The Feudal system was introduced to England following the invasion and

conquest of the country by William I. The system had been used in France
by the Normans from the time they first settled there in about 900 AD. It
was an effective system where all land was owned by the King. One quarter
was kept by the King as his personal property, some was given to the church
and the rest was leased out under strict controls.
THE KING
The King was in complete control under the Feudal System. He owned all the
land in the country and decided who he would lease land from him. Before
they were given any land they had to swear an oath to remain faithful to the
King at all times. The men who leased land from the King were known as
Barons. They were wealthy, powerful, and had complete control of the land
they leased from the King.
BARONS
Barons leased land from the King. They were known as the Lord of the
Manor and were in complete control of this land. They established their own
system of justice, minted their own money and set their own taxes. In return
for the land they had been given by the King, the Barons had to serve in the
royal council, pay rent and provide the King with Knights for military service
when he demanded it. They also had to provide lodging and food for the
King and his court when they travelled around the country. The Barons kept
as much of their land as they wished for their own use then divided the rest
among their Knights. Barons were very rich.
KNIGHTS
Knights were given land by a Baron in return for military service when
demanded by the King. They also had to protect the Baron and his family, as
well as the Manor, from attack. The Knights kept as much of the land as they
wished for their own personal use and distributed the rest to villeins.
Although not as rich as the Barons, Knights were quite wealthy.
VILLEINS
Villeins, sometimes known as serfs, were given land by Knights. They had to
provide the Knight with free labour, food and service whenever it was
demanded. Villeins had no rights. They were not allowed to leave the Manor
and had to ask their Lords permission before they could marry. Villeins were
poor.

MEDIEVAL LIFE
For safety and for defence, people in the Middle Ages formed small
communities around a central lord or master. Most people lived on a manor,
which consisted of the castle, the church, the village, and the surrounding
farm land. In this feudal system, the king awarded land grants or fiefs to his
most important nobles, his barons, and his bishops, in return for their
contribution of soldiers for the kings armies. At the lowest echelon of
societies were the peasants, also called serfs or villeins. In exchange for
living and working on his land, known as demesne, the lord offered his
peasants protection.
FEUDAL TERMS OF ENGLAND
MAGNA CARTA
In 1215, the English barons formed an alliance that forced King John to sign
the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta did limit the kings powers of taxation ad
require trials before punishment. It was the first time that an English
monarch came under the control of the law.
PEASANT LIFE
Peasants worked the land and produced the goods that the lord and his
manor needed. They were heavily taxed and were required to relinquish
much of what they harvested. The peasants did not even belong to
themselves, according to medieval law. The lords, in close association with
the church, assumed the roles of judges in carrying out the laws of the
manor.
ROLE OF WOMEN
Women held a difficult position in society. They were largely confined to
household tasks. However, they also hunted for food and fought in battles,
learning to use weapons to defend their homes and castles. Some medieval
women held other occupations. There were women blacksmiths, merchants
and apothecaries. Others were midwives, worked in the field or were
engaged in creative endeavours. Other became nuns and devoted their lives
to God and spiritual matters.

THE CRUSADES
In Britain and in Europe the influence of the Crusades was profound and
reflected the magnitude of religious fervour of this period.
APPEAL OF THE CRUSADES
The motives that stirred the Crusaders to action were:

The capture of the Holy Land by the Turks and the ensuing
mistreatment of Christians on pilgrimages to Jerusalem

The hope of the papacy to reunite the Eastern Church which had
separated from he Roman Catholic Church in 1054
The influence of powerful preachers who could persuade the laity into
believing that the Crusades were the Will of God
The promise of material reward and foreign adventure for nobles and
knights joining a crusade.

SCOPE OF THE CRUSADES

The Crusades began in 1096 and continued intermittently for two centuries.
The First Crusade (1096-1099) wrested the Holy Land from the Turks and set
up feudal Christian kingdoms. The Second Crusade (1147-1150) failed to
recover ground lost to the Muslim reconquest. The Third Crusade led by
Richard I of England, Frederick Barbarossa (the Holly Roman Emperor) and
Phillip Augustus of France, hoped to retake Jerusalem from Saladin, Sultan of
Egypt and Syria. Richard returned to England when he found his forces
insufficient to attack Jerusalem. Other Crusades followed. Some were sidetracked into sacking Constantinople or fighting the Albigenses, the Christian
heretics in France.
RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES
The hopes of reuniting Christendom or assuring Christian rule in the Holy
Land were abandoned. The very failure of the Crusaders to break the Muslim
barrier to overland trade with the East forced Europe to seek new sea routes
to the Orient. When these were discovered, Britains maritime location
would put it in an excellent position for trade. Other indirect results included
the increase in royal power in England because of the absence, and
frequently the death, of recalcitrant barons on a crusade; a broadening of
British cultural horizons by the fruitful contact with the learning, history, and
inventions of the East; a remarkable growth in towns and commerce which
had the effect of increasing the circulation of money and raising prices; and
the adoption of new methods of warfare, especially the techniques of
fortification and siege that were employed by the Muslims in the Near East.
The Crusades contributed a visible sense of national identity. For many
Englishmen the expedition to the Holy Land was their first trip away from
their local community. They forgot their parochialism in a foreign land and
took pride in being identified as Englishmen.

MAKING HISTORY CITIZEN OR SUBJECT?

Medieval and early modern times saw an ongoing struggle between
monarchs and subjects. The Crown had the right to call upon its subjects to
come to its aid, both in time of war and by payment of taxes. But there was
always a conflict between what the sovereign needed to sustain the
strength of the monarchy and the country and what subjects were willing to
contribute towards the development of national strength. This struggle is
summed up by two key documents from the medieval period: Domesday
Book and Magna Carta.
DOMESDAY BOOK
Domesday Book is Britains most famous public record. It showed William
the Conqueror who his wealthiest subjects were and their obligations to the
Crown. But it also served as a safeguard for landholders, since it provided
them with a formal record of their estates and helped to define their status
in relation to the Crown.
MAGNA CARTA
Magna Carta is an example of what citizens could force the Crown to
concede. It defined the rights to justice and recorded many customary legal
practices for the first time, especially those relating to inheritance rights,
womens entitlements and military service. Particularly important from the
medieval point of view, it attempted to define good lordship- what subjects
could expect from their superiors. The pope was horrified by Magna Carta
and annulled it. The principle of broader control over royal power became
absorbed into English politics and society. Magna Carta was the brainchild of
Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury. To combat King Johns attacks
on the church, ill-advised foreign policies, and excessive demands for feudal
aids and feudal incidents, in 1213 he suggested that the barons should draw
up a binding charter of liberties, to protect themselves and other subjects
from unreasonable actions on the part of the Crown. During Tudor times it
was practically forgotten. But in the 17th century it was rescued from
oblivion by the Parliamentarians. In the 20th century it inspired some of the
articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued by the United
Nations in 1948.
CITIZENSHIP 1066-1025
During the Middle Ages the king was seen as Gods deputy-at the apex of a
world in which all people had a defined and static place. The complex
relationship between the Crown and the three estates- commons, clergy and

