Notes 9/7- British History

• 1066, William the conqueror defeats the English at the Battle of Hastings and defeats Harold, King of England. 
• He brings the old French language with him, and Latin, and he brings Christianity. 

• The Domesday book is the first survey of everything that was in England at the time that William took charge. 

• The king is on top, the Barons are under him, and then the serfs are under the Baron. 

• Its a period in the twelfth century of religious warfare. 
• The center of the world on old maps is Jerusalem. It is the center of all maps from that period. 
• They get trade in Islamic art coming into Europe. 
• The Islamic scholars set up libraries, especially in Spain. 
• The biggest centers of learning and information in the world are captured by the Islamic people and the Europeans lose tons of knowledge, including like half of Aristotle's writings. The Islamic people have all of the knowledge. When the Islamic libraries open up, it is the beginning of the Renaissance. 
• English does not have a single root language. Other languages may have Latin as their root, but English does not have one single language. English is a Germanic language, going back thousands of years. So when the Normans invade, they bring French with them. Even though we speak a Germanic language, over 70% of the vocabulary we use is French and Latin.
•  Simple verbs are Germanic, but the way we express more complex ideas is all the French and stuff. This is a direct result of the Normans invading. 

• Balliol, Bruce, and Wallace
• the crusades themselves, by the 13th century, became to be thought of as a bad idea. It wasn't really getting anywhere. 
• The Battle of Jerusalem between Richard the 1st and Solomon. Richard the 1st and his forces are defeated. 
• They try to create unions between countries through Marriage. 
• Marriage between the European monarchies and aristocrats becomes a political tool. 
• During the reign of Henry the 3rd, English-ness occurs. 
• Edward the first becomes King, and he is thing king in the last quarter of the 13th century, and during this time we see the bureaucracy of England and the function of government. Financial organization in England becomes centralized from the office of the King. 
• Wales itself, is brought under English control by Edward the 1st. If you went to Wales today, the castles and all date all the way back to this period. 
•  "Rebellions in Wales are testament to some Welshman's continuined struggle for independence."