In this and the next two centuries one of the most powerful of these was controlled by the "Count of Holland". (Ref.
175 )
Additional Notes
British isles *** (page 1196)
Additional Notes
England
In 1002, on the night of St. Brice, King Aethelred made a very foolish move, in that he had all Danes who were outside of Danelaw murdered. Among those killed was the sister of King Sweyn of Denmark. This sealed England's fate and throughout 1003 and 1004 Sweyn remained in England, ravaging and laying waste far and wide. Finally in 1007 Aethelred produced a Danegeld of 36,000 pounds of silver and Sweyn went home, although his agents got another 45,000 pounds later. In about 1013 the Danish king returned to England and took over as monarch, while Aethelred fled to Normandy
There is some confusion about these dates in the literature, in that Barry Cunliffe (Ref.
43 ) says that after a massive Danish landing in 1009, the force moved on to take London, burn Oxford and rampage through East Anglia. Then Sweyn Forkbeard returned to Northumbria, where he was proclaimed king
. In about 1014, Sweyn either fell off his horse and died from injuries or was murdered. At any rate the English called Aethelred back and the Danish heir, Canute, now 18 years of age, returned to Denmark and prepared an expedition to return to England once again. This second conquest of England was completed when Aethelred's son, Edmund Ironside, died suddenly and Canute was accepted as King of England. This acquisition was chiefly political, as Anglo-Saxon institutions, speech and ways had, in six centuries become deeply rooted. Canute became a Christian and died an Englishman, in 1035. Another son of Aethelred, Edward the Confessor, then assumed the throne to continue the old West Saxon line. A strong Norman party was active at Edward's court, however, and he may actually have promised William of Normandy that he would be his heir. Edward died in 1066 as the last of the Saxon kings and there followed a hassle for political control with Harold, the strongest son of Godwin, a Wessex earl of the Danish party, competing against his brothers for control.
That year of 1066 was an eventful one. It was the year of Halley's comet and it was also the year in which William, Duke of Normandy, landed at Pevensey with a small, highly trained army on September 28th and marched to Hastings, there to eventually fight Harold on a nearby hill on October 14th. Each army had about 5,000 men but the Normans had cavalry and archers, while the Saxons had only foot soldiers
A different view is given by Thomas (Ref.
213 ) who says that Harold's men did have horses and used stirrups, but they did not recognize the value of the latter and dismounted to fight, while William's horsemen charged on their mounts
, who were already tired from very recent battles farther north against Harold's brothers, backed by the Norwegian king. Harold was killed in the battle, along with a large number of English land-owning aristocracy and in further battles that followed almost immediately the Saxon land-holding class was virtually wiped out. This land was subsequently parceled out to Norman barons as a new, horse-powered nobility of about 180 families soon controlled Britain under a truly feudal system. Enormous building projects were developed with castles, palaces, monastic establishments, parish churches and private houses. The Domesday Book of 1086 records 5,624 watermills serving some 3,000 settlements south of the Severn and the Trent. (Ref.
260 )
Additional Notes
