ENGLAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES
[Sidenote: Importance of England in the history of western Europe.]
51. The country of western Europe whose history is of greatest interest
to English-speaking peoples is, of course, England. From England the
United States and the vast English colonies have inherited their
language and habits of thought, much of their literature, and many
peculiarities of their laws and institutions. In this volume it will
not, however, be possible to study England except in so far as it has
played a part in the general development of Europe. This it has greatly
influenced by its commerce, industry, and colonies, as well as by the
example it has set of permitting the people to participate with the king
in the government.
[Sidenote: Overlordship of Wessex.]
[Sidenote: Invasions of the Danes. Their defeat by Alfred the Great,
871-901.]
The conquest of the island of Britain by the German Angles and Saxons
has already been spoken of, as well as the conversion of these pagans to
Christianity by the representatives of the Roman Church. The several
kingdoms founded by the invaders were brought under the overlordship of
the southern kingdom of Wessex[83] by Egbert, a contemporary of
Charlemagne. But no sooner had the long-continued invasions of the
Germans come to an end and the country been partially unified, than the
Northmen (or Danes, as the English called them), who were ravaging
France, began to make incursions into England. Before long they had made
permanent settlements and conquered a large district north of the
Thames. They were defeated, however, in a great battle by Alfred the
Great, the first English king of whom we have any satisfactory
knowledge. He forced the Danes to accept Christianity and established,
as the boundary between them and his own kingdom of Wessex, a line
running from London across the island to Chester.
[Sidenote: Alfred fosters the development of the English language.]
Alfred was as much interested in education as Charlemagne had been. He
called in learned monks from the continent and from Wales as teachers of
the young men. He desired that all those born free, who had the means,
should be forced to learn English thoroughly, and that those who
proposed to enter the priesthood should learn Latin as well. He himself
translated Boethius' _Consolation of Philosophy_ and other works from
the Latin into English, and doubtless encouraged the composition of the
famous _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, the first history written in a modern
language.[84]
[Sidenote: England from the death of Alfred the Great to the Norman
Conquest, 901-1066.]
The formation of the kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway at the end
of the ninth century caused many discontented Scandinavian chieftains to
go in search of adventure, so that the Danish invasions continued for
more than a century after Alfred's death (901), and we hear much of the
Danegeld, a tax levied to buy off the invaders when necessary. Finally a
Danish king (Cnut) succeeded in making himself king of England in 1017.
The Danish dynasty maintained itself only for a few years. Then a last
weak Saxon king, Edward the Confessor, held nominal sway for a score of
years. Upon his death in 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, claimed the
crown and became king of England. The Norman Conquest closes what is
called the Saxon period of English history, during which the English
nation may be said to have taken form. Before considering the
achievements of William the Conqueror we must glance at the condition of
England as he found it.
[Sidenote: Great Britain at the accession of William the Conqueror.]
The map of Great Britain at the accession of William the Conqueror has
the same three great divisions which exist to-day. The little kingdoms
had disappeared and England extended north to the Tweed, which separated
it, as it now does, from the kingdom of Scotland. On the west was Wales,
inhabited then, as it is still, by descendants of the native Britons, of
whom only a small remnant had survived the German invasions. The Danes
had been absorbed into the mass of the population and all England
recognized a single king. The king's power had increased as time went
on, although he was bound to act in important matters only with the
consent of a council (Witenagemot) made up of high royal officials,
bishops, and nobles. The kingdom was divided into shires,[85] as it
still is, and each of these had a local assembly, a sort of parliament
for the dispatch of local matters.
After the victory of the papal party at the Council of Whitby,[86] the
Church had been thoroughly organized and the intercourse of the clergy
with the continent served, as we have seen, to keep England from
becoming completely isolated. Although the island was much behind some
other portions of Europe in civilization, the English had succeeded in
laying the foundations for the development of a great nation and an
admirable form of government.
[Sidenote: Feudalism in England.]
England was not, however, to escape feudalism. The Normans naturally
brought with them their own feudal institutions, but even before their
coming many suggestions of feudalism might have been discovered. Groups
of shires had been placed under the government of earls who became
dangerous rivals of the kings; and the habit of giving churchmen the
right to govern, to a large extent, those who lived upon their vast
estates recalls the conditions in the Frankish empire during the same
period. The great landed proprietor in England exercised much the same
powers over those about him that the feudal lords enjoyed upon the other
side of the Channel.