aristocracy meant that all monarchs needed the agreement of their subjects
to rule effectively. The most important development was the gradual
inclusion of the opinions and rights of the lowest of the three estates in the
shaping of royal policies, laws and ideas about how the country should be
ruled. Life for the vast majority of the population was determined by their
connection to the land and to the church.
RELIGION, HERESY AND THE STATE
The conduct of individual priests and the extent of the popes influence
provided cases for concern, but in the 1370s a heretical religious movement
first appeared in England. After Henry IVs accession in 1399, Lollard
heresies were suppressed. Then under Henry V, the machinery of Parliament
was used to enforce religious practices approved by the state, with
dissenters prosecuted as criminals.

PROSECUTION OF LOLLARDS (1414)

During the first quarter of the 16th century the church and state saw a shift
in their previously stable relationship, as common lawyers increasingly
attacked the jurisdiction of church law and church courts.
LAND, PLAGUE AND ECONOMY
At the start of the medieval period, most of the rural population of England
was tied to the land and to lords through manors held from the king and
major nobles. Tenants held and worked the lords land in exchange for their
labour and payments of produce. In return, they received the lords
protection. They had very few rights beyond those granted by their lords,
and the ruling elites were determined to hold on to their own privileges. The
social structure provided officials and servants for the lords household, his
courts and his personal lands. The lords tenants and servants were also his
private army in times of conflict. The wars with France fostered a greater
sense of national identity among the countrys rulers. The massive, rapid
drop in population brought about by the plague had given the surviving
peasants of England real economic power for the first time. Personal
economic freedom, whereby hard toil on the land or at a trade benefited
individuals and their families, rather than a superior landlord, was an
important step towards securing personal rights.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

In the 18th century, Britain was free from the revolutionary atmosphere that
prevailed in the 17th century. The country became wealthier through trade;
the middle-class and landowners lived in a mood on complacency. The
power of the king continued to decline. The kings ministers became real
policy-makers. In 1707, the Act of Union united England and Scotland. In
1714, when Queen Anne died, Parliament chose the German-speaking
elector of Hanoever who was crowned as George I. He was succeeded by his
son, George II, who had little interest in British internal affairs. The most
outstanding political leader of this time was Sir Robert Walpole, the first
Prime Minister, who developed the idea of the Cabinet. In Parliament a twoparty system began to evolve. Those who chiefly represented the financial
and mercantile interests of the cities and towns, and the progressive
element in the aristocracy opposed to any interference in politics by the
monarchy were called Whigs. Those who were strongly attached to tradition
and the monarchy were called Tories. The Tories were supported by the
gentry, the landed aristocracy and the Anglican Church. At the end of the
18th century Britain entered the period known as the Industrial Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution led to a rapid increase in national prosperity.
Improvements in living conditions were made, and by the early 19 th century
the population of England and Wales had almost doubled. This was mainly
due to the increased production of food, including potatoes, cheese, and
fresh meat. Thanks to the availability of coal, homes could be warmer in
winter. In general, clothing and soap were cheaper. Nevertheless, about 80
per cent of the population remained poor. At the bottom of the social
structure were the landless labourers who worked on large farms. At the top
of the social hierarchy were the nobility, who held the highest offices and
accumulated the greatest wealth, and the gentry, who included the major
landowners in a county but were not necessarily of noble birth. The chief
landowner in a village was called the squire. He was usually the local Justice
of the Peace. Another important person in the district was the parson who
looked after the religious needs of his parishioners. The old common land

used by peasants for grazing was taken over by private landowners for more
intensive agriculture and enclosed by hedgerows. The conditions of women
were difficult. They did not have many rights and were financially dependent
on their husbands or families. An average wife spent some 15 years either
in a state of pregnancy or in nursing a child for the first year of its life.

UNDERSTANDING CASTLES
After their successful invasion and conquest of England, the Normans began
a period of castle building that was to last right through the medieval
period. The earliest castles built by the Normans were either constructed
within an existing Roman Fort or were Motte and Bailey castles. These were
soon replaced by Stone Keep castles as they offered better protection from
attack. Concentric castles developed during the 12 th and 13th centuries and
were virtually impossible to conquer. Mottle and Bailey castles had two
parts: the Motte and the Bailey. The Motte was a large hill made of earth on
which was built a wooden keep or lookout. The outer edge was then
surrounded with a large wooden fence called a palisade. The Bailey was
separated from the Motte by a wooden bridge that could be removed of the
Bailey was occupied by enemies. They Bailey was the part of the castle
where people lived and animals were kept. To give added protection, both
the Motte and Bailey would be surrounded by a ditch, sometimes filled with
water. A drawbridge was used for access to the castle. The stone keep castle
soon replaced the Motte and Bailey castle as it offered a better form of
defence A stone keep was the central feature, with thick walls and few
windows. Entrance to the keep was leading to the first floor. The first keeps
were rectangular in shape but later ones were often circular. The Stone Keep
would be surrounded by a thick stone wall containing turrets for lookouts.
The Bailey was now the area outside the keep but within the outer walls and
shelter for animals or craft workshops might be built against the walls. The
entire castle might be surrounded by a ditch or moat and entrance to the
castle was by drawbridge. The Concentric castle was developed in the 12 th
Century and offered the best protection against attack. The main feature of
the concentric castle is its walls. An inner wall built of thick stone with

turrets positioned at intervals is then surrounded by an equally thick but

lower stone wall. The walls are built at different levels so that archers on the
inner walls can fire over the archers on the outer walls. The space between
the two walls was known as the death hole for being trapped within the
walls as would almost result in death for the attacker. The entire castle was
then often surrounded with a moat and entry would be across a drawbridge.

