How the Norman Conquest Affected England and English Essay

How the Norman Conquest Affected England and English Literature--causes, impact, and result - Essay Example Immediately following the Norman Conquest, the religious orthodoxy of England faced a serious threat to their material possessions, as the new rulers ordered despoliation of church treasures, imposition of punitive gelds and taxes, introduced new mandates of knight service, and lay magnates seizure of the estates belonging to churches if they were strong enough to do so. In addition to such strictures, the autonomy and authority of monasteries were undermined, as bishops were bestowed with powers to annex a wealthy monastery. Further, â€Å"the establishment of an Episcopal see in an abbey threatened not only the wealth of the community, which had to be divided to provide for the bishop and his familia, but also the independence and the status of its head, and it is not surprising that communities so threatened resisted vigorously. Tension between religious houses and bishops is a dominant theme in post-Conquest ecclesiastical histories†. (Jane Dick Zatta, 2005, p.306) Older historical accounts of medieval England presented a rather simplistic picture. The authors of these accounts do not venture beyond stating the obvious political and cultural transformations of the period. But as the methods of research got more advanced alongside developments in such fields as archaeology and anthropology, revisionist histories and subaltern studies have given new perspectives into English past. As a consequence, such popular interpretations of medieval English history as recorded by the great nineteenth century historian William Stubbs are being revised and rewritten. In Stubbs’ works, for instance, the introduction of French feudalism to England is given a sympathetic treatment. But for contemporary historians, feudalism is a purely exploitative enterprise devoid of civil merits. Similarly, the Magna Carta and the Parliament of the thirteenth century England have now come to be seen