Feudalism and the Bayeux Tapestry

William the Conqueror came from Normandy, in what is now northern France, before he crossed the Channel and won the crown of England on the battlefield. Once he held power, the new Norman rulers ran the country through feudalism, a system in which the king granted land to his lords in return for military help in war, and those lords granted smaller pieces of land further down the chain on the same terms.

The conquest was recorded in cloth as well as in government. The Bayeux Tapestry, a great piece of embroidery, was made to commemorate the battle that won William his throne, and it can still be seen in France today. Together, the feudal system and the tapestry are two things the Normans left behind: one showing how they meant to hold the country, the other how they had won it.