OCR GCSE History B (J411) — The Norman Conquest (1065–1087)
Why would a king choose to deliberately starve 100,000 of his own subjects to death? To understand William the Conqueror's extreme reaction, we must first analyse the severe threats to his rule that erupted in the North. In January 1069, William replaced the Anglo-Saxon Earl Gospatric with a loyal Norman, Robert Cumin, as Earl of Northumbria. Cumin marched northwards with a large force, ruthlessly looting towns along the way.
Ignoring warnings from the local bishop, Cumin and his men continued their violent behaviour upon reaching Durham. This triggered a fierce retaliation from Northumbrian rebels, who surprised the Norman soldiers and slaughtered them in the streets. Cumin himself was killed when the rebels deliberately set fire to the bishop’s house where he had taken refuge.
Following this success, the rebellion spread to York by February 1069. The rebels killed the local Norman governor, and Edgar the Atheling travelled down from Scotland to lead the uprising. William reacted with lightning speed, defeating the rebels and rapidly building a second castle in York to reinforce his control, though Edgar managed to escape.
The northern regions of England had a strong Danelaw heritage, meaning the locals shared deep cultural and ancestral ties with Scandinavia. Because of this, they were far more likely to welcome Danish invaders than submit to their new Norman overlords. In the late summer of 1069, King Sweyn II of Denmark seized this opportunity and sent a massive fleet of 240 to 300 ships to support the English rebels.
This fleet was commanded by Sweyn’s brother, Jarl Osbeorn, alongside the king's sons. When they arrived, they formed a powerful Anglo-Danish Alliance by joining forces with Edgar the Atheling, Earl Waltheof, and Earl Gospatric. On the 21st of September 1069, this combined army launched a devastating assault on York.
During the chaos, the Norman garrison accidentally set fire to the city while attempting to clear defensive lines. The Anglo-Danish forces slaughtered approximately 3,000 Norman soldiers and completely destroyed both of the newly built castles in York. This unprecedented foreign and domestic alliance created a monumental crisis for William, directly triggering his brutal shift in military strategy.
William understood that he could not easily defeat the highly mobile Danish forces in a traditional pitched battle. Instead, he decided to split the alliance apart using a two-pronged strategy: ruthless military force against the English, and financial bribery for the Danes.
He offered Jarl Osbeorn a massive sum of money, effectively a form of Danegeld, to abandon the English rebels. The Danes accepted this lucrative bribe and agreed to wait out the winter in the Humber estuary before sailing back to Denmark in the spring of 1070. By simply buying off the foreign threat, William isolated the English rebels, leaving them entirely vulnerable to his revenge.
With the Danes neutralized, William launched a merciless campaign of destruction known as the Harrying of the North. Stretching primarily from the River Aire up to the River Tees, and eventually moving west towards Chester and Shrewsbury, this campaign was designed to permanently crush northern resistance. William divided his troops into smaller bands to ensure that absolutely no village in the rebellious regions was spared.
He employed a systematic Scorched Earth Policy to destroy the region's ability to support life. His soldiers burned harvested grain and seeds, slaughtered livestock, and smashed farming tools to prevent any future agricultural recovery. According to some historical accounts, soldiers even ploughed salt into the fields to ruin the soil fertility, leaving what historian Robert Bartlett describes as a "scar carved across the country."
The immediate human cost of the Harrying was catastrophic, with an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 people dying primarily from starvation and winter exposure. Contemporary chroniclers detailed horrific scenes of desperate survivors resorting to cannibalism or selling themselves into slavery just to obtain food. Thousands of refugees fled southward or crossed the border into Scotland to escape the devastation.
Even Norman supporters were horrified; the chronicler Orderic Vitalis famously condemned the campaign as a "brutal slaughter". The long-term economic and demographic impacts were meticulously recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, nearly two decades later. Between 33% and 60% of Yorkshire was still officially classified as Vasta (waste), and the population in some areas had plummeted to just 25% of its 1066 levels, resulting in a 60% drop in land value.
The Harrying successfully broke the English will to resist, ensuring there were no further major Anglo-Saxon uprisings in the North for the remainder of William's reign. However, it also marked a pivotal turning point in how England was governed.
Following the 1069 rebellions, William entirely abandoned his initial attempts to rule cooperatively alongside Anglo-Saxon earls. He initiated a policy of total Norman consolidation, stripping rebellious English thegns of their lands and redistributing them exclusively to his trusted Norman followers. Alongside the refortification of York, this ensured that the Norman conquest of the North was absolute and irreversible.
Students often confuse the earlier 1068 revolt (led by Edwin and Morcar) with the much more dangerous 1069 rebellions (led by Edgar the Atheling and the Danes). Make sure you distinguish between them.
In 'Analyse' questions about the causes of the Harrying, you must explicitly link the massive scale of the Anglo-Danish threat at York to the extreme severity of William's subsequent scorched earth response.
Use specific figures from the 1086 Domesday Book, such as 33% to 60% of Yorkshire being recorded as 'waste', to provide high-level evidence of the long-term economic and demographic impacts.
Always use the exam-board specific term 'Harrying' rather than generic words like 'attack' or 'punishment' to describe William's actions in the North.
Robert Cumin
The Norman noble appointed as Earl of Northumbria in 1069, whose violent looting triggered the initial Durham uprising.
Edgar the Atheling
An Old English term meaning "throne-worthy" or a prince of the royal blood; used specifically for Edgar as the legitimate Anglo-Saxon claimant to the throne.
Danelaw
The historical name for the northern and eastern parts of England where Danish laws and cultural influence remained strong.
Anglo-Danish Alliance
The combined military force of English rebels and the Danish invasion fleet that successfully captured York in September 1069.
Danegeld
Historically a tax to pay off Vikings, but specifically referring in 1069 to the large bribe William paid the Danish fleet to abandon the English rebels.
Harrying
An 11th-century term meaning to lay waste to, pillage, or systematically destroy a region and its resources.
Scorched Earth Policy
A military strategy involving the deliberate destruction of anything that might be useful to the enemy, including crops, livestock, and shelter.
Vasta
The Latin term used in the 1086 Domesday Book to describe land that was unpopulated, uncultivated, and producing no tax revenue due to the Harrying.
Norman consolidation
The political shift after 1069 where William abandoned cooperative rule and exclusively placed loyal Normans into positions of land ownership and power.
Put your knowledge into practice — try past paper questions for History B
Robert Cumin
The Norman noble appointed as Earl of Northumbria in 1069, whose violent looting triggered the initial Durham uprising.
Edgar the Atheling
An Old English term meaning "throne-worthy" or a prince of the royal blood; used specifically for Edgar as the legitimate Anglo-Saxon claimant to the throne.
Danelaw
The historical name for the northern and eastern parts of England where Danish laws and cultural influence remained strong.
Anglo-Danish Alliance
The combined military force of English rebels and the Danish invasion fleet that successfully captured York in September 1069.
Danegeld
Historically a tax to pay off Vikings, but specifically referring in 1069 to the large bribe William paid the Danish fleet to abandon the English rebels.
Harrying
An 11th-century term meaning to lay waste to, pillage, or systematically destroy a region and its resources.
Scorched Earth Policy
A military strategy involving the deliberate destruction of anything that might be useful to the enemy, including crops, livestock, and shelter.
Vasta
The Latin term used in the 1086 Domesday Book to describe land that was unpopulated, uncultivated, and producing no tax revenue due to the Harrying.
Norman consolidation
The political shift after 1069 where William abandoned cooperative rule and exclusively placed loyal Normans into positions of land ownership and power.
