Land in Norman England (AQA GCSE History)

Summary

Under the new system, the king owned all the land and could give or take away land when he chose. William used land to reward his followers and punish those who were disloyal to him. Under the Normans, Anglo-Saxon landowners soon found themselves being stripped of their lands and saw it given to William’s new barons and knights.  The introduction of a new inheritance tax made William richer and increased his control - nobody wanted to make the king angry and cause their heirs to face a larger tax bill from him. William also created three new earldoms to help control the border region with Wales. The new earls had more land, power and independence than the other tenants-in-chief.

How did the feudal system change land ownership?

• In 1065, the year before the Norman Conquest, the land in England was owned by the king, the Church, six earls and around 4000 thegns

• By 1086, just 4 thegns held land

  • The rest of the land in England was owned by the king, the Church and around 200 Norman barons

  • William was the biggest landowner and he gave land to people he could trust - this is known as patronage

  • He also ensured loyalty by taking land off those who were disloyal or did not fulfil their obligations

Gaining land in Norman England

• The prospect of being rewarded with land encouraged barons to be loyal servants to William

  • William was careful to avoid Edward the Confessor’s mistake and did not reward any single baron with too much land

    • This prevented any individual baron from becoming too powerful and a threat to William 

• When landholders died, they usually passed their land on their eldest son - a custom known as primogeniture

  • Tenants-in-chief, such as barons, could also give parts of their land to under-tenants such as knights

• William further increased his power and control over his subjects by introducing an inheritance tax, known as a relief, when a landholder died

  • The heirs of loyal landholders were charged small reliefs

  • Disruptive landholders were threatened with large relief payments when they died

Losing land in Norman England

• William took land off landholders if he believed they were disloyal or he felt they had failed to fulfil their obligations to him

• This might involve:

  • not providing knights to him

  • not paying tax to him - including relief

  • not providing labour service to work the land

• This was known as forfeiture and enabled William to transfer control of the land from Anglo-Saxons to loyal Normans

• William also ruled over whether widows could marry and who inherited the land if there was no clear heir - further increasing his control

Marcher Earldoms

• Although William was careful to limit the amount of land a baron could control, he made an exception when it came to land that bordered Wales

  • This land came under constant attack from the Welsh warrior prices and was difficult to govern

• William created three new earldoms and made his most loyal and capable deputies the Earls of Chester, Shrewsbury and Hereford

  • As the region around the border was known as the Marches, the new Earls became known as the marcher lords

• Unlike other tenants-in-chief, the Marcher lords had permission to increase their territories by claiming land in Wales

  • They were also able to build castles, keep their own armies and make their own laws without having to gain William’s permission