Securing Control: Castles and the Harrying of the North

Victory at Hastings in October 1066 made William king, but it did not make England obedient. He controlled only a corner of the south. Much of the country, especially the north, had not accepted him, and Anglo-Saxon nobles, Danish raiders and the Scottish king all threatened his rule.

Between 1067 and 1075, William faced a series of revolts. To turn a battlefield victory into lasting control, he used a combination of methods:

• Castles to garrison troops and dominate the landscape.
• Terror, above all the Harrying of the North, to make rebellion too costly.
• Land redistribution, replacing English lords with loyal Normans.
• Rewards and marriages to bind powerful men to his rule.

The story of 1067–1087 is not a peaceful takeover. It is the story of how a conqueror crushed repeated resistance and forced a hostile country into submission.

The castle was the single most important tool for holding down England. Wherever the Normans went, they built one.

Early Norman castles were of the motte-and-bailey design, which could be thrown up in a matter of days using local forced labour:

        Keep (wooden tower)
             ▲
        _____|_____
       /  MOTTE    \      ← raised earth mound
      /  (mound)    \
     /_______________\
     |               |
     |    BAILEY     |    ← enclosed courtyard:
     |  (courtyard)  |      stores, stables, troops
     |_______________|
      \___ ditch ___/      ← surrounding ditch + fence (palisade)

Castles served several purposes at once:

Purpose	How the castle achieved it
Defence	A garrison could hold out against a much larger force
Domination	Towering over a town, it intimidated the local people
Control of movement	Placed at river crossings, roads and towns to control an area
A base for attack	Troops could ride out to crush nearby revolts

Castles such as the one begun in London (later the stone White Tower, the Tower of London) showed Norman power in the greatest city. Timber castles were later rebuilt in stone, making them permanent symbols of Norman rule.

Resistance to Norman rule broke out repeatedly in William's first decade. Each revolt was serious, but a lack of unity among the rebels allowed William to defeat them one by one.

Revolt	Roughly when	What happened
Edwin and Morcar	1068	The northern earls rose against William but submitted when he marched north and built castles
Northern rising (York)	1069	Rebels, backed by a Danish fleet and Edgar Atheling, seized York; this triggered the Harrying
Hereward the Wake (Ely)	1070–71	Resistance in the Fens around Ely, joined by Danes, held out in the marshes before being crushed
Revolt of the Earls	1075	A plot by three earls (including Norman lords) to overthrow William collapsed and its leaders were punished

William's response was consistent: march quickly to the trouble, build castles to hold the area, and punish the leaders harshly. Because the rebels never combined into a single united rising, none could match his power.

The most notorious act of William's reign was the Harrying of the North in the winter of 1069–70. After rebels backed by a Danish fleet seized York in 1069, William decided to end northern resistance permanently through terror.

Norman forces swept through northern England, especially Yorkshire, and systematically:

• burned villages and homes to the ground,
• killed or drove off livestock,
• destroyed food stores, crops and farming tools.

The result was famine through the winter. Contemporary chroniclers describe tens of thousands of deaths and land left deserted for years. The Domesday Book of 1086 still recorded much northern land as "waste", showing the long-term damage.

The Harrying was ruthless but effective. By destroying the region's ability to feed an army, William made large-scale northern revolt impossible for the rest of his reign. It is the clearest example of control through terror.

The human cost was so severe that even some Norman writers condemned it, yet it achieved William's aim of a subdued north.

William did not rely on terror alone. He also used clever government and leadership to make his control last.

Key methods included:

• Land redistribution: almost all English landowners lost their land, which William granted to loyal Norman lords in return for service. By 1086 only a handful of major English landholders remained.
• Keeping useful systems: William kept efficient Anglo-Saxon structures such as the shire and hundred courts, the sheriffs, and the tax system, giving his rule legitimacy and continuity.
• Marcher earldoms: he created powerful border earldoms along the Welsh frontier, giving trusted lords special freedom to defend and extend Norman power.
• Ruling in his absence: William often returned to Normandy, leaving regents such as his half-brother Odo of Bayeux and Archbishop Lanfranc to govern England.

Method	Type of control	Effect
Land redistribution	Political and economic	Created a loyal Norman ruling class dependent on the king
Keeping Anglo-Saxon systems	Administrative	Made government efficient and rule seem legitimate
Castles and garrisons	Military	Held down towns and regions physically
Harrying and harsh punishment	Terror	Made revolt too costly to attempt

By the time William I died in 1087, England was firmly under Norman control. The scale of change was enormous.

• The Anglo-Saxon nobility had been almost entirely replaced by Norman lords.
• Castles dotted the country, garrisoning towns and borders.
• The north had been devastated and posed no serious threat.
• A new landholding system tied the great lords directly to the king.

William passed his lands on to his sons: Normandy went to his eldest son Robert, while England went to his second surviving son, William II ("Rufus"). William II continued to face challenges, including a rebellion in 1088 by lords who wanted Normandy and England reunited under Robert, but he held on to the English throne.

William had transformed England in about twenty years, from a country he barely controlled after Hastings into a firmly held Norman kingdom he could pass on to his heir.

1. Thinking Hastings gave William instant control

Winning the battle only made William king in name. He spent years crushing revolts between 1067 and 1075 before England was secure. Show that control was won after Hastings, not at it.

2. Getting the date of the Harrying wrong

The Harrying of the North took place in the winter of 1069–70, in response to the northern rising of 1069. Do not place it immediately after Hastings in 1066.

3. Describing castles without explaining their purpose

Do not just say castles were "big and strong". Explain that motte-and-bailey castles were built quickly to garrison troops, dominate and intimidate towns, and control key routes.

4. Forgetting why the revolts failed

The revolts were serious, but the rebels never united. William could defeat them one at a time. This lack of unified opposition is a key reason for his success.

5. Presenting William's control as terror only

The Harrying mattered, but William also used land redistribution, castles, and existing Anglo-Saxon government to hold power. A strong answer balances terror with clever government.