ABSTRACT
Two dates in English history that school children once memorizedare 1066 and 1215. Of course, the latter date is King John’s grant of Magna Carta to his barons, and the former marks William the Conqueror’s invasion of England, culminating in the death of the last AngloSaxon king at the battle of Hastings. Not merely a change in ruling dynasties, the Norman Conquest was an upheaval that altered drastically the nature of English government, social structure and landholding patterns, giving rise to the kingdom that John ruled from 1199 to 1216. Post-Conquest England retained a base of Old English laws and governmental institutions, particularly in local government, but surmounting its Anglo-Saxon base was a Norman or French superstructure to expedite the invaders’ exploitation of their new lands and subject people.
