Lindstrom, Essay #5, Question #3, Page #1 Nathan W.

Lindstrom Professor Gatlin History 4A 2012-02-24 AFTER ROME WEST, region

THE FALL OF

IN THE

THE SOURCES OF POWER AND STABILITY IN THE

devolved to wealth from land and plunder, church patronage, and kinship networks. Semi-independent peasants worked their own small holdings of land, paying labor services to a landowner so that they could remain in their manse, which was a house, garden, and farmland (MW, pp. 275-278). By the eleventh century, however, the situation had greatly changed. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the Norman invasion of England in 1066. When the Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor1, so named for his intense personal piety2, died childless in 1066, William the Duke of Normandy3 claimed the throne, gathered an army from all over France, and invaded England. So bloody was his conquest that modern-day estimates place the casualties as high as one out of every five people in England (MW, p. 360). After the battle at Hastings, William claimed all of England as his by right of conquest; keeping approximately twenty percent of the land for himself, he divided the rest among a few scattered but large fiefs. These were in turn ruled by his barons and family members, along with some lesser men, all of whom owed William military service and dues such as reliefs 4 and aids5 (MW, pp. 361-362).

Born circa 1042, died 1066. Supposedly developed during his quarter-century of Norman exile. This is disputed by some historians, in particular, Howarth in his book 1066: The Year of the Conquest. 3 Born 1027, died 1087. 4 Money paid upon the inheritance of a fief. 5 Money paid upon specific and important occasions in the form of a grant or subsidy paid to the king.
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Lindstrom, Essay #5, Question #3, Page #2 Years later, under the rule of Henry II6 (successor to Henry I, Williams son) the rule of law in England was further improved. In the days of Henry II, shires, or administrative territories, each controlled by an appointed shire reeve or sheriff, who was responsible for keeping the peace and hauling criminals into the royal district court (Encyclopdia Britannica 2008). Henry II added a system of judicial oversight called eyres wherein royal justices would regularly visit every shire and dispense justice. All this contributed to make the cities and countryside safer for inhabitants and travelers than ever before, so that any honest man could travel over [the] kingdom without injury with his bosom full of gold; and no one dared strike another (Sources, p. 163). And later, with the codification of Anglo-Saxon law and the creation of legal records in Receipt Rolls and Pipe Rolls, the monarchal system of power was fully institutionalized in England (MW, pp. 363-365). However, the kings of England did not enjoy an absolute reign over their people. A power struggle emerged between the king and the church in 1075 when Pope Gregory VII7 ordered Henry IV8 to cease his appointment of churchmen (MW, pp. 346-349). The pope held that the king was merely a layman who had no right to meddle in the affairs of the church. This clash of views is called the Investiture Conflict, and led Henry IV to refer to the pope as not pope, but false monk in a letter written in 1076 (Sources, p. 159). In response, Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Henry IV, and forbade anyone to serve him as king (Sources, p. 161). The clash of words and swords continued, even after the death of both the pope and king, until 1122 when at the Concordat of Worms a mutual compromise was finally reached between king Henry V and Pope Calixtus II (MW, p. 350; Encyclopdia Britannica 2008). History often seems to move in cycles, and the rise and fall of kingdoms is no exception.
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After the widespread consolidation of rule

wrought by Alexander the Great up to 323 B.C.E., chaos descended until the

Born circa 1154, died 1189. Born circa 1025, died in 1085. Canonized in 1606. Born 1050, died 1106. Ruled Germany from 1054, and became Holy Roman Emperor in 1084.

Lindstrom, Essay #5, Question #3, Page #3 rise of Rome. Rome brought order until its collapse in the West. And then, again after a period of anarchy and danger, the revival of the monarchies saw rule of law restored, although not without significant bloodshed and internecine fighting, particularly between the kings and the church.