The Church in Norman England

The Church was at the centre of medieval life. It ran parishes, monasteries and cathedrals; it taught people how to reach heaven; and it was one of the biggest landowners in England.

Bishops and abbots were also part of government. They advised the king, sat in his council and, like barons, owed him knights for their lands.

Significance: whoever controlled the Church's leaders had a powerful way of controlling England. William made sure those leaders were men he could trust.

Stigand was Archbishop of Canterbury in 1066. The Pope did not accept him: he had become archbishop while the previous one was still alive, and he also held the rich bishopric of Winchester at the same time. William kept him at first, to avoid trouble, but in 1070 Stigand was removed, with the Pope's approval.

He was replaced by Lanfranc, an Italian scholar and William's trusted adviser, who had been Abbot of St Stephen's in Caen. Lanfranc became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070.

Significance: Stigand's removal pleased the Pope, who had backed the Conquest, and put a loyal reformer in charge of the English Church.

Under William and Lanfranc, the Church was Normanised and reformed:

• Normans in charge: English bishops and abbots were replaced by Normans. By 1087, Wulfstan of Worcester was the only English bishop left.
• Canterbury in charge: Lanfranc made the Archbishop of York accept Canterbury's authority, so the Church had one leader.
• Church courts: cases about the Church and clergy were moved out of the shire and hundred courts into separate Church courts. You'll meet these again in H3.
• Stricter rules: Church councils tried to stop priests marrying and stop Church posts being bought and sold.
• New buildings: cathedrals were rebuilt in the Norman style, many in towns, such as Lincoln.

Change: the Church became more disciplined, and more closely tied to the king.

Change:

• a new ruling class: almost all land, earldoms and Church posts were held by Normans
• castles across the country, and the hated Forest laws
• French spoken by the ruling class, and Latin used for government documents instead of English.

Continuity:

• most people still lived in villages and farmed in the same way
• shires, hundreds, sheriffs, writs and the geld all carried on
• English was still the language of most people.

Judgement: life changed most for the people at the top. For most peasants, the biggest difference was who their lord was, and the new taxes and duties he demanded.