William I: Conquerer or Criminal? (The Harrying of the North)

hello and welcome back to the channnel if you're new here hi you are very welcome this is reading the past and I'm doct cat and today's topic is a highly requested one we're going to take a look at a moment in English History that is often credited with being the very Foundation of a North South divide on these islands this division continues to make the news as social cultural and economic differences between the South and the north remain a apparent and some would even argue ever expanding it's time for us to explore the period between the end of 1069 and the start of 1070 to look at the event that history remembers as the harrying of the North [Music] hopping back 1066 is arguably one of the most famous years in all of English History it is after all the year of the conquest the year that William Duke of Normandy became William the Conqueror through the defeat of Harold godwinson at the Battle of Hastings and while as we know now this defeat would represent a key shift in the governance of England for those living at the time the foundation and furthering of Norman rule was by no means a foregone conclusion I have made a video on the events of 1066 including the shall we say kafuffle that occurred during Williams coronation at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066 at this time the cheers of ascent from Williams newly conquered subjects panicked his Norman soldiers into thinking that a violent Revolt was a foot with the result being that these Norman soldiers then began to burn the surrounding buildings this in turn led to rioting I will leave that video linked so you can go and check it out if you wish today however we're going to be exploring the continuing unrest in England the Norman anxiety over how they could hold power and the aggression that ultimately resulted from it William spent much of 1067 on progress around Normandy he was accompanied by a selection of significant figures from the nation he had conquered in the previous year included in this group was Edgar aing he was the teenage great nephew of king Edward the Confessor and for a brief couple of months following the death of Harold godwinson Edgar was Williams rival to be king of England having been named as such by the wit Council however at the start of December 1066 Ed edar would submit to William and pay him homage one of Edward the confessor's advisers stigen the Archbishop of Canterbury joined this party on their Journey around Normandy as did some of the more prominent Earls from England Williams decision at this fairly early stage to return to Normandy for a number of months beginning in March 1067 was arguably evidence of his sense of security in his power and control over his new dominions or perhaps it was in fact a sign of his desire to appear to feel secure the choice of his companions I think arguably functions in a similar way it's either a display of submission and unity a Victory lap if you will for the Conquering William and or it's a way for that William to ensure a collection of potential troublemakers were kept well and truly occupied whatever William may have believed or indeed hoped unrest did begin to Bubble Up in England during his absence William returned to England in the December of 1067 at the start of the next year he set out to pacify the southeast by among other things successfully besieging exitor with this achievement William felt it was time for his wife Matilda to be introduced to his new subjects and to be recognized as their Queen her coronation took place at Westminster Abbey on which Sunday the 11th of May 1068 any comfort any security that William may have felt at this point would be very shortlived before long the Earls Edwine and morar who were two members of that party that had joined William in Normandy in 1067 rose up against him Edwine was reportedly embittered by a lack of real authority over his land and then on top of this it was alleged that William had renaged on a promise to allow Edwine to marry one of his daughters there was support for this Uprising coming out of Wales then people in northern England took advantage of this growing chaos with their own Rising adding to this threat to Williams Authority was Edgar aling's flight from Williams Court to that of Malcolm King of Scots in response William marched through the Midlands and onto York on the way there and back William made changes he ensured for example that he now placed his numerous castles in the hands of those that he could trust implicitly namely his fellow Normans this strategy proved successful these threats were sufficiently quelled for William and Matilda to feel confident enough to depart from England in order to spend the end of 1068 and the start of 1069 back in Normandy William was however drawn back to England by assaults that were launched on York and Durham that were led by Edgar aing at this time William was able to force his enemies into Retreat near York the danger was however only ramping up swen estron king of Denmark arrived in the north of England with a large army at his back in the summer of 1069 his forces had the support of Edgar aing and also many of Edgar's fellow Rebels it appears that Edgar and those who had fought for him were now willing to forgo his claim to be the English king in favor of that of s and perhaps this is understandable considering that there were likely cultural similarities between those living in northern England and these Danish Invaders