1. THE RISE OF THE NORMANS
[THE WAR FOR ENGLAND]

2. PREVIOUSLY…. 6-8th C 8th – 9th C 5-6th C
Local Britons having problems with Picts, invite Anglo-Saxons over to help
Anglo Saxons want to stay, Britons give them Kent
They want more – they take it
Britons flee to modern day Wales
6-8th C
Anglo-Saxon form kingdoms, civil wars over who is the true King (or bretwalda)
8th – 9th C
786 Vikings begin to raid Britain and fight wars with the ruling Anglo-Saxons

3. SO WHAT HAPPENED with THOSE VIKINGS?
THE GREAT HEATHEN ARMY of the Danish Vikings arrives in England in 865 AD
Led by Ragnar & Ivar the Boneless takes over nearly all of England

4. ALfRED OF WESSEX

5. WHY DID HE THINK THIS WOULD WORK?
ALFRED – THE GREAT
King of Wessex (Anglo-Saxon)
Creates the burghal system to re-organize military defense
BURGH: a mound of earth surrounded by a ditch often with a palisade wall
WHY DID HE THINK THIS WOULD WORK?

6. ALFRED THE GREAT
THE FYRD – What we would think of as conscription (the Draft)
All able bodied English (Anglo-Saxons) were part of the fyrd, they had to provide their own weapons
The fyrd was called upon in emergency situations Alfred re-emphasizes the fyrd and turns them from a conscripted poorly trained commoners into a capable fighting force.

7. ALFRED’s REFORMS - RESULTS?
Alfred and his army beat back the Vikings out of Wessex
Treaty is agreed upon, and Vikings forced to give lands back to Anglo-Saxons but can stay in Danelaw
Does defeating an army and forcing them to take only ½ of a country that was yours to begin with make you great?

8. Late 9th Century England
Danelaw: Danish Viking Kings
Wessex: Led by Anglo-Saxon Kings (The English)
Northumbria: Norwegian Viking kings.
**Vikings are not all one people there are different groups of them.

9. 10th C: SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
Guthrum (Danes) gets converted to Christianity
910 – English def. Danish Vikings
954 – English def. Eric Bloodaxe & the Norwegian Vikings
BY 954 ALL THE VIKINGS ARE OUT OF ENGLAND or too Christian to fight us

10. ethelred the Unready King of England 978 – 1016 AD THE VIKINGS RETURN!
But Ethelred thinks of a plan to send them home….

11. CNUT (Canute) THE GREAT
KING OF DENMARK
KING OF NORWAY
And thanks to Ethelred being the Unready and paying him $$$ to stay away…he shows up conquers England and becomes
THE KING OF ENGLAND…

12. IF YOUR KEEPING TRACK… CIVILIZATION/COUNTRY PERSON THEY CALLED ‘GREAT’
Greece
Alexander of Macedon
England
Alfred of Wessex
France
Charlemagne
Scandinavia
Canute
Byzantines
Justinian I
Eastern Romans
Constantine
Western Romans
Pompey
Persians
Xerxes I & Darius I

13. VIKING EMPIRE OF CNUT

14. CNUT DIES---Who takes the EMPIRE?
Cnut’s son wants to go home to Denmark and be King there…
So the new King becomes the son of the previous king (Ethelred the Unready) his son is:
EDWARD THE CONFESSOR
Takes back much of England and then he dies too

15. WHO SUCCEEDS?

16. Who THE HECK ARE THE NORMANS
Normandy is a region in coastal France, right across the English channel from England

17. CONFLICT
RUMOUR: Edward chose William of Normandy to be the heir, Edward dies without his true intentions being known.
HAROLD (England) is crowned King
HAROLD HADRADA (Norway): “OH HELL NOOOOOO!” And invades England…
BATTLE OF STAMFORD BRIDGE: English Harold defeats Norwegian Harold

18. Not oVER yEt… The next day William of Normandy lands in England
Harold has to rush his army south to Hasting.

19. Battle of Hastings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLy1LskT6Y8

20. MACEDONS NORMANS DÉJÀ VU? WHO RULED GREECE? WHO RULED ENGLAND?
First Myceneans
Then Athens
Then Sparta
Then Thebes
But in the end…
WHO RULED ENGLAND?
First Britons
Then Anglo-Saxons
Then Vikings
But in the end…
MACEDONS
NORMANS

21. WILLIAM OF NORMANDY More Famously known as WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR
Goes on to conquer England..
HOW he did it.
&
WHAT he did there.