KNOWLEDGE ORGANISER: Unit 2 - NORMAN ENGLAND

Question 1

Which Anglo-Saxon king died in 1066 with no clear heir?

Answer 1

Edward the Confessor

Question 2

Which Anglo-Saxon Earl was crowned following the death of the King?

Answer 2

Harold Godwinson

Question 3

What did William claim happened in 1051, which lay at the root of his claim?

Answer 3

Edward the Confessor promised him the English throne

Question 4

Which Viking king of Norway also claimed the English throne?

Answer 4

Harold Hardrada

Question 5

Who betrayed Harold Godwinson by joining the Vikings?

Answer 5

Tostig (his brother)

Question 6

In what month and year did the Battle of Hastings take place?

Answer 6

October, 1066

Question 7

What were William’s heavily armoured soldiers on horseback called?

Answer 7

Knights

Question 8

What 70m long embroidered cloth depicting the Norman conquest of England?

Answer 8

Bayeux Tapestry

Question 9

What did Harold’s army form, which the Normans found it difficult to break through?

Answer 9

Shield-wall

Question 10

How did Harold Godwinson die, according to the Bayeux Tapestry?

Answer 10

An arrow to the eye

Question 11

The Norman Conquest When was William the Conqueror crowned king of England?

Answer 11

Christmas Day, 1066

Question 12

Where was William the Conqueror crowned king of England?

Answer 12

Westminster Abbey

Question 13

What type of castles did Norman nobles first build on their newly acquired English land?

Answer 13

Motte and Bailey Castle

Question 14

What collection of nobles and clergymen would advise the king?

Answer 14

Royal Court

Question 15

What event took place in 1069, following an Anglo-Saxon rebellion in Durham?

Answer 15

The Harrying of the North

Question 16

How many people are claimed to have starved to death following this event?

Answer 16

100 000

Question 17

Which Anglo-Saxon noble led a last stand against Norman power in East Anglia?

Answer 17

Hereward the Wake

Question 18

In what town did he base his rebellion?

Answer 18

Ely

Question 19

According to legend, what was the name of his sword?

Answer 19

Brainbiter

Question 20

What did William force all surviving Anglo-Saxon nobles to do?

Answer 20

Swear him an oath of loyalty

Question 21

What form of social organisation ranks people according to status or power?

Answer 21

Hierarchy

Question 22

What did you call anyone below you in the feudal system?

Answer 22

Vassal

Question 23

Which rank came just below the king in the feudal system, and ruled land on his behalf?

Answer 23

Barons

Question 24

Roughly how many Barons existed in medieval England?

Answer 24

200

Question 25

What did this rank of people have to do for the king, in return for being granted land?

Answer 25

Fight

Question 26

What term describes a title that is passed through a family, from parents to their children?

Answer 26

Hereditary

Question 27

What pledge of loyalty would a vassal have to swear to their lord?

Answer 27

Fealty

Question 28

What rank, usually a farm labourer, was at the bottom of medieval society?

Answer 28

Peasant

Question 29

What vitally important book did William the Conqueror commission in 1086?

Answer 29

The Domesday Book

Question 30

For what primary purpose did William the Conqueror have the Domesday Book written?

Answer 30

Taxation

Question 31

What period in English history did Henry II’s reign directly follow?

Answer 31

The Anarchy

Question 32

What area of land in France did Henry II gain through his marriage to Eleanor?

Answer 32

Aquitaine

Question 33

What name was given to the Empire that Henry II ruled?

Answer 33

Angevin Empire

Question 34

What position did Henry II give to his friend Thomas Becket in 1162?

Answer 34

Archbishop of Canterbury

Question 35

What did Thomas Becket wear to show how religious he was?

Answer 35

Hair shirt

Question 36

What offence caused Thomas Becket to go into exile in France for four years?

Answer 36

Calling Henry II’s brother a ‘bastard’

Question 37

In what year was Thomas Becket murdered?

Answer 37

1170

Question 38

Where was Thomas Becket murdered?

Answer 38

Canterbury Cathedral

Question 39

What is a person who is killed for their beliefs, often religious, called?

Answer 39

Martyr

Question 40

What did Henry II order the monks and bishops of Canterbury do to him in 1174?

Answer 40

Whip him

Question 41

From who did John try to steal the English throne whilst he was fighting a crusade?

Answer 41

Richard I (the Lionheart)

Question 42

Who did King John imprison, and possibly kill, for being a rival to the throne?

Answer 42

His nephew Arthur

Question 43

What term describes expulsion from the Catholic Church by the Pope, as happened to King John in 1209?

Answer 43

Excommunication

Question 44

What did the Pope order in 1209, which caused English churches to close for five years?

Answer 44

Interdict

Question 45

What nickname did King John gain for his defeats on the battlefield?

Answer 45

‘Softsword’/’Lackland’

Question 46

What is a ruler who refuses to share their power, and governs in a cruel and oppressive way, called?

Answer 46

Tyrant

Question 47

What series of promises, meaning ‘the Great Charter’, did the Barons force King John to sign?

Answer 47

Magna Carta

Question 48

In what year did King John sign this series of promises?

Answer 48

1215

Question 49

Where did King John sign a series of promises signed?

Answer 49

Runneymede

Question 50

What group of people in particular wrote negative accounts of King John following his death?

Answer 50

Monks