Every card in Medieval Britain 1066–1509, Year 11: castles, rebellion and the Conqueror's government (Norman England option)
The whole deck, in order — so you can read it through before your child ever sees it.
- A Norman castle with a tower on an artificial mound, and a walled yard beside it
A motte-and-bailey castle
HintBoth parts of the name come from Norman French.
WhyThe mound was the motte and the enclosed yard the bailey, usually ringed by a fence and ditch. Most Norman castles were variations on this design.
- Why were most early Norman castles built of timber and earth?
They could be put up quickly with little skilled labour
HintThink about how soon the Normans needed to hold down each area.
WhyA small timber castle might take weeks, a large motte months, but stone keeps took far longer. Speed mattered while Norman forces moved round the country to control pockets of resistance.
- Before 1066, how common were castles in England?
Almost unknown — the Normans brought them in
HintThe Anglo-Saxons relied on fortified towns called burhs.
WhyCastles gave a small garrison a base to dominate an area, house a Norman lord and run the district. They were not only forts, and they were meant to overawe the local people.
- What was the main difference in how Norman knights and most English soldiers fought at Hastings?
The Normans fought on horseback; the English fought on foot
HintThink about height and speed on the battlefield.
WhyA knight rode a specially trained war horse. The English army was almost entirely infantry, with few archers, while the Norman force mixed cavalry, archers and infantry.
- Stone began to replace timber in most major Norman castles mainly in the century after the Conquest. Which century? (century, e.g. 3rd)
12th
HintThe earliest timber castles came in the century before.
WhyEarly Norman castles were mostly earth and timber. Stone cost far more than earth and timber, which is one reason timber castles lasted so long alongside stone ones.
- The Harrying of the North laid waste to Yorkshire in the winter that began in 1069 and ended in which year? (year)
1070
HintThe Danes had been paid to go home before it began.
WhyThe rebels refused to meet him in battle, so William decided to starve them out by destroying the land. Chroniclers recorded famine on a huge scale. Estimates of the dead vary widely; a figure of about 100,000 is often repeated, but it is disputed.
- What was William's aim in the Harrying of the North?
To crush northern resistance so completely that no rebellion could survive there again
HintThink of what an army needs in order to keep fighting.
WhySoldiers killed rebels and destroyed food, which caused famine. William was criticised across Europe for his brutality.
- Which rebel, based on the Isle of Ely in the Fens, led English resistance to William in 1070–71?
Hereward the Wake
HintHe is the best-known leader of the Fenland resistance, and legends grew up around him.
WhyMuch of what is told about Hereward comes from later legend, and the early sources sometimes contradict each other.
- Which English earl was beheaded in 1076 after the Revolt of the Earls?
Waltheof
HintHe joined the plot, then confessed it to the archbishop.
WhyThe revolt of 1075 was started by two of William's own earls, Ralph and Roger, while he was in Normandy. English forces and castle garrisons helped to put it down.
- Which Scandinavian kingdom sent a fleet to help the northern rebels in 1069?
Denmark
HintThe fleet sailed into the Humber estuary.
WhyTogether the Danes and English rebels, including Edgar Ætheling, stormed York. William bought the Danes off and then turned on the northern shires.
- In 1087 William the Conqueror's eldest son, ____, inherited the duchy of Normandy.
Robert
HintThink of the eldest brother, not the youngest.
WhyWilliam left Normandy to Robert and England to his second surviving son, William. The split set the brothers against one another: in 1088 some barons rebelled to put Robert on the English throne.
- Which son of William I was crowned King of England on 26 September 1087?
William II (Rufus)
HintHis nickname came from his colouring.
WhyHe was the Conqueror's second surviving son. Robert, expecting to get England as well as Normandy, found William Rufus already crowned. William II died in 1100.
- What did William the Conqueror leave his youngest son, Henry?
A large sum of money
HintHe was the last of three surviving sons.
WhyHenry received money, usually reported as £5,000, and no kingdom of his own. He still became king, after William Rufus died in 1100.
- Which bishop and half-brother of William I helped govern England as regent while the king was in Normandy?
Odo of Bayeux
HintHe was a bishop with a taste for power, and became Earl of Kent.
WhyOdo and William fitzOsbern were made earls in the south and ruled for William. Odo grew so powerful that William later imprisoned him.
- What did William do to English earls and churchmen in his government after 1070?
He replaced them with loyal Normans
HintThe early revolts had changed his mind about sharing power.
WhyAt first William kept earls such as Edwin, Morcar and Waltheof to show he was Edward's lawful heir. After the revolts he put Normans in charge, and Lanfranc became a key adviser.
1★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0038
2★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0039
3★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0040
4★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0041
5★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0042
6★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0043
7★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0044
8★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0045
9★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0046
10★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0047
11★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0048
12★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0049
13★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0050
14★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0051
15★ GCSE-HIST-MED-0052
Keep what you learn
Here, nothing is saved. In your child’s own sky every card is scheduled — it comes back just before they’d forget it — and the professor who wrote it is one tap away.