The Norman Church

What was the role of the Church in Norman society?

The Church played a key role in Norman society, and the English Church changed as a result of this.

What role did the Norman Church play in the military?

Bishops owed the king military service, so the Church gave land to knights and made sure it could provide soldiers when needed.

What role did the Norman Church play in landholding?

It was a major landholder and owned up to 25% of English land. Church tenants did land service, just as for any other lord, and the Church collected the taxes for the king.

What legal role did the Church play in Norman England?

Because churchmen were among the few literate members of the population, they had an important role to play in the legal system.

• ❖ Church clerks wrote the king's royal writs and looked after his seal.
• ❖ Bishops sometimes developed laws for the king.
• ❖ They advised the king on legal matters.
• ❖ The Church organised Trials by Ordeal, where God was given the chance to show the guilt of those accused of crimes.
• ❖ William allowed the Church to create its own courts, which dealt with church-related crimes, blasphemy, and legal cases involving marriage.

What political role did the Church play in Norman England?

Important churchmen often paid a key role in William's government.

• ❖ Bishops and abbots often acted as William's advisers.
• ❖ They sometimes acted as the king's negotiator in important discussions, and as ambassadors to other countries.
• ❖ Archbishop Lanfranc stood in for William when he went to Normandy, acting as his regent.

How did the Normans change the Church in England ?

The Normans introduced important changes to the Church in England.

• ❖ Although many of the priests were still Anglo-Saxon, by 1070 William had replaced all of the important Anglo-Saxon churchmen with Normans.
• ❖ In 1070, the Anglo-Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury, Stigand, was replaced by Lanfranc.

What did Lanfranc change about the Norman Church?

Archbishop Lanfranc made many reforms to the Church in England.

• ❖ He encouraged William to make the Archbishop of Canterbury the head of the Church in England, securing primacy over the Archbishop of York.
• ❖ He also changed several Church rituals.
• ❖ Lanfranc tightened up the restrictions on churchmen marrying or having sexual relationships.
• ❖ Lanfranc also set up Church courts in 1076 for churchmen who were accused of crimes. This gave the Church a lot of independence from the king, and an important role in the legal system.
• ❖ Anglo-Saxon churches were knocked down and rebuilt in the Norman (Romanesque) style, in key locations and market towns.
• ❖ Archdeacons - above priests but below bishops - became more and more common.
• ❖ Lanfranc, himself an Italian monk, encouraged the revival of monasteries and religious communities.

Why did the Normans change the Norman Church?

William had gained the pope's support for his invasion in 1066 partly because he promised to reform the Church. There were a number of reasons why the Church needed reform.

• ❖ There were criticisms of pluralism - clergy holding more than one position, so that they could not effectively fulfil any one role.
• ❖ There were criticisms of nepotism - appointing family and friends to positions in the Church , rather than the best men for the job.
• ❖ There were criticisms of simony - when positions in the Church were sold to the highest bidder.
• ❖ There were also many instances of priests marrying and having children, even though this went against the rules of the Church.
• ❖ Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, was a prime example of a corrupt priest. This was why William refused to be crowned by Stigand in 1066, because it might cause challenges to his legitimacy.

What was the Normanisation of the English Church in Norman England?

The Normans worked to put their stamp on the Church in England.

• ❖ By the 12th century, nearly every Anglo-Saxon church building had been pulled down and replaced by new buildings in the Norman style.
• ❖ Nearly every important Anglo-Saxon churchman had been replaced by a Norman.

How did the Norman Church help keep control for the Normans?

As well as representing Norman ideas, the Church became an effective tool for William to strengthen his hold over England.

• ❖ Norman bishops and archbishops encouraged the preaching of positive messages about God's support of William and the Normans.
• ❖ With Norman bishops and archbishops, Church land was effectively controlled by the Normans, which helped to prevent rebellions.
• ❖ Lanfranc made sure that the Church had more control over priests, which meant that the Anglo-Saxons in the church were more effectively monitored by the Normans.
• ❖ New bishops paid homage to the king.
• ❖ The king approved Church Council decisions.
• ❖ The king appointed new bishops, or replacements for those who died.
• ❖ William controlled communication between the English Church and the pope.