Not many manuscripts containing information about the history of the Middle Ages have survived. But still a few sources, annals, chronicles, as well as archaeological finds allowed scientists to restore the chronology of the main historical events in England in early Middle Ages.
During the period of early V-XI) British lands were in the possession of the Roman Empire. After the emergence of a threat and internal unrest, the emperor could not provide proper support to Britain, she was out of work, becoming independent province. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the territory of the former Britain was attacked by the Saxons, Jutes and Angles, as a result of which it was divided into seven independent kingdoms.
The first kingdom of Kent, created by the Ute tribes, is located in the southeast of the island. The Saxon tribes settled three kingdoms in the south: Essex, Wessex, Sussex. And the northern and central part of Britain was occupied by three kingdoms created by the Angles: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia. All these kingdoms in the early Middle Ages waged a continuous struggle for leadership.
The rivalry between the seven kingdoms ended only when there was a real threat from the outside. In the face of regular attacks from the Normans in the 9th century, Alfred the Great managed to unite all seven kingdoms.
Egbert the Great is considered in many writings to be the first king of England, as he united most of the lands of present-day England. But still officially he did not use the title of king. The time of his reign coincides with the period of the birth of England in the early Middle Ages as a state.
It was King Egbert who created the state authority - Witenagemot. The council consisted of influential nobility, only together with the "assembly of the wise" he made important decisions for the state.
Witenagemot (uitenagemot), or, as it was called, "assembly of the wise", is a royal council that exists in the Anglo-Saxon period, consisting of the nobility and representing supreme body authorities.
The “Assembly of the Wise” was formed in the 7th century, after which, for almost four subsequent centuries, all decisions were made with their participation. All issues relating to the state, the clergy, politics were decided by the king exclusively in agreement with the council. Only with the approval of the Witenagemot, the king could issue new laws, hold state events, and make any important decisions.
For the first time, Alfred the Great was officially named the king of medieval England, ruling Wessex from 871 to 899. He was an outstanding just ruler. In addition to successful military activities, he carefully strengthened his kingdom, made many efforts to develop the culture, clergy and education of his people. Contributed to the development of science. Among other things, Alfred is considered the founder of the English fleet. He was the initiator of the creation of the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
The heirs of King Alfred the Great continued his undertakings, being worthy rulers. Some of them became famous, but still they failed to surpass their great ancestor in achievements.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the oldest English chronicle, collected in several books. The oldest handwritten source describing the chronicle of the historical events of England from the 5th to the 12th century. The compilation and bringing together of the chronicle of events began in the 9th century by order of King Alfred the Great.
The early years described in the annals are based on the "Histories" of the monk Bede the Venerable, various legends, surviving fragments of the Wessex, Mercian chronicles. As for more late period, then the manuscripts and writings have significant discrepancies of facts.
From the end of the eighth century, and then for about three centuries in a row, the English lands were severely attacked by the Normans, also called the Vikings. The lack of land and the thirst for conquest pushed them to regular raids and the conquest of new territories. They were Scandinavians. Their raids were brutal and unpredictable. The Vikings were a real threat to medieval England. The ships of the Normans, thanks to their structure, kept well on the water even in a strong storm, and were also well suited for long-distance voyages.
In the 9th century, the Normans managed to capture eastern part medieval England, forcing Alfred the Great to hide in the south. Following this, a peace treaty was concluded between the king and the Vikings, according to which the country was divided into two parts. The southwest was ruled by King Alfred the Great, while the northeast, called Denlo, belonged to the Vikings. However, the king could not fully trust the Normans, for this reason, despite the peace treaty, he began to build defensive structures, navy, and also significantly improved the army.
The heirs of Alfred the Great successfully continued his work, gradually winning back the captured English lands from the Vikings. Under the reign of King Edgar (959-975), the entire territory was returned to England, and the Vikings were forced out of the lands.
The bloodshed (1066) between the Norman troops and the Anglo-Saxon army is one of the most significant historical events that influenced further fate England.
Duke William of Normandy chose a good time for military operations, as the English army was exhausted after many other battles, the soldiers needed rest. King Harold Godwinson was worried, assuming that the Norman troops prevailed in numbers, but it was not the number of warriors that played leading role in this fight.
The Anglo-Saxon army in the Middle Ages, although inferior in strength, took a good position in the battle and gave a powerful rebuff to the attacks of the Normans. The outcome of the battle was predetermined by a cunning tactical move, invented and successfully applied by Wilhelm. It was a false retreat. The Norman army very coherently simulated unrest in its ranks and began to retreat. The main purpose of this tactical move was to lure the army of King Harold from their advantageous positions.
