The Norman Conquest, Essay Example

The Norman conquest of 1066 was not just a one-time attack that involved such a rigorous number of people. In the years before, there had been a similar attack that was all motivated by the need to dominate over the citizens of the country. In the early years, like the 403, there were attacks by the Romans who, after winning the battle and taking control, ruled for some years then fell out and returned (Freeman, 2020). At this time, the Romans referred to Britain as Britania. The kings that ruled the then ten entities all under Britain mainly came from Anglo Saxon, who had arrived after the Romans and slowly taken control. Mercia and Wessex were the most common out of the ten entities under Britain (Oman, 2018).

More background information of this conquest was in the 793 arrivals from Scandinavia.

Their arrival was due to the riches of the ten kingdoms (Freeman, 2020). Their point of arrival Stamford Bridge became a significant battleground in the coming. Years, more Vikings tried to gain entry but took control. Many of the kingdom’s soldiers died, and it is said that even after fifty years, their skulls were skill seen on the ground of Stamford Bridge (Oman, 2018). More raids and attacks came from the heathen army from Denmark in 865, with their goal being to take control of four of the kingdoms (Freeman, 2020). Even with more raids coming up, the then king of England defeated the Vikings and ruled the country.

In early January 1066, the serving king Edward the confessor as he was known died, and he had no heir to claim his throne. He, therefore, made it hard for the kingdom to get another king as different people were claiming the right to be bestowed by the crown and taken after the throne. Harold Godwinson was a shadow king as he was helping the king make decisions and even did the tasks that the king did not bother to do. After their death, the council responsible for such affairs appointed his king. He received this role as he had served with the king (Freeman, 2020) and had a link to the king through marriage, and he was the brother-in-law. Also, he was Anglo-Saxon hence was trusted by the people.

William, the Duke of Normandy and made claims to the throne. He based his claims on the insistence two years back, Harold had accepted to give him the kingdom two years back uation occurred (Freeman, 2020). Also, he was related to the deceased king, unlike Harold. The mother to Edward, the confessor, was a daughter to Williams’s paternal grandfather. He claimed that being his cousin earned him the right as key. He continued with these claims and was not at any one time putting to an end this decision.

The other not so strong contestant was the King of Norway, Harald Hardrada. The estranged brother of King Harold influenced him. He did not have any strong reason for his claims but still when forward (Oman, 2018).

The raids and invasions between the three throne aspirants began with the conquest between Harald and William of the Normandy (Oman, 2018). Harald summoned his troops which were about fifteen thousand men, and together they went to the Stamford Bridge to wait for William with his troops. This was in August, so he had to release most of his soldiers for the harvest in September (Freeman, 2020). His decision cost him his chance to the throne as afterward, he was surprised, only attacked, and was defeated by King Harold.

The battle now was between William and Harold. There were more than seven thousand soldiers each. The battle saw the death of many men but mainly the men‘s troop from Harolds. An arrow killed Harold after being shot to his eye in the battle. After the men learned this, they fled. Even with William having conquered the English, he did not still receive the crown; instead, it was given to Edgar Aetheling. Edgar did not rule, and William had deployed soldiers to torch down some towns to indicate a new reign. The reign began on the twenty-fifth of December 1066 until 1087 (Craig-Atkins et al., 2020). With it, many changes were experienced. For example, the language changed due to French words like beef and pork.

In conclusion, the Norman Conquest left a legacy in which, due to it, the ties with Scandinavia were off, the castle was rebuilt, the nobles were replaced, the courts introduced combat to fight for criminals, and court proceedings could now call for witnesses to give sworn testimonies (Craig-Atkins et al., 2020).

Works cited

Craig-Atkins, Elizabeth, et al. “The dietary impact of the Norman Conquest: A multiproxy archaeological investigation of Oxford, UK.” PloS one 15.7 (2020): e0235005.

Freeman, Edward A. The History of the Norman Conquest of England: Volume V. Salzwasser-Verlag GmbH, 2020.

Oman, Charles. England before the Norman Conquest: being a history of the Celtic, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods down to the year AD 1066. Routledge, 2018.