Harrying of the North
- Created by: Jhick
- Created on: 10-05-18 21:05
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- Harrying of the North
- Features
- Livestock killed
- Homes destroyed so people had nowhere to shelter
- Took place in the winter of 1069-1070
- Area of Harrying stretched from the Humber River to the Tees River. Also in Staffordshire and parts of Shropshire
- Seed destroyed so there was nothing to plant for food the next year
- Reasons
- Revenge for the death of Robert Cumin and hundreds of other Normans
- To destroy the spirit of rebellion in the north
- To prevent Vikings using Yorkshire as a base for future attacks
- As a warning to other areas of England of what could happen to them
- A military response to guerrilla warfare, which depended on support for rebels from local people
- Long term consequences
- No further rebellion from the north; after 1071 no further Anglo-Saxon rebellions
- Danish invaders in 1070 went to Ely as there was now no base for them in Yorkshire
- A turning point: after 1070 William decided to replace the English aristocracy with Normans
- 20 years later, Yorkshire had still not recovered; 60 per cent was listed as 'waste' in the Domesday Book and there were between 80000 and 150000 fewer people then in 1066
- Criticism of Williams brutality and William's own sense of his sin and need for penance
- Immediate consequences
- Death of thousands from starvation: perhaps as many as 100000 people died
- Flood of refugees from the north to other parts of England
- Reports of cannibalism by desperate, starving people
- Reports of families selling themselves into slavery to survive
- Features
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