Introduction

Britain – The Norman Conquest and the Reign of William the Conqueror, 1035-87

In this course, Professor David Bates (University of East Anglia) explores English history between 1035-87, focusing in particular on the Norman Conquest and the reign of William the Conqueror. After an introduction to the course as a whole in which we discuss the personality, leadership style and political status of William, we focus in the second and third modules on the kingdom of England before 1066 – thinking first about the political unity and stability of the kingdom in in the 11th century, and then about the relatively long reign of Edward the Confessor (1042-66). In the fourth and fifth modules, we turn to the year 1066 itself, focusing first on the political situation and the various claims to the English throne, and after that on the fighting itself. In the three modules that follow this – the sixth, seventh and eighth – we look at different sections of William's rule in England: first the imposition of his rule in the years 1066-69, the consolidation of his rule between 1069-73, and the final fourteen years of his rule up to the year 1087. The ninth and tenth modules take a more thematic approach to William's reign, focusing in particular on the church and the Domesday Book, respectively, before we move in the eleventh module to give a broader overview of the extent to which the arrival of William and the Normans represented a change from what had gone before. We end in the twelfth module with a conclusion, focusing in particular on assessing the longer-term importance of the Norman Conquest in the context of British, European, and even world history.

Introduction

In this module, we provide an introduction to the course as whole, focusing in particular on the longer-term historical context of the Norman Conquest, and the personality, leadership style and political status of William, Duke of Normandy.