H1: Kaiser Wilhelm and Germany

📋 Key Concepts: The Feudal System and Norman Government

Feudalism: land-for-service — ~170 tenants-in-chief held from the king; subinfeudation to ~4,000–5,000 knights (40 days’ service); homage + oath of fealty bound each level. William KEPT English machinery: shires, sheriffs, hundred courts, writs, coinage — and ADDED: murdrum fine (46 marks), forest law, trial by combat, Domesday. His 1067 pledge to keep English law bought pragmatic legitimacy.

🧮 Worked Examples — Exam Style

❓ Practice Questions

✅ Answers

1. Homage: kneeling, hands between the lord’s — becoming "his man"; fealty: loyalty oath on relics — breach = forfeiture.
2. Sub-letting part of a fief to a knight in exchange for service — multiplying mounted force.
3. Taxation (geld on true values); settling ownership disputes after 20 years of confiscation.
4. Legitimacy (ruling as Edward’s heir); practicality (the systems worked — switching costs high).
5. Plan: machinery English; personnel/land Norman; NEW instruments (Domesday, murdrum, forest). Verdict: evolutionary machinery, revolutionary ownership.

📌 Key Facts to Memorise

• ~170 tenants-in-chief · ~4,000–5,000 knights · 40 days’ service
• Writs · murdrum 46 marks · forest law · trial by combat introduced
• Domesday 1086 (taxes + disputes) · 1067 pledge to keep English law

🗺️ In the Exam

Build answers as "kept X, changed Y, added Z" — the third element separates grades.

⚡ Targeted Drills

• Salisbury Oath 1086 — all landholders swear DIRECTLY to the king.
• Knight’s fee = 40 days’ service/year + castle guard + aids.
• Murdrum fine = 46 marks on the hundred for an unexplained dead Norman.
• Writ = sealed royal order; the basis of later chancery government.
• Trial by combat = Norman import; Anglo-Saxon oath-helpers and ordeals continued.

📖 Detailed Notes: Oath, Land and the King’s Peace

• The Salisbury Oath (1086): William summoned ALL major landholders to Salisbury and made them swear loyalty DIRECTLY to him — even sub-tenants to their lords’ lords. It broke the risk of barons becoming independent princes (as in Normandy) and is the single clearest sign that English feudalism was designed for royal power.
• Knight’s fees in practice: a baron with 60 fees owed 60 knights; he kept some lands (demesne), distributed the rest to knights. Knights also owed castle guard (e.g. 3 months a year at a royal castle), suit at the lord’s court, and aids (money for the lord’s knighting of his son, his daughter’s marriage, his ransom).
• Anglo-Norman law in action: the sworn inquest (jury-like enquiry) was Norman administrative genius — used for Domesday and, later, for theAssizes. William I also kept the geld (tax) and the wergild idea, while adding his own punishments (blinding, mutilation replaced many death sentences — as political theatre of mercy).
• Royal forest: by 1087 the Chronicle complains the law covered half of England — the New Forest alone displaced villages; Rufus extended it and died in it (1100).

⚠️ Common Errors

• Wrong: "feudalism was invented by the Normans" Correct: evolved from Frankish practice — William APPLIED it fully
• Wrong: "all peasants became slaves" Correct: most were villeins (unfree but not owned); slavery declined

🧭 Board Focus — AQA

✍️ Extended Answer Plan — "Norman government strengthened Anglo-Saxon institutions rather than replacing them." How far do you agree? (16 + 4)

STRENGTHENED: shire/hundred courts continued under new sheriffs; the geld and writs became MORE efficient; coinage better controlled; the Church kept parish structure.

REPLACED: earldoms broken up; English aristocracy removed (5% land); murdrum/forest introduced; trial by combat added; writs standardised under Lanfranc’s chancery habits.

Judgement: the INSTITUTIONS were strengthened precisely because their personnel and purposes were revolutionised — continuity of form masked a rupture of function. Finish with the phrase: "William conquered England with England’s own machinery".

🔬 Case Study Focus — The 1086 Salisbury Oath in Context

Anglo-Saxon England had no direct oath of ALL landholders to the king — homage flowed to immediate lords only. William’s Salisbury summons (1 August 1086) gathered bishops, abbots and every tenant holding "of the king" and took their oath personally. The Old English Chronicle calls it a council where "they all submitted to him and became his men". Why it mattered: it prevented the Frankish pattern of castellans building private power; it made rebellion against a lord treason against the king. It was possible BECAUSE Domesday had just priced every holding — information made oath-taking enforceable. Link: oath → Domesday → forest law as one system of recorded, personal royal power.

🎯 Exam Tips

• Learn the pyramid numbers — quantitative detail is instantly credible
• "Continuity of machinery, rupture of personnel" is a portable judgement phrase

🧠 Flashcards (Spaced Repetition)

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🎯 Target Tests (Auto-Graded)

🎓 Smart Lesson (Guided)