Establishing control

Winning one battle did not make William king. In London, Archbishop Aldred and the city's leaders wanted Edgar the Aethling as king, and Earls Edwin and Morcar promised to fight for him.

William waited near Hastings for the English leaders to come to him. When they didn't, he took Dover and Canterbury, then marched round London, burning and plundering the countryside, to cut the city off.

Cause: the destruction put pressure on London's leaders. Edwin and Morcar did not raise a new army, and support for Edgar fell away.

At Berkhamsted, Edgar the Aethling, Archbishop Aldred, Earls Edwin and Morcar and the leading men of London came to William and submitted to him. They swore oaths of loyalty and gave him hostages, and William promised to be a good lord to them.

Significance: the English leaders accepted William without another battle. At first he let Edwin and Morcar keep their earldoms, but in 1067 he took them, with Edgar, to Normandy, where he could keep an eye on them.

William was crowned in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066, by Archbishop Aldred of York. He chose Aldred rather than Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, because the Pope did not accept Stigand as a proper archbishop.

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, William promised to govern as well as any king before him. According to the Norman monk Orderic Vitalis, when the crowd inside the abbey shouted their approval, Norman guards outside thought it was an attack and set fire to nearby houses.

Significance: crowned and anointed in Edward's own abbey, William could present himself as Edward's rightful heir, with God's approval, and not just a conqueror.

William had promised his followers land. He took the lands of Harold, his family and the English who had died at Hastings, and gave them to his most loyal men. For example:

• Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, William's half-brother, became Earl of Kent.
• William FitzOsbern, his close friend, became Earl of Hereford.

In return they owed William loyalty and soldiers. You'll see how this worked in The feudal system.

Consequences: rewarding his men kept them loyal, and put Normans in control across England. But it angered the English who lost land, and helped cause the rebellions of 1068–71.

The border with Wales, called the Marches, was dangerous. The Welsh often raided England, and English rebels could find allies there.

William created three smaller, compact earldoms along the border, each given to a trusted Norman:

These Marcher earls had special powers: they could build castles without the king's permission, their sheriffs answered to them rather than the king, and they were encouraged to win land in Wales.

Significance: the border was defended without the king being there. But powerful earls could also turn against him, as one did in the Revolt of the Earls in 1075.

The Normans built motte-and-bailey castles all over England. Their key features:

• the motte: a tall mound of earth, with a wooden tower, the keep, on top
• the bailey: a courtyard at the bottom, with stables, barracks and stores
• a wooden fence (palisade) and a ditch around both.

They could be built in weeks, using forced English labour. Many were built in towns, where English homes were knocked down to make room. Many were later rebuilt in stone.

Significance: castles gave knights a safe base from which to control the area around, and were a constant reminder of Norman power. They help explain how a few thousand Normans could rule perhaps two million English people.