The maneuver was successful largely due to the fact that not only separate part, and in fact the entire Norman army. Such a trick managed to lure out a significant part of the English army, after which William's army turned around and captured the enemy in a ring. However, the English stubbornly repulsed the attacks until the arrow of the Norman archers hit King Harold. After the death of the ruler and his two brothers who commanded the army, the Anglo-Saxon army was demoralized and then completely destroyed by the Normans. In the future, such tactics more than once brought success to Wilhelm.
Victory at the Battle of Hastings (1066) brought Duke William the coveted crown.
It was with the Norman conquest by William at the Battle of Hastings that the subjugation of England by the Normans began. For almost a century, the Normans were crowned in English lands. During the reign of William I the Conqueror, power was completely centralized, and the state became a feudal monarchy.
One of the most significant achievements of King William during the reign of the state is the first complete land census of English possessions, carried out in 1086 and listed in two volumes of the Book doomsday».
In general, thanks to the introduction of feudalism, the structural social system became more rigid and more hierarchical.
King Henry I restored the unity of the Anglo-Norman monarchy. During his reign, he significantly strengthened royal power, put forward many reforms, primarily aimed at centralizing power. The highest body of state financial management and the court was created - the Chamber of the Chessboard. During his reign, he largely adhered to the Anglo-Saxon legal system, but at the same time practically did not issue any new laws.
Under the reign of King Henry I of England, the supreme body of financial management, the Chamber of the Chessboard, was founded. Initially, this body carried out administrative, judicial and financial state functions in England. The members of the chamber dealt with financial disputes, as well as cases related to material values, which directly concerned the interests of the crown.
His reign is considered one of the most utopian in the history of England. The king was distinguished by a rather cruel disposition, but this did not at all help him in governing England. During his reign, unreasonable foreign policy led to the loss of most of the possessions in the French lands. John the Landless disregarded the laws, openly abusing his power, allowing himself to take away the lands of the barons, and executed them without a court order. He regularly violated feudal customs, arbitrarily raised state taxes, increased requisitions, which set even those segments of the population that had previously supported his methods against himself.
One of the most significant events of his reign was the conclusion of a legal document called the Magna Carta, which he was forced to sign.
On June 15, 1215, a legal constitutional document, the Magna Carta, was signed. It differed from previous decisions in that it determined the rights of all classes of society at once.
The history of England in the early Middle Ages shows that the articles of the charter regulated many issues related to taxes and extortions. Norms were established, the penalty system was softened, the rights to personal freedom were established, and the judicial system was significantly improved. From now on, arrest, as well as property punishments, could only be based on the law. The purpose of the many articles of the charter was to stop the abuse of the king's power, limit his influence, and equalize the rights of all classes of society. The document gave certain advantages to the British, protected the rights and endowed subjects with certain privileges.
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The Middle Ages cover the period from the middle of 400 to the end of the 15th century. England in the early Middle Ages was characterized by unrest and devastation. The Anglo-Saxons had to resist the Norman conquerors, who mercilessly burned one locality after another. The most bloody were the actions in the north of the country, where the confrontation was especially tough.
Few of the lords were able to keep their property intact. Know by all means tried to protect property from ruin, swearing allegiance to King William. The monarch ruthlessly suppressed the Anglo-Saxon uprisings, and distributed the liberated lands to the Norman lords. Being a good strategist, William distributed territories according to this principle: he gave half to the Normans, and one quarter each to the church and himself.
The principle of feudalism proposed by the king was convenient for building a clear structure of subordination: William was the full owner of the country, but he controlled with the help of vassals, who in return gave away part of the crop and provided soldiers for the regular army. In the subordination of the vassals were poor knights, lords and free people, whose rights were equated with slave ones. The inheritance of lands after the death of a vassal passed to his son, who paid tribute to the king for the right to own the territories.
In 1086 William decided to accurately determine the amount of land owned by the church, the lords and himself in order to calculate the amount of the annual tax. Thus, for the first time in the history of the country, a population census and an assessment of national property were carried out. The event is known in history as Domesday Book.