LIFE IN ENGLAND UNDER OLIVER CROMWELL

From 1649 to 1653, Parliament ran England but from Cromwells point of
view, it was not a system that worked effectively and England, as a nation
was suffering. As a result, Cromwell, backed by the army, sent home MPs
and he became the effective leader of England from 1653 to 1658. He
pushed for the execution of Charles as he believed that Charles would never
change his ways ad that he would continue to be a source of trouble until he
died. Cromwell was a Puritan. He was a highly religious man who believed
that everybody should lead their lives according to what was written in the
Bible. Puritan means that flowers had a pure soul and lived a good life.
Cromwell believed that everybody else in England should follow his
example. One of the main beliefs of the puritans was that if you worked
hard, you would get to Heaven. Pointless enjoyment was frowned upon.
Cromwell shut many inns and the theatres were all closed down. Most sports
were banned. Boys caught playing football on a Sunday could be whipped as
a punishment. Swearing was punished by a fine, though those who kept
swearing could be sent to prison. Sunday became a very special day under
the Puritans. Most forms of work were banned Women caught doing
unnecessary work on the Holy Day could be put in the stocks. Simply going
for a Sunday walk could lead to a hefty fine. To keep the populations mind
on religion, instead of having feast days to celebrate the saints, one day in
every month was a fast day- you did not eat all day. He divided up England
into 11 areas: each one was governed by a major general who was trusted

by Cromwell. Most of these generals had been in Cromwells New Model

Army. The law, essentially Cromwells law, was enforced by the use of
soldiers. Cromwell believed that women and girls should dress in a proper
manner. Make-up was banned. Puritan leaders and soldiers would roam the
streets of towns and scrub off any make-up found on unsuspecting women.
Too colourful dresses were banned. A puritan lady wore a long black dress
that covered her almost from neck to toes. She wore a white apron and her
hair was brunched up behind a white head-dress. Puritan men wore black
clothes and short hair. Cromwell banned Christmas. By the 17 th C, Christmas
had become a holiday of celebration and enjoyment. Cromwell wanted it
returned to a religious celebration where people thought about the birth of
Jesus. In London, soldiers were ordered to go round the streets and take
food being cooked for a Christmas celebration. The smell of a goose being
cooked could bring trouble. Traditional Christmas decorations like holly were
banned. He enjoyed music, hunting and playing bowls. He allowed a fullscale entertainment at his daughters wedding. Cromwell had a hatred for
the Irish Catholics. He believed that they were all potential traitors willing to
help any Catholic nation that wanted to attack England. He made ad army in
Ireland, he slaughtered the people of Wexford and Drogheda who did
surrender to his forces. All Irish children should be sent to the West Indies to
work as slave labourers in the sugar plantations. Cromwell died in
September 1658. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, where kings and
queens were buried. His son, Richard, took over leadership of the country.
Richard was clearly not up to the task and in 1660 he left the job. In 1660,
Charles II was asked to return to become king of England.

A HISTORY OF BRITAIN
CHAPTER 1: INVADERS
In 1066, Edward King of England, died without children. The most important
people in the country met to choose a new king. They chose Harold. Harold
wasnt a blood relative of King Edward, but he was the Queens brother.
Other powerful men wanted to become king too. One of them was the King
of Norway, Harold Hardrada, and a few months after King Edwards death
his army invaded the north of England. King Harold of England went north,
defeated the invaders and killed King Harold of Norway. William of
Normandy was on the south coast of England with an army. Before King
Edward died, he chose me as the next king. Edwards mother was a Norman,
and Edward lived in Normandy. He preferred Normans to the people of
England. So Harold raced south with his army. William was waiting for him at
Hastings. At the end of the battle, Harold was dead and William of
Normandy was William the Conqueror, King of England.

ROMAN BRITAIN
The Normans werent the first people who invaded Britain. In 55 BC the
great Roman Julius Caesar brought an army across the sea from France. For
four hundred years, England was part of the Roman Empire. When the
Romans first arrived, there were many different groups of people. Each
group had its own king. They didnt think of themselves as British, but the
Romans called the people from all these groups Britons. In the new Roman
towns, Britons started to live like Romans. They wore Roman clothes and
went to the theatre and the baths. Most townspeople could speak Latin.
Many could read and write it. In the later years of Roman rule, they became
Christian.
THE ANGLES AND SAXONS
In 409 the Roman army left Britain to fight in other parts of the Empire. Soon
after this, the Angles and Saxons came to Britain. The Angle and Saxon
armies destroyed everything in their path, and the Roman way of life
disappeared from Britain. Many Britons moved west to escape the invaders.
By the 7th century, groups of Britons were in control of present-day Scotland,
Wales and Cornwall, but Angles and Saxons ruled the rest of Britain. People
started to call this area Angle-land. Later its name became England.
THE VIKINGS
At the end of the 8th century, new invaders started attacking the coasts of
Britain-Vikings from Scandinavia. At first, they came to steal gold and silver
from monasteries. Then some made their homes in Britain, and from the
860s they controlled a large area of northern and eastern England. The
Saxon kings fought against them. Alfred the Great defeated the Vikings ad
sent them away from Britain. But they returned and in the early 11 th century
there was a Viking king of England, King Cnut.
THE NORMANS
The Normans came next. Their conquest was the most important in British
history because it was the last. Since 1066 and the Battle of Hastings, many
people have moved to Britain from other countries. William the Conqueror
had to fight other Saxon armies in England after Harold was defeated. But
then he was able to build a new, Norman England. By 1068, he owned all
the land. He asked his Norman friends to look after it for him. They made
money from the farmland and paid some of it to the king. They also used
the money to pay for Norman soldiers. Each Norman lord built a home with
strong high walls and lived there with his private army. The Saxons owned
nothing. They belonged to the Norman lords. For more than two hundred
years the language of government and literature was the Normans
language, French. The Saxons continued to speak their own language,
Anglo-Saxon, with some Scandinavian words. The Saxons language finally
grew into modern English, but as a result of the Norman invasion, half the
words in todays English language come from French.
CHAPTER 2: THE UNITED KINGDOM

England is a country but isnt a state. It is part of a state called The United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This name is less than a
hundred years old, but English rule in other parts of the United Kingdom
started soon after the time of William the Conqueror.
WALES
When England was safely under their control, the Normans started the
conquest of Wales. The conquest was completed by William the Conquerors
son. There were a few years of independence in the 12 th and 13th centuries,
but since 1284 the rules of England have also ruled in Wales.
SCOTLAND
Scotland stayed independent much longer than Wale-until the end of the
13th century, when it was conquered by the English king, Edward I. But thirty
years later it became independent again. England and Scotland finally came
together in 1603. Queen Elizabeth I of England died without children, and
her nearest relative was James, King of Scotland. During the next century,
the two countries had the same kings and queens, but different parliaments
and laws. Twice in that time, the English Parliament chose a new king for
both countries. The Scots were very angry. Some wanted war with their
more powerful neighbour. Others saw a better future. England was growing
rich from its empire abroad. Scotland was failing to build its own empire. So
Scotland should join England, and as one country they could enjoy the
empire together. In 1707, the Scottish parliament voted to join England.
Scotland lost its own parliament and the Scottish politicians moved south to
London. England, Scotland and Wales were now one state: Great Britain.
When Scotland joined England, the two countries differences didnt just
disappear. In 1715, and again in 1745, people from the Highlands, in the
northwest of Scotland, and from other areas fought to have a new king.
They were defeated both times. In 1745, the English destroyed complete
villages. Many people were killed, and the lucky ones were sent abroad. The
Scots never fought the English again. By the end of the 18 th century, they
were joining the British army in large numbers and playing an important
part in the government of the British Empire.
IRELAND
Ireland was first conquered by an army from Britain in 1171. The Irish finally
won independence for most of their island in 1922. The Norman invasion of
Ireland in 1171 was the idea of an Irish king, Dermot of Leinster. When he
stole another kings wife, he lost power over his hands. He asked the English
king, Henry II, for help. Henry sent an army, and the island of Ireland has
never been completely independent since then. Norman lords ruled the area
around Dublin, and most of the time they were independent of the
government in England. Irish kings continued to control the rest of the
country. Little changed until the 16th century, when most people in Britain
became Protestant. Most Irish people stayed Catholic. The Catholics tried to
push the Protestants out of Ireland, but they failed. In 1607, the last Catholic
lords left the country and, for the first time, all of Ireland was controlled by
England. The Protestant rulers of England wanted to make Ireland less
Catholic. So they decided to send large numbers of Scottish Protestants

