From Alfred to Henry III, 871–1272

Description

The 400 years covered by this volume saw two Danish invasions and the Norman Conquest of England. Each conquest carried with it extensive political and social changes. Alfred began the work of creating a unified kingdom out of the shambles of the smaller kingdoms that had fallen under Viking raids. The ninth and tenth centuries saw the settlement of the Danes and the eleventh the emergence of a strong monarchy under the Danish King Cnut. "With the English kingdom grew up the first semblance of national institutions," writes Professor Brooks - institutions of central and local government which made the English monarchy among the most mature in the Europe of its time... These established institutions were not destroyed by the Normans; they adapted and developed them. Although England had had close ties with the continent before the Conquest, after 1066 English cultural and social life was greatly enriched through the French influence. During this time the Church was finding new inspiration in monastic and papal reform and a great intellectual revival culminated in the creation of universities. Professor Brooke describes all the cultural and political developments of these years and shows how the reign of Henry III ushered in a "great age of art and architecture" and a "new attitude to government," which began to work by consent of the governed. 1. Introduction (1) Materials 1 (2) 871-1272 6 (3) Fundamentals 8 2. The Reign of Alfred (1) England in the Ninth Century 31 (2) 878-99 43 3. The Making of the English Kingdom, 899-1035 (1) 899-959 49 (2) 959-75 Edgar and the Monastic Revival 54 (3) 975-1016 Ethelred II and the Danes 58 (4) 1016-35 The Reign of Cnut 61 4. Anglo-Saxon Institutions (1) Law and Justice 66 (2) Local Government 70 (3) Central Government and the Monarchy 74 5. The Norman Conquest, 1035-87 82 6. Feudalism and the Norman Settlement (1) Anglo-Norman Feudalism 94 (2) The Norman Setdement in England 105 (3) Norman Government 108 7. Manor, Village, and Town (1) The Manor 114 (2) Towns and Commerce 127 8. The Anglo-Norman Church (1) Lanfranc and Papal Reform 134 (2) The Cathedrals 141 (3) The Monasteries 143 (4) The Schools 148 9. William II, Henry I, and Stephen (1) William II, 1087-1100 153 (2) Henry I, 1100-35 159 (3) Stephen, 1135-54 166 10. Henry II, 1154-89 (1) Henry II and Thomas Becket 173 (2) Legal Reform 182 (3) The Angevin Empire 185 11. The British Isles (1) England 189 (2) Wales 195 (3) Scotland 197 (4) Ireland 200 (5) Norman Infiltration 201 12. Richard I and John (1) Richard I, 1189-99 211 (2) John, 1199-1216 215 13. Henry III, 1216-72 224 14. England in the Thirteenth Century 237 Appendices A. Table of Dates 253 B. Genealogical Tables 257 Books for Further Reading 261 Index 265