1066,
seems to have succeeded him, and to have lived in that unfortunate
period for property, the conquest.
The time was now arrived when this ancient family, with the rest of the
English gentry, who had lived under the benign climate of Saxon
government, and in the affluence of fortune, must quit the happy
regions of hospitality, and enter the gloomy precincts of penury--From
givers, they were to become beggars.
The whole conduct of William seems to have carried the strongest marks
of conquest. Many of the English lost their lives, some their liberty,
and nearly all their estates. The whole land in the kingdom was
insufficient to satisfy the hungry Normans.
Perhaps William took the wisest method to secure the conquered country
that could be devised by human wisdom; he parcelled out the kingdom
among his greater Barons; the whole county of Chester is said to have
fallen to the share of Hugh Lupus: and these were subdivided into 62,000
Knight's-sees, which were held under the great Barons by military
service. Thus the Sovereign by only signifying his pleasure to the
Barons, could instantly raise an army for any purpose. We cannot produce
a stronger indication of arbitrary government: But, it is happy for the
world, that perfection is not found even in human wisdom; for this well
laid scheme destroyed itself. Instead of making the crown absolute, as
was intended, it threw the balance into the hands of the Barons, who
became so many petty Sovereigns, and a scourge to the King in after
ages, 'till Henry the Seventh sapped their power, and raised the third
estate, the Commons, which quickly eclipsed the other two.
The English gentry suffered great distress: Their complaints rung loud
in the royal ear, some of them therefore, who had been peaceable and
never opposed the Normans, were suffered to enjoy their estates in
dependance upon the great Barons.
This was the case with Richard, Lord of Birmingham, who held this manor
by knight's-service of William Fitz-Ausculf, Lord of Dudley castle, and
perhaps all the land between the two places.
Thus Birmingham, now rising towards the meridian of opulence, was a
dependant upon Dudley castle, now in ruins; and thus an honourable
family, who had enjoyed a valuable freehold, perhaps near 500 years,
were obliged to pay rent, homage, suit and service, attend the Lord's
court at Dudley every three weeks, be called into the field at pleasure,
and after all, possess a precarious tenure in villainage.
The blood of the ancient English was not only tainted with the breath of
that destructive age, but their lands also. The powerful blast destroyed
their ancient freehold tenures, reducing them into wretched copyholds:
and to the disgrace of succeeding ages, many of them retain this mark of
Norman slavery to the present day. How defective are those laws, which
give one man power over another in neutral cases? That tend to promote
quarrels, prevent cultivation, and which cannot draw the line between
property and property?
Though a spirit of bravery is certainly a part of the British character,
yet there are two or three periods in English history, when this noble
flame was totally extinguished. Every degree of resolution seems to have
been cut off at the battle of Hastings. The English acted contrary to
their usual manner:--Danger had often made them desperate, but now it
made them humble. This conquest is one of the most extraordinary held
forth in history; the flower of nobility was wholly nipped off; the
spirit of the English depressed, and having no head to direct, or hand
to cultivate the courage of the people and lead it into action, it
dwindled at the root, was trampled under the foot of tyranny, and,
according to _Smollet_, several generations elapsed before any one of
the old English stock blossomed into peerage.
It is curious to contemplate the revolution of things--Though the
conquering Romans flood first in the annals of same at the beginning of
the Christian era, yet they were a whole century in carrying their
illustrious arms over the island, occupied only by a despicable race of
Britons. Though the Saxons were invited, by one false step in politics,
to assist the Britons in expelling an enemy, which gave them an
opportunity of becoming enemies themselves; yet it was 130 years before
they could complete their conquest. And though the industrious Dane
poured incessant numbers of people into Britain, yet it cost them 200
years, and 150,000 men before they reduced it. But William, at one blow,
finished the dreadful work, shackled her sons to his throne, and
governed them with a sceptre of iron. Normandy, a petty dukedom, very
little larger than Yorkshire, conquered a mighty nation in one day.
England seems to have been taken by storm, and her liberties put to the
sword: Nor did the miseries of this ill-fated kingdom end here, for the
continental dominions, which William annexed to the crown, proved a
whirlpool for 400 years, which drew the blood and treasure of the nation
into its vortex, 'till those dominions were fortunately lost in the
reign of Mary the First.
Thus the Romans spent one century in acquiring a kingdom, which they
governed for four. The Saxons spent 130 years, and ruled for 459. The
Danes spent 200 and reigned for 25--But the Norman spent one day only,
for a reign of 700 years: They continue to reign still.
It is easy to point out some families of Norman race, who yet enjoy the
estates won by their ancestors at the battle of Hastings.