Sussex in the High Middle Ages includes the history of Sussex from the Norman Conquest in 1066 until the death of King John, considered by some to be the last of the Angevin kings of England, in 1216. It was during the Norman period that Sussex achieved its greatest importance in comparison with other English counties. Throughout the High Middle Ages, Sussex was on the main route between England and Normandy, and the lands of the Anglo-Norman nobility in what is now western France. The growth in Sussex's population, the importance of its ports and the increased colonisation of the Weald were all part of changes as significant to Sussex as those brought by the neolithic period, by the Romans and the Saxons. Sussex also experienced the most radical and thorough reorganisation of land in England, as the Normans divided the county into five (later six) tracts of lands called rapes. Although Sussex may have been divided into rapes earlier in its history, under the Normans they were clearly administrative and fiscal units. Before the Norman Conquest Sussex had the greatest concentration of lands belonging to the family of Earl Godwin. To protect against rebellion or invasion, the scattered Saxon estates in Sussex were consolidated into the rapes as part of William the Conqueror's 'Channel march'.
Political history
Normans (1066–1154)
Norman conquest and reign of William I (1066–1087)
Landing
Duke William's forces landed at Pevensey on 28 September 1066 and erected a wooden castle at Hastings, from which they raided the surrounding area. This ensured supplies for the army, and as Harold and his family held many of the lands in the area, it weakened William's opponent and made him more likely to attack to put an end to the raiding.
Battle of Hastings
On Friday, 13 October 1066, Harold Godwinson and his English army arrived at Senlac Hill just outside Hastings, to face William of Normandy and his invading army. On 14 October 1066, during the ensuing battle, Harold was killed and the English defeated. It is likely that all the fighting men of Sussex were at the battle, as the county's thegns were decimated and any that survived had their lands confiscated. The Normans buried their dead in mass graves. There were reports that the bones of some of the English dead were still being found on the hillside some years later.
It was believed that it would not be possible to recover any remaining bones from the battle field area, in modern times, as they would have disappeared due to the acidic soil. However, a skeleton that was found in a medieval cemetery, and originally thought to be associated with the 13th century Battle of Lewes turned out to be contemporary with the Norman invasion. Skeleton 180 had sustained six fatal sword cuts to the back of the skull and was one of five skeletons that had suffered violent trauma. Skeleton 180 was one of 123 remains found in a medieval cemetery belonging to the Hospital of St Nicholas, which was run by monks from Lewes Priory. Many of the excavated skeletons exhibited the tell tale signs of a range of diseases common in that era, including leprosy, but only Skeleton 180 had died from head injuries. The reason why historians had originally thought that skeleton 180 was involved in the battle of Lewes is because the hospital was situated at the epicentre of the conflict. What had puzzled archaeologists though, was that most of the victims of the battle had been buried in mass grave pits dug next to the battle itself; these pits had been discovered by road builders in the 19th century. Analysis now continues on the other remains found, at the site of the hospital, to try and build up a more accurate picture of who the individuals were.
Aftermath
Sussex was the first area to be systematically 'Normanised'. After regrouping following the battle of Hastings, William headed to Kent and London with his main army while detachments were sent into Sussex to act as a rearguard. The Domesday Book of 1086 shows a significant drop in recorded values along the line of the army's route through Sussex to Lewes and on via Keymer, Hurstpierpoint, Steyning and Arundel to Chichester where they were met by secondary Norman forces that landed around Chichester Harbour or Selsey and continued westwards to Winchester in Hampshire and Wallingford, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire). A motte and bailey castle was built at Edburton soon after October 1066. A cluster of coin hoards in Sussex that were buried around 1066 suggests the coins were deposited and not recovered around the time of the Battle of Hastings.