12. The Invasion of the French
The Normans led by William the Conqueror first landed on the south coast of England at Pevensey on the 28th September 1066. Harold Godwinson was defeated at Hastings on the 14th October 1066. William was crowned King in London on 25th December 1066.
William granted extensive landholdings to his followers and confiscated land owned by any English elite who resisted
The main change to village life was the formal elimination of slavery. Domesday later listed 28,000 slaves in England. The Church disapproved of slavery, but the change was also due to the high cost of maintenance of slaves which had to be borne by the Lord of the Manor. This was the start of the manorial system, although its roots go back through the Saxon period to the Roman occupation. Peasants lost status and became indistinguishable from non-serfs, but this process was already underway.
There was an increase in nucleated settlements rather than scattered farms, but the lifestyle of peasants did not change.
The Normans simply took over the Anglo Saxon administration of government based on the manorial system, an essential element of feudal Europe, the political, economic and social system, by which medieval peasants were rendered dependent upon the control of their land by the Lord.
The basic unit was the manor, a self-sufficient landed estate, controlled by the Lord who enjoyed many rights, while the peasant had serfdom. Serfs were tenant farmers bound to a heredity plot of land, and to the will of the landlord. The Serf rented land from the Lord, he fed and clothed himself from his labours on the land, but had to give a high proportion of grain produced to the Lord. The Lord could also compel the serf to cultivate his (the Lords) land called the demesne.
Serfs had to use the Lord’s mill and no other. A serf could not leave his holding or his village without the Lord’s consent. He could not marry, change his occupation, or dispose of his property without the Lord’s consent. He was often harshly treated. The Lord’s agents disciplined the serfs, rendering them completely servile. Slaves had no rights and no land. They could not be tenants. This situation is reminiscent of the privately held Roman estates worked by gangs of slaves.
In the 14th C serfs became free peasantry. The increased power of central and local government could now enforce peasant / landlord contracts without the need for servility.