Medieval England was a time filled with wars and divisions within the royal family. The struggle for the throne became the only goal of potential monarchs, who had little interest in the lives of subjects and vassals. The situation escalated until he came to power brother of King Richard Lion Heart- John..jpg)
The monarch was unprincipled and greedy, and therefore was not popular among the common people and lords. All that interested him was taxes and taxes in in large numbers with which he overlaid entire cities, all merchants and even monasteries. This continued until 1215, when the subjects, outraged by the king's policy, arrived in London and forced John to sign an agreement called the Magna Carta. The agreement symbolized the receipt of certain political freedoms, fair trial and obligated the monarch to protect free citizens from the lawlessness of officials. The goal of the vassals was to limit the king in his rights, but few suspected what role Magna Carta would play in the history of the future Britain. The following rulers, recognizing the agreement as legitimate, sanctioned the collapse of the feudal system, which ceased to exist in the 16th century.
Signed against the will of the agreement, John was not going to put into practice. The vassals rebelled and drove the monarch out of the southeast of England. There was a possibility civil war, which did not happen only because the ruler died in 1216. The heir to Henry III at that time was only nine years old and was admitted to the throne only at the age of 25. Feeling the power, he removed the nobles and fully supported foreigners, spending public money on papal wars. This situation was not beneficial for the lords, and they in 1258 they seized power by establishing a council of nobles, calling it parliament. The new body began to manage the treasury and cut off Henry's contacts with foreign advisers. The king enlisted the support of some influential rich people and regained unlimited power, leaving his son Edward I to rule, who included nobility, knights, landowners and merchants in parliament.
England in the Middle Ages was an agricultural country. The land was cultivated in the territories adjacent to large and small cities. Among European states, England was the most self-sufficient in agricultural production and trade within the regions was fairly well developed.
Gradually, the Anglo-Saxons entered the international market and actively interacted in various fields with the Scandinavian countries, as well as with France and Germany. The main export item was wool, which was in demand not only as a raw material, but also in finished goods. English woolen fabric sold dearly and brought an excellent income to both artisans and the treasury. .jpg)
Almost every city had markets where food and wool were offered. Gradually, the cities turned into independent citadels, surrounded by strong walls, behind which guilds of merchants and artisans were created, helping each other with the delivery of products.
The most extensive development of guilds was in London. A wealthy stratum of artisans appeared in the city, who controlled cash flows and markets. The 12 largest trading organizations have evolved into the largest financial institutions, which in modern world govern the City of London and influence the election of the mayor of the capital of Great Britain.
The late Middle Ages in England was marked by a number of global events for the country, for example, such as Edward II's war with France, which was called the Hundred Years' War, lasted from 1337 to 1453. The victory constantly passed from one side to the other, and at first the English troops won important strategic victories, but the French were periodically helped by the army of Scotland, and the conflict between the countries continued until the 15th century.
In the 14th century, the plague came to England, killing more than a third of the population. The "Black Death" spared no one and left alive one of 10 infected with this terrible infection. During the period of epidemics, the number of inhabitants decreased from 4 million to two. Increased taxes have led to peasant uprisings and riots, during which the protesters captured half of London and put forward their demands to King Richard II. A little later, bursts of rebellion reached Wales, thanks to which the Welsh for the first time in history realized themselves as an independent and integral nation.
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Utah - Germanic tribe, who lived in the very south and southeast of the Jutland Peninsula in the Holstein region.
The Saxons are a German tribal union. The original place of their settlement was the area along the lower reaches of the Rhine and Elbe.
They later spread to different sides, including southwestern Jutland.
ENGLISH - the people, the main population of Great Britain. Formed in the Middle Ages from the Germanic tribes , , And , as well as assimilated by them the population of the island. There are 44.7 million people in the UK, about 110 million people in the world. The ethnonym is found in texts . In one of his interviews, the scientist said that at the very beginning of scientific research, he was very interested in the issue of the emergence of new ethnic groups: “if we look at what peoples were in antiquity, we will not find there either the French, or the British, or Russians, or Turks. Their place was occupied by completely different peoples, which are now preserved either as relics, very insignificant in number and isolated, or in general only a memory has survived about them, ”the scientist noted in one of his conversations (“Where did Rus' come from ...” (July 11 2010, with V. Lysov).
ENGLISH (20), the main population (77.5%) of the UK. The total number is 47,700 thousand people, including in the UK - 44,000. They live in many countries, mainly in the USA (650 thousand people), as well as the former possessions of Great Britain - Canada - 1000, Australia - 950, New Zealand - 200, South Africa - 230, India - 200 thousand people and in other countries. The British, together with immigrants from other countries, formed the basis of the American, Anglo-Canadian, Anglo-Australian and Anglo-New Zealand nations.
