THIS HALF OF CLASS (North, East Anglia & South East)

Starter: 1: Assemble desks into groups as shown. 2: Answer the questions depending on whether you are Norman or English • THIS HALF OF CLASS (North, East Anglia & South East) • Imagine that it is 1066 and you are an Anglo-Saxon (English). The Normans have just won the Battle of Hastings. • What are you afraid of now William is King? • Do you want to rebel (fight back)? • What might make you rebel? • THIS HALF OF CLASS (Everyone else) • Imagine that it is 1066 and you are a Norman. You have just won the Battle of Hastings. • What do you hope to gain from your victory? • Will you be able to beat the English if they rebel (fight back)? • What could you do to stop them rebelling? 3 tables put together as a block with chairs around the edge

The POWER of medieval Kings: Title: How did King’s keep control in Medieval England? All students will take part in a simulation to understand why Kings used force to control the population in Medieval times. They will be able to describe the ways in which the King stopped the people rebelling. (L2-4) Most students will do the above, they will reflect & explain who had power and how, and they will be able to compare the power of Kings with important nobles and ordinary folk. (L4-6) Some students will do the above, and they will be able to analyse why Kings faced so much rebellion from their nobles, and also why rebellions rarely succeeded.(L6+)

Step One – Williams intentions I am King William. Harold is dead and now I am King of England. You are all important landowners. I could take away your lands and give them to my soldiers. But I will not do so. I will give my soldiers only the lands of men who died in battle. I have been generous to you, so now you will be loyal to me. ACTION: 1 Norman to move to the SOUTH-EAST to take over lands of the dead. English landowners keep their land but shake hands with King William to symbolise their ‘oath’ of loyalty in return for their land.

Step Two – The first rebellions In 1067, an English landowner, Eric the Wild, and some Welsh kings rebelled in the WEST MIDLANDS. MIDLANDS to shake their fists and roar! William beat them. This is how he responded. I am your king. You rebelled against me, so you will lose your lands. I will give your land to my soldiers. ACTION: half the English landowners in the MIDLANDS to sit on the chairs. Normans to replace them on the desk. This shows their inferior status. The English are to start building HUGE Norman cathedrals to replace their English churches.

Step Three – Taking control of the South-West The next year, in 1068, King Harold’s sons sailed from Ireland and attacked Bristol. SOUTH-WEST to shake their fists and roar! They were defeated. Other rebels took control of Exeter, but surrendered after an 18-day siege. William built a castle at Exeter. I am your king. You rebelled against me, so you will lose your lands. I will give your land to my soldiers and you will work for them. ACTION: most of the English landowners in the SOUTH-WEST to sit on the chairs. Normans to replace them on the desk. ACTION: English to build castles in South-West. Normans to supervise this and criticise English if they don’t do it properly / quickly enough.

Step Four – Taking control of the North The next year, in 1069, there was another rebellion. THE NORTH to shake their fists and roar! The Norman Commanders in York and Durham were killed by rebels. The rebels made alliances with the Kings of Scotland and Denmark. William marched North, won back control of the area and built two castles in York. However, a large Danish army joined the Northern rebels and Edgar the Aethling (nephew of Edward the Confessor) in another attack on York. William forces the Danes to flee, and punished the local people. This rebellion has been very dangerous. I will punish the North so severely that no-one will ever dare to rebel again. ACTION: William goes from village to village, burning homes to the ground, killing villagers’ animals and destroying their tools and food. Thousands die and whole families starve to death. This was called the HARRYING OF THE NORTH. ALL English in the NORTH to sit on chairs and Normans to replace them.

Step Five – The last rebellions crushed Another year, and still more rebellions. In 1070, there were small rebellions in Cheshire and the Midlands. Then the King of Denmark and his army sailed into the River Humber. This sparked a rebellion in the Fenlands of East Anglia, led by Hereward the Wake. EAST-ANGLIA and remaining English in THE MIDLANDS to shake their fists and roar! William made peace with the Danes and forced the rebels to surrender after a long struggle. Many rebels were killed. I am your king. You rebelled against me, so you will lose your lands. I will give your land to my soldiers and you will work for them. ACTION: ALL English EVERYWHERE to sit on chairs and Normans to replace them.

Step Six – Domesday survey In 1086 William instructed his nobles to circulate each shire (like a county) in the country and find out who owned what in each village. Every landlord had to say how much land they owned, how many animals they owned. These facts were all taken back to William and written up into a Great big book called the Domesday book. From then on Norman Kings were able to calculate how much tax each person in the kingdom owed the Royal treasury, and what lands each person owned. Why would this help a King gain more POWER and Control? This made it much easier for Kings to confiscate land if any further rebellions occurred. ACTION: Send Normans to speak with EVERY English noble across the land and ‘take note’ of the lands/wealth they own. Normans must bring the information to the William and have the ‘translator’ act out writing it into a huge book (a dictionary).

Debrief of the role playe.g. Things to THINK about for our POWER enquiry • How could Nobles reject decisions made by the king? Why were the rebellions against William not successful? Why did William change his mind? • Could Nobles limit the king’s power effectively? What does this show about the power of the Nobles? • Did William intend from the beginning to give all the land in England to his Norman followers?

Independent research for your project. Use books/History magazines or the Internet to find out more about how medieval Kings were so powerful Hand write your research into the space provided on your sheet. You can go onto another page if needed. Remember to record WHERE you found your information – you may need to go back to it later on!

Plenary: Write up!How were medieval kings so powerful? Use the writing frame as a guide to write up the power of medieval King William I. You should think about how powerful he was and how he made sure his citizens obeyed him. Too easy? You can write the paragraphs in your own words without using the writing frame.

Resources below:

How were medieval kings so powerful? Instructions: Do NOT write on the sheet. Copy and complete the sentences in your class book. Alternatively use the writing frame as a GUIDE and write your own version of this information to demonstrate your understanding. 1.) In 1066 the King of England was________________. He had gained control of England by winning the _________________. The King gained advice on key issues from a group of advisors called the Witan. These were important Norman _____________ like Earls and Bishops. But the king had the _________ say over all matters. There was no ___________. 2.)The King had to be seen around the country to prove his leadership. He appointed his most loyal men to ____________ large areas of land called Earldoms. Even with the Earls to keep watch on the English they still ___________ against the foreign King. So, to keep control over the people of England the king built__________. These were able to control the local population of an area because… 3.) The king had absolute control over England in 1066. Anyone who rebelled was… 4.) For example in Yorkshire in 1067 there was an uprising against William. He responded to this by…… Rebelled, Castles, landowners, Battle of Hastings, final, William I, control, Parliament

How were medieval kings so powerful? Instructions: Write on the sheet. Fill in the blanks using the words below. 1.) In 1066 the King of England was________________. He had gained control of England by winning the _________________. The King gained advice on key issues from a group of advisors called the Witan. These were important Norman _____________ like Earls and Bishops. But the king had the _________ say over all matters. There was no ___________. 2.)The King had to be seen around the country to prove his leadership. He appointed his most loyal men to ____________ large areas of land called Earldoms. Even with the Earls to keep watch on the English they still ___________ against the foreign King. So, to keep control over the people of England the king built__________. These were able to control the local population of an area because… 3.) The king had absolute control over England in 1066. Anyone who rebelled was _______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4.) For example in Yorkshire in 1067 there was an uprising against William. He responded to this by…… __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rebelled, Castles, landowners, Battle of Hastings, final, William I, control, Parliament

THIS HALF OF CLASS (North, East Anglia & South East)