there. Most of these Scots made their home in the north of Ireland, and their
families still live there today. The Irish Catholics didnt like the Protestants in
the north or the English government. In every British war of the 17 th century,
the Catholics fought for the side that lost. As a punishment, Catholics in the
early 18th century, couldnt own land, or even a good horse. There was an
Irish parliament, but Catholics couldnt vote or be politicians. And they
couldnt go to university. Irish Catholics became very poor, and the rich
Protestant landowners werent interested in their problems. Some of the
laws against Catholics were changed after a few years, but too little was
done too late. In 1798, the Irish fought unsuccessfully for independence
from England. After this, the English decided to end the Irish parliament.
Irish politicians, like the Scots before them, moved to London. There, they
joined the parliament of a state that was now called the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland. Most Catholics in Ireland are little except the
potatoes that grew on their very small farms. In the 1840s, potatoes failed
to grow in Europe. People started to die. The British government did very
little to help. The Church of England offered free food, but only to people
who became Protestant. The Catholic dream of an independent Ireland
continued. After battles in Parliament and in the streets of Irish cities,
independence finally came in 1922. But the Protestants in the north refused
to be part of a Catholic Irish state. So Ireland was cut in two. Northern
Ireland continued to be part of the United Kingdom.
NORTHERN IRELAND
About 35% of the people in Northern Ireland were Catholic. They wanted to
be part of the independent state of Ireland. The Protestants were afraid of
the Catholics, so they controlled the voted for politicians unfairly. They also
kept the best jobs and houses for themselves. In the 1960s, Catholic
demonstrations were stopped violently. The British government sent their
army to protect the Catholics. But Catholics didnt want the British army in
their country. A Catholic group, the IRA, started to fight for independence
from Britain in the north. When the first IRA fighter shot a British soldier,
many Catholics were pleased. The IRA killed British soldiers and Protestant
policemen and politicians. Catholic violence was answered with more
violence by the British army and the Protestant Irish. In the last few years,
IRA activity has stopped. Many Catholic and Protestant politicians, and the
British and Irish governments, are trying to build a Northern Ireland which is
free of violence and fair for all.
NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS
The Welsh and Scots havent fought battles against the English for many
centuries, but the idea of independence from England, never really died.
England is the biggest of the four countries in the United Kingdom, so it has
the largest number of politicians in the parliament in London. Many people
in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland felt that the London parliament
didnt do enough for them. In the 1990s, the Scots Welsh and Northern Irish
were given their own parliaments. They still have politicians in London, but
they have others in their own capitals: Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. These
national parliaments make some decisions, but tax, the army and other
important matters are still controlled from London.

CHAPTER 3
Henry VIII was king of England in the early 16 th century. He didnt have a son
to follow him as King. In the half-century before Henrys rule, England
suffered terribly as two families fought for control of the country. Now these
wars were finished and Henrys family, the Tudors, were in control. But the
wars could easily start again after his death. For Henry, a son was very
important.
CATHOLIC BRITAIN
From the 7th century, almost everyone in Britain was a Roman Catholic. By
the time of Henry VIII, the Catholic Church was very powerful. Life after
death was very important to them, and for this, they needed the Church.
Even the poorest farmers gave the Church 10% of the food that they
produced. They also worked on Church land without payment. Rich families
gave large amounts of money The Church became very rich.
HENRY VIII: TWO WOMEN, TWO CHURCHES
Katharine of Aragon was a Spanish princess. She was married to Henrys old
brother. He died young and Henry, as the future king, decided to marry
Katharine. She was useful to England because Spain was one of the most
powerful countries in Europe. A Christian couldnt usually marry his brothers
wife, but the head of the Catholic Church, the Pope, gave special permission.
Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragon had only one child- a daughter, Mary.
Henry was always interested in other women, but now he fell completely in
love with a young Englishwoman, Anne Boleyn. Henry sent his assistant,
Thomas Wolsey, to Rome to ask the Pope for an end to his marriage with
Katharine. But the Pope was the prisoner of one of Katharines relatives. He
couldnt agree to Henrys request. The Pope was head of the Catholic
Church, and he was being difficult. So in 1534, Henry closed the Catholic
Church and started a new one, the Church of England, with a new head- the
king. His new church gave him permission to end his marriage with
Katharine. Then he married Anne Boleyn. Monasteries owned large areas of
land and gold and silver. He decided to close them. Henry took everything.
HENRYS OTHER WIVES
When Anne Boleyn gave Henry a daughter, Elizabeth, but no son, he cut off
her head. He finally had a son with his third wife, Jane Seymour, but she
died after the birth of the baby. His fourth wife was Anne of Cleves, a
German princess who he chose from a picture. He was ugly in real life and
he ended their marriage after six months. Catherine Howard was a beautiful
English girl of sixteen when she married Henry. But Henry learnt that she
had a lover. He cut off her head. His sixth wife, Catherine Parr, was luckier
than the rest: Henry died before her.
EDWARD VI

