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In modern times, the term "Anglo-Saxons" is used by scholars to refer collectively to the Old English speaking groups in Britain. As a compound term, it has the advantage of covering the various English-speaking groups on the one hand, and to avoid possible misunderstandings from using the terms "Saxons" or "Angles" (English), both of which terms could be used either as collectives referring ...
William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066, defeating the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings and placing the country under Norman rule.This campaign was followed by fierce military operations known as the Harrying of the North in 1069–70, extending Norman authority across the north of England.
After the nominal Christianisation of Anglo-Saxons and Saxons in the 7th and 8th centuries, many heathen practices centered on trees such as worship and giving of gifts were made punishable crimes. [18] [19] Despite this, 11th century accounts describe the continuation of votive offering deposition at trees in England and worship in groves in ...
Ploughmen at work with oxen.. Agriculture formed the bulk of the English economy at the time of the Norman invasion. [1] Twenty years after the invasion, 35% of England was covered in arable land, 25% put to pasture, with 15% covered by woodlands and the remaining 25% predominantly being moorland, fens and heaths. [2]
This was due to a shortage of pasture for farm animals and, thus, a shortage of nitrogen-rich manure to fertilize the arable land. Moreover, because of population growth after the 9th century, marginal lands, pasture, and woodlands were converted into arable lands which further reduced the number of farm animals and the quantity of manure. [59]
A four-ox-team plough, circa 1330. The ploughman is using a mouldboard plough to cut through the heavy soils. A team could plough about one acre (0.4 ha) per day. The typical planting scheme in a three-field system was that barley, oats, or legumes would be planted in one field in spring, wheat or rye in the second field in the fall and the third field would be left fallow.
But, despite the lull, the Anglo-Saxons took control of Sussex, Kent, East Anglia and part of Yorkshire; while the West Saxons founded a kingdom in Hampshire under the leadership of Cerdic, around 520. [48] However, it was to be 50 years before the Anglo-Saxons began further major advances. [48]
The Saxons and the Vikings had open-field farming systems and there was an expansion of arable farming between the 8th-13th centuries in England [13] Under the Normans and Plantagenets fens were drained, woods cleared and farmland expanded to feed a rising population, until the Black Death reached Britain in 1349. Agriculture remained by far ...