3.2　课后习题详解

1. What was feudalism like in England under the rule of William the Conqueror?

Key: Under William, the feudal system in England was completely established. ①The King owned all the land personally. ②William replaced the Witan with the Grand Council of his new tenants-in-chief. William sent his clerks to compile a property record known as Domesday Book. William kept the church completely under his control, but at the same time to uphold its power.

2. How did King Henry Ⅱ consolidate the monarchy?

Key: Henry Ⅱ abolished the annual land tax based on hides. The reign of Henry Ⅱ constitutes a revival and elaboration of Henry I’s policies. The Exchequer was extended and Exchequer officials became more professional.

3. How did King Henry Ⅱ reform the courts and the law?

Key: Henry Ⅱ greatly strengthened the king’s Court and extended its judicial work. He divided the country into six circuits and appointed itinerant justices to each of them. In Henry Ⅱ’s reign, a common law and private law were gradually established.

4. What was the quarrel between King Henry Ⅱ and Thomas Becket?

Key: Becket was killed. To satisfy public feeling, Henry did penance at Becket’s tomb, so that the event was a great victory for the church. Becket was canonized in 1173.

5. What were the contents and the significance of the Great Charter?

Key: Content: no tax should be made without the approval of the Grand Council; no freeman should be arrested, imprisoned, or deprived of his property except by the law of the land; the Church should possess all its rights, together with freedom of elections; London and other towns should retain their ancient rights and privileges.

Significance: Magna Carta was a statement of the feudal and legal relationship between the Crown and the barons. The spirit of Magna Carta was the limitation of the powers of the king, keeping them within the bounds of the feudal law of the land.

6. Why and how did the English Parliament come into being?

Key: At the battle of Lewes in Sussex in May, 1264 the king was defeated by De Montfort and taken prisoner. Simon de Montfort summoned in 1265 the Great Council to meet at Westminster, together with two knights from each county and two burgesses from each town, a meeting which has been seen as that of the earliest parliament. The Great Council developed later into the Lords and the Commons known as a parliament.

7. What were the causes of the Hundred Years’ War? What were the consequences of it?

Key: The territorial causes: as the French kings grew stronger, they increasingly coveted Aquitaine possessed by England. The economic causes: the Flemish cloth manufacturing towns were the importers of English wool but they owed political allegiance to the French king.

Consequences: By 1453 Calais was the only part of France that was still in the hands of the English. French national identity was hindered so long as a foreign power occupied so much French territory.

8. What harm did the Black Death do to the English society?

Key: ① Black Death reduced England’s population from four million to two million by the end of the 14th century. ②As a result of the plague, much land was left untended and there was a terrible shortage of labor.

9. What do you know about Wat Tyler’s Uprising?

Key: Armed villagers led by Wat Tyler moved on London in June, 1381, releasing John Ball on the way. Although the Peasant Uprising of 1381 was suppressed, it had far-reaching significance in English history. The rebellion was a truly social one, directed against the rich clergy and the lawyers as well as against the landowners.

10. Who were the Lollards? What role did they play in the Peasant Uprising of 1381?

Key: The Lollards referred to poor priests and itinerant preachers who were John Wyclif’s followers. They went about preaching the equality of men, the most famous one being John Ball. “When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then a gentleman?” This song encouraged the armed villagers in the peasant uprising.