After Henry VIIIs death, his nine-year-old son became king. Edward VI has
strong ideas about religion. He started to make England even more
Protestant than under his father. But he only lived to the age of fifteen.
Edwards older sister Mary became queen.
MARY I
Mary threw out all the Protestant changes that were introduced by her
father and brother. Mary killed lots of Protestants. Mary became very
unpopular. She hated the idea of Anne Boleyns Protestant daughter,
Elizabeth, as the next queen. She married King Philip of Spin.
ELIZABETH I
When Marys sister Elizabeth became queen she wanted a Church of
England that Protestants and Catholics could accept. The Puritans didnt like
it. The Puritans were Protestants who wanted simple churches and simple
clothes for their priests. For them, the Church of England wasnt different
enough from the Catholic Church. They didnt want the Queen as head of
the Church. Many Puritans were put in prison or killed. The Catholics didnt
like it. The Pope told the people of the Catholic Church to end Elizabeths
rule. He secretly sent the European priests to England to start a Catholic war
against the Queen. So Elizabeth made Catholicism against the law. People
had to pay lots of money if they didnt go to a Protestant church on Sunday.
Lots of Catholics were put in prison, and a few were killed. Catholic priests
continued to travel around the country secretly.
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
Elizabeths closest relative was her Catholic cousin, Mary Queen of Scots. In
1567, Mary made the people of Scotland very angry when she married her
husbands murderer. She had to escape to England, leaving her baby son
James as king of Scotland. To Catholics, Mary was the true queen of England,
because Henry VIIIs second marriage wasnt real. Mary lived as a prisoner
in England for nineteen years. Elizabeth spies proved that Mary was making
plans against Elizabeth. Elizabeth ordered her death.
THE SPANISH ATTACK ENGLAND
In 1588, the Spanish King, Mary Is husband Philip, sent 27,000 men in 130
ships to the English coast. Philips ships tried to join a Spanish army from
the Netherlands. But the wind, and an attack by English boats, made this
impossible. The Spanish ships were defeated and decided to return home.
Spain and the Catholics lost some of their power in Europe and England
continued to be a Protestant country. When Elizabeth died in 1603, most of
her people were strongly Protestant.
RELIGION AFTER ELIZABETH
Later in the 17th century, Britain had a Catholic king, James II. By then it was
impossible to bring the people of Britain back to the Catholic Church. After
three years, he had to leave Britain and a new Protestant king was chosen.
Today, Christianity doesnt have the same importance in Britain that it had
in earlier centuries. The number of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs are growing,

and a large part of the population doesnt believe in God. There are still
many more people in the Church of England than in the Catholic Church.
CHAPTER 4
Elizabeth I died without children and James Stuart, the Protestant son of
Mary Queen of Scots, became king. He was already King James VI of
Scotland. In 1603 he moved south to London as James I of England. James
discovered that English and Scottish parliaments had very different ideas
about their powers. In Scotland, Parliament passed any laws that the king
wanted. In England, Parliament wanted to make decisions too. This made
Jamess rule very difficult, and brought even more trouble to his son. An
important battle for control of the country was beginning.

THE MAGNA CARTA

James wasnt the first king who disagreed with his people about his powers.
King John had similar problems. But in those days, there was no parliament.
John started his rule with an empire in France. Soon he lost most of his
French lands- even Normandy. His lords chose this time to put controls on
the power of the king. In 1215, with armies behind them, the lords told King
John to agree to the Magna Carta. Under the Magna Carta, the king had to
follow the law. John didnt want to sign the Magna Carta. In the end, he
broke its rules almost immediately. The lords attacked him with their armies.
Before he was defeated, John died.
EARLY PARLIAMENTS
Johns nine year old son became King Henry III and the lords went home. As
an adult, Henry decided to start an expensive war in Sicily. He was
interested only in power. They decided to ask Henry for a parliament of
priests, lords and ordinary landowners and businessmen. Without the
agreement of this parliament, the King couldnt have tax money for his
Sicilian war. The King refused to accept a parliament. So there was war
closer to home. The lords defeated King Henry at the Battle of Lewes in
1264. Henry and his son, Prince Edward, were taken prisoner. For the next
18 months England was ruled by a parliament. But Prince Edward escaped,
formed an army and defeated the lords. King Henry was in control again.
Parliament lost much of its power. When Prince Edward became King Edward
I, he needed money for his wars in Scotland. Higher taxes were more
acceptable to the people when they were agreed by a peoples parliament.
For the next few centuries, Parliament started to vote for and against new
laws too.
CHARLES I
When James I died in 1625, his son Charles became king. He started a very
unsuccessful war against the Catholic countries Spain and France.
Parliament tried to stop Charless unfair taxes for the war, so Charles closed
Parliament. Without a parliament, Charles couldnt have his peoples tax
money. He found other, unfair and unpopular, ways to get money. Then,

when Charles made changes to the Church of Scotland. Violent

demonstrations started in South cities. Charles didnt have enough money
for an army to stop the demonstrations. So he had to have a parliament
again. This new parliament didnt act as the king wanted. So Charles closed
it after three weeks. Charles fought the Scots with men who werent
professional soldiers. The Scots won and took control of a large part of the
north of England. Charles had to have another parliament. This parliament
stopped Charless unfair taxes. But Charles needed soldiers again when
there was violence between Catholics and Protestants in the Northern
Ireland. The politicians were worried. Maybe the king will use the soldiers
against them. So they passed a law that Parliament, not the king, was now
in control of the country. And that meant war.
KING AND PARLIAMENT AT WAR
The Kings men won the first battle, but four years later, Charles I was
defeated by Parliament and its army. A court of law decided that Charles
was an enemy of the people. In 1649, he was killed. His son, Charles II, was
made king in Scotland, but Parliament soon defeated the Scots. Charles II
had to escape to the Netherlands, leaving Parliament and the officers of its
army in control of Britain.

THE RETURN OF THE KING

When Cromwell died, his son became Lord Protector. He wasnt a strong
ruler and he couldnt control he army. Charles II was invited by a group of
politicians to return home as king. But Charles didnt like Parliament and for
most of his time as king he ruled without it. That meant no tax money, so he
used money from the King of France.
BRITAINS LAST CATHOLIC KING
Charles II and his wife had no children. When Charles died in 1685, his
Catholic brother James became king. James II started giving all the
important jobs in the army and the universities to Catholics. He tried to get
Catholics into Parliament. This was a bad idea because Catholics were hated
by most of the population. In 1688, a group of politicians invited Prince
William of Orange, the Protestant Dutch husband (and cousin) of Jamess
daughter Mary, to bring his army to England. When Jamess own army joined
Prince William, James escaped to France.
A NEW LAW FOR KINGS AND QUEENS
Parliament was tired of kings who ruled without them. William and his wife
Mary were asked to be king and queen. But first they had to agree to a new
law. There could be no taxes, no army and no new laws without the
agreement of Parliament. Politicians were now chosen every three years.
And no Catholic could ever become king or queen. William and Mary agreed
to Parliaments new law. But the law didnt give Parliament all the power
that some politicians were hoping for. William was a strong king who didnt
leave the important decisions of government to Parliament. Parliament
didnt have to wait for more power. William and Mary had no children, so

Marys sister Anne became queen after him. But when all Annes children
died young, there was a serious problem. When Anne died in 1714, the
German grandson of James Is daughter became King George I. He wasnt
interested in Britain, so Parliament was left in control of the country. And
Parliament was careful that it never lost its power again. After 1714, the
important decisions were made by politicians.
CHAPTER 5
From the 15h century, ordinary people had the same protection under the
law as lords. But nobody imagined that ordinary workers had any real power.
Only people with money could vote for politicians or join Parliament. Poor
people did what they were told. In the late 18 th century, Britain began to
change. Historians now call the changes revolutions because they were so
important. There were new types of job, new towns and new ways of travel.
And there were also new powers and protections for the ordinary workers of
Britain.
REVOLUTION IN THE COUNTRY
Until the 19th century, most people I Britain worked on the land. But in the
18th century, people found new ways to grow food. Farmers never had to
leave a field empty, so they could produce more food. The new ideas for
farms could only work on large areas of land, and most farmers had small
areas in different fields. In the second half of the 18 th century, the
government agreed to give a lot of land to the most powerful landowners.
Many poorer farmers were left with nothing.

