How far did William change the government and ...



How far did William change the government and administration of England?

Upon becoming King of England in 1066, William had demonstrated his mastery in combat, and, given his military might was a position to bring in significant change to both the government and administration of England should he wish. Although it was necessary to modify the government and administration of England to help enforce his rule, William would however also appreciate the need to maintain- or at least appear to maintain existing practises and institutions.

One of the principle changes that William is traditionally seen as making to the administration of England is bringing in the concept of Feudalism into England. The evidence would however suggest that some form of feudalism existed within England prior to the Norman conquest, as, at the bottom of the social system were the cottars and the boors. These figures remained tied to their land, worked for their lord for between one and three days a week, and needed their lord’s permission for any of their family to marry. In this respect, the Norman introduction of feudalism changed little for such members of society who were already locked into a type of feudalism.

Although feudalism to an extent existed in England pre conquest, it only existed to a small degree. Under feudalism, all land was owned by the king, and was in turn given (but not owned) to tenants (barons) and tenants in chief (knights) in return for military service. Significantly, under feudalism land was not hereditary and was only given in return for such service. This marks a huge change to the Saxon administration, where both Ealrs and Thegns were provided with “bookland” which they were free to do what they wanted with. As a result, William’s victory at Hastings and the imposition of feudalism on a far wider scale led to a significant change to the administration of England. Whereas previously the English Earls had held their land independently from the King and as a result did not always have to support him (as demonstrated by the Northern Earls in 1052 when they refused to fight for Edward the Confessor against the returning Godwins), now the Earls were completely reliant on the monarch for their land, and tied to him more than ever before, as proved by the Salisbury Oath that all Earls were forced to swear to William in 1086. In this respect, it is evident that feudalism brought with it huge changes to England; whilst it was not revolutionary at the bottom end of the social system, at the top end it would permanently change the government and administration of England by making the Earls completely dependent upon the monarch.

Given his status as an invader, and in order to reduce opposition to him, William was extremely keen to promote the idea that he was Edward the Confessor’s legitmitate heir, and, in an attempt to push the notion of continuity he proclaimed to people of London in late 1066 that they would be “worthy of the laws of Edward the Confessor.” In spite of this promise, William however was quick to change the Saxon legal system, introducing the Murdrum fine, whereby any village where a murder was committed had to be able to prove the victim was not a Norman, or pay a monumental fine. More wide reaching changes to the administration of England however came with the introduction of Forest Law. Huge swathes of the countryside were designated as Royal Forest, which made both poaching and chopping wood illegal. Furthermore, specialist Forest Courts were introduced to try those accused of poaching, illustrating just how far William had changed the legal system in spite of his earlier promise. This illustrates a key point; William was keen to promote the idea that little had changed and he was a monarch keen to uphold the current system. In reality however, William only played lip service to this, as demonstrated by the Penedenden Heath Trial. This was a civil case regarding a land dispute between the Archbishop of Canterbury and Odo of Bayeux, with all local nobles invited to attend. Significantly William invited the English Archbishop of Selsey as an expert in English law, however the fact that he was the only Englishman invited would illustrate that William retained little respect for the English laws he had previously promised to uphold. In this respect, similar parallels can be drawn with his imposition of feudalism; William was keen to maintain existing laws when they suited him, yet on the whole he introduced an entirely new legal code aimed at cementing his own power, which affected the lives of all levels of society.

William’s desire to alter both the government and administration of England to secure his own power is further demonstrated when it came to those able to own land and have access to power. William was keen to make it appear that Saxons had access to power in his early reign in order to reduce the likelihood of opposition, however all power was realistically held by the Normans. Although both Edgar Atheling and Edwin of Mercia were given positions by William in court, these exerted virtually no power, and simply allowed William to keep them under close observation.. As if to prove this further, Morcar of Northumbia was stripped of his title of Earl of Northumbria in 1068, and replaced by the Norman Robert de Comines as Earl of Northumberland, before being replaced later with the Norman William Walcher. Although William did provide the Saxon Archbishop Stigand with a position in court in 1067, it is notable that Stigand was removed from the council after William had defeated the Northern Rebellion, and no longer needed to keep up the pretence of a figure who provided the Saxons with access to government.

In conclusion, it is evident that William considerably changed the government and administration of England, however it must be acknowledged that this was a gradual process. William realised himself that fast paced change could be dangerous, explaining his willingness appoint Saxons to court and promise to uphold existing laws. As his reign progressed however, the government and adimistration of England would change beyond all recognition, with new court systems brought in, Saxons excluded from meaningful access to government and Earls tightly constrained by the newly introduced policy of feudalism.

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