son,

tenant was in an office about the king's perthis gave rise to sergeantry; the persons, who cultivated his lands, may be considered as holding by socage. But the long train of services, that made afterwards the learning of the tenures, were then not thought of; because these feuds, if we may so call them, had not then come to be inheritances; which circumstance of inheritance gave rise to the whole feudal system. With the Anglo-Saxons, the feuds continued to the last but a sort of pay or salary of office. The trinoda necessitas, so much spoken of, which was to attend the king in his expeditions, and to contribute to the building of bridges and repair of highways, never bound the lands by way of tenure, but as a political regulation, which equally affected every class and condition of men, and every species of possession.

The manner of succeeding to lands in England at this period was, as we have observed, by gavelkind; an equal distribution among the children, males and females. The antient northern nations had but an imperfect notion of political power. That the possessor of the land should be the governour of it was a simple idea; and their schemes extended but little further. It was not so in the Greek and Italian commonwealths. In those the property of the land was in all respects similar to that of goods, and had nothing of jurisdiction annexed to it; the government there was a merely political institution. Among such a people the custom of distribution could be of no ill consequence, because it only affected property; but gavelkind among the Saxons was very prejudical; for as government was annexed to a certain possession in land, this possession, which was continually changing, kept the government in a very fluctuating state; so that their civil polity bad in it an essential evil, which contributed to the sickly condition in which the Anglo-Saxoa state always remained, as well as to its final dissolution.

BOOK III.

CHAPTER I.

cumscribed the views and politics of the English within the bounds of their own island. But the Norman conquerour threw down a these barriers. The English laws, manners, and maxims, were suddenly changed; the scene was enlarged; and the communication with the rest of Europe being thus opened, has been preserved ever since in a continued series of wars and negotiations. That we may therefore enter more fully into the matters which lie before us, it is necessary that we understand the state of the neigbouring continent at the time when this island first came to be interested in its affairs.

The northern nations, who had over-run the Roman empire, were at first rather actuat ed by avarice than ambition, and were more intent upon plunder than conquest; they were carried beyond their original purposes, when they began to form regular governments, for which they had been prepared by no just ideas of legislation. For a long time, therefore, there was little of order in their affairs, or foresight in their designs. The Goths, the Burgundians, the Franks, the Vandals, the Suevi, after they had prevailed over the Roman empire, by turns prevailed over each other in continual wars, which were carried on upon no principles of a determinate policy, entered into upon motives of brutality and caprice, and ended as fortune and rude violence chanced to prevail. Tumult, anarchy, confusion overspread the face of Europe; and an obscurity rests upon the transactions of that time, which suffers us to discover nothing but its extreme barbarity.

Before this cloud could be dispersed, the Saracens, another body of barbarians from the south, animated by a fury not unlike that which gave strength to the northern eruptions, but heightened by enthusiasm, and regulated by subordination and uniform policy, began to carry their arms, their manners, and religion, into every part of the universe. Spain was entirely overwhelmed by the torrent of their armies; Italy and the islands were harassed by their fleets, and all Europe alarmed by their vigorous and frequent enterprizes. Italy, who had so long sat the mistress of the world, was by turns the slave of all nations. The possession of that fine country was hotly

TIME OF THE NORMAN INVASION.

BEFORE the period, of which we are going to treat, England was little known or considered in Europe. Their situation, their domestic calamities, and their ignorance, cir

Lombards, and it suffered infinitely by that contention. Germany, the parent of so many nations, was exhausted by the swarms she had

sent abroad.

However, in the midst of this chaos there were principles at work, which reduced things

to a certain form, and gradually unfolded a system, in which the chief movers and main spring were the papal and the imperial powers; the aggrandizement or diminution of which have been the drift of almost all the politics, intrigues, and wars, which have employed and distracted Europe to this day.

ness.

From Rome the whole western world had received its Christianity; she was the asylum of what learning had escaped the general desolation; and even in her ruins she preserved something of the majesty of her antient greatOn these accounts she had a respect and a weight, which increased every day among a simple, religious people, who looked but a little way into the consequences of their actions. The rudeness of the world was very favourable for the establishment of an empire of opinion. The moderation with which the popes at first exerted this empire, made its growth unfelt until it could no longer be opposed. And the policy of later popes, building on the piety of the first, continually increased it; and they made use of every instrument but that of force. They employed equally the virtues and the crimes of the great; they favoured the lust of kings for absolute authority, and the desire of subjects for liberty; they provoked war and mediated peace, and took advantage of every turn in the minds of men, whether of a public or private nature, to extend their influence, and push their power, from ecclesiastical to civil; from subjection to independency; from independency to empire.

