DISCIPLINA History of the English Speaking Cultures

ASIGNATURA History of the English Speaking Cultures I

NOMBRE DEL TEMA Feudal England
O UNIDAD 1
ACT. DOC. TIPO TÍTULO DE LA ACTIVIDAD
2 CE # 2 Transition to Feudalism in England. Anglo-Saxon Society. Epic
Poetry: Beowulf.

SUMMARY: The Rise of Feudalism in England

OBJECTIVE:to describe the main traits in the rise of feudalism in England as a result of the
conquest of the country by the Anglo-Saxon tribes and explain the role of violence in the
building of the institutions of property as well as the expression of this transitional period in
poetry
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CLASS
 In the introduction to the class, students will be evaluated by means of oral questions.
 During the debates, it will be highlighted that in the transition of Anglo-Saxon society to
feudalism, the institutions of property, class, and state are ultimately rooted in economic
relationships. The analysis should reveal the role of violence and aggression in bringing
about those institutions. The pre-eminence of violence in the period can be seen in epic
poetry
Indicators To Be Taken Into Account for Evaluation
 Previous preparation
 Mastery of the abilities to characterize and explain
 Qualitative and quantitative participation rate
 Language proficiency
Methodology to Be Followed
In class, students will work in small groups for ten minutes organizing the results of their
independent work. Then, individual students appointed by their groups will provide their
answers to the exercises. Debate will follow and conclusion of fundamental ideas will be
provided. Students will be evaluated individually according to the indicators previously
determined and extra-activities will be assigned individually according to the difficulties each
student has. Finally, the contents for the coming meeting will be explained.

STUDY GUIDE FOR THE THIRD MEETING

Topic 1:Feudal England
Title: The Norman Conquest; the shaping of Feudal England; The English Ballad: Lord
Randall
Objective: to value the significance of the Norman Conquest in the establishment of feudalism
in England and the significance of a classical English Medievalballad

Methodological Guidelines and Activities to Get Ready for Class

To prepare for this class, first look for general information about William of Normandy and the
Norman Conquest in the encyclopedias, then go to Morton’s A People’s History of England for
an analysis of the significance of the events.While studying, pay attention to the
consequences of the Conquest for England in reference to the building of a strong centralized
state, the completion of the feudal system, the impact of the French language on English
culture, the increasing role of the Church, greater contact with Europe, among others. Notice,
also, the role played by the extreme violence of the conquest in giving a final feudal shape to
English society consolidating the institutions of power and wealth of feudal England. Pay
attention to the exploitative nature of feudal society and to the persuasive functions of
specialized institutions like the church and to themedieval concepts of life as reflected in
literature.You must also look for the meaning and pronunciation of new words and
expressions and get ready to read them in class or use them in oral reports, as requested.
Study the ballad form in The Literature of Great Britain, copy “Lord Randall” and look up the
meaning of unknown words. See that there are archaic terms that can be guessed somehow.

Bibliography
<DOC1>A People’s History of England</DOC>
<DOC4>The United Kingdom’s History Encyclopaedia Britannica</DOC>
<DOC2>The Literature of Great Britain</DOC>
<DOC5>History of England Wikipedia</DOC>
<DOC3>English Literary Texts</DOC>