[Sidenote: The struggle for the English crown between Earl Harold and
Duke William of Normandy.]
52. As has been said, William of Normandy claimed that he was entitled
to the English crown; he even assumed that all who refused to
acknowledge him in England were traitors. We are, however, somewhat in
the dark as to the basis of his claim. There is a story that he had
visited the court of Edward the Confessor and had become his vassal on
condition that, should Edward die childless, he was to designate William
as his successor. But Harold, Earl of Wessex, who had consolidated his
power before the death of Edward by securing the appointment of his
brothers to three of the other great earldoms, assumed the crown and
paid no attention to William's demand that he should surrender it.
[Sidenote: The pope favors William's claim.]
[Sidenote: Battle of Senlac, 1066. William I crowned at London.]
William thereupon appealed to the pope, promising that if he came into
possession of England, he would see that the English clergy submitted to
the authority of the Roman bishop. Consequently the pope, Alexander II,
condemned Harold and blessed in advance any expedition that William
might undertake to assert his rights. The conquest of England therefore
took on the character of a sort of holy war, and as the expedition had
been well advertised, many adventurers flocked to William's standard.
The Norman cavalry and archers proved superior to the English forces,
who were on foot and were so armed that they could not fight to
advantage except at close range. Harold was killed in the memorable
battle of Senlac[87] and his army defeated. In a few weeks a number of
influential nobles and several bishops agreed to accept William as their
king, and London opened its gates to him. He was crowned on Christmas
day, 1066, at Westminster.
We cannot trace the history of the opposition and the revolts of the
great nobles which William had to meet within the next few years. His
position was rendered doubly difficult by troubles which he encountered
on the continent as duke of Normandy. Suffice it to say that he
succeeded in maintaining himself against all his enemies.[88]
[Sidenote: William's wise policy in England.]
William's policy in regard to England exhibited profound statesmanship.
He introduced the Norman feudalism to which he was accustomed, but took
good care that it should not weaken his power. The English who had
refused to join him before the battle of Senlac were declared traitors,
but were permitted to keep their lands upon condition of receiving them
from the king as his vassals. The lands of those who actually bore arms
against him at Senlac, or in later rebellions, including the great
estates of Harold's family, were confiscated and distributed among his
faithful followers, both Norman and English, though naturally the
Normans among them far outnumbered the English.
[Sidenote: He insures the supremacy of the crown without interfering
with English customs.]
[Sidenote: William requires oath of fidelity from his subvassals.]
William declared that he did not propose to change the English customs
but to govern as Edward the Confessor, the last Saxon king whom he
acknowledged, had done. He tried to learn English, maintained the
Witenagemot, and observed English practices. But he was a man of too
much force to submit to the control of his people. While he appointed
counts or earls in some of the shires (now come to be called
_counties_), he controlled them by means of other royal officers called
_sheriffs_. He avoided giving to any one person a great many estates in
a single region, so that no one should become inconveniently powerful.
Finally, in order to secure the support of the smaller landholders and
to prevent combinations against him among the greater ones, he required
every landholder in England to take an oath of fidelity directly to him.
We read in the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ (1086): "After that he went about
so that he came, on the first day of August, to Salisbury, and there
came to him his wise men [i.e., counselors], and all the landowning men
of property there were over all England, whosesoever men they were; and
all bowed down to him and became his men, and swore oaths of fealty to
him that they would be faithful to him against all other men."
[Sidenote: Domesday Book.]
William's anxiety to have a complete knowledge of his whole kingdom is
indicated by a remarkable historical document, the so-called _Domesday
Book_. This is a register of the lands throughout England, indicating
the value of each parcel, the serfs and stock upon it, the name of its
holder and of the person who held it before the Conquest. This
government report contained a vast amount of information which was
likely to prove useful to William's taxgatherers. It is still valuable
to the historian, although unfortunately he is not able in every case to
interpret its terms satisfactorily.
[Sidenote: William the Conqueror and the Church.]
William's policy in regard to the Church indicates a desire to advance
its interests in conjunction with his own. He called Lanfranc, an
Italian who had been at the head of the famous monastery of Bec in
Normandy, to the archbishopric of Canterbury. The king permitted the
clergy to manage their own affairs and established bishops' courts to
try a variety of cases. But homage was exacted from a bishop as from a
lay vassal, and William refused to permit the pope to interfere in
English affairs without his permission in each particular case. No papal
legate was to enter the land without the king's sanction. No papal
decree should be received in the English Church without his consent, nor
his servants be excommunicated against his will. When Gregory VII
demanded that he should become his vassal for the land that he had
conquered under the papal auspices, William promptly refused.
