Too many rebellions! L/O: to investigate the Harrying of the North and rebellions in the East.

1. Too many rebellions!L/O: to investigate the Harrying of the North and rebellions in the East. Summer 1068: Was William gaining control through being nice? William agreed with Pope that Stigand (Archbishop of Canterbury) was unworthy to crown Matilda but still let him keep his title as he had sworn loyalty to William. May 1068: Matilda (William’s wife) was crowned Queen in Westminster Abbey by Archbishop of York (Ealdred). The document that recorded the event was written in Latin and English. Abbey filled with Norman AND English Lords Starter: 1) Copy the spider diagram above. 2) Explain why William was making such an effort to be nice.

3. Summer 1068, a few weeks after Matilda’s coronation… • William received a message from the people of the north of England: • If William ever set foot in their land, they (Earls Edwin and Morcar, Edgar Atheling and various Lords in the North and on borders with Wales) would fight him! • The Promise that William would give his daughter as a wife to Earl Edwin had been broken!

4. Summer 1068- The FIRST time William rides North… • William marched from Winchester directly into the centre of Earl Edwin’s lands in Mercia. • Castle Power: • Warwick- William tore down houses and set local people to build a motte and bailey castle straight away-. • William’s aggressive tactics: • Anglo-Saxon Chronicle- “William allowed his men to harry wherever they came” (persistently carry out attacks). • Nottingham- William built another castle. • Edwin and Morcar surrendered- William showed mercy- could keep titles but reduced their power. • July 1068- Rebels had fled. • Castles built in York, Lincoln, Huntington, Cambridge.

5. William gets some positive news: The Defeat of Harold Godwinson’s sons: When William was in the north,Harold’s sons had sailed with a big army from Ireland. They wanted to set up base in Bristol but the people fought them off. The English were prepared to drive away the sons of their former King- William was encouraged and thought the country was being stabilised.

6. Spring 1069- The SECOND time William rides North… • English Lords had trouble keeping the peace in Northumbria. Therefore William made Robert Of Comines • (Norman professional soldier), the new Earl of Northumbria. • Jan 1069- Robert and his Norman soldiers attacked rebels at Durham by looting and killing- The people at Durham fought back and set alight to a house where Robert and his men had taken refuge- they all died. This encouraged another rising in the North- Edgar Atheling and the rebel leaders reappeared from Scotland and attacked York. William marched to York and caught the rebels by surprise and, in a bloody battle, William regained the city. The rebel leaders escaped. The King built a second castle in York and left the city in the hands of his most trusted friend and highly experienced soldier, William FitzOsbern.

7. Winter 1069- The THIRD time William rides North… Invasion in Devon- June 1069- Harold’s sons sailed again from Ireland with a large army- A Norman army beat them- 1700 men died in the battle. Harold’s sons were driven off. Invasion in Yorkshire- September 1069- The Danish King sent his brother, Asbjorn, with an enormous army (Danish invaders) and met the English rebels led by Edgar Atheling. They headed directly for York. York was on fire- the citizens of York had set alight to timber (that they feared the rebels might use to cross the moat into their city). The fire got out of control. The rebels plundered the city and withdrew to the marshes of north Lincolnshire. William marched north to deal with the crisis!

8. Winter 1069- The THIRD time William rides North… Who else was rebelling? WEST: Edric the Wild- attacking the Welsh borders. SOUTH WEST: Men from Cornwall and Devon attacked Exeter. The people of Exeter remained loyal to William and held out against the rebels. STAFFORD: William marched his troops from Lincolnshire and stopped the revolt through a bloody battle.

9. William’s three-part plan: William needed to stop the threat in the North once and for all and headed back north to York. He rebuilt two castles but he needed more than this to keep control: Harrying of the North: William ordered villages to be destroyed and people to be killed. Herds of animals and crops were burnt. Most people who survived starved to death and there were even stories of people turning to cannibalism. Even by the standards of the time, the Harrying was seen as excessively cruel. • Pay the Danes huge sums of money to leave. • Wear his crown in York Minster on Christmas Day (to show he was God’s chosen King). • Destroy the land (Harrying of the north) so that no enemy army or the people could live there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNWoXlAZdkM

10. What church reforms took place? Would they help or hinder- explain 1070- William ordered the building of an abbey around the battle of Hastings site (as penance for the people he had killed). William worked with church cardinals to make important changes to improve the Church but also to use cardinals to tighten his political control and end resistance- Main changes: 1) Stigand was finally replaced as Archbishop of Canterbury 2) Other senior church leaders were replaced by Norman priests and monks. 3) William ordered all monasteries to provide men (or money instead) to serve the King as knights.

11. Hereward and the resistance at Ely 1070-71 Siege of Ely: Hereward (an English thegn) joined with the Danes and raided Abbeys for their treasures. Their base was in Ely (surrounded by marshland called the Fens) William bribed the Danes to go back home. William sent ships to block supplies and prevent them reaching Ely from the sea and boats to cut off access from the fens . The uprising in Ely was the last serious uprising that William had to face!

12. Grapple: “It is fair to say that William I ended resistance by ‘bloody slaughter’.”