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The Anglo-Normans (Norman: Anglo-Normaunds, Old English: Engel-Norðmandisca) were the medieval ruling class in the Kingdom of England following the Norman Conquest. They were primarily a combination of Normans, Bretons, Flemings, Frenchmen, Anglo-Saxons and Celtic Britons.
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After the conquest the victorious Normans formed a ruling class in England, distinct from (although intermarrying with) the native Anglo-Saxon and Celtic populations. Over time, their language evolved from the continental Old Norman to the distinct Anglo-Norman language. Anglo-Normans quickly established control over all of England, as well as parts of Wales (the Welsh-Normans). After 1130, parts of southern and eastern Scotland came under Anglo-Norman rule (the Scots-Normans), in return for their support of David I's conquest. The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland from 1169 saw Anglo-Normans and Cambro-Normans conquer swaths of Ireland, becoming the Irish-Normans.
The composite expression regno Norman-Anglorum for the Anglo-Norman kingdom that comprises Normandy and England appears contemporaneously only in the Hyde Chronicle.
Norman conquest
A small number of Normans had earlier befriended future Anglo-Saxon king of England, Edward the Confessor, during his exile in his mother's homeland of Normandy in northern France. When he returned to England, some of them went with him; as such, there were Normans already settled in England before the conquest.[citation needed] Edward's successor, Harold Godwinson, was defeated by Duke William the Conqueror of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings, leading to William's accession to the English throne.
After the Norman Conquest of 1066, many of the Anglo-Saxon nobles lost lands and titles; the lesser thegns and others found themselves dispossessed of lands and titles. A number of free had their rights and court access much decreased, becoming unfree villeins, despite the fact that this status did not exist in Normandy itself (compared to other "French" regions). At the same time, many of the new Norman and Northern-France magnates were distributed lands by the King that had been taken from the English nobles. Some of these magnates used their original French-derived names, with the prefix 'de,' meaning they were lords of the old fiefs in France, and some instead dropped their original names and took their names from new English holdings.
The Norman conquest of England brought Britain and Ireland into the orbit of the European continent, especially what remained of Roman-influenced language and culture. The England emerging from the Conquest owed a debt to the Romance languages and the culture of ancient Rome. It transmitted itself in the emerging feudal world that took its place. That heritage can be discerned in language, incorporating the French language and the Roman past, and in the emerging Romanesque (Norman) architecture.
Military influence
The Norman conquest of England also signalled a revolution in military styles and methods. A lot of the old Anglo-Saxon military elite began to emigrate, especially the generation next younger to that defeated at Hastings, who had no particular future in a country controlled by the conquerors. William (and his son, William Rufus), encouraged them to leave, as a security measure. The first to leave went mostly to Denmark and many of these moved on to join the Varangian Guard in Constantinople. The Anglo-Saxons as a whole, for practical reason, however were not demilitarised. Instead, William arranged for the Saxon infantry to be trained up by Norman cavalry in anti-cavalry tactics. This led quickly to the establishment of an Anglo-Norman army made up of Norman horsemen of noble blood, Saxon infantrymen often of equally noble blood, assimilated English freemen as rank-and-file, and foreign mercenaries and adventurers from other parts of the Continent. The younger Norman aristocracy showed a tendency towards Anglicisation, adopting such Saxon styles as long hair and moustaches, upsetting the older generation. (The Anglo-Saxon cniht did not take the sense of the French chevalier before the latest period of Middle English. John Wycliffe (1380s) uses the term knyytis generically for men-at-arms, and only in the 15th century did the word acquire the overtones of a noble cavalryman corresponding to the meaning of chevalier). The Anglo-Norman conquest in the 12th century brought Norman customs and culture to Ireland.
