Lesson Y7-U03-L04

Y7-U03-L04 The Harrying of the North, 1069-70 Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 3

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y7-U03-L04, The Harrying of the North, 1069-70: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 3: Year 7: Norman England, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. In which year did the north of England rise in open revolt against William?

    • 1069
    • 1085
    • 1066
    • 1070

  2. Which area of England was especially hard for William to control?

    • The Midlands, around Mercia
    • The north, especially Yorkshire
    • The south-east, around Kent
    • The far south-west, around Cornwall

  3. Who was the Norman earl killed by rebels at Durham in 1069?

    • Edgar the Aetheling
    • William of Poitiers
    • Harold Godwinson
    • Robert Cumin

  4. What did the rebels in the north do after killing Robert Cumin?

    • They sailed to Normandy to attack William's home in Caen
    • They surrendered to William and asked him to pardon them
    • They joined a huge Danish army that sailed up to attack York
    • They marched south to join Harold's sons in the Danelaw

  5. What was the 'harrying' of the north?

    • A trade agreement that gave the northern towns control over the ports along the coast
    • A long siege of York that lasted through the winter of 1069 until the city finally surrendered
    • A peaceful meeting between William and the northern lords to agree new taxes for the region
    • A deliberate campaign of burning crops, homes and food stores to destroy the north

  6. Why did William pay the Danish fleet to leave?

    • He could not beat them in battle
    • The Pope had ordered him to pay all Danish armies
    • The Danes had asked him to make peace with the north
    • He had run out of money for his own soldiers

  7. What is 'scorched earth'?

    • Burning a city's walls so that the enemy cannot climb them
    • Planting dry crops in the fields so that they will burn in summer
    • Destroying crops, food and animals so the enemy cannot be fed
    • Digging deep ditches around a castle to block enemy supplies

  8. What was the main reason William destroyed the north?

    • To clear land for new Norman monasteries across Yorkshire
    • To give the land to the Church as a payment for its help
    • To stop the north feeding any future rebellion or Danish army
    • To build new stone castles in the empty northern fields

  9. Which winter did the Harrying of the north take place?

    • The winter of 1085 to 1086
    • The winter of 1069 to 1070
    • The winter of 1066 to 1067
    • The winter of 1100 to 1101

  10. Why did famine follow the Harrying of the north?

    • The Danes had carried all the grain back to their homeland on their ships after the attack
    • The Church had taken all the food to store in monasteries across the north of England
    • The Normans had poisoned the wells of every northern village so that no one could drink water
    • Food stores, animals and seed corn had been destroyed, so survivors had nothing to eat or plant

  11. What happened to some northerners who survived the Harrying?

    • They became Norman knights and fought in the Danish army
    • They were all given new land by William as a reward
    • They were moved to Normandy to work on William's estates
    • Some fled south as refugees or sold themselves into slavery to survive

  12. Why do historians doubt the chronicler's claim that 100,000 people died?

    • Because the chronicler was a Danish monk who hated the English
    • Because the chronicler wrote only about the deaths of the Danish soldiers
    • Medieval writers often exaggerated and used round numbers that cannot be checked
    • Because the chronicler was a Norman who had never visited the north

  13. Which group suffered most from the Harrying of the north?

    • The Norman knights who had been sent to burn the villages
    • The Danish soldiers who had been paid to leave the north
    • The rebel leaders who had been killed in the battle at Durham
    • Ordinary northern farmers and families, especially the poorest

  14. Why did more people die from famine than from the soldiers?

    • The destroyed food and seed corn meant there was nothing to eat or plant
    • The famine was caused by the Danish army burning the harvest
    • The soldiers only killed rebel leaders and no ordinary people
    • The soldiers were too gentle to kill many people in the villages

  15. What was the Harrying's effect in the short term compared with the long term?

    • The destruction lasted for centuries, but its effects were never felt
    • The destruction lasted years, but its effects ended within a single month
    • The destruction was short, but its effects, including famine, lasted years
    • Both the destruction and its effects ended the very same week

  16. Why was William's victory at Hastings not enough to control England?

    • The English had won a second battle at Hastings in 1067 and driven William back to Normandy
    • The Pope had withdrawn his blessing and the Normans had lost their army in a battle at sea
    • The north was distant, proudly independent and still loyal to Anglo-Saxon and Viking ways
    • The Danes had already captured London and the towns along the south coast of England

  17. What is the best description of the Harrying of the north?

    • A peace treaty between William and the Danish kings
    • A planned destruction designed to make the north unable to rebel
    • A tax reform that raised the money to rebuild the north
    • A battle that William won in a single day at York

  18. Why did rebels in the north have support from Danes?

    • Many northerners had strong Viking links and did not accept a Norman king
    • The Danes had married the Norman earls and joined their families
    • The Danes had been promised the whole of England by the Pope
    • The Danes were trading furs and wool with the Normans in Durham

  19. Which statement about the Harrying best shows its brutality?

    • William built a stone cathedral in York as a sign of peace
    • William paid the Danes to leave without any loss of life
    • Villages, crops and animals were destroyed, and famine followed in 1070
    • William gave the northern farmers new land to make up for it

  20. Which of these is the best evaluation of the Harrying's significance?

    • It shows that the north had already been fully controlled by the Normans
    • It shows that conquest needed brutal force to secure control of the distant north
    • It shows that the Danes had conquered the north before William arrived
    • It shows that William was a generous king who forgave the northern rebels

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