The Normans were the people who came from Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Viking conquerors (North men). They became more or less independent by the first half of the 10th century, but their greatest fame was not in France, but after conquering England following the Battle of Hastings.
The Normans were a martial people, meaning their whole lives were spent in power struggles, fighting and conquest. In a way this was inherited from their Viking ancestors who were also a martial people. So they were a formidable enemy. Most people agree that they were lucky to win the Battle of Hastings all the same, being able to make use of a mistake by some Saxon troops. But once they had killed the English king, Harold, and most of his nobles who were also fighting at Hastings, they were quick to seize the country.
A monk of this age tells us what the Normans were like:
Specially marked by cunning, hating their own land in the hope of winning a greater one, eager after both gain and ruling, given to imitation of all kinds, holding a certain mean between lavishness and greediness, that is, perhaps uniting, as they certainly did, these two seemingly opposite qualities. Their chief men were specially lavish through their desire of good report. They were, moreover, a race skillful in flattery, given to the study of fine speaking, so that the very boys were fine speakers, a race altogether uncontrolled unless held firmly down by the yoke of justice. They would put up with hard work, hunger, and cold if needs be, given to hunting and hawking, delighting in the pleasure of horses, and of all the weapons and garb of war.
Wow, what a bunch to have to deal with.
About 11,000 Normans came over to England, which was a tiny number compared to the number of people in the country at the time (over 2 million). But they had the advantage that the Saxon lords had mostly been killed and so the country was leaderless.
Down through history there have been other times when small numbers managed to rule much larger countries; the Indian Raj, at the time of the British Empire is one of them. But they all have the same problem: how do you keep a huge area under control with a small number of loyal people? In Norman times most people worked on the land and were not professional fighters so they did not pose much of a threat. The threat come from the ruling class. So when William took control of England, he knew he could not run it alone. Besides which, he had promised land and wealth to his supporters who had brought their own personal armies, and he had also promised land to the church for praying for him. So he leased out the land to the most powerful of his supporters (the Barons), who, in return, leased out smaller areas of land to people they could trust. At the same time they built strongholds from which they could police the country. These were called castles.
It was not long before William and his heirs had to face rebellions, first from the northern regions, then the barons, then from the Welsh. Some of the earliest castles in Britain were built to make sure the border with Wales could be controlled.
The Normans adopted the ways of northern France and made them into what we call the feudal system in England.
Before the Plantagenets ruled, the Normans were in power and the court spoke French because William the Conqueror (the first of the Normans) came from France. It was only during the Plantagenet times of Edward III in the 14th century, this was changed back to English.
One of the interesting, and little spoken of, features of Norman times was not the rise of castles, but the stopping of slavery. Slaves were one of the main working classes in Saxon England. The Normans, despite being a warrior people, changed all of that. The slaves, like all of the other poor people became free(ish) peasants, working the land for themselves and their lord.
Norman times ended (although most ordinary people never noticed) when a family from the former French province of Anjou took over the throne with Henry II in 1154. So although most people talk of 'Normans' as though that word is the same as 'Medieval' or 'Middle Ages', the real Normans lasted under a century in controlling England. The change happened because the counts of Anjou in France won Normandy, making the count of Anjou the Duke of Normandy. The first of these was Geoffrey, who became Duke of Normandy in 1144. It was his heir, Henry I who was actually the first one of the Anjous to be king of England. He claimed he was descended from Henry I (remembering that most royal families were married to one another and so everyone had some relation to all crowns).
But even though they lasted just a century, the Normans changed England for ever in very dramatic ways.