Norman-Saxon conflict
The degree of subsequent Norman-Saxon conflict (as a matter of conflicting social identities) is a question disputed by historians. The 19th-century view was of intense mutual resentment, reflected in the popular legends of Robin Hood and the novel Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. Some residual ill-feeling is suggested by contemporary historian Orderic Vitalis, who in Ecclesiastical Historii (1125) wrote in praise of native English resistance to "William the Bastard" (William I of England). In addition, a fine called the "murdrum", originally introduced to English law by the Danes under Canute, was revived, imposing on villages a high (46 mark/~£31) fine for the secret killing of a Norman (or an unknown person who was, under the murdrum laws, presumed to be Norman unless proven otherwise).
In order to secure Norman loyalty during his conquest, William I rewarded his loyal followers by taking English land and redistributing it to his knights, officials, and the Norman aristocracy. In turn, the English hated him, but the king retaliated ruthlessly with his military force to subdue the rebellions and discontentment. Mike Ashley writes on this subject; "he [William I] may have conquered them [the English], but he never ruled them". Not all of the Anglo-Saxons immediately accepted him as their legitimate king.
Whatever the level of dispute, over time, the two populations intermarried and merged. This began soon after the conquest. Tenants-in-chief following the conquest who married English women included Geofrey de la Guerche, Walter of Dounai and Robert d'Oilly. Other Norman aristocrats with English wives following the conquest include William Pece, Richard Juvenis and Odo, a Norman knight. Eventually, even this distinction largely disappeared in the course of the Hundred Years War (1337–1453), and by the 14th century Normans identified themselves as English, having been fully assimilated into the emerging English population.
Wales
The Normans also led excursions into Wales from England and built multiple fortifications as it was one of William's ambitions to subdue the Welsh as well as the English, however, he was not entirely successful. Afterward, however, the border area known as the Marches was set up and Norman influence increased steadily. Encouraged by the invasion, monks (usually from France or Normandy) such as the Cistercian Order also set up monasteries throughout Wales. By the 15th century a large number of Welsh gentry, including Owain Glyndŵr, had some Norman ancestry. The majority of knights who invaded Ireland were also from or based in Wales (see below).
Ireland
Anglo-Norman barons also settled in Ireland from the 12th century, initially to support Irish regional kings such as Diarmuid Mac Murchadha whose name has arrived in modern English as Dermot MacMurrough. Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, known as "Strongbow", was the leader of the Anglo-Norman Knights whom MacMurrough had requested of Henry II of England to help him to re-establish himself as King of Leinster. Strongbow died a very short time after invading Ireland but the men he brought with him remained to support Henry II of England and his son John as Lord of Ireland. Chief among the early Anglo-Norman settlers was Theobald Walter (surname Butler) appointed hereditary chief Butler of Ireland in 1177 by King Henry II and founder of one of the oldest remaining British dignities. Most of these Normans came from Wales, not England, and thus the epithet 'Cambro-Normans' is used to describe them by leading late medievalists such as Seán Duffy. They increasingly integrated with the local Celtic nobility through intermarriage and , especially outside the Pale around Dublin. They are known as Old English, but this term came into use to describe them only in 1580, i.e., over four centuries after the first Normans arrived in Ireland.
The Carol was a popular Norman dance in which the leader sang and was surrounded by a circle of dancers who replied with the same song. This Norman dance was performed in conquered Irish towns.
Scotland
David I, who had spent most of his life as an English baron, became king of Scotland in 1124. His reign saw what has been characterised as a "Davidian Revolution", by which native institutions and personnel were replaced by English and French ones. Members of the Anglo-Norman nobility took up places in the Scottish aristocracy and he introduced a system of feudal land tenure, which produced knight service, castles and an available body of heavily armed cavalry. He created an Anglo-Norman style of court, introduced the office of justiciar to oversee justice, and local offices of sheriffs to administer localities. He established the first royal burghs in Scotland, granting rights to particular settlements, which led to the development of the first true Scottish towns and helped facilitate economic development as did the introduction of the first recorded Scottish coinage. He continued a process begun by his mother and brothers, of helping to establish foundations that brought the reformed monasticism based on that at Cluny. He also played a part in the organisation of diocese on lines closer to those in the rest of Western Europe. These reforms were pursued under his successors and grandchildren Malcolm IV of Scotland and William I, with the crown now passing down the main line of descent through primogeniture, leading to the first of a series of minorities.