as after all much of this area had been under Danish control during the late 9th and 10th centuries indeed perhaps this contributed to this invading force and its allies being able to successfully capture your on September the 20th 1069 despite this early success William was able to First contain this Invasion and then to push it back indeed the Danish Army would ultimately Retreat out of England within just a few months William however Victorious he was does seem to have felt that he now had a score to settle with his Northern subjects and so after celebrating Christmas in the battle damaged York William chose to lead his army through the country into North Umbria it appears that this troop were permitted if not in fact actively encouraged to leave nothing but destruction in their wake this period this series of events is what history remembers as the Haring of the north various Chronicles offer a frankly incredibly disturbing account of this harrying and its effects I've chosen a couple and I'm going to sh some excepts from those now as I said these accounts are disturbing so if this is not something you want to hear then I'm going to leave a Tim stamp to let you know when to skip to to avoid listening to it I'm going to jump in now Simeon of Durham was born around six years before the conquest he became a monk at Durham prior and he wrote his account of the harrying a few decades after it occurred he is seemingly indebted to another Chronicle John of Worcester whose report he builds upon Simeon wrote that following Williams March into North Umbria quote so great a famine prevailed that men compelled by hunger devoured human flesh that of horses dogs and cats and whatever custom AB others sold themselves into Perpetual slavery so that they might in any way preserve their wretched existence others while about to go into Exile from their country fell down in the middle of their journey and gave up the ghost it was horrific to behold the human corpses decaying in the houses the streets and the roads swarming with worms while they were consuming in corruption with an abominable stench for no one was left to bury them in the Earth all being cut off either by the sword or by famine or having left the country on account of famine meaning while the land being thus deprived of anyone to cultivate it for 9 years an extensive Solitude prevailed all around there was no Village inhabited between York and Durham they became lurking places to wild beasts and robbers and were a great dread to Travelers in a similar vein UD Vitalis wrote how quote numbers of the insurgents fell beneath his vengeful sword meaning Williams vengeful sword here he leveled their places of shelter to the ground wasted their lands and burnt their dwellings with all they contained never did William commit so much cruelty to his lasting disgrace he yielded to his worst impulse and set no bounds to his Fury condemning the innocent and the guilty to a common fate in the fullness of his wrath he ordered the corn and cattle with the Implements of husbandry and every sort of Provisions to be collected in heaps and set on fire till the whole was consumed and thus destroyed at once all that could serve for the support of life in the whole country lying beyond the Humber there followed consequently so greater scarcity in England in the ensuing years and severe famine involved the innocent and unarmed population in so much misery that in a Christian Nation more than a 100,000 Souls of both Sexes and all ages perished of want on many occasions in the course of the present history I have been free to extol William according to his merits but I dare not commend him for an act which leveled both the Bad and the good together in one common ruin by the infliction of a consuming famine for when I see that innocent children youths in the prime of their age and gray-headed old men perish from hunger I am more disposed to pity the sorrows and sufferings of the wretched people than to undertake the screening of one who was guilty of such wholesale Massacre by lying flatteries I assert moreover that such barbarous homicide could not pass unpunished the almighty judge beholds alike the high and the low scrutinizing and punishing the acts of both with equal justice that his eternal laws may be plain to all here William is identified as the principal individual who should be held responsible for this incredible level of suffering that was inflicted on the people of the north of England many of whom it was alleged were non-combatants the Harring of the north was at least according to these reports an atrocity deserving of divine retribution the violence of 1069 into 1070 for all that today it is credited with being the thing that finally brought England to heal under Norman rule May in fact not actually have resulted in a decisive end to Williams problems indeed David Bates points out that it was only through the conclusion of the Peace of abony with the king of Scots in 1072 that the quote succession of demanding campaigns could be seen to have gradually subdued England and the British Isles that it would take more time more action both diplomatic and Military for it to be said that William had persuasively impressed his power on all his English and British enemies so what do you think of the Haring of the north were you familiar with this particular event before today's video and if so how much did you know about it as always I'm looking forward to reading 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