GELs, gaels, goydels - a group of ancient Celtic tribes (see Celts) who settled in Ireland; mixing with the local pre-Indo-European population, they laid the foundation for the formation of the Irish people (see Irish people). Part of the Gaels (tribes of Scots and others) moved to Scotland in the 5th-6th centuries, where, in turn, mixing with the Picts, they participated in the formation of the Scottish people (see Scots). Currently, the inhabitants of the mountainous regions of Scotland (the so-called highlanders, i.e. highlanders) and the Hebrides are called Gaels.
WELSES, Welsh, - the people of the Celtic language group. Inhabits Wales and Monmouthshire (UK). Number - over 1 million people. (1959). The language is Welsh, English is also currently spoken. Religiously, they are mostly Anglicans. The ancestors of the Welsh are the Celtic tribes of the Cymrs, who lived in the mountainous regions of Wales, and the Celtic tribes of the Britons mixed with them, pushed back by the Anglo-Saxons into the mountains of Wales from the southwestern regions of Great Britain.
ENGLISH - a nation, the main population of Great Britain, where their number is over 43 million people (1958). The British also live in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Eyre and outside the British Isles - in the English dominions and colonies, in the USA and other countries. English language belongs to the West Germanic group of Indo-European languages. By religion, the majority of believing Englishmen belong to the Anglican Church (according to the Encyclopedia "Britannica", vol. 8, 1959, - St. 25 million people), Catholics among the British are about 3.3 million people.
Britons (lat. Britanni) - the collective name of a number of Celtic tribes that inhabited Britain from the 8th century BC. e. until the 5th-6th centuries. n. e. The etymology of the word "Britons" remains unclear: according to one version, the later Latin Britto (singular) may come from the Celtic brith, i.e. "variegated, colorful", which indirectly indicates the features of the appearance of the representatives of the tribe who wore, as R. Thomson admits, bright clothes. According to another hypothesis, the name of the Britons is a distortion of the self-name of the Picts - Prydem. The organization of their life was subordinated to the principles of the communal-tribal system. The preservation of tribal traditions, including through maintaining ties with the continental Celts (as Strabo pointed out), and an independent disposition did not allow the Britons to be completely subjugated during the period of Roman expansion into Britain and significantly hampered the process of Romanization ...
ANGLO-SAXONS - a nationality that formed on the territory of England in the 7th-10th centuries, after the Anglo-Saxon conquest, in the process of mixing the tribes of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes and also absorbed Celtic elements. The formation of the Anglo-Saxons took place in the conditions of the collapse of tribal ties during the settlement of the Germans in the conquered territory and their rallying in the struggle against the Britons in the West and North of the island, and from the end of the 8th century - against the attacks of the Scandinavians.
As soon as England was united at the beginning of the 9th century. into one kingdom, how they came upon it to attack the Normans(Danes). They even temporarily took possession of most of England, thanks to the fact that here the royal power, for the same reasons that operated in other German states, fell into disrepair. True, there was no real feudalism here, but something similar to it was established - strengthening of the landed nobility And enslavement of the masses. This was the result of the formation of a class tanov, who received large estates from the kings for their service. The most remarkable king of the Norman invasions was Alfred the Great(871-901), who was first deprived of power by the Danes, who seized the whole country, and was forced to wander among the forests and marshes, but then he conquered the western part of England and began to correct the troubles caused by the conquerors. Along with this, he restored the old Anglo-Saxon order in government and court with the participation of free people. This order turned out to be so tenacious that it was not destroyed even by the new conquest of western England by the Danes under Kanute the Great(1017-1035), under whose rule Denmark, Norway and England were simultaneously. This king, who himself adopted Christianity and spread it among the Danes and Norwegians, even directly contributed to the restoration of her original customs in England. In the specified preservation of the ancient Germanic foundations of life is one of the very important features English history. Much of this life was preserved in England even when French feudalism was transferred to it.
In the middle of the XI century. reigned in England Edward the Confessor, the last descendant of Alfred the Great. His mother was related to the Duke of Normandy Wilhelm, and he himself was brought up in Normandy, where he became addicted to French culture. Having no children, he bequeathed his crown Wilhelm, but the Witenagemot after his death elected the Anglo-Saxon kings Harold. Then William, a man distinguished by a strong will and organizational talent, at the same time cunning, greedy and power-hungry, formed a large militia of the knights of Normandy and other parts of France and undertook the conquest of England. The Battle of Hastings took place between Harold and William, in which Harold was killed and his army suffered a terrible defeat. (1066). The Duke of Normandy is now King of England and was named Conqueror(1066–1087). Since, however, he conquered England with the help of knights, of whom many were even only volunteers, he had to reward them for this by giving them fiefs from the confiscated lands of the Anglo-Saxon nobility. At the end of his reign, William the Conqueror ordered rewrite all landed property in the kingdom with the designation of its owners and their duties ("The Book of Doomsday"). According to this census, there were more than 60 thousand fiefs in all of England. Spirituals from Normandy also received a lot of land. Thus Feudalism was brought to England from France. Along with this, the official language of England became French, and the Anglo-Saxon Church adopted many French customs.
