Key Idea: How strong monarchies grew in England and France from 1066 to 1223: the Norman Conquest of England, then the long fight in which the French kings took back Normandy and Anjou.
From Anglo-Saxon England to Henry I
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1066 | Edward the Confessor dies childless; three men claim the crown |
| 14 October 1066 | Battle of Hastings: Harold is killed; William is crowned on Christmas Day |
| 1069 to 1070 | The Harrying of the North crushes revolt |
| 1086 | Domesday Book surveys English land and wealth for tax |
| 1100 to 1135 | Henry I builds the Exchequer; no male heir leads to The Anarchy |
Capetian triumph over the Angevins
- Louis VI pacified the royal lands; Louis VII held them; Philip II tripled them.
- Philip II used feudal law, war and John's mistakes to take Normandy and Anjou by 1204.
- Bouvines (1214): Philip crushed John and Emperor Otto IV.
- England had older institutions and Magna Carta (1215) as a written limit; France had newer, fast-growing power with no written limit.
William won England in a day, but holding Normandy as well tied English kings to France for two centuries.
Why was 1066 a crisis at all? England had no clear rule for who should inherit, and the king had no son.
Name the three claimants in 1066. Harold Godwinson, Harald Hardrada of Norway and William of Normandy.
How did Eleanor of Aquitaine help the Angevins? She divorced Louis VII in 1152 and married Henry II, bringing Aquitaine with her.
Which English king lost Normandy? John, between 1199 and 1204.
What did the Domesday Book show about Norman rule? How far the Normans had taken central control of land and tax.