From the Norman conquest to the Medieval society (11th-15th centuries)

The Battle of Hastings on 14^th October 1066 settled the fate of an entire ruling class, but it took 20 years to suppress internal resistance and invasions from outside. A massive programme of castle building was vital to the completion of the Conquest and, as the Normans tightened their grip on England, there was a parallel dispossession of the landowning “Anglo-Saxon” nobility. The Normans of the 11^th century, unlike their Viking ancestors, had integrated with the existing Frankish post-Carolingian civilisation. Devoutly Christian, enthusiastic builders of churches and monasteries, their Norman Romanesque style had already influenced English church architecture before the Conquest. The joint Anglo-Norman kingdom not surprisingly generated a considerable amount of cross-channel “ferry” traffic. French remained the language of the court until the 15^th century when Henry IV (1399-1413) became the first King whose mother tongue was English.

The institutional strength of feudal monarchies developed during the 12^th century, with royal authority in both England and France both strengthened and extended over their respective domains. With the Plantagenet expansion (1128-1189), the Angevin Empire (1154 - early 13^th) and England’s growing territorial ambitions in France, the scene was set for a struggle. Henry II’s acquisition of the Duchy of Guyenne through his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine would ultimately lead to the “Hundred Years’ War” (1337-1453). By then, cross-Channel raids from both sides had become almost a way of life. In 1338, Southampton was sacked by the French with the help of the pirate Grimaldi; in 1410 Fécamp was burnt down by the English. Continuing attacks did not prevent maritime links from continuing to prosper. England and France were emerging as autonomous and self-contained kingdoms.

More generally, Western Europe was undergoing a series of profound material and social changes, with a dramatic rise in agricultural production sustained by strong population growth.