France had many advantages over the other parts of Europe. The Saracens had no permanent success in that country. The same hand which expelled those invaders, deposed the last of a race of heavy and degenerate princes, more like eastern monarchs than German leaders, and who had neither the force to repel the enemies of their kingdom, nor to assert their own sovereignity. This usurpation placed on the throne princes of another character; princes who were obliged to supply their want of title by the vigour of their administration. The French monarch had need of some great and respected authority to throw a veil over his usurpation, and to sanctify his newly acquired power by those names and appearances, which are necessary to make it respectable to the people. On the other hand, the pope, who hated the Grecian empire, and equally feared the success of the Lombards, saw with joy this new star arise in the north, and gave it the sanction of his authority. Presently after he called it to his assistance. Pepin passed the Alps, relieved the pope, and

invested him with the dominion of a large country in the best part of Italy.

Charlemagne pursued the course which was marked out for him, and put an end to the Lombard kingdom, weakened by the policy of his father, and the enmity of the popes, who never willingly saw a strong power in Italy. Then he received from the hand of the pope the imperial crown, sanctified by the authority of the holy see, and with it the title of emperour of the Romans, a name venerable from the fame of the old empire, and which was supposed to carry great and unknown prerogatives; and thus the empire rose again out of its ruins in the west; and what is remarkable, by means of one of those nations which had helped to destroy it. If we take in the conquests of Charlemagne, it was also very near as extensive as formerly; though its constitution was altogether different, as being entirely on the northern model of government.

From Charlemagne the pope received in return an enlargement and a confirmation of his new territory. Thus the papal and imperial powers mutually gave birth to each other. They continued for some ages, and in some measure still continue, closely connected, with a variety of pretensions upon each other, and on the rest of Europe.

Though the imperial power had its origin in France, it was soon divided into two branches, the Gallic, and the German. The latter alone supported the title of empire; but the power being weakened by this division, the papal pretensions had the greater weight. The pope, because he first revived the imperial dignity, claimed a right et disposing of it. or at least of giving validity to the election of the emperour. The emperour, on the other hand, remembering the rights of those sovereigns whose title he bore, and how lately the power, which insulted him with such demands, had arisen from the bounty of his predecessors, claimed the same privileges in the election of a pope. The claims of both were somewhat plausible; and they were supported, the one by force of arms, and the other by ecclesiastical influence; powers, which in those days were very nearly balanced. Italy was the theatre upon which this prize was disputed. In every city, the parties in favour of each of the opponents were not far from an equality in their numbers and strength. Whilst these parties disagreed in the choice of a master, by contending for a choice in their subjection, they grew imperceptibly into freedom, and passed through the medium of faction and anarchy, into regular commonwealths. Thus arose the

republics of Venice, of Genoa, of Florence, Sienna, and Pisa, and several others. These cities, established in this freedom, turned the frugal and ingenious spirit contracted in such communities to navigation and traffic; and pursuing them with skill and vigour, whilst commerce was neglected and despised by the rustic gentry of the martial governments, they grew to a considerable degree of wealth, power, and civility.

The Danes, who in this latter time preserved the spirit and the numbers of the antient Gothic people, had seated themselves in England, in the Low Countries, and in Normandy. They passed from thence to the southern part of Europe, and in this romantic age gave rise in Sicily and Naples to a new kingdom, and a new line of princes.

All the kingdoms on the continent of Europe were governed nearly in the same form; from whence arose a great similitude in the manners of their inhabitants. The feodal discipline extended itself every where, and influenced the conduct of the courts, and the manners of the people, with its own irregular martial spirit. Subjects under the complicated laws of a various and rigorous servitude exercised all the prerogatives of sovereign power. They distributed justice, they made war and peace at pleasure. The sovereign, with great prefensions, had but little power; he was only a greater lord among great lords, who profited of the differences of his peers: therefore, no steady plan could be well pursued either in war or peace. This day a prince seemed irresistible at the head of his numerous vassals, because their duty obliged them to war, and they performed this duty with pleasure. The next day saw this formidable power vanished like a dream, because this fierce undisciplined people had no patience, and the time of the feudal service was contained within very narrow limits. It was therefore easy to find a number of persons at all times ready to follow any standard, but it was hard to complete a considerable design, which required a regular and continued movement. This enterprizing disposition in the gentry was very general, because they had little occupation or pleasure but in war; and the greatest rewards did then attend personal valour and prowess. All that professed arms became in some sort on an equality. A knight was the peer of a king; and men had been used to see the bravery of private persons opening a road to that dignity. The temerity of adventures was much justified by the ill order of every state, which left it a prey to almost any who should attack it

with sufficient vigour. Thus, little checked by any superiour power, full of fire, impetuosity, and ignorance, they longed to signalize themselves, wherever an honourable danger called them; and wherever that invited, they did not weigh very deliberately the probability of success.

