What is Norman Conquest?

Norman Conquest was a war between William, Duke of Normandy in France, and Harold, the feudal Lord of England, in the middle of 1 1 century. This war is not only the continuation of Norman expansion, but also another social integration between western Europe and Britain. It ended with William's victory, which had a far-reaching impact on the development of British history.

Britain is located in the Atlantic Ocean on the northwest coast of the European continent and consists of the British Isles. It hangs outside the European continent, but the external impact from the mainland has brought it into the historical process of European society. Around A.D., the Roman legions commanded by Caesar set sail, and Britain began to be incorporated into the process of western civilization. Since then, some Germanic tribes from the European continent (collectively known as Anglo-Saxons) have settled in the British Isles, opening a new period of British historical development, that is, the gradual formation and feudalization of nation-states.

After the 8th century AD, Normans living in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea began to expand outward. In 787, the Normans invaded Britain for the first time, France 800 years ago and then Ireland. In the middle of the 9th century, the Normans invaded the northeast of England and established their own kingdom. /kloc-0 At the beginning of the 20th century, Norman leader Roland invaded part of French territory and established the Principality of Normandy (9 1 1).

1002, King Ethel Reid of England married Emma, the sister of the Duke of Normandy. 10 13, King Sven of Denmark conquered the whole of England, and Ethel Reid fled to Normandy with his wife and children. The kingdom of the Danes soon declined, and the throne was suspended after the death of Knut II. British nobles elected Prince Edward, who was exiled in Normandy, as the legal heir and crowned him in 1043. King Edward of England married the daughter of big noble godwin of England, but attached great importance to Norman in Korea, which intensified the contradiction between Norman foreign forces and British local forces represented by godwin. 105 1 year, King Edward forced godwin's family to flee and invited William, Duke of Normandy, to visit London. The following year, godwin and his son made a comeback and won the support of the British people. Embarrassed Edward had to restore the power of the godwin family. However, Godwin, the winner, was ill, and Harold, the eldest son, inherited his father's throne. Although the British local aristocratic forces defeated foreign forces and expelled Norman dignitaries from the palace, they soon fell into a life-and-death duel with William, Duke of Normandy.

William's covet for the British throne has a long history. 105 1 year, when he visited London, he discussed the issue of succession to the throne with his cousin King Edward of England. Edward had no children and did not object to William's request. Harold also promised to make William king in the future.

King Edward died in June, 1066, 1. On his deathbed, he made Harold heir to the throne, and witenagemot, the core of British political institutions, also decided that Harold would succeed to the throne. Soon, Harold was crowned king at Westminster Abbey. This was a heavy blow to William, who decided to seize the throne by force, conquer Britain and establish his own kingdom.

In order to create a favorable situation, William sent envoys to lobby the most influential feudal leaders at that time-Pope Alexander II and Emperor Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire, accusing Harold of treachery, usurper and perjury. The Pope supported William's behavior and awarded him a "holy flag". Henry IV also offered to help William regain the throne. The King of Denmark also supported William out of personal ambition. Soon William pieced together a loose alliance against Harold. In order to relieve his worries, he allied with the Flemish in the east, conquered Brittany in the west and occupied Maine in the south. All this created favorable conditions for him to invade Britain. /kloc-in the spring of 0/066, he held a feudal main meeting in Tripoli to make a plan to attack Britain.

In sharp contrast to William's active activities, Harold did nothing and didn't realize the strategic significance of William's diplomatic activities, which made him isolated during the war.

As far as strength is concerned, the two sides are basically evenly matched and each has its own strengths, but Harold is not well prepared. Normandy, located on the European continent, entered the feudal society earlier than Britain. William was the largest feudal Lord in Normandy, with many feudal vassals, such as earl, bishop and knight. Always follow William's orders to fight. William assembled an elite army of more than 6,000 people, and more than 500 ships needed to cross the sea were quickly built.

Harold's advantage is that he waits and works inside. Unfortunately, due to the low feudal rank, relatively backward military system and poor mobility, and the dissolution of the English fleet when Edward was in office, Harold lacked the strength to attack William at sea, and his defense depth was greatly reduced.

