\paperw5085 \margr0\margl0\ATXph16380 \plain \fs20 \ri105 \f1 \fs22 During the early centuries of the new millennium the face of Britain changed dramatically. Lasting change cal
ls for solid foundations, and this is what \b \cf4 \ATXht13071000 William the Conqueror\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 and his followers gradually managed to implant during the decades that followed their invasion of 1066.\par
Though the invaders were initially feare
d and hated, an early chronicler soon recognised that the Normans breathed new life into religious standards, which everywhere in England had been declining. Now you may see in every village, town and city, churches and monasteries rising in a new style
of architecture.\par
\pard\tx8220\ATXts240\ri0\ATXbrdr0 However, imposing buildings were not the only manifestations of the new power structure. By the end of the eleventh century a system of land tenantship had been established involving the payment
of taxes or knightly service in exchange for the charter.\par
At the top of the feudal scale were the KingÆs tenant barons and the heads of religious houses. At the bottom were the freeholders or serfs who paid for their respective shares of land by se
rving their master and working in his fields for stipulated periods.\par