The knowledge of this general disposition in the minds of men will naturally remove a great deal of our wonder at seeing an attempt founded on such slender appearances of right, and supported by a power so little proportioned to the undertaking as that of William, so warmly embraced, and so generally followed, not only by his own subjects, but by all the neighbouring potentates. The counts of Anjou, Bretagne, Ponthieu, Boulogne and Poictou, sovereign princes; adventurers from every quarter of France, the Netherlands, and the remotest parts of Germany, laying aside their jealousies and enmities to one another, as well as to William, ran with an inconceivable ardour into this enterprize; captivated with the splendour of the object, which obliterated all thoughts of the uncertainty of the event. William kept up this fervour by promises of large territories to all his allies and associates, in the country to be reduced by their united efforts. But after all it became equally neces sary to reconcile to his enterprize the three great powers, of whom we have just spoken, whose disposition must have had the most influence on his affairs.

His feudal lord, the king of France, was bound by his most obvious interests to oppose the further aggrandizement of one already tos potent for a vassal; but the king of France was then a minor, and Baldwin, earl of Flanders, whose daughter William had married, was regent of the kingdom. This circumstance rendered the remonstrance of the French council against his design of no effect; indeed, the opposition of the council itself was faint; the idea of having a king under vassalage to their crown might have dazzled the more superficial courtiers, whilst those, who thought more deeply, were unwilling to discourage an enterprize which they believed would probably end in the ruin of the undertaker. The emperour was in his minority, as well as the king of France; but by what arts the duke prevailed upon the imperial council to declare in his favour, whether or no by an idea of creating a balance to the power of France, if we can imagine that any such idea then subsisted, is altogether uncertain; but it is certain that he obtained leave for the vassals of the empire to engage in his service, and that he made use

of this permission. The pope's consent was obtained with still less difficulty. William had shown himself in many instances a friend to the church, and a favourer of the clergy. On this occasion, he promised to improve those happy beginnings in proportion to the means he should acquire by the favour of the holy see; it is said, that he even proposed to hold his new kingdom as a fief from Rome. The pope, therefore, entered heartily into his interests; he excommunicated all those that should oppose his enterprize, and sent him, as a means of insuring success, a consecrated banner.

CHAPTER II.

REIGN OF WILLIAM THE CONQUERER.

AFTER the battle of Hastings, the taking of Dover, the surrender of London, and the submission of the principal nobility, William had nothing left but to order in the best manner the kingdom he had so happily acquired. Soon after his coronation, fearing the sudden and ungoverned motions of so great a city, new to subjection, he left London until a strong citadel could be raised to over-awe the people. This was built where the tower of London now stands. Not content with this, he built three other strong castles, in situations as advantageously chosen, at Norwich, at Winchester, and at Hereford, securing not only the heart of affairs, but binding down the extreme parts of the kingdom. And as he observed, from his own experience, the want of fortresses in England, he resolved fully to supply that defect, and guard the kingdom both against internal and foreign enemies. But he fortified his throne yet more strongly by the policy of good government. To London he confirmed by charter the liberties it had enjoyed under the Saxon kings; and endeavoured to fix the affections of the English in general, by governing them with equity according to their antient laws, and by treating them on all occasions with the most engaging deportment. He set up no pretences which arose from absolute conquest. He confirmed their estates to all those who had not appeared in arms against him, and seemed not to aim at subjecting the English to the Normans, but to unite the two nations under the wings of a common parental care. If the Normans received estates and held lucratives offices, and were raised by wealthy matches in England, some of the

English were enriched with lands and dignities, and taken into considerable families in Normandy. But the king's principal regards were showed to those by whose bravery he had attained his greatness. To some he bestowed the forfeited estates, which were many and great, of Harold's adherents; others he satisfied from the treasures his rival had amassed; and the rest, quartered upon wealthy monasteries, relied patiently on the promises of one whose performances had hitherto gone hand in hand with his power. There was another circumstance, which conduced much to the maintaining, as well as to the making, his conquest. The posterity of the Danes, who had finally reduced England under Canute the Great, were still very numerous in that kingdom, and in general not well liked by, nor well affected to, the old Anglo-Saxon inhabitants. William wisely took advantage of this enmity between the two sorts of inhabitants, and the alliance of blood which was between them and his subjects. In the body of laws which he published, he insists strongly on this kindred, and declares, that the Normans and Danes ought to be as sworn brothers against all men: a policy, which probably united these people to him; or at least so confirmed the antient jealousy which subsisted between them and the origi nal English, as to hinder any cordial union against his interests.