1066 At the beginning of August, William's preparations for attack were basically ready, and the army assembled at the mouth of the fjord. On June 5438+02, I originally planned to go to England, but I was blocked by bad weather. Coincidentally, a war broke out in England in the month when William's army was blocked by the weather. This unexpected episode is undoubtedly a gift from God to William. The feudal Lord Tostig rebelled against Harold to seize his earl territory, and Norwegian King Harald III joined forces with Tostig with personal ambition. They arrived at the gates of York, an important town in northern England, but Harold finally defeated them.

On the second day of Harold's victory, at midnight on September 27th, William's expeditionary force sailed across the strait in the cool south wind. At 9: 00 am on the 28th, he landed in Pevensie Bay without any resistance. At this time, the southeast coast of England was wide open, and there was no heavy defense until London, because Harold was celebrating his victory in York.

10 year 10 month 1 day, Harold flew back to London immediately after learning the news. Because of the sudden incident, Harold had no time to mobilize on a large scale, and more than 5,000 talents under his command who had not been fully rested met William.

65438+1October 1 1, Harold started from London and arrived at a highland near Hastings on the night of 13. William's expeditionary force has also arrived in Hastings at this time, where the two sides met. A fierce battle, also the decisive battle in William's conquest, began in this way.

Harold chose the highest place on the back of Mount Weil as the location of the high command, and deployed his soldiers on both sides of the summit to form a solid defense in the center, with the two wings guarded by militia. Infantry armed with spears and axes shoulder to shoulder, holding shields, forming a close phalanx. William divided the army into left, middle and right roads, and each road was divided into three squares. The first line is archers, the second line is heavy infantry and the third line is cavalry. He personally commanded the soldiers in central Normandy and played the "holy flag" given by the Pope in front of the team.

14 at 9 am, the horn sounded and the battle began. The normans lined up and marched along the hillside to the top of the mountain. When the two armies approached, Norman archers began to shoot arrows, and the English used shields to protect themselves and attacked the enemy with spears, javelins and tomahawks. The commanding British army, with sharp weapons, caused serious damage to Norman. William's left wing began to retreat down the hill, and Norman in the middle was also affected to retreat. In the chaos, William fell off his horse, but he immediately recovered his composure, jumped on another horse and shouted, "Please look at me, I'm still alive!" " God will bless our victory! "Norman stopped losing and rallied. Under the command of William, the cavalry was in front and the infantry was behind, and launched a second attack on the British army. The result is still unable to break through the other side's dense defense. At this point, William changed his tactics and used feint to distract the enemy from the solid and favorable position. Norman retreat to the bottom, up the hill, the enemy pursuit, are condescending to give them a beating. Harold didn't see through the plot, and when he pursued it, his strength was weakened. William seized the fighter plane and launched a final counterattack. Harold was killed by an arrow, and the British army was in chaos and collapsed. The Battle of Hastings ended in William's complete victory.

Using the power of victory in the decisive battle, William led the army into the DPRK, successively occupied Canterbury, Westham, Sill, guildford and other places, and then swept the north. The surrender representative in London gave in to William and made him king. On Christmas Day, William was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.

The Norman Conquest ended with William's victory, and the Normandy Dynasty in English history began. William's victory depends on his ability to make full use of his strengths and avoid weaknesses. He has a clear grand strategy, which is to isolate Harold through diplomacy; Have a careful war plan, and be able to adjust and use tactics in the decisive battle to win by surprise. Two consecutive attacks on unfavorable terrain caused heavy casualties, which shows that William has no command genius. Fortunately, he was able to remain calm in the face of the crisis, and decisively commanded and rallied when his troops were defeated and almost "leaderless".

On the other hand, Harold's failure mainly lies in his lack of strategic mind, such as neglecting to strive for a favorable external environment, lacking foresight in dealing with emergencies and failing to mobilize the militia widely; Did not regard this war as a national self-defense war against foreign invasion; In operational command, courage is greater than courage, and military strategy is insufficient, so it is impossible to seize the favorable opportunity in the war to carry out a thorough annihilation war.

Norman Conquest was a war between advanced social groups and backward social groups. William's victory not only transplanted the feudal system in western Europe to Britain, but also changed Britain's economic, social, cultural, military and other aspects, making the combination of Britain and western Europe closer.