England

England Feudalism developed in England from the eleventh century. The Angles and Saxons, from central Europe, had settled in England in the sixth century. The country’s name, England, is a variant of ‘Angle- land’. In the eleventh century, William, the Duke of Normandy*, crossed the English Channel with an army and defeated the Saxon king of England. From this time, France and England were often at war because of disputes over territory and trade. *The present Queen of England is descended from William I. An English ploughman, sixteenth- century sketch. T HE T HREE O RDERS T HEMES IN W ORLD H ISTORY William I had the land mapped, and distributed it in sections to Norman nobles who had migrated with him. The lords became the chief tenants of the king, and were expected to give him military help. They were obliged to supply a certain number of knights to the king. They soon began to gift some of their own lands to knights who would serve them just as they in turn served the king. They could not, however, use their knights for private warfare, which was forbidden in England. Anglo- Saxon peasants became tenants of various levels of landholders.