After the Norman Conquest of 1066, William I brought both change and continuity to Anglo- Saxon England's legal system. Justice continued unchanged, with an emphasis on the local community's participation. William inherited from his Saxon predecessors shires, which he later renamed 'counties' and shire courts, which met twice a year and were run by sheriffs. He also inherited hundreds, which were smaller subdivisions of shires, with a court attended by all free men that met every month. William had no wish to alter these institutions as law had been enforced by the local community and continued to be.
Feudalism was introduced in England in 1066 following the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest. Feudalism was based on the exchange of land for military service. William the Conqueror claimed all the land in England and divide the land between himself from which he gained around about 20% and the church who controlled about 25%, the remainder of English land was given to Norman soldiers and nobles. As a result of splitting the land up, only two Englishmen were left as landowners in England, both of them would later turn against the King. Feudalism had a big impact on the peasents, Medieval Serfs were peasants who worked his lord's land and paid him certain dues in return for the use of land, When the land changed owners the peasants were obliged to work for the new owners - the Normans.
Once England had been controlled William warranted an extensive survey to be carried out, similar to a census by a government of today. His royal officers held a public inquiry into the value of all homes and what they owned, and recorded all their data into what is known as the Domesday Book, which itself was divided into two parts - Little Domesday and Great Domesday. Surprisingly, it was prepared in the space of one year and was completed in 1086. The Domesday Book is a statistical document and was used as an administrative tool; a basis for more decisive taxation of the Norman's new realm and to fund William's warfare. It involved the first kingdom-wide poll taken in Europe since the Roman era and it helped the Normans to integrate with their conquered territories.
The impact of the conquest had major implications on English society. The major change was the elimination of slavery in England, which had disappeared by the 12th century. There were around 28,000 of them recorded in ‘Domesday Book’ in 1086. Due to the conquest in some places, such as Essex, the decline in slaves was as much as 20%. The main reasons for the decline in slaveholding was due to the disapproval of the Church and the cost of supporting slaves, which had to be supported entirely by their owners. But the practice of slavery was never outlawed and King Henry I continued to mention slaveholding as being legal.
Approximately 8000 Normans and other continental persons settled in England due to the Conquest. Some of these new residents intermarried with the native Anglo-Saxon English, however before the year of 1100 these marriages were not common, as most Norman men preferred to marry other Normans. Despite this within a century of the invasion, intermarriages between the English and the Normans had become very common.
The native women of England had little rights before the Norman Conquest, many of the rights they used to have were taken away through King Cnut’s revision of laws. For example, women lost the right to consent to marriage as well as losing the right to remarry should they become widows. The Norman Conquest gradually influenced the legal position of women in England. The Norman kings distinguished between aristocrats and commoners, and the Normans in general brought changes in opportunities. Widows could remarry and, in general, control property in ways that married women and maidens could not. The greatest rights were generally available to women having access to land.
Overall, the Norman Conquest did change Anglo-Saxon England to a large extent. They introduced the idea of feudalism which created a strong link between the King, his chiefts in tennants and the people within the Norman soicety. They also introduced the Domesday Book which created more order throughout the country. Despite all the changes, there are factors which have stayed the same throughout the Norman invasion. The use of hundred and shires remianed the same although they had different names aswell as the use of shire courts.
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