How exactly the Normans ended up as disempowered if most of the English nobility had been the Normans?
Under Plantegnet Rule, and only really the Nobility. I'm talking the demographic as a whole. Compared to the importance of the Cosmopolitaine under Valois they were less well off. Other than that I was stringing cultures of use together, so my bad!
Unlike the cases of Alexander and the Rome, most of the land in Angevine empire belonged to somebody and king could not just start your resettlement program on the lands of his vassals. The next obvious question is who are these "loyal subjects" and how to distinguish them from not too loyal ones? Anyway, direct parallels between the Antiquity and Medieval societies are risky, at best.
Oh, certainly. It'd have to involve the confiscation of lands from those who refused to swear fealty, and then taking every opportunity to do so. As to whom, it would (in theory, maybe less so in reality) be those minorities that the King saw as loyal, the Gascons, Normans, English - but with their loyalty encouraged by the fact that they'd have a higher level of freedom and wealth in these settlements than as serfs, and free from seigneurial privileges if they were free peasants.
As for identification? I'll admit that it isn't easy, but as I'm putting forward creating a Free Class, or "Middle Class" analogue, you could do a number of things to ensure it. One is offering to soldiers that served, followed by a system of sponsorship. I.e. you sponsor someone wanting to join, so on and so forth, with a system of shared culpability. Its a possible way to build this group, but I wasn't trying to be so explicit. I was referring to having a demographic that is freer than peasants and fulfils roles similar to burghers, mercenaries/professional soldiers, magistrates, etc, with the benefits of those positions being an incentive for loyalty.
I agree that the parallels can't be directly applied as the systems involved are different, but I was trying to communicate the idea QUICKLY, if imprecisely.
Then, the whole "middle class" idea sounds a little bit anachronistic. You are talking XII century, it is still a "lance-based" warfare and "professional soldiers" are the knights (with their followers) who are not a "middle class". Maintaining a significant standing army was a very expensive thing even few centuries later. One of the 1st standing armies of the late Middle Ages were French compagnies d'ordonnance (still lance-based) established at the end of the 100YW. By 1445, France had 15 compagnies, for an army of 9,000 men, of which 6,000 were combatants and 3,000 non-combatants. France was probably the richest state of that time and a special tax was introduced to provide maintenance of that army.
It was totally anachronistic, but was meant as a way to outline a space between peasants and nobles.
That style of warfare may be largely true for France, but in England that had been changing quite a bit. Mercenaries and
Familia Regis were increasingly more important. This idea of the
Familia Regis and Mercenaries forming a backbone of Royal Power IOTL led to standing armies, majorly expanding this as a process of securing Royal Power in France and England seems perfectly reasonable.
Now, the problem with mercenaries is still a problem, but I could see value in Plantagnets supporting Anglo-French mercenaries being able to make money abroad - in exchange for charters and status, even agreements to never fight against the Crown, but earn a stipend that even applied when they had no other work, but also having the mercenaries provide a small cut (say 5-15%) to the Crown. Basing these companies in Crown Quarters would create plenty of jobs for locals and imports from smithing, bringing in grain, etc - which should more than pay for the stipend when the contract cuts are taken into account. (Whether that works is debatable). That this may well be based on consolidating large numbers of Routiers may not be popular, but if it prevents them looting the countryside of France, then its a good change.
AFAIK, Henry II could not get beyond "scutage", money paid by the English barons who did not want to fight in France. Obviously, this was not a solid or predictable financial base and, anyway, it was working only in England.
For your schema you'll need seriously revolutionize XII century warfare, making it infantry-heavy, and to provide Henry with a reliable source of money to finance this "super-new model".
You're right. This isn't a whole copy and paste in one go sort of idea, it would have to be a target that is approached - if that means via financing mercenaries from increased taxes on French Barons, or generally increased revenues from recovery for both England and France from well, 100 years of war, and increased trade between England and France.
My intention is that these new urban areas and Crown Quarters would be local economic hubs in and of themselves in the long run, and profitable to boot. Now, they have significant costs if they're overwhelming mercenaries, but the concentration of wealth there makes it easier to tax, which would help the Crown increase its revenues.
As to revolutionising? I think this is the general path for a Plantagnet France, importing the strengths of their system in England, and improving on them in peacetime - and solving their problem of "Too Many Mercs in Our Land" by exporting them. Effectively some parallel to the Black Army of Hungary, the Swiss Mercenaries and the Landsknechts. We're on the cusp of this revolution at the end of the Hundred Years war - which is why I was reminded of Alexander the Greats polis', which were used to form the Phalanx, that periods version of the Pikeman.
I'll note : I've not got a PoD for victory, perhaps no Joan of Arc, or Crowning of the Dauphine, or something more accidental, having Joan patrol the walls and be taken out by a stray crossbow bolt that causes a collapse in morale, leaving the English able to take Orleans, and/or an accidental death for Maria d'Angou, potentially ending their financial support. This would hamstring Charles VII preventing his rise to throw out Henry VI, which combined with English control of Orleans should provide the boost to the English to ensure they'll co-ordinate and win.