What will you be doing over the Easter break? >>

history paper 2

i have my history paper 2 tommorrow and tbh i havent done much. i was wondering if someone could mark these answers i wrote and recieve some feedback. Thanks :smile:

Explain why william ordered the domesday survey (12 marks)

One reason why william ordered the domesday survey to be carried out in 1085 was because it allowed william to gain financial power in England.For example the domesday survey showed the incomes and what all of his tenants in chief owned. After seeing the immense amount of wealth that the 1000 tenants in chief had,william decided that tenants in chief would no longer be exempt from geld tax and geld tax became heavy in 1086,hence allowing william to increase his already impressive income. This led to the power of tenants in chief to be limited and therefore secured William's control in England,by limiting their wealth. This was essential for William because he was beginning to face revolts from normans evident in the revolt of the earls in 1075, which involved two norman earls : Ralph and robert. Therefore one reason why William decided to order the domesday survey was because it allowed him to gain great financial influence and prevent future revolts by limiting the power of the tenants in chief.

Another reason why william decided to order the domesday survey was because it allowed william to gain military power,enabling him to combat military threats from vikings and danes. This is evident in William being able to see how many knights were in england. The domesday survey recorded 8000 undertenants most of which were knights,who would be provided by tenants in chief for the king every 40 days a year. As a result, william was able to see how many knights he was losing out on,which therefore led to the size of the english fyrd increasing. This was especially important because William was facing the impending threat from the vikings in 1085 and by increasing the number of knights, William was able to defend his country. Therefore one reason why William ordered the domesday survey was because it allowed him to increase his military power,hence allowing him to defend England from viking invasions.

The final reason why william ordered the domesday survey was because it benefitted the saxon population in a legal sense. This was due to the fact that the domesday survey was unbiased by norman perspectives and contained records of saxons claiming of being subjected to illegal land grabs, most of which were due to the corruption of norman sheriffs. As a result, William was able to settle land disputes easily by using these claims to allow Saxons to get their land back. This led to William being able to contain Saxon resentment to Norman rule evident in the numerous rebellions during William's rule such as the edwin and Morcar rebellion in 1068 by confronting land grabs and resolving land disputes.

The main reason for the harrying of the north was the rebellions in the north. How far do you agree? (16 marks)

I agree with the statement : “The main reason for the harrying of the north was the rebellions in the north.” because the rebellions in the north demonstrated a profound danger in william’s attempts in maintaining control over saxon rebellion, by straining the military power of the english fyrd and the many previous measures that were put in place to control the north like Rober Cumin.

I agree with the statement which argues that the main reason why the harrying of the north occurred was because of the rebellions in the north because they strained the military strength of the english fyrd. For example during Edgar Aethling's rebellion in 1069 saxon rebels killed the governor of york and his troops, causing Edgar to return from scotland to launch an attack on York. Despite William being able to contain this fairly quickly and installing a castle in York,the rebellion led to several others such as the anglo-danish attack on York which then led to smaller rebellions in marker earldoms like shrewsbury and chester. This led to William's troops becoming exhausted by the ongoing threats, proving that installing castles and using the army were ineffective. As a result, William led to more drastic measures like the Harrying of the North which in the long term led to 60 percent of yorkshire being classed as waste land. It was classified as waste because of the lack of financial activity worthy of being taxed. By destroying the economy in the North William was able to ensure Saxons did not have the finance nor the resources to launch any more rebellions. Therefore I agree that the main reason why William used the harrying of the north was because of the devastating impact it was having on William's royal control and his military power.

Some may argue that the main reason why William used the harrying of the north was to contain the threat of foreign invasions from vikings and danes. This threat’s importance is highlighted in the anglo-danish attack on york where King Sweyn sent a fleet to support Edgar’s rebellion which killed 3000 normans. Despite William's attempting to control the danes, they promptly escaped to the Lincolnshire coast. It was clear that they would return one day because of their ability to escape so William decided to see the harrying of the north as a method to ensure even if they did return, they couldn't survive. William destroyed all crops and livestock and used salt on the soil to ensure no crops would grow. Therefore, making it impossible for the danes to survive in the north if they ever returned. However I still believe that William aimed to prevent Saxon rebellion because up until this point there were no Danish -only revolts and instead the danes frequently used Saxon upheaval as an opportunity to invade too. Therefore it was essential that william eliminate the saxon threat so that the danes would not return and use william’s vulnerability to their advantage.

Some may also argue that the main reason why william launched the harrying of the north was to avenge the lives of normans that were lost. For example in Edgar Athelings revolt saxon rebels managed to murder the earl of northumbria Rober Cumin who was intentionally put in place to control saxon unrest. As a result, William made it his duty to contain the Saxon rebellion and punish rebels by blinding them, to avenge the Norman lives lost. However, william’s attempts to contain the rebellions failed as rebels scattered when william arrived 0 justice hadn’t been served.Therefore, william used the harrying of the north to properly serve justice by killing 100,000 people and ruining the lives of the survivors by leaving them with no choice but to sell themselves into slavery, to prevent any further norman lives being lost. However I still believe that the main reason why william used the harrying of the north was because of saxon rebellions because ultimately this is what caused the death of robert cumin,along with 1000s of norman troops.

In conclusion,i strongly believe that the main reason why william used the harrying of the north was to contain saxon rebellions because they had a long term impact on the military strength of the english fyrd, and ultimately proved that all other methods of control like installing castles and new earls like robert cumin were futile. These methods only further catalysed saxon resentment towards william’s rule which convinced william to use violence to contain them. Other factors like preventing danish invasion and vengeance for norman lives lost are heavily influenced by saxon rebellions.