7 - Piety and Political Accommodation in Norman England: The Case of the South-west

Summary

In a recent book, Hugh Thomas has examined the process of ‘assimilation’ between the Normans and the English during the century and a half following the Norman Conquest. We certainly agree with Thomas's long-term description of the assimilation process, but disagree with his assessment of the initial base from which this assimilation took place. Indeed, as Thomas put it:

… the brutality of the conquest furthered the cause of ethnic harmony and assimilation in the long run, even as it poisoned relations in the short term. Because William so thoroughly and successfully obliterated his opposition, and inspired such terror, the large-scale violence following the conquest was relatively limited in duration. Though the English in later generations remembered the killing, raping, and devastation that accompanied the Norman Conquest, there were no new rounds of massive violence after 1080 to exacerbate tensions.

Although, as is well known, there was much violence associated with the Norman Conquest, especially with the famous ‘Harrying of the North’ in 1069–70, we feel that the emphasis on such warlike incidents tends to convey a one-dimensional view of Norman policy in the years following the battle of Hastings and certainly gives short shrift to more peaceful approaches to reconciling local people to Norman rule. In fact, William the Conqueror himself adopted a very conciliatory tack in the early phase of the Conquest, as indicated by two quotations from Orderic Vitalis, writing from the vantage point of a couple of generations after the conquest in 1066. Orderic went to some pains to show how hard William tried to soothe English worries almost immediately after the battle of Hastings, as in the following passage:

After his coronation [at Christmas, 1066] King William made many wise, just, and merciful provisions whilst he was still in London; some were for the advantage and honour of the city, others of the people in general, others of the churches in the land. He ordained certain laws and established them firmly. No one sought a just judgement from him in vain. He punished none save those whom it would have been unjust not to punish.