REVOLUTION IN TOWNS
In the 18th century, there were changes in the cloth-making business. New
machines helped to make cloth much faster than before. The machines were
too big to keep at home. The worlds first factories were built. Those
factories employed many of the farmers who lost their land to the big
landowners. Soon large towns grew around the factories. Workers werent
paid with money, but with cards that were only accepted in the factory shop.
Adults were paid too little to feed the family. So their children worked in the
factory too, some for eighteen hours a day, and there were a lot of
accidents. The factory owners built houses for their workers, but most of
these were cheap and small, with no clean water. Illness travelled quickly
through the new towns. The factory owners grew richer and richer. But their
workers got no more money when the factory was successful. If workers
started a trade union, they lost their jobs. If they refused to work, they
werent paid. Then their families had no food.
BETTER LAWS FOR WORKERS
Workers became very angry. There were a lot of demonstrations, and some
people wanted a violent British revolution. Ordinary workers didnt own their
own houses, so they couldnt vote. Some cities had no politicians because
they were too new. But old towns with small populations had two politicians.

It was very unfair. Politicians didnt want a revolution, so they slowly gave
workers more control over their lives. After a change in the law in 1825,
workers could finally form trade unions. In 1832, the new cities got their own
politicians and more men could vote. Childrens hours of work were also
controlled in the 1830s, and the Government offered children a few hours a
day of free school lessons. From 1870, all children had to go to school. Child
workers disappeared from the British factories.
VOTES FOR ALL
In the 19th century, more and more men were given the vote, but women
still had no power. The Suffragettes were a group of women who wanted to
change this. In the early 20th century, they went on violent demonstrations.
They shouted at politicians in Parliament. In prison, they refused to eat. But
when the First World War started in 1914, these women stopped fighting the
Government. They did the jobs of the men who were away at war. When the
war ended, some women over the age of 30 and all men over the age of 21
could vote. Finally, in 1928, the rules for women and men became the same.
AN END TO POVERTY
In 1899, new soldiers were needed for a war in South Africa, large numbers
of young men were too unhealthy for the army. The Government decided to
do more for the poor in Britain. In 1906, pay was introduced for people who
couldnt work as a result of illness or old age. After the Second World War
ended in 1945, there was more money from the Government for old people.
There was also money for families with children and for people who couldnt
find work. Schools, hospitals, doctors and dentists were free. Britain was the
first state to protect its people in this way.

CHAPTER 6
In the 1930s, about a quarter of the worlds population was ruled by the
British.
BRITISH AMERICA
In 1620, a group of English Puritans sailed to America in a boat called the
Mayflower. They wanted to practise their religion freely and openly, and this
was impossible in England. They built homes on the east coast of America,
in an area that they called New England. In the next few years, many people
followed them across the Atlantic: Puritans and Catholics for religious
reasons, and businessmen who were interested in trade. In 1763, Britain
defeated France in the Seven Years War and won control of Canada too.
Sometimes there were attacks by the local American Indians, so the British
Americans needed protection. The British government in London wanted
taxes from the Americans to pay for an army. But the Americans had no

politicians in Parliament, so to them the taxes were unlawful. In 1776, they

decided to become independent from Britain. Five years of war followed.
Finally, the British accepted that the US was an independent country. Only
Canada continued to be British.
THE BRITISH IN INDIA
In the 17th century a private English company, the East India Company,
controlled a few ports on the west coast of India. To protect their trade
interests in times of war, the East India Company employed an army of
English officers and Indian men. In 1756 the ruler of Bengal, in north-east
India, attacked British soldiers in his capital, Calcutta. The British sent an
army to defeat the Bengali ruler. From this time the real ruler of Bengal was
the East India Company. Other Indian came under British control. By the
middle of the 19th century, all India was part of the British Empire.
BRITISH LANDS AROUND THE WORLD
The British Empire was also growing in other parts of the world. Criminals
were sent abroad because it was cheaper than prison. They went to America
before it became independent. Then, from 1788, they were sent in large
numbers to Australia. Soon other people were making their homes there too,
and in New Zealand and Canada. If the local people were lucky, they only
lost their land. If they were unlucky, they were killed. The area around Cape
Town in the south of Africa became British in 1806 after a war with the
Dutch. It was a useful place because it was halfway on a ships journey
between Britain and India. Napoleon and his French army invaded Egypt in
1798 but the British destroyed most of Napoleons ships in a battle on the
River Nile.
THE WAR AGAINST NAPOLEON
The British army pushed his soldiers out of Spain and Portugal. Finally, in
1815, he was defeated by Britain and Prussia at the Battle of Waterloo.
EMPIRE IN AFRICA
France and Britain continued to build their empires, in Asia and in Africa.
Other European countries joined them in a race to rule Africa. The British
fought for a long time against the African Zulus and the Dutch-speaking
white Boers for control of South Africa and its gold. They moved north from
there, and south from Egypt, until they controlled land from the top to the
bottom of Africa.
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
By the early years of the 20th century, Germany was Britains biggest enemy.
German factories were becoming more successful than British ones, and the
Germans were starting to build a lot of warships. The British didnt want to
lose their control of the seas. They started to build more warships. At that
time the countries of Europe were grouping together for protection against
their enemies: France and Russia against Germany, Austria-Hungary and
Italy. People from Britain and the Empire fought against the Germans in
Belgium and the north of France, and against the Turks in Gallipoli (northwest Turkey)