[Sidenote: General results of the Norman Conquest.]
It is clear that the Norman Conquest was not a simple change of dynasty.
A new element was added to the English people. We cannot tell how many
Normans actually emigrated across the Channel, but they evidently came
in considerable numbers, and their influence upon the English court and
government was very great. A century after William's arrival the whole
body of the nobility, the bishops, abbots, and government officials, had
become practically all Norman. "Besides these, the architects and
artisans who built the castles and fortresses, and the cathedrals,
abbeys, and parish churches, whose erection throughout the land was such
a marked characteristic of the period, were immigrants from Normandy.
Merchants from the Norman cities of Rouen and Caen came to settle in
London and other English cities, and weavers from Flanders were settled
in various towns and even rural districts. For a short time these
newcomers remained a separate people, but before the twelfth century was
over they had become for the most part indistinguishable from the great
mass of English people amongst whom they had come. They had nevertheless
made that people stronger, more vigorous, more active-minded, and more
varied in their occupations and interests" (Cheyney).[89]
[Illustration: Norman Gateway at Bristol, England]
[Sidenote: William Rufus, 1087-1100, and Henry I, 1100-1135.]
[Sidenote: Civil war ending in the accession of Henry II, 1154-1189.]
53. The Conqueror was followed by his sons, William Rufus and Henry I.
Upon the death of the latter the country went through a terrible period
of civil war, for some of the nobility supported the Conqueror's
grandson Stephen, and some his granddaughter Matilda. After the death of
Stephen, when Henry II, Matilda's son,[90] was finally recognized in
1154 by all as king, he found the kingdom in a melancholy state. The
nobles had taken advantage of the prevalent disorder to erect castles
without royal permission and establish themselves as independent rulers.
Mercenaries had been called in from the continent by the rivals for the
throne, and had become a national plague.
[Sidenote: Henry's difficulties and his success in meeting them.]
Henry at once adopted vigorous measures. He destroyed the illegally
erected fortresses, sent off the mercenaries, and deprived many earls
who had been created by Stephen and Matilda of their titles. Henry II's
task was a difficult one. He had need of all his indefatigable energy
and quickness of mind to restore order in England and at the same time
rule the wide realms on the continent which he had either inherited or
gained through his marriage with the heiress of the dukes of
Guienne.[91] Although he spent the greater part of his reign across the
Channel, he still found time to be one of the greatest of all England's
rulers.
[Sidenote: His reforms in the judicial system.]
[Sidenote: The grand jury.]
In order that he might maintain his prerogatives as judge of disputes
among his subjects and avoid all excuse for the private warfare, which
was such a persistent evil on the continent, he undertook to improve and
reform the system of royal courts. He arranged that his judges should
make regular circuits throughout the country, so that they might try
cases on the spot at least once a year. He established the famous Court
of King's Bench to try all other cases which came under the king's
jurisdiction. This was composed of five judges from his council, two
clergymen, and three laymen. We find, too, the beginning of our grand
jury in a body of men in each neighborhood who were to be duly sworn in,
from time to time, and should then bring accusations against such
malefactors as had come to their knowledge.
[Illustration: The Plantagenet Possessions in England and France]
[Sidenote: Trial by jury.]
[Sidenote: The common law.]
As for the petty or smaller jury, which actually tried the accused, its
origin and history are obscure. It did not originate with Henry II, but
he systematized trial by jury and made it a settled law of the land
instead of an exceptional favor. The plan of delegating the duty of
determining the guilt or innocence of a suspected person to a dozen
members of the community who were sworn to form their opinion without
partiality was very different from the earlier systems. It resembled
neither the Roman trial, where the judges made the decision, nor the
mediæval compurgation and ordeals, where God was supposed to pronounce
the verdict. In all legal matters the decisions of Henry's judges were
so sagacious and consistent that they became the basis of the common law
which is still used in all English-speaking countries.
[Sidenote: Henry II and Thomas à Becket.]
[Sidenote: Becket as chancellor.]
