What was the effect of the Norman and Angevin kings' possession of Normandy on the government of England?

William made a number of important reforms as well as issuing the famous Doomsday Book, a nationwide survey of property for the purpose of increasing the efficiency of taxation. He was also behind the establishment of a Royal Forest (The New Forest) which was a hugely useful resource. It could be used as a source of food for the Royal Household and also through hunting as a training ground and entertainment. Legend has it however that the forest is cursed, and it certainly proved unlucky for the Conqueror, of whom two sons died in it.

 William’s conquest in 1066 cites the dawn of a new era for the legal system in England, and the Kings’ continual lordship of continental lands certainly had its effect. Through the influence of administration centralization, the common law was created. However, historian Margaret Chibnall is keen to stress that for the knightly classes at least, it ‘remained firmly entrenched in England.’ It was not only because their desire for more centralized government, but also to accommodate the new aristocracy that William brought over from Normandy. The Norman aristocracy that William brought with him, unlike the Anglo-Saxons, had no cultural connection to the people they ruled and so they became even more of a military class than they might have been otherwise. The early Norman castles were meant to keep down the population and protect the foreign masters.

  William’s fairly successful reign in England was followed by that of his sons’ William Rufus and Henry Beauclerk. They both also acquired Normandy, (in 1096 and 1106 respectively), and spent more of their time there rather than in England. According to historian M.Clanchy this suggests either “and order of priority or necessity”. Later she implies both by explaining that it was a necessity because they had to establish strong government in England in order to exploit the English sources of wealth to their utmost, and enable Normandy to survive. This unsurprisingly led to unpopularity in England, particularly amongst the English nobility. A general feeling of Norman alienation was re-enforced, it was felt that heavy taxes were being raised and used to fight foreign wars in which they had no interest.

Accordingly, Henry and William were both plagued by rebellions in Normandy and England, as well as in their other territories. The support they needed to fight these rebellions came in part from giving away crown lands. In Henry’s reign this was part of the reason for the creation of what is known as Henry’s New Men. This also led to Henry needing to compensate for the loss of revenues from the loss of these royal lands by exploiting other crown rights from sources such as Feudal Dues, the County Forms, Profits of Justice, and incomes from vacant churches.

Henry 1st grandson, Henry 2nd came to the thrown of England in 1154. He was already Duke of Normandy and acquired much land in France, including Anjou, Brittany and Aquitaine. This meant he was overlord to a vast region, known sometimes as the ‘Angevin Empire’. Henry had to raise money for the defense of Normandy as well as the restoration of Anjou and expeditions to Brittany, Toulouse, and Wales (etc.). Like his forbears, he did this by increasing the efficiency of the royal administration and increasing the efficiency of taxation and money collecting. He had several methods of achieving this, including the hunting down of royal encroachments on royal property in the form of ‘assorts’ and ‘purprestres’. He also revived the danegeld, an ancient tax levied on an antiquated system levied with exemptions. Something else that Henry implemented was a major reform of coinage, attempted first in the fourth year of his reign, and again with more success in 1180. The establishment of a uniform currency and the elimination of poor coins out of circulation was its purpose.

Henry 2nd also had a reputation for legal reform, which owed also to his need for political stability and wealth to strengthen his continental possessions. Central to his reforms was the principle of Legality v. Custom. The most famous example of where this applied is the issues surrounding the murder of St. Thomas a Becket. Henry wanted to apply laws governing the secular community to apply also to the church. This was important because laws were emerging as instruments of governance.  

“Even by 1166 the shape of the future realm of England in law, institutions and social structure was beginning to be visible behind the broader frame-work of the old Anglo-Saxon realm and the new Angevin Empire.”

 Although Henry owned such a vast area of land, it seems that he did not wish to integrate his territories into a single entity, instead dividing it amongst his sons, and allowing it to remain largely self-governing. This has led historian W.L Warren to describe to describe it as not an empire, but as a federation.

“A federation, the heart of which was to be a cross-channel state, itself a mini-federation consisting of England, Normandy and the Greater Anjou.”

The place in England of this conglomerate played a large part in the succession of English kings from the 11th to 13th century. When William 1st died, he left no will and three sons, all eager for power. Since the practice of Primogeniture was not fixed at the time, it was a matter of considerable conflict as to who would inherit what. It was generally considered that a share of the inheritance should go to all a man’s children, particularly legitimate sons. In the end, William Rufus the Conquerors second son became King of England. His elder brother Robert took Normandy. This proved to be a most unsatisfactory situation because many landholders in England were also landholders in Normandy, causing magnates to owe loyalty to two overlords. In fact, the three main landholders in England were also three of the main Landholders in Normandy: Odo, Bishop of Bayeux; Robert, Count of Martain and Earl of Cornwall; and Roger of Montgomery, Earl of Shropshire. In response, many barons decided that the only solution was to reunite England and Normandy as an Anglo-Norman realm once more. In 1088, Rufus faced a major rebellion of the realm’s wealthiest magnates. However, he managed to vanquish his opponents and Robert later pawned Normandy to him in exchange for borrowing money to go on a crusade, which he was unable to pay this back. It seems unlikely that Rufus would have given it back anyway, and thereby he settled the dispute over split loyalties. After Rufus died, his younger brother Henry took over England and he too acquired Normandy, imprisoning their eldest brother until his death.

After Henry’s death, succession again became an issue of conflict. This time it wasn’t because the king had too many sons, but rather he didn’t have any living. His only son, William, had drowned off the coast of France before the king’s own demise. He had a daughter, but she was not a popular candidate for a number of reasons, including the fact she was a woman, and that her marriage to Geoffrey of Anjou was not liked. Many of the barons instead supported Henry’s nephew Stephen of Blois whom they felt was more one of their own kind. However, the key to this war again was Normandy, and Matilda’s possession of it from 1144, M. Chibnall argues.

“Throughout the whole of Stephen’s reign, Normandy was an essential element in the struggle for succession, and it crucially influenced the course of events.” 

Like before, the Barons faced the same problem of divided vassalage.  It was decided that Matilda’s son Henry would become Stephen’s heir.  

 Finally, the possession of Normandy had the effect that the Capetian Kings of France would inevitably have an interest in the politics of England and Normandy. The fact that the King ruled over such a large stretch of land, stretching during the reign of Henry II from the “Northern Ocean to the Pyrenees”, meant that people tended to take advantage of the fact that the king would often be busy defending one part of his territory, and would invade another.

Therefore, it is clear that the Norman and Angevin King’s possession of Normandy had a considerable but often varied effect on the government of England. However, the main theme that tends run throughout the period is that of the need to exploit the wealth of England to secure Normandy. This in turn leads to extensive legal and administrative changes such as the emergence of the common law and the use of laws as instruments of government. The other important effect that the possession of Normandy had was its ability to tip the balance of power when the succession to the throne was in dispute. This occurred after the death of William the Conqueror and during the wrangling between Stephen of Blois and the Empress Matilda, and stemmed from the Landholders aversion to having two overlords which could cause a division of loyalties.