Benefit of the Norman conquest?

Did the English actually benefit from the Norman conquest?
The Normans introduced the backwards system of feudalism, appropriated Anglo-Saxon laws, but changed punishments from payments to gruesome physical mutilations. The king assumed direct control over most of the important land making it difficult for peasants.
England was already quite a stable and connected country with well-thought laws that are still used today. Furthermore England got more involved in the difficulties of continental affairs leading to many unfortunate wars. The church was granted far more power which was ironically detrimental to the monarchs as well as the peasants.
Immediately following the coronation of William, the country was heavily taxed for the castle building scheme.
And to top it all off, the North was decimated with huge swathes of land being made unusable and many killed.
What were actually the benefits of the Norman conquest?

Yes
England was an irrelevant backward shithole until the French civilized them and turned them into a world power
Be grateful

That's not an answer.
Seriously why does this happen everytime anyone talks about medieval England
"Medieval England, you mean that French colony"

>England was an irrelevant backward shithole until the French civilized them and turned them into a world power
This is wrong, take your banter back to /int/ or /bant/
t. french

Because they are clueless and don't know about Boniface and the like

To answer your question, they ended slavery in England. The Peace and Truce of God (warfare only on certain days) is another

all benefits are hard to trace.

You could say the overall benefit was that England was no longer treated as a North Sea island, but a kingdom heavily involved in all aspects of continental affairs

It's almost as in 90% of posters here have absolutely no understanding of history outside of videogames and memes.

>irrelevant
>backward

t. peasant who only knows relatively modern history due to his inability to traverse concepts alien to his own pathetic life.

What's the difference between serfdom and slavery?

In semantics, not much. A serf is typically a step higher than slave. Slaves survive on hand-outs, whereas a serf can keep whatever comes after his feudal obligation. Slaves could be bought, and a serf could not. Generally in history there were less rules against slave abuse. In some nations slaves had zero rights, and killing a slave for no reason was okay (Roma, Ottoman Empire)

>According to the Domesday Book census, over 10% of England's population in 1086 were slaves.William the Conqueror introduced a law preventing the sale of slaves overseas and by about 1200 slavery in the British Isles was non-existent.

>Norman
>French
the state of Veeky Forums

But by 1200 it's a bit late to say it's normans helping England

>Seriously why does this happen everytime anyone talks about medieval England
>"Medieval England, you mean that French colony"

Because it's hilarous
I couldn't give two shits about England or France, but it's genuinely hilarous how defensive Anglos get when they are reminded that they were conquered by frogs

Success breeds jealousy

ah yes they were pure nordic

They were actually pure vikings

Which is why they didn't use cavalry (vikkangz don't need no horse) and why they made Danish the official language of the English royal court for the next centuries

Checkmate, froglegs

Wuz Normanz white?

but they weren't?
Normans were Normans
why do you have to come here and shit up a decent board?
why can't you just stay on r*ddit or /int

I'm English, it really doesn't affect me or bother me in any way. The battle of Hastings is one of the first things we learn about in primary school, we're even made to assess all the claims and pick a side between Harold, Harald and William.
The only thing that bothers me is that no one talks about it seriously, no one cares about the history at all, it's just /bant/ tier poo flinging at one another. And once you've seen one of these threads you've seen all of them.

a serf can be bought and sold
there are countless records of lords trading serfs

right up to the 1880s in Russian serfs were traded with the Chinese

>he actually expects smart people on Veeky Forums

>The church was granted far more power which was ironically detrimental to the monarchs as well as the peasants.
[CITATION NEEDED]

The church, and the great monastic orders (introduced by the Anglo-Norman kings) provided a much, much more stable administrative system and aided both England and Scotland far more than any other institution in history. In creating centralized economic centers, monks quickly propelled Britain into a significant European power AND introduced modern agricultural techniques, as well as reclaimed baron wastelands (contrary to the OP). This isn't even mentioning the fact Norman kings introduced the greatest achievement of any nation, historical writing.

>The Normans introduced the backwards system of feudalism
>Implying feudalism was backwards and a bad thing

How Isn't it?
It literally forced people to occupy those roles for their life. A peasant would always be a peasant

Why wouldn't you want to be a peasant in Medieval England?

>It literally forced people to occupy those roles for their life. A peasant would always be a peasant
That's how it was since the beginning of history, nothing unique to feudalism.

Not today, nor for the non-slave Anglo-Saxons

This is a meme right? Or are you literally the most stupid human being alive?

It's only been relatively recently that the peasant class has been abolished. My point was that it was already well established before feudalism.
>nor for the non-slave Anglo-Saxons
Nonsense, it may not have been quite the same system as in France, but Anglo-Saxon England was still made up of 95% peasants who would farm their whole lives.

Not true, Peasants existed in a complex system or rites and duties, wherein one could be socially mobile to actually a somewhat greater degree when considering the greater and more complex segregation of society than the one we have today.

Not really.

The only positive contribution was ending slavery...eventually. The Bastard and his son William Rufus allowed slavery to continue and even permitted the export of slaves which the Normans took a cut of the action. It was only until the early 12th century that slavery was finally gone from England.

