Sussex in the High Middle Ages includes the history of Sussex from the Norman Conquest in 1066 until the death of John, King of England, considered by some to be the last of the Angevin kings of England, in 1216. It was during the Norman period that Sussex achieved its greatest importance in comparison with other English counties. Throughout the High Middle Ages, Sussex was on the main route between England and Normandy, and the lands of the Anglo-Norman nobility in what is now western France. The growth in Sussex's population, the importance of its ports and the increased colonisation of the Weald were all part of changes as significant to Sussex as those brought by the Neolithic period, by the Romans and the Saxons. Sussex also experienced the most radical and thorough reorganisation of land in England, as the Normans divided the county into five (later six) tracts of lands called rapes. Although Sussex may have been divided into rapes earlier in its history, under the Normans they were clearly administrative and fiscal units. Before the Norman Conquest Sussex had the greatest concentration of lands belonging to the family of Earl Godwin. To protect against rebellion or invasion, the scattered Saxon estates in Sussex were consolidated into the rapes as part of William the Conqueror's 'Channel march'.
Political history Normans (1066–1154) Norman conquest and reign of William I (1066–1087)
Landing Duke William's forces landed at Pevensey on 28 September 1066 and erected a wooden castle at Hastings, from which they raided the surrounding area.Bates William the Conqueror pp. 79–89 This ensured supplies for the army, and as Harold and his family held many of the lands in the area, it weakened William's opponent and made him more likely to attack to put an end to the raiding.Marren 1066 p. 98
Battle of Hastings On Friday, 13 October 1066, Harold Godwinson and his English army arrived at Senlac Hill just outside Hastings, to face William of Normandy and his invading army.Seward. Sussex. pp. 5–7. On 14 October 1066, during the ensuing battle, Harold was killed and the English defeated. It is likely that all the fighting men of Sussex were at the battle, as the county's thegns were decimated and any that survived had their lands confiscated. The Normans buried their dead in mass graves. There were reports that the bones of some of the English dead were still being found on the hillside some years later.
It was believed that it would not be possible to recover any remaining bones from the battle field area, in modern times, as they would have disappeared due to the acidic soil.Edwina Livesay. Skeleton 180 Shock Dating Result in Sussex Past and Present Number 133. p. 6 However, a skeleton that was found in a medieval cemetery, and originally thought to be associated with the 13th century Battle of Lewes turned out to be contemporary with the Norman invasion.For detail on the excavation see Luke Barber and Lucy Siburn. The medieval hospital of St Nicholas, Lewes, East Sussex in SAC Vol. 148. pp. 79-109 Skeleton 180 had sustained six fatal sword cuts to the back of the skull and was one of five skeletons that had suffered violent trauma. Skeleton 180 was one of 123 remains found in a medieval cemetery belonging to the Hospital of St Nicholas, which was run by monks from Lewes Priory. Many of the excavated skeletons exhibited the tell tale signs of a range of diseases common in that era, including leprosy, but only Skeleton 180 had died from head injuries. The reason why historians had originally thought that skeleton 180 was involved in the battle of Lewes is because the hospital was situated at the epicentre of the conflict. What had puzzled archaeologists though, was that most of the victims of the battle had been buried in mass grave pits dug next to the battle itself; these pits had been discovered by road builders in the 19th century. Analysis now continues on the other remains found, at the site of the hospital, to try to build up a more accurate picture of who the individuals were.
Aftermath Sussex was the first area to be systematically 'Normanised'. After regrouping following the battle of Hastings, William headed to Kent and London with his main army while detachments were sent into Sussex to act as a rearguard. The Domesday Book of 1086 shows a significant drop in recorded values along the line of the army's route through Sussex to Lewes and on via Keymer, Hurstpierpoint, Steyning and Arundel to Chichester where they were met by secondary Norman forces that landed around Chichester Harbour or Selsey and continued westwards to Winchester in Hampshire and Wallingford, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire). A motte and bailey castle was built at Edburton soon after October 1066. A cluster of coin hoards in Sussex that were buried around 1066 suggests the coins were deposited and not recovered around the time of the Battle of Hastings.
In 1067 William sailed from Pevensey to begin his triumphant tour of Normandy. Whilst at Pevensey, William seemed to make a show of distributing lands to his followers in front of a number of Anglo-Saxon noblemen who had their lands taken away.
Consequences Members of King Harold Godwinson's family sought refuge in Ireland and used their bases in that country for unsuccessful invasions of England. The largest single exodus occurred in the 1070s, when a group of Anglo-Saxons in a fleet of 235 ships sailed for the Byzantine Empire. The empire became a popular destination for many English nobles and soldiers, as the Byzantines were in need of mercenaries. The English became the predominant element in the elite Varangian Guard, until then a largely Scandinavian unit, from which the emperor's bodyguard was drawn. Some of the English migrants were settled in Byzantine frontier regions on the Black Sea coast referred to as Nova Anglia or New England. The migrants established towns with names such as Susaco (or Porto di Susacho) thought to refer to Saxons or South Saxons (i.e. Sussex), at or near modern Novorossiysk; Londina (New London) and New York.
