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Norman England, c1066–c1100

Feudalism and government

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2 section B

Overview

The feudal system, tenants-in-chief, homage, the servitium debitum and subinfeudation, patronage, the fate of the thegns, Norman changes to Anglo-Saxon government and law, trial by ordeal and by combat, the murdrum fine, inheritance and wardship, and the Domesday survey and the Oath of Salisbury.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

How did the feudal system bind the great men of Norman England to the king?

Key term

How was Anglo-Saxon England organised for local government before 1066?

Key term

Who were the tenants-in-chief?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How did the feudal system link the holding of land to service?

    Model answer

    It was an arrangement in which land was granted in return for service, so that everyone below the king held their land from someone above them.

  2. 2

    Who were the tenants-in-chief?

    Model answer

    The great barons and bishops who held their land directly from the king in exchange for supplying knights and loyalty.

  3. 3

    What happened in the ceremony of homage?

    Model answer

    A public ceremony in which a man knelt, placed his hands between his lord's hands and swore to be faithful to him.

  4. 4

    What was the servitium debitum?

    Model answer

    It was the fixed number of knights a tenant-in-chief owed the king, usually for forty days' service each year.

  5. 5

    What is subinfeudation, and why did a great lord practise it?

    Model answer

    It is a tenant-in-chief granting part of his land to knights beneath him, so that they in turn owed him military service.

  6. 6

    How had landholding changed in England by the end of William's reign?

    Model answer

    Almost all the great estates had passed to Normans, and hardly any English lord of the old ruling class still held land directly from the king.

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