AD 1066-1500 Late medieval

Three years into his reign (AD 1066-87), William I led his army north: the Scots had breached the border and a Danish army had landed in the east, welcomed by the people of York. William’s campaign was brutally successful. Known as the ‘Harrying of the North’ (to ‘harry’ meant to sack, burn and pillage), it involved the wholesale slaughter of men, women and children, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Northern England did recover from this devastation. The great 12th-century abbeys of the Cistercian monks, like Rievaulx and Fountains in Yorkshire prospered. York became the fourth wealthiest town in England and from about 1360 to 1460, when its river, the Ouse, was still navigable, the city was an international centre for the cloth trade, making the surrounding area prosperous and influential.

Scotland and the Borders continued to be troublesome for the next 400 years, and northern England continued to throw up rebellions. The English kings created powerful bishoprics (area under the control of a bishop) in Durham and Carlisle to help bring order and stability. Great families like the Nevilles (earls of Westmorland) and the Percies (earls of Northumberland) were also relied upon to govern in the king’s name.