The county was of great importance to the Normans; Hastings and Pevensey being on the most direct route for Normandy. It was also necessary to guard Sussex and England from attack - to prevent raids by Danes and partly to prevent attack by the sons of Harold Godwinson, as Sussex was a stronghold of the Godwin family.
Because of this the county was divided into five new baronies, called rapes, each with at least one town and a castle. This enabled the ruling group of Normans to control the manorial revenues and thus the greater part of the county's wealth. The bulk of the lords' estates lay in the wealthier coastal areas and enfeoffed knights on the inland manors. Each castle controlled a major route inland from the lords' castle near the coast.
William, the Conqueror gave these rapes to five of his most trusted Barons: All were Normans who were close to William, with the exception of William de Braose, about whom little is known. Roger of Montgomery - the combined Rapes of Chichester and Arundel. William de Braose - Rape of Bramber. William de Warenne - Rape of Lewes Robert, Count of Mortain - Rape of Pevensey Robert, Count of Eu - Rape of Hastings
By 1070 William had granted four rapes, those of Arundel, Lewes, Pevensey and Hastings. The rape of Bramber was created after 1070 by taking land from Arundel and Lewes rapes. William de Warenne also lost the hundred of East Grinstead from the rape of Lewes to the rape of Pevensey to the east. To compensate de Warenne, William I gave him estates in Norfolk and Suffolk in what was known as the 'exchange of Lewes'. The Count of Eu also lost land as William I founded Battle Abbey, which although within the rape of Hastings, lay outside the count's jurisdiction, as the abbot of Battle answered only to the king.
William built Battle Abbey at the site of the battle of Hastings, and the exact spot where Harold fell was marked by the high altar. In 1070, Pope Alexander II ordered the Normans to do penance for killing so many people during their conquest of England. In response, William the Conqueror vowed to build an abbey where the Battle of Hastings had taken place, with the high altar of its church on the supposed spot where King Harold fell in that battle on Saturday, 14 October 1066. William I had ruled that the church of St Martin of Battle was to be exempted from all episcopal jurisdiction, putting it on the level of Canterbury.
Norman influence was already strong in Sussex before the Conquest: the abbey of Fécamp had interest in the harbours of Hastings, Rye, Winchelsea and Steyning; while the estate of Bosham was held by a Norman chaplain to Edward the Confessor.Mark Gardiner and Heather Warne. Domesday Settlement in Kim Leslie's. An Historical Atlas. pp. 34–35 After the Norman conquest the 387 manors, that had been in Saxon hands, were replaced by just 16 heads of manors.
The owners of Sussex post 1066Horsfield. The History of the county of Sussex. Volume I. pp. 77–78Number of manors1William I22Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury83Stigand, Bishop of Selsey*94Gilbert, Abbot of Westminster15Abbot of Fécamp36Osborn, Bishop of Exeter47Abbot of Winchester28Gauspert, Abbot of Battle29Abbot of St Edward's110Ode**111Eldred**112William son of Robert, Count of Eu10813Robert, Count of Mortain 8114William de Warenne4315William de Braose3816Roger, Earl of Montgomery83 Total387Notes: * The See was moved from Selsey to Chichester during Stigands tenure.** Ode and Eldred were Saxon Lords.
The 16 people, in charge of the manors, were known as the Tenentes in capite in other words the chief tenants who held their land directly from the crown.Friar. The Sutton Companion to Local History. p. 429 The list includes nine ecclesiasticals although the portion of their landholding is quite small and was virtually no different from that under Edward the Confessor. Two of the lords were Englishmen, Ode, who had been a pre-Conquest treasurer, and his brother Eldred.Dennis Haselgrove. The Domesday Record of Sussex in Brandon's South Saxons. p. 193 This means that 353 of the 387 manors in Sussex would have been wrested from their Saxon owners and given to Norman Lords by William the Conqueror
Historically the land holdings of each Saxon lord had been scattered, but now the lords lands were determined by the borders of the rape.Brandon. The South Saxons. Chapter IX. The Domesday Record of Sussex The unit of land, known as the hide, in Sussex had eight instead of the usual four virgates,(a virgate being equal to the amount of land two oxen can plough in a season).
Reign of William II (1087–1100) Following the death of William the Conqueror in 1087, William Rufus, the third son of William the Conqueror, took the kingship in 1088, separating it from his brother Robert Curthose, who remained Duke of Normandy. In the rebellion of 1088, the rebels, led by William the Conqueror's half-brothers Odo of Bayeux and Robert, Count of Mortain, and lord of the rape of Pevensey, with Odo the stronger of the two and the leader, decided to band together to dispose of young King William II and unite Normandy and England under a single king, the eldest Duke Robert.