Wilgelm the conqueror. video film
William the Conqueror was a very prudent sovereign, well aware of the state of affairs and able to avoid mistakes. Therefore, introducing the feudal structure of the state into England, he took care not to lose power from his hands. He was well aware that the Norman knights would be afraid of the Anglo-Saxon uprisings, and these, in turn, would need protection from violence, and therefore he used all means to dominate others with the help of some. Introducing feudalism, he retained, however, for the free Anglo-Saxons the use of their old order. On the other hand, he obliged oath in relation to themselves, not only vassals (barons), as was the case in France, but also vassals(knights). Further, declaring himself the supreme owner of all the land, he left a significant part of it behind him and did not distribute large estates to the barons in one place. The most generously endowed had lands scattered in different parts kingdoms, so that none of the barons there was no such continuous territory, which could turn into a strong seigneur. At this time, only a very few Anglo-Saxons retained lands and freedom, because even before the mass was already fixed. Now she's out of addiction Tanov became addicted to barons And knights, but Wilhelm I also took steps to ensure that the landowners could not become her real sovereigns.
William the Conqueror separated England from Normandy, giving the kingdom to his second son (William II), and the duchy to his eldest (Robert, a participant in the first crusade), but both of these possessions were again united under his rule by the third brother, Henry I, and they remained united after this is about a hundred years old, as a result of which Normans and England for a long time did not merge with the Anglo-Saxons into one nation. Many barons owned lands both in England and in Normandy, and therefore sought to establish the order of French feudalism in England as well. They were helped by the fact that after the death of Henry I (1134) began a civil strife for the crown between the daughter of Henry I Matilda and son of the daughter of William the Conqueror Stefan from her marriage to a French count (Blois). Matilda, herself married to a Frenchman, Count of Anjou, from the family Plantagenets, eventually prevailed, and with her son HeinrichII ascended the throne in England Plantagenet dynasty(1154). The new dynasty was also French. Henry II owned Normandy and Anjou in France, and by marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the divorced wife of Louis VII, also Aquitaine. Thus, the Plantagenets were vassals of the French kings and themselves had numerous vassals in France, and all this only strengthened the influence in England of French views, customs and orders. But, on the other hand, the accession to the English throne of such a powerful dynasty stopped the successes that purely French feudalism was making in England during the dispute for the crown, when the barons set up three and a half hundred castles in England, even began to wage wars among themselves, terribly oppressed the peasantry. population, etc. The Plantagenets reigned in England for two and a half centuries, from the middle of the XII to the very end of the XIV (1154-1399), i.e. in the era crusades and a whole century after their end, and under the kings of this dynasty, very important events took place in England.
Legends of the so-called Arthurian cycle tell about this historical period. According to the sources of that era, Arthur, one of the Celtic leaders, managed to unite numerous disparate principalities and collect a strong army capable of withstanding the threat of the Saxon invasion. Some of the historical accounts of King Arthur tend to be regarded by modern scholars as quite credible. Arthur, apparently, was a very real historical person. He is credited with more than ten successful battles against the Saxons. For some time, the Saxons were limited to settlements on the British coast, but a century later, Britain was completely conquered by the Anglo-Saxon tribes. The Celts were either destroyed or completely subdued by the invaders. Only a small part of the native population of the British Isles managed to escape to the continent. There they settled in the territories belonging to the modern French province Brittany.
Rice. 45 [Fig. - King Arthur fights a giant. The initial is the capital letter of a medieval manuscript. 12th century (Children's Plutarch, p. 86)]
The Arthurian cycle - the Celtic legends of Wales of the 5th - 6th centuries, which formed the basis of the rich literary tradition of the Middle Ages. King Arthur (Artorius) as a historical person was first mentioned in the annals of the 8th century.
