[Music] William of Normandy I mean William the conquerer needed a new way of doing things once he conquered England he spent most of his time away he needed a system of strong government to get things done while he was mucking about in France William the Conqueror didn't muck about he used so much wonderful money to maintain control over both his territories fund his military campaigns and build his castles a reliable system of soldiers was required to see off any threats and defend the country that's a lot of changes I fear change actually he continued with some of the existing anglo-saxon systems and so for all these reasons William the Conqueror developed the feudal system [Music] when we normals took control we modify the existing hierarchy of land ownership to create the feudal system the feudal system had four levels on the top level the kin the next level the tenants in chief which included around 200 Norman barons and bishops below this Knights or under tenants weight on the bottom were the peasants sometimes known as serfs or villains the Kim directly owned 20% of the land 25% was owned by the church and the rest was managed by the levels below borrowing land under this agreement was called holding land in tenure if you held land in tenure you were known as a vassal and your feudal superior was a Lord tenants in chief were the closest and most loyal to the king they promised the king money and an army they provided soldiers and had a duty to garrison the king's castles for forty days per year Knights served in the army and personally protected the tenants in chief and the peasants how brave in return they were given land and could be known as lord of the manor they gave a bit of their land to us peasants but we had to obey the lord of the manor in return we gave him crops and had to work on his land for a bunch of days without pay this was known as labour service some of us were free but most couldn't leave the Lord's land without permission that's the feudal system it worked well it worked well for those above us don't complain you still have your health and you're a radish if the vassal failed to deliver their side of the agreement the penalty was forfeiture which meant the king took your land back we had some very fancy ceremonies and contracts to remind us we would formally pay homage for holding the land in tenure the vassal kneeled before the Lord bareheaded and without weapons the vassal would class their hands as if in prayer and stretch them out to submit himself to the Lord the Lord would then grasp the hands and declare his acceptance he would swear an oath of fealty which is a promise to be faithful it was a religious act the church had a big say in things it was believed that if you broke the oath you'd be punished by God the changes in power and landownership needed to be recorded and confirmed in 1085 William launched a massive undertaking a survey he basically invented market research it was known as the Doomsday survey because the lists were so detailed it was as if God was carrying out his last judgement on doomsday doom was the English term for judgment or law the survey was completed in less than a year it was a record of who owned what in virtually the whole country it was really easy when they got to me the country was divided into seven circuits and the visits began commissioners toured each circuit and asked a bunch of questions about land ownership and changes across the period 1066 to 1085 tenants in chief verified the returns to make sure they were an accurate record the survey didn't cover the whole country some areas weren't fully under normal control yet the survey was an important part of Norman control and it allowed William to charge rent and tax people more efficiently now he could pay for that expensive army considering he couldn't read and couldn't speak English he was pretty organized he was tremendous I he was so tremendous that at his funeral his body couldn't fit into his coffin and he exploded Mahler's ram because the smell was so rancid interesting anecdotes peasant for that I shall not torture thanks he's a summary sheet [Music] you