| 1000 Years Ago |
The end of the so called Dark Ages and the commencement of the Medieval period or Middle Ages. (1066 to 1485)
All the Kings are speaking French and are ruling simultaneously in England, parts of France (and Ireland).
1000 years ago saw an end of rule by Saxon and Viking Kings and the commencement of rule by Normans. Normans came from Normandy in France and spoke French, not English but in essence they were also Vikings who had settled there two hundred years previously, that is at the same time as they started settling in England.
The Norman Kings
William the Conqueror invaded in 1066 a date known to every pupil at school. William ruled through a network of friends (Barons) that he enticed into England from France. Each was recommended to build a castle in a strategic location for his own area and had the vital task of collecting taxes. William himself also built a castle in London now called the Tower of London. English kings were resident in this fortress/palace for almost 500 years. (Until Henry 7th.)
William should also be remembered for the Domesday Book. William being new to England wanted an audit (a count) of the assets he now owned so that he could calculate how much he could raise in taxes from his new subjects. The Domesday book which still exists showed England as 65% farmland and about 15% woodland and listed 13,000 human settlements. William can be remembered for encouraging the financially astute Jews to settle in England from France to help boost the economy. Jews at that time were well ahead with schooling, science and mathematics and most importantly were not forbidden by their religion to lend money to finance a new trade.
There followed a succession of Norman Kings none of them speaking English and all of them also ruling in France. Not all of France as we know today but for example in the reign of Henry 2nd (1154 to 1189) his territory stretched from the southern borders of Cumbria in the north of England down to Tours some 1/3 of the way down modern France.
By 1172 with the help of his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine who came from the Bordeaux area and one of his Baron henchmen Strongbow in Ireland, Henry 2nd was ruling land stretching from the borders of Spain in the south all the way up through the fertile west coast of France across to the fertile east coast of Ireland in the west. In Ireland this involved ousting the Vikings whose largest overseas colony Dublin was still in their hands. England ruled Ireland (generally brutally) for the next 850 years (until 1922).
During Henry’s time he did not conquer and rule Wales or Cumbria in the north of England and had no chance at all in subduing those superb fighting men in Scotland. The quality of life improved in England during this period through increased trade and as Henry also reconstructed and enforced a new and fairer legal system.
Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest Nottingham
There is no evidence that Robin Hood existed although the legend is so strong that it is thought that somebody like him must have. He features in a series of songs circa 1300. The legend refers to the time of Norman King Richard 1st 1189 - 1199 who during his 10 year reign was hardly ever in England as he preferred wider “Crusading” duties organised by the Pope in Rome, attempting to regain Jerusalem for Christians from the Arab Islamic Egyptian/Syrian rulers notably Saladin. They failed. These Crusades cost a fortune and were financed by taxes collected from ordinary country folk.
Robin Hood was the Gangster Hero who robbed the tax collectors and local Barons and returned the money to the poor. Robin Hood and his followers are depicted as being extraordinarily good with the English Long Bow. This part of the story rings true as the English were supreme with this beautifully produced weapon for more than 250 years. (The Long Bow was a hand crafted laminate of wood from various parts of the Yew tree.)
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