HOUSE OF NORMANDY COINS FOR SALE

1066-1087 WILLIAM I (THE CONQUEROR)

1087-1100 WILLIAM II

1100-1135 HENRY I

1035-1154 STEPHEN

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FACTS:

1071 - Norman conquest of England complete

1098- THE ORKNEYS, HEBRIDES AND THE ISLE OF MAN ARE SEIZED BY MAGNUS III OF NORWAY.

1120- PEACE BETWEEN HENRY I OF ENGLAND AND LOUIS VI OF FRANCE.

1136- CIVIL WAR

1147-SECOND CRUSADE

THE NORMAN CONQUEST

The Great Battle of Hastings, 1066:

On the morning of the 14th of October the fight began. It lasted

until dark, with heavy loss on both sides. At length William's

strategy carried the day, and Harold and his brave followers found to

their cost that then, as now, it is "the thinking bayonet" which

conquers. The English King was slain and every man of his chosen

troops with him. A monk who wrote the history of the period of the

Conquest, says that "the vices of the Saxons had made them effeminate

and womanish, wherefore it came to pass that, running against Duke

William, they lost themselves and their country with one, and that an

easy and light, battle." Doubtless the English had fallen off in many

ways from what hey had been generations earlier; but the record at

Hastings shows that they had lost neither strength, courage, nor

endurance, and a harder battle ws never fought on British soil.

Summary (1066-1087)

The results of the Norman Conquest may be thus summed up:

1. The Conquest was not the subjugation of the English by a different

race, but rather a victory won for their advantage by a branch of

their own race.

2. It found England a divided country; it made it a united

kingdom. It also united England and Normandy and

brought the new English kingdom into closer contact with the higher

civilization of the Continent. This introduced fresh intellectual

stimulus, and gave to the Anglo-Saxon a more progressive spirit.

3. It modified the English language by the influence of the

Norman-French element, thus giving it greater flexibility, refinement,

and elegance of expression.

4. It substituted for the fragile and decaying structures of wood

generally built by the Saxons, Norman castles, abbeys, and cathedrals

of stone.

5. It hastened influences, which were already at work, for the

consolidation of the nation. It developed and completed the feudal

form of land tenure, but it made that tenure strictly subordinate to

the Crown, and so freed it, in great measure, from the evils of

Continental feudalism.

6. It reorganized the English Church and defined the relation of the

Crown to that Church and to the Pope.

7. It abolished the four great earldoms, which had been a

constant source of weakness, danger, and division; it put an end to

the Danish invasions; it brought the whole of England under a strong

monarchical government, to which not only all the great nobles, but

also their vassals or tenants, were compelled to swear allegiance.

8. It made no radical changes in the English laws, but enforced

impartial obedience to them among all classes.

Norman Kings

Henry I--1100-1135:

Henry's Charter of Liberties:

Henry, third son of William the Conqueror, was the first of the Norman

kings who was born and educated in England. Foreseeing a renewal of

the contest with the barons, he issued a Charter of Liberties

on his accession, by which he bound himself to reform the abuses which

had been practiced by his brother William Rufus. The charter

guaranteed: The rights of the Church (which William Rufus had

constantly violated);the rights of the nobles and landholders

against extortionate demands by the Crown; the right of all

classes to protection of the old English customs or laws.

The King sent a hundred copies of this important document to the

leading abbots and bishops for preservation in their respective

monasteries and cathedrals.

As this charter was the earliest written and formal guarantee of good

government ever given by the Crown to the nation, it marks an

important epoch in English history. It may be compared to the

statements of principles and pledges issued by our modern political

parties. It was a virtual admission that the time had come when even

a Norman sovereign could not dispense with the support of the

country. It was therefore an admission of the truth that while a

people can exist without a king, no king can exist without a people.

Furthermore, this charter established a precedent for those which were

to follow, and which reached a final development in the Great Charter

wrested from the unwilling hand of King John somewhat more than a

century later. Henry further strengthened his position with

his English subjects by his marriage with Maud, nice of the Saxon

Edgar, a direct descendant of King Alfred.

Stephen--1135-1154:

With Henry I's death two candidates presented themselves for the

throne,--Henry's daughter, Matilda (for he left no lawful son), and

his nephew, Stephen. In France the custom of centuries had determined

that the crown should never descend to a female. It was an age when

the sovereign was expected to lead his army in person, and it

certainly was not expedient that a woman should hold a position one of

whose chief duties she could not discharge. This French custom had,

of course, no force in England; but the Norman nobles must have

recognized its reasonableness; or if not, the people did.

Before Henry's death, the baronage had generally sworn to support

Matilda (commonly called the Empress Matilda, or Maud, from her

marriage to the Emperor Henry V of Germany; later, she married

Geoffrey of Anjou). But Stephen, with the help of London and the

Church, declared himself "elected King by the assent of the clergy and

the people." Many of the barons now gave Stephen their support.

Four years after Stephen's accession Matilda landed in England and

claimed the crown. The east of England stood by Stephen, the west by

Matilda. For the sake of promoting discord, and through discord their

own private ends, part of the barons gave their support to Matilda,

while the rest refused, as they said, to "hold their estates under a

distaff." In the absence of the Witan or National Council,

London unanimously chose Stephen King.

The fatal defect in the new King was the absence of executive ability.

Following the example of Henry, he issued two charters or

pledges of good government; but without power to carry them out, they

proved simply waste paper.

Norman coins for sale