Resistance to the Norman Conquest

In the years following 1066 and William’s conquest of England, there was surprisingly little resistance from the Anglo-Saxons. This is probably due to the fact that most of the noble classes who would have opposed the Norman Regime had been killed in the battles at Stamford Bridge and Senlac Hill. Another reason may be that some of the remaining nobles welcomed the Normans, and embraced the new ruling classes of England. One such noble is Wigod, the Saxon lord of Wallingford, who quickly aligned himself with the Normans through marriage. Another reason for the strange lack of resistance could be that some Anglo-Saxon leaders may have thought that the Normans would have little effect on the English, and that they would just get diluted into English society. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Stigand, seems to have been of such an opinion.

The resistance that did surface from Anglo-Saxon England against the Normans came from the margins of the land. Harold’s family, the Godwinsons, rebelled in Cornwall, and there was also trouble in the Welsh Marshes, the Isle of Ely, Peterborough and East Anglia.

The most serious threat to the new Norman Kingdom came from the North of England and Scotland. In 1068 and 1069, Northern revolts resulted in the massacre of Norman garrisons at York and Durham. These revolts were well supported by Scottish and Danish expeditions, who were well equipped. In the winter of 1069-1070, William was forced to react to the northern revolts, and the northern counties of Northumbria and Cumbria were scorched and decimated, creating a wasted void between the Scottish border and the richer shires of the south of England.

Malcolm III of Scotland was not slow in realising the potential expansion that could come with sheltering and sponsoring the displaced Anglo-Saxon exiles in their attempts to re-conquer the lost North. Malcolm also led successful expeditionary troops into Northumbria and Cumbria. Malcolm actively antagonised the Normans by marrying the Daughter of an English pretender and naming all of their children with provocatively deliberate English names, such as Edgar, Edmund, Edward, and Ethelred.  In 1072, William marched his troops to Abernathy near Perth to assess the threat of the Scots, and to display this authority of England. Malcolm acknowledged Williams claim to some of the lands previously belonging to Northumbria, and William noted that the Scots were a dangerous foe, strengthened by Flemish and Norman allies of their own. This encounter became known as the ‘Abernathy Standoff’, as the two sides did nothing more that stand opposite each other and acknowledge the threat.