Humanities


	How did William gain control of England?

	Lesson Objective	To understand how William gained control of England and what power this gave him.

Starter

Brainstorm what you think makes a good leader. Share your ideas with the rest of the class.

William had defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings and was crowned King of England. BUT he was not in complete control of the whole country. He did not have full power – YET. Not everyone in England was happy about William becoming King.

Can you think of any reasons why people would not like William to be their King?

These people were mainly Barons who had been loyal to Harold Godwineson. They tried to cause trouble for William by rebelling against him. William needed to extend his power by finding ways of controlling the country. He did this in four ways:

He organised The Feudal System

feudal system.jpg

He dealt with the Barons who rebelled against him

The organised the Domesday Book to be written

He built Castles

	Groupwork activity:

	You need to work in groups of 3 or 4 for this task. Each group will be given one method that William the Conqueror used to try and gain control of England.

	Click on the links next to the methods below and complete the tasks. Then organise a mini presentation to show how William gained control of England using this method. You should also explain how this gave William more power. You have one lesson to complete the tasks and to prepare the presentation.

	The Feudal System	Click on this pdf file. Click on this pdf file also.

	Dealing with the rebels	Click on this word doc .

	Castles	Click on this pdf file. Click on this pdf file also.

	The Domesday Book	Click on this pdf file. Click on this word doc.

	Your Presentations:

	When each group makes their presentations you should complete this worksheet , including notes on each method William used to control England.

Remember to save your work