Once William was crowned King of England, he began to work on improving his land. The first thing he wanted to accomplish was bringing the English people under his control. To do this, he came up with four methods of keeping control. They were: 1. The Feudal System 2. Taking land from the English 3. The Domesday Book 4. Building Castles.
The Feudal System
William's first method was bringing the feudal system back to the English. The Feudal System is —a social system of rigid class distinctions and an unchanging way of life, —a political system of local government and military defense, and —an economic system of self-sufficient agricultural manor. The feudal system is mostly explained in a pyramid(as seen to the right). Above the pyramid is the Church and below that, at the head of the pyramid, is the King or Queen of the government. Then there are the nobles, below that the knights and vassals. A vassal is someone who is granted the use of land in exchange for services, usually military. Under them, you have the merchants, farmers, and craftsmen. Finally, at the bottom of the pyramid are the peasants and serfs, also know as slaves.
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Taking Land from the English In the following few years from becoming king, there were several revolts. William used these as an excuse to confiscate land from the English and gave this land to his Norman followers.
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The Domesday Book In 1085 William got an army to stop an invasion from Norway. He paid for this with taxes. In 1086 William sent officials to visit 13,000 villages in England. He collected details of people's land/ property and families. William used this information to decide how much people should pay. It is called the Domesday book because people thought it seemed like the Day of Judgement.
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Building Castles
William's Normans built castles to take control over an area. This presence of castles reminded the commoners who was in charge and allowed the Normans to have holdouts in case of an uprising. They also acted as centers for diplomacy and were given to William's allies. William and his men were greatly outnumbered on their island, so castles were a success in his holding of his throne.
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