THE 1920s AND 1930s

Lands from the German and Turkish empires became British. Much of Ireland
became independent and India wanted independence too. Japans power in
Asia was growing. In the 1930s, many factories closed and workers lost their
jobs. A lot of people were unable to feed their families. When Adolf Hitler
came to power in Germany, the British didnt want another war. There
wasn't enough money for a strong British army. Ad Hitler only wanted land
that Germany lost after the First World War.
THE SECOND WORLD WAR
At first the war went badly for Britain. British soldiers went to France, but
they were soon pushed out again by the powerful German army. By 1940,
France was under German control. Hitler was making plans to invade Britain.
First, he had to win control of the skies above Britain. The Battle of Britain
was the first real air battle in history. The Germans couldnt defeat the
British airmen. Hitler chose to invade Russia, not Britain. His invasion failed.
The US was now fighting on the same side as Britain. They pushed the
Germans out of France. The Russians were pushing the Germans back
through the countries of Eastern Europe. By May 1945, Germany was
defeated and Hitler was dead. But the war in Asia continued. Japan joined
Germany in the war in 1941 and took control of many British lands in Asia.
The Americans defeated the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean. In August 1945,
Japan was defeated.
THE END OF THE EMPIRE
After the Second World War, Britain couldnt keep control of its empire. India
and Pakistan became independent in 1947. Hong Kong stayed British for a
much longer time. In 1997 it became part of China. When the countries of
the Empire became independent, most of them joined the Commonwealth.
This is a group of states that work together on many important matters. The
British queen is still the head of the Commonwealth.
BRITAINS PLACE IN THE WORLD TODAY
Britain is part of the Commonwealth and the European Union, and it works
closely with the US too. Britains days of world power have ended, but it is
still richer and more powerful than most countries in the world. Without its
empire, Britain is a small country again with a big history.

A HISTORY OF BRITAIN: THE SAXONS AND THE NORMANS

ANGLO-SAXONS, VIKINGS AND NORMANS
This is a period of nearly nine hundred years: from the end of Roman rule to
1272. During this time Britain was invaded by many different groups of

people. Each group brought its own customs and traditions, which soon
replaced the old Roman way of life. Gradually the invaders settled and
became Britons themselves.
ANGLO-SAXON SETTLERS
In 282, the Roman legions gradually began to leave Britain to fight in Gaul
(France) against the Barbarian tribes who were invading the Roman Empire.
By 407, there were not enough soldiers left to defend Britain from the Picts
and Scots, fierce raiders from the North. The Anglo-Saxons were strong
soldiers. They defeated the Picts and Scots and, when the Britons asked
them to leave, they refused to go. As time passed more and more AngloSaxons arrived, wanting land and attacking the Britons. Soon they began to
settle in Britain.
ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGES
The Anglo-Saxon settlers rowed up the rivers looking for good places to
build their villages. The best sites were easy to defend and had a good
supply of water and wood.
THE ANSGLO-SAXON KINGDOMS
For about one hundred and fifty years, the Britons fought the Anglo-Saxons,
but by the year 600 the Britons had either been forced to flee to Wales and
the West Country or had become slaves. By 600, Britain was divided into
seven main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. They were often at war, but no single
kingdom was able to conquer the others. At first, Kent was the most
important. In 810, Wessex had become the most powerful.
HOW A KINGDOM WAS ORGANIZED
The King gave gifts of weapons and land to his people. In return they fought
for him. He was advised by a group of councillors called the Witan. The
Thanes were the nobles. They owned a lot of land and were expected to
fight for the king. Some were made ealdormen and acted as judges and
rulers in their areas. The Churls were free peasants who owned some land.
They paid taxes and fought for their thane. They had to take part in village
meetings called folk moots, which were held whenever there were
arguments about land. Slaves could be bought, sold or given away. A slave
could be worth as much as eight oxen. Many were British prisoners taken in
battle, while others were born into slavery. Later, Alfred, King of Wessex,
passed laws allowing slaves to sell things they had made and to own some
property.
CHRISTIANITY
The Anglo-Saxons were pagans, who did not believe in the Christian God.
There were still groups of Christians, some of whom were descended from
the Roman Britons (Celts), living in parts of Ireland and Wales. Gradually,
these Celtic Christians returned to England and Scotland, and began to
convert the Picts, Scots and Anglo-Saxons.

THE SYNOD OF WHITBY, 664

Gradually most of Britain became Christian. The Celtic Christians followed
St. Columba. The southern Christians followed St. Augustine, from Rome.
The argued about many things. A synod, held in Whitby, Yorkshire, settled
the arguments and the two groups of Christians in time united in the Roman
Catholic Church.
VIKING RAIDERS
In 789, the first Viking raiders landed near Weymouth, Dorset. They did little
damage but a few years later, more Vikings returned. They attacked the
monasteries, killing monks, stealing treasure from churches and capturing
slaves. In 851, a huge fleet attacked the South of England.
VIKING SETTLERS
About eighty years after their first attack, the Vikings formed a Great Army
to conquer Britain and seven years later only the kingdom of Wessex
remained free of them. When the Vikings took the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of
Northumbria they Jorvik its Viking Capital. Jorvik became an important Viking
trading centre, where merchants visited from all over the world. It was a rich
town with craftsmen producing beautiful jewellery as well as objects made
from wood and bone. Cloth and wheat were traded for wine and silk from
abroad.
ALFRED THE GREAT
In 871, Alfred became King of Wessex. The Vikings soon attacked his
kingdom, but Alfred managed to escape and hid on the Athelney marshes in
Somerset. He gathered an army an defeated the Biking King, Guthrum, at
the battle of Edington, near Chippenham. The Vikings surrendered. King
Alfred and the Vikings made a treaty. The Vikings were to live in an area
called the Danelaw, where they were allowed to follow Viking customs and
obey the Danes law. Alfred did not trust the Danes. He ordered ships and
fortified towns called burhs to be built to protect England from possible
Viking attack. His new army called the fyrd was divided into two halves. One
half was ready to fight at any time, while the other half farmed the land.
Then, after a time, the two swapped over.
THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE
Alfred wanted to educate his people. He invited teachers to come from
Europe and ordered monks to write books in Anglo-Saxon. One book was an
important history of Britain called the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which told the
story of Britain from the Birth of Christ. Monks also translated the Bible into
Anglo-Saxon.
ALFREDS LAWS