The Anglo-Saxon conquest completely destroyed the former culture of Britain, which was weakly Romanized and left almost no traces on the territory of modern England. All the villas of the Romans who lived on the islands during the era of the Roman Empire were completely destroyed, very little of the Celtic culture also remained. Actually, from the moment of the conquest of Britain by the Germans in the history of the country, a new chapter "with clean slate».
The new inhabitants of Britain settled mainly along ethnic lines. The eastern territories of Britain went to the Angles, who created a single kingdom there. In the south, three independent Saxon kingdoms arose at once - Essex, Sussex and Wessex. The names of these kingdoms, in which the name of the Saxon people clearly sounds, are preserved in the names of the corresponding localities in modern England. In the southeast of the island, the kingdom of the Jutes appeared - Kent. The north of the island was inhabited by representatives of all three peoples, who founded two mixed kingdoms - Northumbria and Mercia. In all British lands, the Germans quickly merged with the Celts into a single nation, which contributed to the country's unification that soon followed.
Angles and Jutes - ancient Germanic tribes that conquered British lands in the 5th - 6th centuries. along with the Saxons.
Fighting the Normans
In 829, Ecbert became High King of Britain, having managed to subjugate the lands of all other kingdoms. The unification was all the more necessary because a new threat hung over England.
From the end of the 8th century, a new force appeared in continental Europe - the Normans, the tribes of the Germans and Slavs, who inhabited Scandinavia and part of the northwestern lands on the mainland. Before the mainland peoples, the Normans had one important advantage - they perfectly mastered the maritime business. In those days, there were no better seafarers in Europe than the Normans. The Scandinavians, at first simply making swift and daring raids on fertile lands mainland Europe, gradually began to settle there. In particular, they founded the Duchy of Normandy in what is now France.
England liked the Danes. Their devastating raids have become a real scourge for the northeastern lands of the kingdom. The Anglo-Saxon population at first could not resist the Normans, and they settled on the coast. Danish kingdom in pure form in England it was not, but in the vast territories in the north-east of the country only Danish laws were in force. The first serious defeat to the Danes was managed by King Alfred the Great. After several years of bitter wars, he forced the Danes, who had conquered a significant part of the Anglo-Saxon lands, to retreat. In 886, peace was concluded between Alfred and the Danes. The Normans left behind the north-eastern lands beyond the Thames, while the Anglo-Saxons were left with the south-east of the country.
Alfred the Great (c. 849 - c. 900) - Anglo-Saxon king who ruled Britain in 886 - 899.
However, the Normans were used to treating such conventions lightly as a peace treaty, and raids on Anglo-Saxon lands continued. Alfred was forced to radically reform his army, focusing on heavily armed cavalry and the royal squad, professional warriors designed to replace the peasant militia.
Each of the knights-tenov, who was in the service of the king, received a land allotment for use. In case of war, he was to appear by royal order, fully armed and on horseback, and also bring with him a detachment of trained foot soldiers. In addition, each community was obliged to provide the king with a detachment of armed foot soldiers. The size of such a detachment depended on the area of land owned by the community.
Ten (Anglo-Saxon thegn, thane) - a warrior from the Anglo-Saxon nobility who swore allegiance to the king and received from him a salary and lands for military service.
Alfred took steps to strengthen the defense of England. To prevent further Danish invasions from the sea, he built a fleet. The coasters that cruised along the British coast protected the country from sea raids and did not allow the Danes to surround the Anglo-Saxons. Under Alfred, they began to build new and strengthen old fortresses throughout the country. Within the walls of the fortress there was a military garrison carrying border service.
The first mention of the so-called "Danish money" - danegeld dates back to the reign of Alfred the Great. So
called a tax that all British communities had to pay into the royal treasury. "Danish money" went to strengthen the army and the construction of ships and defensive structures.
For about a century, relative peace reigned in the British Isles. At the beginning of the 11th century, the Danes again attacked British lands. This time the attack was much more successful. All of England for thirty years fell under the rule of the Danish king Canute, the founder of the largest unified kingdom in the history of Scandinavia. Canut was subject to all the Scandinavian countries, England and Scotland. Canute imposed on England, like all the conquered lands, a heavy tribute, also called "Danish money."
In 1042 England freed itself from the Danes. But the Anglo-Saxons managed to lead an independent existence only for a quarter of a century - in 1066, the army of the Norman Duke William, who crossed the English Channel, landed in the south of the country. William's professional army defeated the Anglo-Saxon army, and all of Britain (with the exception of the mountainous northern part) was conquered. On December 25, 1066, William occupied London, the capital of the English kingdom, and declared himself King of England. This ended the Anglo-Saxon period in British history.
