A History–The Normans Part 3

A Yorkshire historian, Professor Le Patourel, wrote in 1971, referring to Domesday Book, “It is only as one works through this remorseless catalogue of Normans that the magnitude of the revolution is brought home to us.” The 1069 ‘harrying of the north’ was a disaster for just about everyone in the whole of ‘Northumbria’. Those not killed either starved or fled their homes to survive where they could. Even seventeen years later the 1086 Domesday record shows Rowley to have only Hunsley and Little Weighton populated at all.

In 1067 William set about aligning the anglo-saxon laws and social structure developed by Alfred and Edward with his own ideas. Ownership of all land was his, with Normans in place as county sheriffs–for us William Malet at York–who sub-let Normans lordships over large parts of their counties. By 1086 in DB names of hundreds of ‘lords of manor’ such as Ulf, Northmann, Ketil, Handsgrimr, Asa, Eadgifu, Gamal, Brune, Egbrands, Madalgrim…, disappeared in favour of some thirty lords of manor, Robert Count of Mortain, Ralph de Mortemer, Hugh fitzBaldric, Earl Hugh, Odo the Crossbowman, Drogo de la Beuvriere (of Holderness), Roger de Bully…, all Normans and all male. (Eagdifu and Asa were ‘ladies of the manor’ TRE.) Many of these names are found in other counties; they amounted to about 200 in all compared with several thousand before William.

In the Church William was slightly more cautious, at least awaiting deaths, before inserting his own placemen. At Canterbury Abbot Lanfranc of Caen became Archbishop in 1070. Archbishop Ealdred of York was replaced by Thomas, a canon of Bayeux, in the same year, and Alwine Bishop of Durham, by Walcher in 1071. At the same time the Archbishop of York became subservient to Canterbury. Parts of the church rebelled and many were destroyed by William’s men, including Canterbury and Peterborough. York minster and every monastery in the north was burned and looted in the harrying, although Beverley minster was saved against William’s direct orders by some intervention of miraculous powers terrifying his soldiers.

DB also suggests opportunists were active; a Nigel Fossard of York is reported as ‘having by force’ certain claims, most disallowed. But those allowed were being efficiently run to judge by DB valuations. He was not alone; a Robert Malet was recovering values in the N & S Caves and Drewton, and Drogo and the canons of St. Peter in Beverley were working hard the rich lands of Holderness. The recovery picture in Yorkshire was patchy with the Wolds largely still waste seventeen years after the harrying.

Clearly it was a matter of managing priorities, and eventually most of the pre-harrying settlements recovered. In Little Weighton there was a church and a mill–valuable properties, one to Archbishop Thomas, and the other to Hugh fitzBaldric. Hugh still had to pay taxes, and Thomas had to provide for restoration of his archdiocese. In fact we have to thank Thomas for much of our northern recovery. Faced with a scene of desolation and his cathedral a burned ruin he set about it with vigour importing his Norman masons from Bayeux to rebuild his minster and his churches, and seeking out good ministers to man them. With these builders would come a need to feed, house and find labourers for them–might this be the basis of eventual recovery? Further he had to ensure that the pre-conquest lands of the Archbishop were returned to him. In this he was certainly effective e.g. with the Drogo and the canons of St. Peter in Beverley holding land ‘of Thomas’.

Thomas was not alone in rebuilding as there was a need to re-fortify the north with castles. East Yorkshire had Wressle, Skipsea and Leconfield, but south Yorkshire and the routes from Scotland were at greater risk and had more. Who built these forts is unknown, but if William’s cruelty is acknowledged it would be anglo-saxon slaves.

Professor Le Patourel was undoubtedly right in his “remorseless catalogue”. However we have to accept 1066 as the major turning point in England’s development; and we have to accept that it must have been felt here in Rowley.


Big Thank You to Barrie Heaton for his historical articles.

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