When Alfred became King of Wessex, he found that different laws were used
in different parts of his kingdom. He introduced his own laws from old axon
customs, and many good laws from other kingdoms.
TRIAL BY ORDEAL
If accused people could not find enough oath-helpers, they were tried by
ordeal. The Anglo-Saxons believed that God would judge whether the person
were guilty or not. The accused person either picked a stone out of a pan of
boiling water or carried a bar of red-hot iron for several paces. If the scalded
or burned hand had begun to heal after three days, the person was
innocent.
SPORTS AND PASTIMES
For nearly one hundred years after Alfreds death in 899, the Anglo-Saxons
and the Danes lived in their separate kingdoms. There were problems,
quarrels and wars but during times of peace both groups enjoyed
themselves. The Danes enjoyed sports like weightlifting using heavy
boulders, which showed off their strength, but they also liked gentler
pastimes. We know that they played board games because some have been
found in graves, although the rules are not known.
FEASTING
The Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings loved feasting. The guests ate large
amounts of roast and boiled meat with bread, peas and cabbage. This food
was washed down with vast quantities of beer, wine and mead. There was
much laughter and boasting and, no doubt, some quarrelling and fighting as
well. Viking poets recited poems called sagas, which told of the adventures
and brave deeds of heroes and gods.
ENGLAND AFTER ALFRED
Within thirty year of Alfreds death, England had become a united country.
There were three kings who helped to make the peace. Alfreds son, Edward,
and grandson, Athelstan, conquered the Danelaw. A few years later, Viking
raids from Ireland and Norway were defeated, and Athelstan made peace
with the Welsh and the Northmbrians. King Edgar encouraged the building of
many new monasteries and, at the end of his reign in 975, most of England
was peaceful and prosperous.
DANEGELD
In 980, Danish aids on England began again. The King, Ethelred, was not
able to defeat the invaders so he paid them large amounts of silver and gold
to go. This money (called Danegeld) simply made the Danes eager for more
and they returned in greater numbers. Within forty years, they had
conquered the Anglo-Saxons and King Sweyn of Denmark became the first
Danish King of England.
STRUGGLE FOR THE THRONE
EDWARD THE CONFESSOR

Edward was not a strong king. He rebuilt Westminster Abbey and was later
known as the confessor, which means strong believer in Christianity. Edward
died without a son to follow him. Three men each claimed the right to be the
next king.
WILLIAM, DUKE OF NORMANDY
William was Edwards cousin and claimed that Edward had promised him the
crown of England.
HARALD HARDRADA, KING OF NORWAY
Herald Hardrada was a Viking who wanted to join England to his kingdoms in
Norway and Sweden. He was helped by Tostig, ex-Earl of Northumbria, the
treacherous brother of Harold of Wesex.
HAROLD, EARL OF WESSEX
Harold was the most powerful Anglo-Saxon earl in England. In 1064, he
fought for William and swore to support the Duke of Normandys claim to
the English throne. Harold said later that, just before Edward had died, the
old King had promised him the crown of England.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS
The battle began at nine oclock in the morning on 14 th October 1066. The
English locked their shields together to make a wall and defended the top of
a hill with axes and swords. Late in the afternoon, while the Norman archers
fired high in the air, raining arrows down on the English, the Norman knights
charged again. This time, they broke through the weakened shield wall.
Harold was killed and the rest of his army fled. William marched to London,
burning and destroying buildings and farmland as he went. The city, with no
king and no army to defend it, surrendered.
NORMAN CASTLES
William was now crowned King of England on Christmas Day 1066, and for
the next one hundred years England was ruled by the Normans. There were
over two million Anglo-Saxons in England and only ten thousand Norman
knights. To make it easier to control the people, William and his barons built
castles all over the country. The first castles, which were wooden, were built
very quickly and often the English were forced to do the work. Later castles
were built of stone.
KING AND TENANTS
William owned the whole of England, with all its land and people. He had to
make sure that the Normans would always help one another and support
him. William gave his supporters land on condition that they fought for him.
This was called feudalism. Almost half the land in England was given to
about two hundred tenants-in-chief, who were mostly Norman. The tenantsin-chief (church leaders and barons) held the land only as long as they
swore to be loyal to the King. They divided their land into smaller areas,
called fees (fiefs) and allowed tenants (often knights) to live on them. A
tenant held the land only as long as he swore to be loyal to his baron.

Tenants paid rent by providing soldiers and paying taxes to the barons. In
turn, tenants allowed the peasants to work on their land. Peasants were
allowed to work on land provided they also worked for the tenants and paid
them taxes. A peasant could not leave the land unless the tenant allowed
him to do so.
THE DOMESDAY BOOK
William needed to know more about England. He wanted to find out how
much the land was worth so that he could work out what taxes everyone
should pay. He also wanted to make sure that none of his followers had
taken land which did not belong to them. William sent teams of officials,
called commissioners, to every corner of the country to find out about his
new kingdom. They asked questions in every village. The commissioners
and their clerks wrote down the answers, which were later put into two
volumes called the Domesday Book. Domesday means The Day of
Judgement.

WHAT PEOPLE WORE

Fashions changed greatly during the time of the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings
and the Normans. Most clothes were made of wool or linen, dyed with
vegetables dyes. Mens cloaks were usually fastened on the right shoulder
to leave the sword arm free. When fighting, knights wore armour, made of
iron rings sewn onto a leather coat called a hauberk.
THE CRUSADES
Williams descendants, especially Henry II, the first Plantagenet king, gained
a huge empire in France. However, Henrys son, King Richard I, was more
interested in fighting in the Holy Land. In about 1070, the Turks had
captured the Holy Land and had stopped Christian travellers from visiting
the holy places where Jesus had lived. The Pope ordered all Christians to
recapture the Holy Land. Knights from all over Europe answered his call, but
it was not until 1190 that English knights were led on a Crusade by their
king, Richard I.
THE MAGNA CARTA
The Norman barons, who owned lands in England and France, used their
great riches to build strong castles. By 1215, a number of the barons had
banded together and became so powerful that they forced King John to
grant the Magna Carta (Great Charter). The Great Charter was partly an
agreement that the King should not tax the barons unfairly, but it also gave
a lot of details about how the kingdom should be ruled justly. In later
centuries it was seen as a protection of peoples freedom. Under Henry III,
who came to the throne at the age of nine, a group of barons, led by Simon
de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, became very powerful. At one point, they
actually ruled England in place of the king.

A HISTORY OF BRITAIN: THE ROMANS

THE ROMANS
The Iron Age Britons were conquered by the Romans. Britain became part of
the mighty Roman Empire, which stretched from what is now north of
England to the Red Sea. Many Britons were forced to accept the Roman way
of life.
BRITAIN BEFORE THE ROMAN INVASION
People called Celts came to Britain from Europe. Gradually, they mixed with
the people who were already there. All those living in Britain became known
as Britons. They were divided into groups called tribes.
BRITISH TOWNS BEFORE THE ROMANS
The Celts brought with them the skill of making iron tools and weapons.
They built towns, which became trading centres. People came to the towns
to swap food an animals from their farms for pottery, jewellery, silver and
iron goods. Some British tribes already traded with the Roman Empire,
which covered most of Europe. They sold lead, gold, tin, wheat, slaves,
cattle, hunting dogs and pearls to the Romans.
NOBLES AND DRUIDS
The leaders of the British tribes were called nobles. They drove chariots into
battle while ordinary warriors fought on foot with spears and swords. Many
painted or tattooed themselves with a blue dye called woad. It is thought
that the Druids, or priests, had great power. Little is known of their religion
except that they believed in many gods and they may have sacrificed

humans. They had fled to Britain from Europe when the Romans had tried to
stamp out their cruel religion.