2. The Shaping of the Nation （1066-1381）

2.1　Norman Rule （1066-1381）

William’s Rule （ 1066-1087 ）

Under William, the feudal system in England was completely established. According to this system, the king owned all the land personally. William gave his barons large estates in England in return for a promise of military service and a proportion of the land’s produce. These estates were scattered far and wide over the country, so that those who held them could not easily combine to rebel the king. The barons, who had become William’s tenants-in-chief, parceled out land to the lesser nobles, knights and freemen, also in return for goods and services. At the bottom of the feudal scale were the villeins or serfs. One peculiar feature of the feudal system of England was that all landowners must take the oath of allegiance，not only to their immediate lord, but also to the king.

King Henry II and His Reforms

Henry II took some measures to consolidate the monarchy. He forced the Flemish mercenaries to leave England, recalled grants of Royal lands made by his previous king Stephen, demolished many castles built in Stephens’ time, strengthened and widened the powers of his sheriffs and relied for armed support upon a militia composed of English freemen.

King Henry II greatly strengthened the Court and extended its judicial work. He divided the whole country into six circuits and appointed justices to each. Cases were therefore heard before the intermittent justices who applied the law impartially. During his reign, a common law²was gradually established in place of the previous laws of the local barons. He also introduced a new jury system to replace the old ordeal-based trial system. Besides, he shifted the trial of clergymen charged with criminal offenses from the Bishop’s court to the King’s court.

2.2　The Great Charter

Great Charter was signed by King John in 1215 under the press of the barons. It consists of sixty-three clauses. Its important provisions are as follows: （1） no tax should be made without the approval of the Grand Council³; （2） no freemen should be arrested, imprisoned ordeprived of their property; （3） the Church should possess all its rights, together with freedom of elections; （4） London and other towns should retain their traditional rights and privileges, and （5） there should be the same weights and measures throughout the country. Although the Great Charter has long been popularly regarded as the foundation of English liberties, it was a statement of the feudal and legal relationships between the Crown and the barons, a guarantee of the freedom of the Church and a limitation of the powers of the king. The spirit of the Great Charter was the limitation of the powers of the king, keeping them within the bounds of the feudal law of the land.

2.3　The Origins of the English Parliament

The Great Council is known to be the prototype of the current British Parliament. In 1265, Simon de Montfort summoned the Great Council, together with two knights from each county and two citizens from each town. It later developed into the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Its main role was to offer advice. There were no elections or parties. And the most important part of Parliament was the House of Lords.

2.4　The Hundred Years’ War and Its Consequences

The Hundred Years’ War refers to the war between England and France that lasted intermittently from 1337 to 1453. The causes of the war were partly territorial and partly economic. The territorial causes were related with the possession by the English kings of the large duchy in France, while the French kings coveted this large slice. The economic causes were connected with cloth manufacturing towns in Flanders, which were the importer of English wool, but they were loyal to the French king politically. Besides, England’s desire to stop France from giving aid to Scots and a growing sense of nationalism were the other causes.

The English’s being driven out of France is regarded as a blessing for both countries. If the English had remained in France, the superior size and wealth of France would have hindered the development of a separate English national identity, while France was hindered so long as a foreign power occupied so much French territory.

2.5　The Black Death⁴

The Black Death is the modern name given to the deadly epidemic disease spread by rat fleas across Europe in the 14th century. It swept through England in the summer of 1348. It reduced England’s population from four million to two million by the end of the 14th century.

The economic consequences of the Black Death were far-reaching. As a result of the plague, much land was left untended and there was a terrible shortage of labor. The surviving peasants had better bargaining power and were in a position to change their serfdom into paid labor. Some landlords, unable or unwilling to pay higher wages, tried to force peasants back into serfdom. In 1351 the government issued a Statute of Laborers which made it a crime for peasants to ask for more wages or for their employers to pay more than the rates laid down by the Justices of the Peace.

2.6　The Peasant Uprising of 1381 and Its Significance

Armed villagers and townsmen of Kent and Essex, led by Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, moved on London in June, 1381. The king was forced to accept their demands. Most of the rebels dispersed and went home, while Tyler and other leaders stayed on for more rights. Tyler was killed at a meeting with the king.

The uprising was brutally suppressed, but it had far-reaching significance in English history. First, it directed against the rich clergy, lawyers and the landowners. Second, it dealt a telling blow to villeinage, and third, a new class of yeomen farmers emerged, paving the way to the development of capitalism.