Haw Did William Gain Control of England by 1068

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How did William gain control of England by 1086? William, Duke of Normandy and King of England, needed to gain control of England after a big victory when the Normans defeated the English in 1066. Some of the short-term problems were the fact that Dover castle was full of English soldiers, London was under the control of the English troops and there was also a threat of invasion in the north by Vikings with English support. William overcame these problems quickly and with ease. However there were still some long-term problems. The other reasons that led William to success by 1086 included the feudal system, the Domesday Book, building castles and hiring sheriffs. The Feudal System helped William to organise the country. It worked so the King controlled everyone but the Lords, Barons, Earls, Bishops and Abbots in particular. They were in charge of the knights, who controlled the Peasants. It was formed like a pyramid so the least important was at the bottom of the pyramid so there was more of them. William himself was at the top of the pyramid because he was the most important and there was only one of him. This helped him gain control because it meant he didn’t have to do everything for himself he could trust people to give the responsibility to somebody else. William had another big problem; he needed to tax people to help run the country. He didn’t know anything about how much people should be taxed. So he created the Domesday Book, which is held today in the National Archive Museum. It helped to know how much land people owned; how much money people had; so how much people needed to be taxed and in what way. For example, if they were farmers they could pay in wheat. The Domesday Book helped him to keep control because it meant he could tax everybody and they would be fine with it because it was the right amount. The taxing helped him to keep the country
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