Historical Romance and the Norman Conquest

King William I - The Conquerer

William the Conquerer, or William I, is the first of our Norman Kings. We count all the monarchs from him.

He and his armies invaded England in 1066, a date forever known as the Norman Conquest. The King at the time was Harold, whose claim to the throne was tenuous at best. He was the brother of Edith of Wessex, the wife and Queen of King Edward the Confessor, so called because of his pious lifestyle.

Edward had no children and seems to have promised the throne of England to more than one person. Harold was on the spot and was given the approval of the Witan, the counsel who had the final say in these things.

Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, thought he was the heir and invaded in 1066. Harold took his armies to fight and defeat him at Stamford Bridge. But then, having ridden all the way home to Hastings, he found that William had also invaded.

I have heard a rumour that the Normans won the battle of Hastings because they had stirrups, but I think it more likely that poor old Harold and his armies were exhausted from fighting off Harald Hardrada.

The Bayeux Tapestry

This is part of the Bayeux Tapestry, made in France to commemorate the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest of England.

I was fortunate enough to see the tapestry when I was a child and it was on display at the British Museum. Of course, I was too young to appreciate it then, as it was a school trip to coincide with our lessons about the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest. We were around eleven or twelve years old and were really more interest in seeing the mummies in the Egyptian rooms, especially the unwrapped ones.

I remember taking my own children to the Museum and all they were interested in seeing were the bodies. Such is the mind of a child.

The Changes after the Conquest

William the Conquerer was not a popular King and he asserted his power using brutality. He allotted the estates and lands of the Saxon nobility to Norman nobles and he declared the forests royal property. That meant that no one could hunt there except the royals and their guests.

Before the Conquest, people had hunted freely in the forest and now the peasants were having difficulty finding enough to eat. They took to poaching as there was little choice. But penalties for hunting in the royal forests were harsh and violent, including loss of limbs as well as execution by hanging.

Hanging in those days was not the same as in more modern times, where there is a trapdoor and the rope is carefully measured to be sure that a swift drop breaks the neck of the victim and death is quick.

Hanging in medieval times meant hanging with a noose around one's neck until you died by slow strangulation. Often victims of hanging would pay the hangman to pull on their legs, in order to make the ordeal go faster. Sometimes they had relatives who would perform the task.

William's armies would burn whole villages to punish one peasant in order to prove his power and he brought serfdom to England. Before William, all the people were free, but now the peasants found themselves tied to the land, unable to leave or even to marry without the permission of the Landowner.

Robin Hood

It was this system of government that bred the legend of Robin Hood.

He was supposedly a Saxon lord, forced to flee his own estate and live in the forest with his merry men, though how merry they could have been in the England winters I cannot imagine.

It is unlikely that Robin Hood ever existed, although there is evidence that the legend was built around several of these deposed noblemen who set out to help the starving peasants as well as themselves.

Above is a picture of the statue of Robin Hood which stands in Nottingham, although whether he actually lived in Nottingham and Sherwood Forest, we will never know. What is likely is that Robin, or other Robins, lived shortly after the Norman Conquest, not later on in the time of Richard the Lionheart, as is usually portrayed in films and tv series.

I have to admit to a weakness for Robin Hood. Ever since Errol Flyn appeared on screen with those too tight tights and his immaculate jacket and funny hat, I have been unable to resist a tale of Robin Hood. But Kevin Costner has to be my favourite. Certainly he is not as clean as Errol, but that is far more realistic.

The Funeral of William the Conquerer

William the Conquerer was the first English King to be crowned in Westminster Abbey, on Christmas Day 1066, and it has been the place for royal coronations ever since.

As was often the case in medieval times, William had his coffin made many years before his death and it was made of stone. By the time he died, he had grown to be obese and would not fit in the stone box.

His attendants forced him into the coffin and the gases in his corpse caused it to explode, leaving a noxious odour throughout the cathedral. At least, that is what I read in the Anglo Saxon Chronicles.

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