The Great Turning Points of British History Read Online Free PDF Page B

Domesday. In Scotland, Malcolm found himself similarly having to accept Norman overlordship, but it was not until his defeat and death that his sons oversaw the establishment of Norman barons in the Lowlands, including such famous names as Bruce and Balliol.
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    The England that William invaded was a stable and centralized state, but regional kingships or Viking influence remained in other parts of the British Isles. England was prosperous in the 1050s, with a growing population and expanding economy, but there were serious threats. Viking armies had displaced the English king Æthelred, bringing Danish kings to England between 1016 and 1042, and only wars in Scandinavia thereafter curtailed renewed invasion. Æthelred’s son Edward was middle-aged when he came to the throne, and ageing by the 1050s. His marriage to Edith, Godwine’s daughter, failed to produce an heir. The question of who should succeed was one of the most compelling political issues in Western Europe.
    What sort of place was this England? It comprised arguably the most centralized state in Atlantic Europe. The court was well organized, with a rudimentary chancery; the monarchy was long established and strong, supported by estate revenues, land tax and profits from towns and industrial centres. Its coinage was regularly updated, with the head of the king displayed. The Church was well respected, with senior appointments managed by the crown. The administration was capable of raising large, well-equipped armies and naval forces. There were several major cities, such as London, Winchester and York, and around thirty smaller ones. Ships operating out of harbours scattered around the coasts from York to the West Country fished extensively and traded with the Continent, while Bristol and Chester shared the smaller Irish Sea trade. The majority of the population made their living from farming. Villages were coming into existence although many areas were still characterized by dispersed settlement. Manorial churches had become far more common over the previous century. Rural society operated within the structure of the shires, each with its fortified town that provided defences and markets and acted as centres for justice, taxation and ecclesiastical organization.
    Ireland consisted of competing tribal kingships, with no urban centres, other than Viking Dublin and some Scandinavian-founded coastal sites, although there were major ecclesiastical centres, such as Armagh. Wales was divided between regional kingships, although Gruffudd ap Llywelyn (1039–63) had success in securing power in most of these, and had even constructed alliances in the English marches. Scotland had a single kingship, but regions of the north and west were under Scandinavian rule. Malcolm III (1058–93) exercised some influence in English affairs, both in terms of his relationships with a whole string of Northumbrian earls but also, following the Norman Conquest, via his marriage to Margaret, the sister of Edgar the Ætheling. Scotland, too, had virtually no urban development in this period and the kings were non-coin issuing.

OTHER KEY DATES IN THIS PERIOD
    1051 Godwine falls from favour . King Edward and Earl Godwine, his father-in-law (and Harold’s father), quarrelled over the royal appointment of a Norman as archbishop of Canterbury and the earl’s refusal to punish the men of Dover for attacking Edward’s French brother-in-law. A meeting at Gloucester led to confrontation and a second meeting at London, on 24 September, led to the flight of the old earl and his family abroad, most of them seeking aid in Flanders while Harold left for Ireland. Edward sent his wife Edith, Godwine’s daughter, to a nunnery. Although it would be reversed the next year, the fall from power of Godwine’s family seemed complete and Edward attempted to appoint his own men to exercise power under his kingship.
    1054 Macbeth is defeated . Siward of Northumbria led an army into Scotland against