The Harrying of the North, 1069-1070 (Edexcel GCSE History)

Why Did the Harrying of the North Shock England? - Summary

Historians regard the Harrying of the North in 1069-1070 as the most brutal element of William's consolidation of power. Modern historians go as far as to call the Harrying of the North a genocide of the people of Northern England. Historians formed this perspective by studying the written sources of the time. An early twelfth-century chronicle by Orderic Vitalis, a Normandy monk, stated that William:

"cut down many in his vengeance; destroyed the lairs of others; harried the land and burned homes to ashes. Nowhere else had William shown such cruelty"

Harrying was not uncommon in the eleventh century. William harried the Earldom of Wessex to remove the influence of the house of Godwin. William's march on London and the destruction of Wessex did not cause as much public outrage as William's actions in the North. The Harrying of the North showed William's ability to create large-scale and long-lasting destruction of his enemies. 

Why did William Harry the North?

What did the Harrying of the North involve?

• William's soldiers destroyed an area of the North from the River Humber to the River Tees. This involved:

  • Killing men, women and children

  • Burning buildings

  • Burning crops

  • Killing livestock

  • Smashing agricultural tools

  • Pillaging

Short-term Impacts of the Harrying of the North

• Between 100,000 and 150,000 people died over the winter of 1069-1070 because:

  • Without livestock and crops, people died from starvation

    • Some people resorted to cannibalism or slavery to survive

  • Without shelter, people of the North froze to death in the harsh winter

  • William's troops destroyed seeds

    • The North could not grow any crops for the next year

    • Many people fled from the North

Long-term Impacts of the Harrying of the North

• There were no more uprisings from Northern England

  • Malcolm III of Scotland attacked in 1071, but gained no support from Northumbria

• The wealth of the North continued to decline during William's reign

  • The Domesday Book compared landholding from 1066 to 1086

  • 60% of Yorkshire was deemed wasteland with no livestock

    • This meant that William could not tax the land as nothing grew there

• The North experienced a long-term decline in population

  • In 1086, the population declined between 80,000 and 150,000 from 1066

• Northumbria was no longer the target for foreign invasion

  • King Sweyn of Denmark invaded England again in 1070-1071

    • Instead of landing in the North, his fleet arrived in Ely

• William no longer trusted Anglo-Saxon earls

  • He used the Harrying of the North to replace Anglo-Saxon earls with Normans

• The Pope condemned William for the Harrying of the North

  • William devoted time and money to the Church to earn forgiveness for his actions