Anglo-Norman families
- House of Anvers
- House of Bailleul (or Balliol)
- House of Beaugency (or de La Flèche)
- House of Beaumont
- House of Bellême
- House of Bigod
- House of Bohun
- House of Bowes Lyon (or Bowley)
- House of Braose (or Brewes)
- House of Bruce
- House of Burgh
- House of Clare
- House of Colville (or Colvin)
- House of Corbet
- House of Ferrières
- House of FitzGerald
- House of FitzOsbern
- House of FitzWilliam/Hall
- House of FitzAlan
- House of Gorges
- House of Grosvenor
- House of Harcourt
- House of Lacy
- House of Longe
- House of Lucy (or Luci)
- House of Levett
- House of Longchamp
- House of Melville
- House of Molyneux
- House of Mortimer
- House of Montbray
- House of Neville
- House of Normandy
- House of Percy
- House of Reviers
- House of Roper
- House of Seymour
- House of Saint-Clair
- House of Spring
- House of Stuart
- House of Tosny
- House of Tritton
- House of Umfraville
- House of Warren
- House of Washington
See also
- Companions of William the Conqueror
References
- The English And The Normans: Ethnic Hostility, Assimilation, and Identity 1066 - c. 1220, Oxford University Press, U.S.A. (3 Oct. 2002) p. 146
- C. Warren Hollister, Henry I (Yale English Monarchs) 2001:15.
- Cartwright, Mark. "Norman Conquest of England". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
- "Feudalism And The Norman Conquest Of England 1066". Medieval Chronicles. 7 August 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
- Kalimniou, Dean (24 February 2020). "Byzantine 'New England', a forgotten Anglo-Saxon colony". NEOS KOSMOS. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
- Mike Ashley, British Kings & Queens (Philadelphia, PA: Running Press Book Publishers, 2002) 55-58.
- "Irish Family Names – Butler". Irelandseye.com. 9 February 2006. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
- G. W. S. Barrow, "David I of Scotland: The Balance of New and Old", in G. W. S. Barrow, ed., Scotland and Its Neighbours in the Middle Ages, (London, 1992), pp. 9–11 pp. 9–11.
- M. Lynch, Scotland: A New History (Random House, 2011), ISBN 978-1-4464-7563-8, p. 80.
- B. Webster, Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity (St. Martin's Press, 1997), ISBN 978-0-333-56761-6, pp. 29–37.
- B. Webster, Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity (St. Martin's Press, 1997), ISBN 978-0-333-56761-6, pp. 23–4.
- Loyd, Lewis Christoper (1980). The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-8063-0649-0.
- Loyd, Lewis Christopher (27 July 1951). The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families. Genealogical Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-8063-0649-0 – via Google Books.
Further reading
- Crouch, David. The Normans: The History of a Dynasty. Hambledon & London, 2002.
- Loyd, Lewis C. The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families. (Harleian Society Publications, vol. 103) The Society, 1951 (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1980).
- Regesta Regum Anglo Normannorum, 1066–1154. (Henry William Davis & Robert J. Shotwell, eds) 4v. Clarendon Press, 1913 (AMS Press, 1987).
- Douglas, David C., The Normans, Folio Society, London, 2002.
- Villegas-Aristizabal, Lucas, "Anglo-Norman Involvement in the Conquest and Settlement of Tortosa, 1148–1180", Crusades vol. 8, 2009, pp. 63–129.
