In CK3, my beautiful Duchy of East Anglia had the original flag before it was my title, but following the Norman conquest of England (during which William 'the Red' was granted the duchy), the flag changed to this thing.
I've since taken the Duchy myself but it looks like the change might be permanent? Is there any way to change the flag back during my playthrough, even using mods (preferably as long as this doesn't disable achievements)?
Edit: Would destroying and remaking the title do it?
While doing some light reading about Hardrada on Wikipedia, I noticed that the battle of Stamford bridge took place less than three weeks before the battle of Hastings. Is it reasonable to assume that the battle of Stamford bridge weakened the Godwinson forces enough to ensure their defeat at Hastings?
As you know, the Norman invasion of England had dramatic effects on the English history and especially on the English language. So this is an interesting idea, if Normans had failed to conquer England (if they lose the Battle of Hastings and Harold Godwinson survived). And modern English would have developed differently, than in our timeline (and it would have more connections with German or Dutch). And yes, i know that other alternate history Youtubers made video about that idea, but it still would be interesting what Cody would have say about this scenario. Then heated rivalry between England and France didn't happened (no 100 Years' War, which cause butterfly effect on fate of Europe and rest of the world since 15th century), at least the extent would be much lesser.
The Norman Conquest of England in 1066 effectively made the affairs of England and France intertwined. This set the stage for the thousand-year-old rivalry between England and France as the Duke of Normandy, was also effectively "equal" to the King of France as he was now also king of a much larger kingdom that could rival France (England). But before the Norman conquest, what was the relationship between Anglo-Saxon England and France like? Were they friends or allies before this? Did the Norman Conquest effectively mark the moment when Anglo-French relations would sour for years to come and the two kingdoms would start to see each other as rivals?
Just like how Romano-Celtic England got Anglo-Saxonified centuries before, were the Vikings almost going to the same to England?
For a project I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the local details of the Norman conquest. I know that it's always hard to find information about the lower classes, but most of the sources I've found so far fall into either high level encyclopedia type entries or very old books. I don't really want to spend time studying the historiography and evaluating sources but I'm generally wary of works pre-Annales.
For an example of what I'm hoping to find, here's a list of questions I've found myself asking:
- When William first divided land and gave manors to his new barons, how did those barons communicate with their new peasants? Did they employ a translator? Were there many Anglo-Saxons that could understand Norman French? Did any of the barons learn English?
- The Normans famously built many castles, but from what I can find local administration was largely done at a manorial level. It doesn't seem like they built 6,000 castles. Were manor houses fortified? Were the Norman barons completely absentee? Did they rely on the nearest castle to be sufficiently intimidating?
- I've read that villagers largely did their own craft work and repairs, like making clothes, building houses and simple furniture, simple goods. But certainly some people were better or worse at various crafts. Did villages and hamlets have specialization, and if so how did that vary from tradespeople in towns? Or were villagers more dependent on town trade than I've read?
- At various times and places, policies have ranged from peasants not being allowed any weaponry to being required to maintain and train with certain weapons. What was the case in England immediate prior to and after the Norman conquest?
- I've read everything from peasants ate only bread to even the meanest serfs had vegetable gardens, livestock, birds for eggs and meat, and could snare hares (but not in the forest). What resources did they actually have?
- I've read that peasants may actually have traveled a fair bit, for trade or pilgrimages or such. But I've also read that peasants could be fined for not attending a court with three day's notice. Are these both true, and how was that managed?
- When did England convert to a three field system, and more generally how did innovation spread? Was it more likely for villagers to hear about a new agricultural system or type of water wheel, or for the nobility or clergy to introduce it top-down?
- How much did barons micro-manage their demesne and how much say did the
I know that nearly all were dispossessed of their land & title, but did they become a new professional military class (seeing as many would have military skill) or were there other areas they moved into?
I came across this section in the Wikipedia article on the Norman conquest of England: > The largest single exodus occurred in the 1070s, when a group of Anglo-Saxons in a fleet of 235 ships sailed for the Byzantine Empire.[103] The empire became a popular destination for many English nobles and soldiers, as the Byzantines were in need of mercenaries.[102] The English became the predominant element in the elite Varangian Guard, until then a largely Scandinavian unit, from which the emperor's bodyguard was drawn.[104] Some of the English migrants were settled in Byzantine frontier regions on the Black Sea coast, and established towns with names such as New London and New York.[102]
I checked the citations for this section, but they don't give much more detail than what's already in the article, other than suggesting that if there were that many ships involved, it could not have been hidden, and they were likely given permission to leave by William the Conquerer.
Is there any more information about these exiles/refugees? Did they learn Greek? Why did they choose the Byzantine Empire and not another Christian kingdom? Were they well-received? Did the Byzantines have difficult diplomatic relations with William because of this?
From a national heritage perspective, I can't understand how a Saxon king like Alfred The Great and the descendants of William the conqueror could both be celebrated as great English kings when the Normans conquered the Anglo-Saxons ("The English"), took their land and titles, and replaced the nobility with a new Norman one (who couldn't even speak the local language for centuries to come). How is that not foreign rule over the English? What's the difference between the Vikings and the Normans in that regard? I say people should rise up and take back their land..