When the king had thus settled his acquisitions by all the methods of force and policy, he thought it expedient to visit his patrimonial territory, which, with regard to its internal state, and the jealousies which his additional greatness revived in many of the bordering princes, was critically situated. He appointed to the regency, in his absence, his brother Odo, an ecclesiastic, whom he had made bishop of Bayeaux in France, and earl of Kent, with great power and pre-eminence in England; a man bold, fierce, ambitious, full of craft, imperious, and without faith, but well versed in all affairs, vigilant and courageous. To him he joined William Fitz-Auber, his justiciary, a person of consummate prudence and great integrity. But, not depending on this disposition, to secure his conquest as well as to display its importance abroad, under a pretence of honour, he carried with him all the chiefs of the English nobility, the popular Earls Edwin and Morcar, and, what was of most importance, Edgar Atheling, the last branch of the royal stock of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and infinitely dear to all the people.

The king managed his affairs abroad with great address, and covered all his negotiations

for the security of his Norman dominions, under the magnificence of continual feasting and unremitted diversion, which, without an appearance of design, displayed his wealth and power, and by that means facilitated his measures. But, whilst he was thus employ ed, his absence from England gave an oppor tunity to several humours to break out, which the late change had bred, but which the anazement likewise produced by that violent change, and the presence of their conquerour, wise, vigilant, and severe, had hitherto repressed. The antient line of their kings displaced; the only thread on which it hung carried out of the kingdom, and ready to be cut off by the jealousy of a merciless usurper; their liberties none, by being precarious, and the daily insolencies and rapine of the Normans intolerable; these discontents were increased by the tyranny and rapaciousness of the regent; and they were fomented from abroad by Eustace, count of Boulogne; but the people, though ready to rise in all parts, were destitute of leaders; and the insurrections actually made were not carried on in concert, nor directed to any determinate object. So that the king, returning speedily, and exerting himself every where with great vigour, in a short time dissipated these ill-formed projects. However, so general a dislike to William's government had appeared on this ccasion, that he became in his turn disgusted with his subjects, and began to change his maxims of rule to a rigour, which was more Conformable to his advanced age, and the sternness of his natural temper. He resolved, since he could not gain the affections of his subjects, to find such matter for their hatred as might weaken them, and fortify his own authority against the enterprizes which that hatred might occasion. He revived the tribute of Danegelt, so odious from its original cause, and that of its revival, which he caused to be strictly levied throughout the kingdom. He erected castles at Nottingham, at Warwick, and at York, and filled them with Norman garrisons; he entered into a stricter inquisition for the discovery of the estates forfeited on his coming in; paying no regard to the privileges of the ecclesiastics, he seized

the treasures, which, as in an inviolable upon asylum, the unfortunate adherents to Harold had deposited in monasteries. At the same time he entered into a resolution of deposing all the English bishops, on none of whom he could rely, and filling their places with Normans. But he mitigated the rigour of these proceedings by the wise choice he made in VOL. II.-35

A

filling the places of those whom he had deposed; and gave by that means those vicious changes the air rather of reformation than oppression. He began with Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury. A synod was called, in which, for the first time in England, the pope's legate, à Latere, is said t have presided. In this council, Stigand, for simony' and for other crimes, of which it is easy to convict those who are out of favour, was solemnly degraded from his dignity. The king filled h's place with Lanfranc, an Italian. By his whole conduct he appeared resolved to reduce his subjects of all orders to the most perfect obedience.

The people loaded with new taxes, the nobility degraded and threatened, the clergy deprived of their immuniti and influence joined in one voice of discontent; and stimu lated each other to the most desperate resolutions. The king was not unapprized of these motions, nor negligent of them. It is thought he meditated to free himself from much of his uneasiness, by seizing those men, on whom the nation in its distresses used to cast its eyes for relief. But whilst he digested these measures, Edgar Atheling, Edwin and Morcar Waltheof the son of Seward, and several others, eluded his vigilance, and escaped into Scotland, where they were received with open/ arms by King Malcolm. The Scottish monarch on this occasion married the sister of Edgar; and this match engaged him more closely to the accomplishment of what his gratitude to the Saxon kings and the rules of good policy had before inclined him. He entered at last into the cause of his brotherin-law and the distressed English; he per suaded the king of Denmark to enter into the same measures, who agreed to invade Eng land with a fleet of a thousand ships. Drone, an Irish king, declared in their favour, and supplied the sons of Earl Goodwin with vessels and men, with which they held the English coast in continual alarms.

Whilst the forces of this powerful confe deracy were collecting on all sides, and prepared to enter England, equal dangers threatened from within the kingdom. Edric the Foroster, a very brave and popular Saxon, took up arms in the counties of Hereford and Salop, the country of the antient Silures, and inhabited by the same warlike and untameable race of men. The Welsh strengthened him with their forces, and Cheshire joined in the revolt. Hereward le Wake, one of the most brave and indefatigable soldiers of his time, rushed with a numerous band of fugitives and

2