External links
- Index of Tenants-in-Chief and the Families Holding of Them in England, The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families, Lewis Christopher Loyd, Charles Travis Clay, David Charles Douglas, The Harleian Society, Leeds, 1951
This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Anglo Normans news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2025 Learn how and when to remove this message The Anglo Normans Norman Anglo Normaunds Old English Engel Nordmandisca were the medieval ruling class in the Kingdom of England following the Norman Conquest They were primarily a combination of Normans Bretons Flemings Frenchmen Anglo Saxons and Celtic Britons Anglo NormansExamples of Anglo Norman eliteLanguagesOld NormanOld FrenchOld Middle BretonOld DutchOld Middle EnglishReligionChristianityRelated ethnic groupsAnglo SaxonsBritish peopleCeltic BritonsIrish ScotsmenNormansFrenchBretonsFlemingsNorseNorse GaelsGaelsGallo RomansFranksDanesNorwegiansSwedesJerriaisGuernesiaisAnglo IrishIrishScots IrishScotsmenEnglishWelshIrish NormansScots NormansWelsh Normans After the conquest the victorious Normans formed a ruling class in England distinct from although intermarrying with the native Anglo Saxon and Celtic populations Over time their language evolved from the continental Old Norman to the distinct Anglo Norman language Anglo Normans quickly established control over all of England as well as parts of Wales the Welsh Normans After 1130 parts of southern and eastern Scotland came under Anglo Norman rule the Scots Normans in return for their support of David I s conquest The Anglo Norman invasion of Ireland from 1169 saw Anglo Normans and Cambro Normans conquer swaths of Ireland becoming the Irish Normans The composite expression regno Norman Anglorum for the Anglo Norman kingdom that comprises Normandy and England appears contemporaneously only in the Hyde Chronicle Norman conquestA small number of Normans had earlier befriended future Anglo Saxon king of England Edward the Confessor during his exile in his mother s homeland of Normandy in northern France When he returned to England some of them went with him as such there were Normans already settled in England before the conquest citation needed Edward s successor Harold Godwinson was defeated by Duke William the Conqueror of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings leading to William s accession to the English throne After the Norman Conquest of 1066 many of the Anglo Saxon nobles lost lands and titles the lesser thegns and others found themselves dispossessed of lands and titles A number of free had their rights and court access much decreased becoming unfree villeins despite the fact that this status did not exist in Normandy itself compared to other French regions At the same time many of the new Norman and Northern France magnates were distributed lands by the King that had been taken from the English nobles Some of these magnates used their original French derived names with the prefix de meaning they were lords of the old fiefs in France and some instead dropped their original names and took their names from new English holdings The Norman conquest of England brought Britain and Ireland into the orbit of the European continent especially what remained of Roman influenced language and culture The England emerging from the Conquest owed a debt to the Romance languages and the culture of ancient Rome It transmitted itself in the emerging feudal world that took its place That heritage can be discerned in language incorporating the French language and the Roman past and in the emerging Romanesque Norman architecture Military influenceThe Norman conquest of England also signalled a revolution in military styles and methods A lot of the old Anglo Saxon military elite began to emigrate especially the generation next younger to that defeated at Hastings who had no particular future in a country controlled by the conquerors William and his son William Rufus encouraged them to leave as a security measure The first to leave went mostly to Denmark and many of these moved on to join the Varangian Guard in Constantinople The Anglo Saxons as a whole for practical reason however were not demilitarised Instead William arranged for the Saxon infantry to be trained up by Norman cavalry in anti cavalry tactics This led quickly to the establishment of an Anglo Norman army made up of Norman horsemen of noble blood Saxon infantrymen often of equally noble blood assimilated English freemen as rank and file and foreign