William the Conqueror

A Comparison: Normandy and England in 1030

England was a Saxon state that still bore many of the characteristics of the older Germanic kingship. The earls were as powerful as the king himself, and were rivals as often as allies. The king's army consisted of his household, his barons and their retainers, and a general levy of the Saxon peasantry. The Church was centered more on the monastery than on the cathedral. And England looked more to the North Sea than across the Channel.

Normany, on the other hand, was developing as a feudal state, at least under William. He held his barons under much closer control, and was both wealthier and more powerful than any of them. The duke controlled the Church, too, through its central power of the Archbishop of Rouen.

Yet, despite real differences, the fates of the two were tangled together, and this led to the eventual conflict.

History of Western Civilization

E.L. Skip Knox
Boise State University

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