MEDIEVAL ENGLAND                         

ROMAN BRITAIN: conquered 55 BC-45 AD
Julius Caesar Roman general: conquers Celts, Gaul

HADRIAN'S WALL: built 122 - 128 AD: 73 miles long, 15 ft high
CHRISTIANITY as major Roman legacy ; Roman withdrawal 404-410
    Ireland: 462 St. Patrick, Romanized Briton converts Irish Celts

ANGLO SAXON BRITAIN: 450 AD to 1066                                    

Sources: Bede, History of English Church and People
             Germanic warrior tribes:  Angles, Saxons, Jutes
         Beowulf 8th C. poem, set in 5th C.

Anglo Saxons: warriors (thegns) loyalty to king rewarded with land
British military resistance to Anglo-Saxons:
      500 victory at Mt. Badon, legend of King Arthur,
650 Saxon conquest complete, population destroyed, enslaved)

CONVERSION OF ENGLAND: Southeast area converted directly by Rome
Pope Gregory I the Great -- sees blond, blue eyed slaves for sale in Rome
 597 Augustine's mission to the English (Angles)

NORTHUMBRIA: converted by Celtic monks from Iona, island west of Scotland
AIDAN: established monastery on island of Lindisfarne, off Northumbria

663 Synod of Whitby: called to reconcile Easter calendar dispute; [Bede]
 result is unification of English Church by AB of Canterbury Theodore

FORMATION OF ENGLISH MONARCHY: 

650: 10 separate Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, later consolidated in three
     Northumbria (N), Mercia (S) and Wessex (SW);

9th C. King of Wessex, EGBERT (802 - 839) consolidates power

    VIKINGS:  793 first Viking raid on Lindisfarne monastery
    DANELAW: area of Dane settlement in east of England

ALFRED THE GREAT 871 King of Wessex; military resistance
      878 defeats Danes; division of England between Danes & Wessex
      Lawgiver: collects laws of predecessors
      educational/cultural program: Latin learning & English schools

944 Edmund unites kingdom, conquers Danelaw from Norse

WITAN: council of wise men whom king consults (early Parliament)

KING CNUT (d. 1035) King of England, Denmark, Norway

EDWARD THE CONFESSOR (1042-1066)
lack of male heir leads to succession crisis in 1066
Harold of Norway versus William of Normandy

ANGLO-NORMAN ENGLAND: THE NORMAN CONQUEST of 1066                      

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR (aka the Bastard)
      son of Duke Robert of Normandy;
      claim to English throne as Edward's cousin

1066 NORMAN INVASION 
      Battle of Stamford Bridge:
            King of Norway, Harold Hardrada: naval fleet
      Battle of Hastings: , Norman knights on horseback, archers

1066 WILLIAM I crowned Christmas Day at Westminster
      rebellions in sw and north suppressed

Impact on English history:
imposition of foreign (Norman) aristocracy and feudal institutions
separates history of England from Scandinavia, draws England into Europe
Papacy approves invasion: dependent on Normans in Sicily (1060-1090)

THE "NORMAN YOKE": Imposition of Norman ("feudal") institutions:
      old English ruling class obliterated by rebellions of 1068-69;
      William claims entire island of England by right of conquest: 
            principle =   "no land without a Lord"
      FIEFS: grants land to 170 barons ("tenants in chief") in exchange
             for military service ( specific # knights for # of days
      AIDES: money paid by vassal to Lord when needed: reduced over time
       knighting of eldest son, marriage of eldest daughter, king's ransom
      SUBINFEUDATION: Barons (tenants in chief) grant land to knights to
          meet king's demand for 4,000 -7,000 knights to keep English down
      CASTLES: 84 built by 1100: Norman military defense, Tower of London
      COURTS: Barons exercise feudal jurisdiction (civil/criminal law)
      INHERITANCE: primogeniture established

DOMESDAY BOOK: 1086    
      origin of name: judgments as final as those handed down on Doomsday
      annual value of every manor in England as basis for rents
      administrative records of imposition of  feudalism in England:
            English thegns (thanes): only two survive as tenants in chief;
            Norman barons = new elite 170 barons among 10,000 Normans
SERFDOM:
      English freemen reduced to villein status; peasants tied to land

Heirs of William the Conqueror: 
      sons Robert, Duke of Normandy 1087-1134
      William II 1087-1100 King of England;
            taxation for reconquest of Normandy