Normans attack the Saxon village
Riots and Rebellions
William, Duke of Normandy was crowned King of England, in London, Westminster Abbey on Christmas 1066. After the Battle of the Hastings, William and his army marched to London, the capital of England. During this journey, he made stops to many towns along the way, to ensure that they will surrender their loyalty to him and accept his triumph over the English crown. Following his coronation, William ultimately changed the lives of English people for ever.
It is recorded by Jim Bradburry, in his book The Battle of Hastings, William was a despised King by the majority of the Saxon population. This was on the grounds of his ethnic background, as William and his barons were perceived by many as French-speaking foreigners on English soil. Bradburry further states that many of William’s actions angered the people, such as reducing their freedom by enforcing new laws, taking the land of Saxon Earls and giving it to his Barons or bishops as well as forcing the Normandy culture on the people, changing the English culture forever. Due to Williams unpopularity in his newly conquered nation, it is said by Peter Murren in is book 1066: The Battle of York and Stamford Bridge and the Hastings, many rebellions took place in many towns such as Kent, Yorkshire and East Anglia. From here, William decided to take violent military action in controlling these riots and rebellions, which included the destruction and slaughter of the towns which rebelled.
An example of this is the rebellion in York. This is where thousands of Saxons rose up and rebelled against his rule, which as a great movement. As a result William ordered that every village within Yorkshire must be destroyed. The cattle, sheep and pigs were slaughtered and stores of food were set on fire, which caused the death of thousands of peasants who died of cold and hunger in the winter. This increased his bad reputation, resulting in more riots, as well as his hardship to control the whole nation.
Thus it can be seen, that William was a very unpopular King, which lead to the numerous amount of riots and rebellions which occurred during his reign. Another result due to his enormous unpopularity, it ultimately took five, long hard years of fighting before William actually being able to conquer and rule the whole of England. It can be seen that William ultimate impacted on the lives of the people of England greatly. The whole new process of a new King caused chaos and disruption within the Kingdom, ultimately resulting to the death of some English people and destruction of towns.