Encyclopedia Encarta 2006

Wikipedia

Modules of Knowledge
On October 14, 1066 William, Duke of Normandy defeated and killed Harold II, King of
England at Hastings. <IMAG4>Bayeux Tapestry</IMAG>On December 25th, William
(nicknamed “the Conqueror”) was crowned king at Westminster Abbey. According to Encarta,
“The year 1066 was a turning point in English history. William I, the Conqueror, and his sons
gave England vigorous new leadership. Norman feudalism became the basis for redistributing
the land among the conquerors, giving England a new French aristocracy and a new social
and political structure. England turned away from Scandinavia toward France, an orientation
that was to last for 400 years.”
The rest of the country had to acknowledge William King, <IMAG5>William I of
England</IMAG>so he goaded the North into revolt, defeated the rising and ferociously
devastated the region so that another rising would not be possible. The lands of the defeated
Anglo-Saxon lords were confiscated and distributed among William’s French followers. The
conquest of England by the French had a great influence in the process of social changes
then taking place. Morton: “It is at this point that we can say that feudalism is fully established
in England. We have seen how the economic basis of feudalism was envolved out of the
English township, and how political organization was taking on feudal form even before the
Conquest. Now the fashioning of a political superstructure to match the economic basis was
completed with a rigid and dogmatic uniformity by the Normans. Within a few years the whole
of the land of the country passed out of the hands of its old owners and into the hands of the
Conqueror.”
As an agrarian society, political power in feudal England rested on land tenancy. In the words
of Morton, “The essential political feature of feudalism was the downward delegation of power,
and all power was based upon the ownership of land. The King was the sole and ultimate
owner of all the land, and granted it to his tenants-in-chief in return for military and other
services and for the payment of certain customary dues. With the land was granted also the
political right of governing its cultivators: the right to hold courts of justice, to levy taxes and to
exact services. So far as the King was concerned the most important duty of his vassals was
to follow him in war and so the whole country was divided up into areas, known as Knight’s
fees, corresponding roughly to the older thane holdings, each of which was bound to provide
and equip one heavy armed cavalryman for the army.
Just because England was conquered within a few years and the political institutions of
feudalism deliberately imposed from above, the system here reached a higher regularity and
completeness than in most other countries. Elsewhere the King’s ownership of all the land
was a fiction. Here it was a fact, and the King granted land to his vassals on his own terms,
terms extremely favorable to himself. (…) Feudalism was always in theory a contract between
king and vassal, but in England this contract was more a reality than it was elsewhere.
(…)
England had, therefore, a development that was unique in European history. From the start
the power of the State was greater and the power of the feudal nobility less. Private war
between nobles was the exception rather than the rule, and private armies and castles were
jealously watched by the Crown and prohibited as far as possible. The agents of the Crown
were certainly oppressive, and the exploitation of the villain masses was severe. But these
exactions of the Crown were to some extent fixed and regular, and a limit was set to the much
more oppressive exactions of the feudal lords.”
(…)
“After the Norman Conquest the Kings of England continued to be Dukes of Normandy and
even used England as a base from which to extend their domains in France. In the same way,
the large section of William’s followers who were also feudal lords in Normandy continued to
hold their estates in both sides of the Channel. For at least a century and a half the ruling
class in England was a foreign ruling class, or, from another point of view, a class with a
double nationality. Until at least the end of the Thirteenth Century French was its normal
language (…)”
When English was restored as the national language of the country, in the Fourteenth
Century, it had been greatly altered. More than fifty per cent of its vocabulary came from
French, though its grammar was essentially of Anglo-Saxon origin. No sentence that makes
sense is possible without using Anglo-Saxon words since all connectors and basic verbal
forms come from that stock.
With increasing passing through the channel, it became safer for trade. An important result
was that lively commerce developed between England and the continent. Vital commodities
were imported in increasing quantities such as iron, salt and cloth, wine, species (from the
East). Skilled artisans began to enter England, especially weavers
After William died in 1087, his sons William II and Henry I <IMAG6>Henry I, King of
England</IMAG>succeeded him in the throne of England. They continued the struggle to
strengthen the power of the state in constant strive with the centrifugal forces of barons and
Church. Henry made justice an affair of the state and developed a permanent bureaucracy to
rule the country. He created the Exchequer to handle revenues collected by the sheriffs, the
Curia Regis, a small body of officials to carry daily work, and the King’s Council, consisting of
the important nobles and Church dignitaries. The Council was a body that the king summoned
a few times a year and that is the predecessor of Parliament.
Feudal England was marked by the continuous struggle between the centralizing power of the
state and of the feudal lord’s endeavour to be independent in the control of their holdings. This
is typical of any feudal society, but in England, the power of the Crown was always greater
than any baron or combination of barons. Consequently, civil wars were exceptional.
The conflicts with the Church were more complex. According to Morton, “The dispute turned
on the dual character of the Church and its officers. On the one hand, bishops and abbots
were feudal lords with vast lands and revenues. On the other hand, they were representatives
of a power with an international organization and headquarters at Rome, The crown wished to
appoint and control them as feudal magnates: the Papacy claimed to appoint and control them
as its representatives.” The struggle usually took place around the administration of justice.
The Church claimed its right to try cases involving ecclesiastical people at a time when all
literate people tended to be regarded as members of the Church and taking into account that
there was money and wealth at stake since fines and confiscations went to the hands of those
who administered justice. The Middle Ages are marked by these conflicts between Church,
Barons and state but we cannot ignore that they constituted the institutions representing the
nobility, the ruling class, and their interests generally coincided against those of the serfs and
other lower classes, so they usually found ways to cooperate and act together harmoniously.
In 1215, King John was forced by a rebellion of the barons to subscribe a document known as
Magna Carta<IMAG7>The Signing of Magna Carta</IMAG>or the Great Charter. By levying
excessive unauthorized taxes, confiscating the states of his vassals without a judgment in
court and by losing the states the English feudal lords had in France he alienated barons and
Church. In their eyes, John had violated the feudal contract and had failed in his duty of
guarding the possession of his vassals. In their rebellion against the king, the barons sought
and obtained the support of the merchants of towns. In Morton’s assessment: “Just because it
marks the highest point of feudal development and expressed most precisely the nature of
feudal class relations, Magna Carta marks also the passing of society beyond those relations.
It is both a culmination and a point of departure. In securing the Charter the barons won their
greatest victory but only at the price of acting in a way which was not strictly feudal, of forming
new kinds of combinations both among themselves and with other classes.”

Exercises to Get Ready for Class

1. Outline the consequences of the Norman Conquest for England. In your opinion, which
were more relevant for the development of English civilization?
2. Morton writes that, “The essential political feature of feudalism was the downward
delegation of power, and all power was based upon the ownership of land.” Expand this
statement.
3. What distinguished English feudalism from that in other countries?
4. What were the main bodies of government created by the Norman kings?
5. Describe the struggle between Church, barons and state.
6. What is the historical importance of Magna Carta?
7. Read Lord Randall. What had happened to him? What is probably the story untold by the
poem?<DOC3>English Literary Texts</DOC>