mercenaries and adventurers from other parts of the Continent The younger Norman aristocracy showed a tendency towards Anglicisation adopting such Saxon styles as long hair and moustaches upsetting the older generation The Anglo Saxon cniht did not take the sense of the French chevalier before the latest period of Middle English John Wycliffe 1380s uses the term knyytis generically for men at arms and only in the 15th century did the word acquire the overtones of a noble cavalryman corresponding to the meaning of chevalier The Anglo Norman conquest in the 12th century brought Norman customs and culture to Ireland Norman Saxon conflictThe degree of subsequent Norman Saxon conflict as a matter of conflicting social identities is a question disputed by historians The 19th century view was of intense mutual resentment reflected in the popular legends of Robin Hood and the novel Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott Some residual ill feeling is suggested by contemporary historian Orderic Vitalis who in Ecclesiastical Historii 1125 wrote in praise of native English resistance to William the Bastard William I of England In addition a fine called the murdrum originally introduced to English law by the Danes under Canute was revived imposing on villages a high 46 mark 31 fine for the secret killing of a Norman or an unknown person who was under the murdrum laws presumed to be Norman unless proven otherwise In order to secure Norman loyalty during his conquest William I rewarded his loyal followers by taking English land and redistributing it to his knights officials and the Norman aristocracy In turn the English hated him but the king retaliated ruthlessly with his military force to subdue the rebellions and discontentment Mike Ashley writes on this subject he William I may have conquered them the English but he never ruled them Not all of the Anglo Saxons immediately accepted him as their legitimate king Whatever the level of dispute over time the two populations intermarried and merged This began soon after the conquest Tenants in chief following the conquest who married English women included Geofrey de la Guerche Walter of Dounai and Robert d Oilly Other Norman aristocrats with English wives following the conquest include William Pece Richard Juvenis and Odo a Norman knight Eventually even this distinction largely disappeared in the course of the Hundred Years War 1337 1453 and by the 14th century Normans identified themselves as English having been fully assimilated into the emerging English population WalesThe Normans also led excursions into Wales from England and built multiple fortifications as it was one of William s ambitions to subdue the Welsh as well as the English however he was not entirely successful Afterward however the border area known as the Marches was set up and Norman influence increased steadily Encouraged by the invasion monks usually from France or Normandy such as the Cistercian Order also set up monasteries throughout Wales By the 15th century a large number of Welsh gentry including Owain Glyndŵr had some Norman ancestry The majority of knights who invaded Ireland were also from or based in Wales see below IrelandAnglo Norman barons also settled in Ireland from the 12th century initially to support Irish regional kings such as Diarmuid Mac Murchadha whose name has arrived in modern English as Dermot MacMurrough Richard de Clare 2nd Earl of Pembroke known as Strongbow was the leader of the Anglo Norman Knights whom MacMurrough had requested of Henry II of England to help him to re establish himself as King of Leinster Strongbow died a very short time after invading Ireland but the men he brought with him remained to support Henry II of England and his son John as Lord of Ireland Chief among the early Anglo Norman settlers was Theobald Walter surname Butler appointed hereditary chief Butler of Ireland in 1177 by King Henry II and founder of one of the oldest remaining British dignities Most of these Normans came from Wales not England and thus the epithet Cambro Normans is used to describe them by leading late medievalists such as Sean Duffy They increasingly integrated with the local Celtic nobility through intermarriage and especially outside the Pale around Dublin They are known as Old English but this term came into use to describe them only in 1580 i e over four centuries after the first Normans arrived in Ireland The Carol was a popular Norman dance in which the leader sang and was surrounded by a circle of dancers who replied with the same song