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Y303: English Government and the Church 1066–1216

  • 12 subtopics
  • 29 things to know
  • Unit group 3
  • Thematic study and interpretations, one unit of twenty-one

What Y303: English Government and the Church 1066–1216 covers

English Government and the Church 1066–1216 is unit Y303 of OCR History A, one of the twenty-one options in unit group 3, the thematic study and historical interpretations; a student sits one of them. Its four key topics and three depth studies are main features of central government, the organisation and administration of local government, the government of the Church in England, the role of the archbishops of Canterbury, the reign of Henry I, the Civil War 1139–1154, the reign of Richard I in England. 378 recall questions across 12 subtopics.

Where it is assessed

Unit group 3

Thematic study and historical interpretations, one unit of twenty-one.

Check the OCR specification ↗

The 12 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Describe the sheriff's role.

Evaluation

Why did the county farm encourage sheriffs to abuse their office, and what did Henry II do about it?

Process

Name the three main possessory assizes and say what each decided.

Key term

What did Lanfranc do to reorganise the English Church?

Numbers

What is the evidence for the Exchequer under Henry I, and why is it problematic?

Evaluation

Why did Stephen create so many earldoms, and how is the policy interpreted?

Key term

What was the legacy of Stephen's reign, and how do historians assess it?

Who and when

How did Longchamp fall from power?

Key term

What is the case for regarding Richard's English government as a success?

Evaluation

Which clause of the 1215 settlement fixed a royal court in one place, and why did that matter?

Key term

What difference did the loss of Normandy in 1204 make to English government?

Numbers

How was the primacy question first settled under William I?

Process

What was unusual about several English cathedral chapters compared with the rest of Latin Europe?

Who and when

Who gained more from the 1107 settlement?

Key term

Name three men who served as justiciar between 1100 and 1216.

Key term

How was the English Church divided at the highest level?

Key term

Describe the administrative structure of an English diocese.

Key term

How have historians characterised Henry I's personality and style of rule?

Who and when

Why did Normandy remain a source of rebellion after 1106?

Key term

How was the issue of free elections handled in practice after 1107?

Key term

What happened at the battle of Lincoln in 1141?

Key term

What figure was given for unlicensed castles in the war, and how is it treated?

Key term

Name three ways Richard's government raised revenue after 1194.

Evaluation

How did feudal incidents strengthen the Crown's position in central government?

Key term

List the kinds of case that fell to the Church courts.

Who and when

What friction did monastic cathedral chapters create?

Who and when

Why did Henry II's choice of Becket as archbishop go so badly wrong?

Key term

Why do historians disagree about the significance of the Coronation Charter?

Key term

Who was William Longchamp?

Take Y303: English Government and the Church 1066–1216 further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

  • Justiciar vs Curia regis

    Justiciar: the chief officer who governed England in the king's absence. Curia regis: the king's court in its widest sense, both council and tribunal.

  • County farm vs Returnable writ

    County farm: the fixed annual sum the sheriff owed the exchequer for his shire. Returnable writ: the order requiring the sheriff to report back what he had done to execute it.

  • Primacy dispute vs Judges-delegate

    Primacy dispute: the long quarrel between Canterbury and York over which see led the English Church. Judges-delegate: the local clergy commissioned by the pope to hear a case on his behalf.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What was the royal household, and why did it matter to government after 1066?

    Model answer

    It was the permanent body of servants, clerks and knights who travelled with the king, and because kingship was itinerant the household was the government wherever the king happened to be.

  2. 2

    Which household department handled the king's money on the move?

    Model answer

    The chamber handled cash and day-to-day expenditure as the court travelled, and from the later twelfth century the wardrobe developed alongside it as a second household treasury.

  3. 3

    Explain how the Exchequer got its name.

    Model answer

    It was named after the chequered cloth spread over the accounting table, whose squares were used like an abacus to reckon the sheriffs' accounts in Roman numerals.

  4. 4

    How often did the Exchequer sit, and what happened at each session?

    Model answer

    It sat twice a year: at Easter the sheriff paid a preliminary instalment and received a tally, and at Michaelmas he presented his full account, which was audited and enrolled.

  5. 5

    What are the Pipe Rolls, and what makes them so valuable to historians of Angevin government?

    Model answer

    They are the annual enrolled accounts of the Exchequer, and because they survive as an almost unbroken series from the mid-twelfth century they allow royal income, debts and local officials to be tracked year by year.

  6. 6

    Outline the work of the chancery.

    Model answer

    It was the royal writing office under the chancellor, which drafted and sealed writs and charters and had custody of the great seal.

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Y303: English Government and the Church 1066–1216 revision questions

What does Y303: English Government and the Church 1066–1216 cover in OCR A-Level History A?
12 subtopics: main features of central government: the household, exchequer, chancery and justiciar, main features of central government: role and power of the crown, reasons for rebellion and its impact, the organisation and administration of local government: sheriffs, local courts and the growth of the common law, the government of the church in england: the primacy dispute and the church courts, the government of the church in england: administrative structures and role of monasticism, the role of the archbishops of canterbury: relationship with the crown and the papacy, depth study: the reign of henry i — personality of henry i and role of roger of salisbury, depth study: the reign of henry i — local justice and government, henry i and the papacy, depth study: the civil war 1139–1154 — causes of rebellion and civil war, extent of disturbances, depth study: the civil war 1139–1154 — central government, the earldoms and the church, depth study: the reign of richard i in england — finances and william longchamp and depth study: the reign of richard i in england — government in the absence of richard. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is Y303: English Government and the Church 1066–1216 organised?
By the OCR H505 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

Every question in Y303: English Government and the Church 1066–1216, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

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