England in the Middle Ages（1066—1485）
After the Norman Conquest，England experienced about 400 years of consolidation as a nation.The power of the monarchy was strengthened，but at the same time，the nobility gradually gained power and demanded recognition of their rights by the king.The resulting conflict between the monarch and the nobility pushed the society to develop.State institutions were，such as the parliamentary system and the common law，originated during this period.The English language also changed dramatically during this time.
The Middle Ages saw the development of feudalism in England.Society after the Norman Conquest was regulated by the lord⁃vassal relationship among members of the aristocracy.The king was the supreme overlord and controlled all of the land in the county.He distributed the land among his followers who became his vassals.The vassals could in turn divide their land，known as fiefs，into smaller fiefs and award them to their own followers and became lords themselves.With this system，William secured the loyalty of all the vassals who made up the ruling nobility in England and held hereditary noble titles such as duke，marquis，earl，viscount，or baron.Most of the 180 entitled nobles were Normans as most of the old English nobles were deprived of their land and titles.
The basic economic unit in feudal Norman England was the manor which was the smallest fief.The land in a manor was divided into three parts.One part was directly controlled by the lord.Another part was operated by peasants who rented the land from the lord.In return，the peasants had to work a certain number of days each week on the lord’s land.Most of the peasants were serfs who could not leave the manor.The third part of the manor was the common land on which people could graze their sheep and cows.Sometimes，this was the only way for the poor people to make a living.On each manor，there was a mill and a church.Most people lived their entire life on one manor，and some of them never traveled out of it in their whole life.
The Normans were skilled administrators，and England enjoyed peace and order under Norman rule after the upheaval of the conquest.French culture became dominant in England because the Norman nobles controlled English society.They built a lot of castles and continued to speak French.They did not feel the need to learn English since most of them also had fiefs in France and spent much of their time on the continent.Many of the English tried to imitate the French in their behavior and speech in order to gain social status.
Tower of London（built around 1078）
The English language itself also changed a great deal during this period.It was spoken by the common people and very little English literature was produced during this period.When English finally reemerged as a literary language in the 14th century，it had changed so much that it became known as Middle English.More than 10，000 French words came into the English vocabulary during this period，of which 75％ are still in use.
Administratively，various institutions came into being which laid the foundation of modern British government.The common law system originated during the time of King HenryⅡ（1154—1189）who strengthened the central government and controlled not only England but also half of France.HenryⅡarranged for judges to tour the country on fixed routes，or“circuits”，in order to investigate the nobles’properties and abuse of privileges.This formed the basis for today’s systems of circuit courts（i.e.，regional courts）in the U.K.and the United States.The system of trial by jury also developed around this time.Petty juries consisting of 12 members tried cases，while grand juries，with no limit on the number of members，decided whether suspects should be prosecuted in cases of serious crimes.The trial jurors would make their decision as to whether a suspect was guilty or not based on listening to debates in court.When the jury reached a verdict，the judges would pass sentences according to custom and traditions since England had no written laws.Their decisions became precedents for future cases and were followed by later judges throughout the country.This began the English system of common law which has been functioning ever since not only in England，but also in the United States and other British Commonwealth nations.Apart from common law courts，there was also the court of equity law where the king’s Chancellor looked into cases for which there was no precedent to follow.This function was later assigned to the House of Lords where it survived until 2009.
HenryⅡintroduced all of these changes with the help of the King’s Council.The Council was made up of important nobles and prelates who worked as administrators and judges in London.This was known as the Great Council.When the king went out traveling，a small group of these people would travel with him，and this became known as the small council.
The king’s great power caused resentment among the nobles when it was abused.When King John（1199—1216）used various means in violation of feudal customs to force the nobles to come up with the money to support a war against France，they rose up in rebellion in 1215 and compelled John to sign the Magna Carta（meaning“Great Charter”）in 1215.The Magna Carta protected the rights of the nobles and merchants，and provided that the king should rule according to the law.If the king attempted to violate the law，the vassals had the right to force him to obey the law by any means，including by force of arms.Although the Magna Carta was designed to protect the rights of the privileged classes，it represented a step forward in the development of English government.The Magna Carta is part of the British constitution today and provides many of the basic principles for the protection of individual rights in both Britain and the United States.
Another very important national institution，the Parliament，also came into being during this period.When King HenryⅢ（1216—1272）tried to exact money from the English people in violation of the spirit of the Magna Carta to resolve his government’s financial problems，the nobles rose up in rebellion again.They forced the king to agree to the Provisions of Oxford，which attempted to limit royal power by calling regular meetings of the Great Council.The nobles also enlarged the membership of the Great Council by adding some commoners to its membership in order to gain support from the middle class.The enlarged council was called Parliament.The Parliament of 1265 included two knights from each county and two citizens from each town.At first，the commoners sat in the same room with the nobles and clergymen.But gradually，they moved to a separate room to discuss matters of administration.Their room was called the House of Commons，and the room where the nobles and clergymen sat was called the House of Lords.This marked the beginning of the British Parliament’s bicameral system.
Feudalism showed clear sign of declining in England in the 14th century.The growing cities attracted many craftsmen away from the manors，the basic economic unit in feudal England.A money economy gradually replaced feudalism’s natural economy based on the direct exchange of labor and goods on the manors.The export of wool became more and more important because it could bring more money.The lords enclosed more land for sheep farms and caused many peasants to lose their land.At the same time，sheep farms needed less labor which caused more people to move away from the land.All these shook the foundation of the manorial system.Several historical events also contributed to the decline of feudalism in England.The Hundred Years’War（1338—1453）between England and France ended in defeat for England and promoted the development of the textile industry and raised the social position of the bourgeoisie as they contributed a lot of money for the war.Meanwhile，the new weapons developed during the war made the feudal vassals less important.The Black Death in the mid⁃14th century reduced the English population almost by half and resulted in a labor shortage which caused a lot of serfs to escaped from the feudal manors to other places such as cities where jobs were available and wages were high.Finally，the War of the Roses（1455—1485）between two major noble families，the House of York（whose badge was a white rose）and the House of Lancaster（whose badge was a red rose），killed a large number of the nobles.This weakened the mobility as a class and helped to increase the power of the new rising bourgeois class.The weakness of the nobility also allowed the new Tudor monarchy which came to power after the war to establish a powerful central government.Many historians believe that feudalism in England ended with the War of the Roses.