Norman Conquest, period in English history following the defeat (1066) of King Harold Harold, 1022?–1066, king of England (1066). The son of Godwin , earl of Wessex, he belonged to the most powerful noble family of England in the reign of Edward the Confessor . Through Godwin's influence Harold was made earl of East Anglia .
..... Click the link for more information. of England by William, duke of Normandy, who became William I William I or William the Conqueror, 1027?–1087, king of England (1066–87). Earnest and resourceful, William was not only one of the greatest of English monarchs but a pivotal figure in European history as well.
..... Click the link for more information. of England. The conquest was formerly thought to have brought about broad changes in all phases of English life. More recently historians have stressed the continuity of English law, institutions, and customs, but the subject remains one of controversy. The initial military conquest of England was quick and brutal. The members of the Anglo-Saxon upper class who were not killed in the battle of Hastings were almost all involved in the rebellion from 1068 to 1070 and were either killed or deprived of their lands. Thus a Norman aristocracy was superimposed on the English, and the new elite brought with it Norman feudal customs (see feudalism feudalism (fy
..... Click the link for more information. ), which were reinforced by the need for cohesion and mutual military support among the fairly small group of conquerors. Thus the rebellions among the Norman barons were minor and short-lived, the interests of stability being paramount. To consolidate his position William used the existing Anglo-Saxon administrative system, which functioned as part of a centralized monarchical tradition. It was this tradition, as adapted by the Normans, that gave English feudalism its uniquely cohesive nature. There was little change in the administrative and judicial systems during the Norman period (usually defined as ending with the accession of the Plantagenet Henry II in 1154) and later developments were not in the nature of Norman superimpositions. William I's archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc Lanfranc (lăn`frăngk), d. 1089, Italian churchman and theologian, archbishop of Canterbury (1070–89), b. Pavia.
..... Click the link for more information. , established a separate system of canon law courts, effectively asserted the supremacy of his archdiocese, and brought the English church into closer contact with developments in Europe, particularly with the reforms of Pope Gregory VII. The Norman kings, however, successfully resisted papal encroachment on their control over episcopal appointments. The period saw many churches and castles built, the latter chiefly on the south and east coasts and on the Welsh and Scottish borders (see Norman architecture Norman architecture, term applied to the buildings erected by the Normans in all lands that fell under their dominion. It is used not only in England and N France, but also in S Italy (Apulia) and in Sicily.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Norman French became the language of the court and upper classes, and of literature, and had great effect on the development of the English language English language, member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages ). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Bibliography

See D. J. A. Matthew, The Norman Conquest (1966); D. C. Douglas, The Norman Achievement, 1050–1100 (1969); F. M. Stenton, The First Century of English Feudalism, 1066–1166 (2d ed. 1961) and Anglo-Saxon England (3d ed. 1971); J. LePatourel, Feudal Empires: Norman and Plantagenet (1984).

Norman Conquest

(1066) Military conquest of England by William, duke of Normandy (later William I), mainly through his victory over Harold II at the Battle of Hastings. Edward the Confessor had designated William as his successor in 1051. When Harold, duke of Wessex, was crowned king of England in 1066 instead, William assembled an invasion force of 5,000 knights. After defeating Harold's army near Hastings on October 14 and advancing to London, he was crowned king in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066. Native revolts continued until 1071, notably in Northumbria. The Norman Conquest brought great social and political changes to England, linking the country more closely with western Europe and replacing the old English aristocracy with a Norman aristocracy. The English language was subjected to a long period of influence by Anglo-French, which remained in literary and courtly use until the reign of Edward III and in legal reporting until the 17th century.