But the upper classes were dominated by Normans and a sprinkling of Bretons, Flemings, and other groups. Pre-Conquest, an English ceorl could become a member of the thegn class if he managed to acquire 600 acres (5 hides of land) or underwent three overseas trip as a merchant. Post-Conquest, there was barely any knight or lord of Anglo-Saxon ancestry.

The English from 1066 to 1453 basically funded their Norman overlords' wars in France and fought in them. So any self-respecting Frenchman should curse the Normans and Plantagenets instead of cheering about 1066 as a "French victory". Pre-1066, the peoples of England and France had no enmity toward one another. That all changed thanks to the Norman Conquest.

>The battle of Hastings is one of the first things we learn about in primary school, we're even made to assess all the claims and pick a side between Harold, Harald and William.
Do you guys know any pre-1066 Anglo-Saxon Kings? Because it's a real travesty that Aethelstan is forgotten while William the Bastard and his descendants are remembered by modern English.

>The English from 1066 to 1453 basically funded their Norman overlords' wars in France and fought in them. So any self-respecting Frenchman should curse the Normans and Plantagenets instead of cheering about 1066 as a "French victory". Pre-1066, the peoples of England and France had no enmity toward one another. That all changed thanks to the Norman Conquest.
Fucking this.
I literally don't get why frogs praise the 'French' ruling class of England despite the constant wars with France and how much damage England has done to France.

We literally aren't taught about the Anglo-Saxons and now it makes me really sad.
It's the comfiest period of English history and in a way, the beginning of actual English history

There wasn't really any benefit besides making Normandy a military juggernaut.

>taxed the English heavily just to build castles and wars
>Harrowing of the North ruined the land and killed thousands
>got England involved in many continental wars
>destroyed Anglo-Saxon language and culture

Behold the power of Norman propaganda. You guys are still denied the history of your ancestors. Not even English or French, but you guys need to change your education system. I can understand not knowing who Offa of Mercia is or Edwin of Northumbria because you can argue they were more like regional warlords than actual Kings of England, but after Aethelstan, there were several kings of a unified England WAY before 1066.

Hell Canute the Great deserves respect and recognition despite being a Viking conqueror because his English subjects loved him when he proved himself to be a good administrator.

Retrospective smugness. They're pissed that a French dynasty in exile fucked up Gaul so trying to harp on the Norman Conquest makes them feel better.

Don't forget the Cambro-Normans like Strongbow invading Ireland and laying the seeds of hatred between England and the Irish. Before the Cambro-Norman invasion of Ireland, the English and Irish had extensive ties of friendship and trade. The Irish converted Northumbria into Christianity and taught them how to illuminate manuscripts.

I didn't know who Alfred was until after school

Are you shitting me? Alfred the Great? The man who single-handedly preserved the last bastion of Englishness and thwarted the Viking onslaught? How the fuck is this possible?

The Normans really robbed the English people of their dignity and identity. There's a historical account of a kid named Tostig who was teased by his Norman classmates for his name in the 12th century that he wanted to change it to a more Norman name. Look at the typical "English" names; many if not most of them are Norman-based like William, Henry, Robert, Geoffrey.

Wish I had name like Ælfrēd or Æthelstan. Or rather I wish it was acceptable

There are still people named Alfred. Also names like Edward, Edmund, Dunstan, Oswald and Wilfrid are Anglo-Saxon.

>Or rather I wish it was acceptable
Why won't it be acceptable?

Say there was a well-written big-budget drama of Anglo-Saxon England, thus sparking an interest in pre-1066 English culture. Say the next generation of English children have Anglo-Saxon names like Aethelred, Eadric, Leofric, Aedre, Rowena, or Udele?

But how common are those names?

Aside from Edward, Edmund and Dunstan they can be fairly uncommon or rare. Not unheard of though like Æthelstan and Ælfgar. I wish æsc would make a comeback in the English language.

No, we really don't. We're taught a little about Anglo-Saxon England, but it's more about the invasion period and the way they lived. I think Veeky Forums would be surprised what the average English education tends to look like.

Old English needs to make a comeback. Modern English has the beauty of having dual words for the same intent, but hearing Old English is pleasing to the ear. It's less guttural to my ears than German.

>We're taught a little about Anglo-Saxon England, but it's more about the invasion period and the way they lived.
That's a travesty. The Anglo-Saxons have a long proud history. In fact, their greatest contribution was sending missionaries to continental Europe and converting pagan Germanics.

What's English education actually like? Do you guys learn Latin in junior high? How's your basis in math? What about science?

>that one kid who roots for Harald

Harald would've been a better king than William. He was a Viking, but at least the Norwegians and Anglo-Saxons had similar cultures and the languages were somewhat mutually intelligible.

Good point. Also, I’m guessing that Harald wouldn’t have settled a massive cadre of invaders in England like William did, so most likely the Anglo-Saxon character of England wouldn’t have been changed.

I agree. At least he wouldn't have completely uprooted Anglo-Saxon nobility and clergy.

How would I get into oxford with a name like Æthelberht?