The History of England

from Celts through 20th century

Archives for the ‘12th century’ Category

The Economic and Social Development of the State in the 12th century

Category: 12th century

The whole economic development of the country from the 11th to the 14th century illustrates the increasing degree of exploitation of the peasant by the feudal lords, as well as by the church. Trade was increasing throughout the country with merchants and middlemen who travelled from manor to manor and market to market. Much trading […]



How the Norman Conquerors Lived in England

Category: 12th century

The  new  masters  were  strangers  in  the  country.  They  had  different  manners,  customs  and  laws  from  those  of  the  conquered  people.  They  spoke  a  foreign  tongue  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  peasants  could  not  understand  their  speech.  The  conquerors  were  few  in  number  but  they  were  harsh  and  cruel  rulers.  They  punished  those  who  dared  to  disobey  […]



Normans effects on the Language

Category: 12th century

The  victorious  Normans  made  up  the  new  aristocracy  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  people  became  their  servants.  The  Norman  aristocracy  spoke  a  Norman  dialect  of  French,  a  longue  of  Latin  origin,  while  the  Anglo-Saxons  spoke  English,  a  tongue  of  Germanic  origin.  Thus  there  were  two  different  languages  spoken  in  the  country  at  the  same  time.  Norman-French  became  […]



ENGLISH PEASANTS IN THE 11th-12th CENTURIES AND HOW THEY LIVED UNDER THE NORMANS

Category: 12th century

We  have  already  read  about  the  life  of  the  great  feudal  lords  and  how  they  ruled  the  country. Now  we  shall  read  about  the  life  of  the  English  peasants  under  their  Norman  masters  and  how  they  struggled  against  foreign  oppression.



Categories of Peasants and Their Duties

Category: 12th century

The  Domesday  Book  gives  us  an  exact  account  of  England  at  that  time.  Alongside  with  other  valuable  information  it  gives  us  the  number  of  peasant  families  of  each  manor,  the  different  categories  the  peasantry  was  divided  into  and  the  amount  of  land  they  held. The  lord  of  the  manor  kept  for  himself  many  of  the  […]



The Peasants’ Struggle Against the Feudal Lords

Category: 12th century

Life  under  the  harsh  and  cruel  Norman  kings  and  barons  was  always  full  of  dangers  for  the  peasant.  The  Normans  treated  England  as  a  conquered  country.  Especially  in  the  North  hundreds  of  peasant  farms  were  ruined,  most  of  the  homeless  miserable  people  died  of  starvation.  Again  and  again  in  the  Domesday  Book  beside  the  descriptions  […]



RISE OF TOWNS IN ENGLAND IN THE 11th-12th CENTURIES

Category: 12th century

The  few  towns  which  had  been  built  under  the  Romans  in  England  were  destroyed  and  abandoned  by  the  Anglo-Saxons.  The  Anglo-Saxons  were  country-dwellers. But  the  economic  progress  achieved  during  the  early  medieval  period  (5th-11th  centuries)  caused  the  growth  of  new  towns  in England. Here  we  shall  read: -  what  progress  man  had  made  by  the  11th  […]



Medieval Towns

Category: 12th century

By  the  end  of  the  10th  century  new  towns  had  sprung  up  in England.  Such  old  towns  as London, Winchester,  York  which  had  become  small  trading  settlements  after  the  Romans  had  left  Britain  also  grew  into  centres  of  trade  and  crafts.  The  Domesday  Book  mentions  about  80  towns  where  5  per  cent  of  the  population  lived.  In  the  […]



DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE

Category: 12th century

The  growing  trade  led  to  the  establishment  of  contacts  between  different  parts  of  the  country  and  to  the  development  of  commercial  contacts  between  England  and  other  countries. Through  its  connections  with  Normandy  England  came  into  closer  contact  with  the  Continent. People  travelled  between  England  and  the  Continent  more  often  than  before. A  good  deal  of  […]



Main Sea Routes

Category: 12th century

London  merchants  drew  great  incomes  from  the  wool  trade,  as  the  capital  was  a  centre  of  trade  for  Northern  Europe.  It  established  commercial  contacts  with  the  trading  towns  of  the  Mediterranean  which  was  a  link  in  the  trade  between  Western  Europe  and  the  eastern  countries.  After  the  crusades  began,  people  learned  more  about  the  products  […]