. To prevent war, Edward agreed.
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