This Norman dance was performed in conquered Irish towns ScotlandScotland from the Matthew Paris map c 1250 David I who had spent most of his life as an English baron became king of Scotland in 1124 His reign saw what has been characterised as a Davidian Revolution by which native institutions and personnel were replaced by English and French ones Members of the Anglo Norman nobility took up places in the Scottish aristocracy and he introduced a system of feudal land tenure which produced knight service castles and an available body of heavily armed cavalry He created an Anglo Norman style of court introduced the office of justiciar to oversee justice and local offices of sheriffs to administer localities He established the first royal burghs in Scotland granting rights to particular settlements which led to the development of the first true Scottish towns and helped facilitate economic development as did the introduction of the first recorded Scottish coinage He continued a process begun by his mother and brothers of helping to establish foundations that brought the reformed monasticism based on that at Cluny He also played a part in the organisation of diocese on lines closer to those in the rest of Western Europe These reforms were pursued under his successors and grandchildren Malcolm IV of Scotland and William I with the crown now passing down the main line of descent through primogeniture leading to the first of a series of minorities Anglo Norman familiesHouse of Anvers House of Bailleul or Balliol House of Beaugency or de La Fleche House of Beaumont House of Belleme House of Bigod House of Bohun House of Bowes Lyon or Bowley House of Braose or Brewes House of Bruce House of Burgh House of Clare House of Colville or Colvin House of Corbet House of Ferrieres House of FitzGerald House of FitzOsbern House of FitzWilliam Hall House of FitzAlan House of Gorges House of Grosvenor House of Harcourt House of Lacy House of Longe House of Lucy or Luci House of Levett House of Longchamp House of Melville House of Molyneux House of Mortimer House of Montbray House of Neville House of Normandy House of Percy House of Reviers House of Roper House of Seymour House of Saint Clair House of Spring House of Stuart House of Tosny House of Tritton House of Umfraville House of Warren House of WashingtonSee alsoCompanions of William the ConquerorReferencesThe English And The Normans Ethnic Hostility Assimilation and Identity 1066 c 1220 Oxford University Press U S A 3 Oct 2002 p 146 C Warren Hollister Henry I Yale English Monarchs 2001 15 Cartwright Mark Norman Conquest of England World History Encyclopedia Retrieved 12 January 2025 Feudalism And The Norman Conquest Of England 1066 Medieval Chronicles 7 August 2020 Retrieved 12 January 2025 Kalimniou Dean 24 February 2020 Byzantine New England a forgotten Anglo Saxon colony NEOS KOSMOS Retrieved 12 June 2024 Mike Ashley British Kings amp Queens Philadelphia PA Running Press Book Publishers 2002 55 58 Irish Family Names Butler Irelandseye com 9 February 2006 Retrieved 20 July 2010 G W S Barrow David I of Scotland The Balance of New and Old in G W S Barrow ed Scotland and Its Neighbours in the Middle Ages London 1992 pp 9 11 pp 9 11 M Lynch Scotland A New History Random House 2011 ISBN 978 1 4464 7563 8 p 80 B Webster Medieval Scotland the Making of an Identity St Martin s Press 1997 ISBN 978 0 333 56761 6 pp 29 37 B Webster Medieval Scotland the Making of an Identity St Martin s Press 1997 ISBN 978 0 333 56761 6 pp 23 4 Loyd Lewis Christoper 1980 The Origins of Some Anglo Norman Families Baltimore Genealogical Publishing Company ISBN 978 0 8063 0649 0 Loyd Lewis Christopher 27 July 1951 The Origins of Some Anglo Norman Families Genealogical Publishing Company ISBN 978 0 8063 0649 0 via Google Books Further readingCrouch David The Normans The History of a Dynasty Hambledon amp London 2002 Loyd Lewis C The Origins of Some Anglo Norman Families Harleian Society Publications vol 103 The Society 1951 Genealogical Publishing Co 1980 Regesta Regum Anglo Normannorum 1066 1154 Henry William Davis amp Robert J Shotwell eds 4v Clarendon Press 1913 AMS Press 1987 Douglas David C The Normans Folio Society London 2002 Villegas Aristizabal Lucas Anglo Norman Involvement in the Conquest and Settlement of Tortosa 1148 1180 Crusades vol 8 2009 pp 63 129 External linksIndex of Tenants in Chief and the Families Holding of Them in England The Origins of Some Anglo Norman Families Lewis Christopher Loyd Charles Travis Clay David Charles Douglas The Harleian Society Leeds 1951