Henry's reign was embittered by the famous struggle with Thomas à
Becket, which illustrates admirably the peculiar dependence of the
monarchs of his day upon the churchmen. Becket was born in London. He
early entered one of the lower orders of the Church, but grew up in the
service of the crown, and was able to aid Henry in gaining the throne.
Thereupon the new king made him his chancellor. Becket proved an
excellent minister and defended the king's interest even against the
Church, of which he was also an officer. He was fond of hunting and of
warlike enterprises and maintained a brilliant court from the revenues
of the numerous church benefices which he held. It appeared to Henry
that there could be no better head for the English clergy than his
sagacious and worldly chancellor. He therefore determined to make him
Archbishop of Canterbury. The kings of that time often chose their most
efficient officers from among the prelates. Lanfranc, for example, had
been the Conqueror's chief minister. There were several good reasons for
this practice. The clergy were not only far better educated than laymen
but they were also not ordinarily dangerous as military leaders, nor
could their offices become hereditary.
[Sidenote: Made Archbishop of Canterbury, Becket defends the cause of
the Church against the king.]
In appointing Becket Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry intended to insure
his own complete control of the Church. He proposed to bring clerical
criminals before the royal courts and punish them like other offenders,
to make the bishops meet all the feudal obligations, and to prevent
appeals to the pope. Becket, however, immediately resigned his
chancellorship, gave up his gay life, and opposed every effort of the
king to reduce the independence of the Church. After a haughty assertion
of the supremacy of the spiritual power over the secular government,
Thomas fled from the wrathful and disappointed monarch to France and the
protection of the pope.
[Sidenote: Murder of Becket and Henry's remorse.]
In spite of a patched-up reconciliation with the king, Becket proceeded
to excommunicate or suspend some of the great English prelates and, as
Henry believed, was conspiring to rob his son of the crown. In a fit of
anger, Henry exclaimed among his followers, "Is there no one to avenge
me of this miserable clerk?" Unfortunately certain knights took the rash
expression literally, and Becket was murdered in Canterbury cathedral,
whither he had returned. The king had really had no wish to resort to
violence, and his sorrow and remorse when he heard of the dreadful deed,
and his terror at the consequences, were most genuine. The pope proposed
to excommunicate the king. Henry, however, made peace with the papal
legates by the solemn assertion that he had never wished the death of
Thomas and by promising to return to Canterbury all the property which
he had confiscated, to send money to aid in the capture of the Holy
Sepulcher at Jerusalem, and to undertake a crusade himself.[92]
[Sidenote: Richard the Lion-Hearted, 1189-1199.]
[Sidenote: John, 1199-1216.]
54. Henry's later years were troubled by the machinations of Philip
Augustus of France and by the quarrels and treason of his own sons, of
which some account has already been given.[93] He was followed by his
son, the picturesque Richard the Lion-Hearted, one of the most romantic
figures of the Middle Ages. He was, however, a poor ruler, who spent but
a few months of his ten years' reign in England. He died in 1199 and was
succeeded by his brother John, from all accounts one of the most
detestable persons who has ever worn a crown. His reign was,
nevertheless, a notable one in the annals of England. In the first
place, he lost a great part of the possessions of his house upon the
continent (Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, etc.); secondly, he was forced by
a revolt of his people, who refused to endure his despotism any longer,
to grant the Great Charter. The loss of his lands across the Channel has
already been described; it remains only to speak of the winning of the
Great Charter of English liberties.[94]
[Sidenote: The granting of the Great Charter, 1215.]
When, in 1213, John proposed to lead his English vassals across the
water in order to attempt to reconquer his lost possessions, they
refused to accompany him on the ground that their feudal obligations did
not bind them to fight outside of their country. Moreover, they showed a
lively discontent with John's despotism and his neglect of those limits
of the kingly power which several of the earlier Norman kings had
solemnly recognized. In 1214 a number of the barons met and took a
solemn oath to compel the king, by arms if necessary, to confirm a
charter containing the things which, according to English traditions, a
king might not do. It proved necessary to march against John, whom the
insurgent nobles met at Runnymede, not far from London. Here on the 15th
of June, 1215, they forced him to swear to observe the rights of the
nation, as they conceived them, which they had carefully written out.
[Sidenote: The provisions of the Charter and its importance.]
The Great Charter is perhaps the most famous document in the history of
government;[95] its provisions furnish a brief and comprehensive
statement of the burning governmental questions of the age. It was
really the whole nation, not merely the nobles, who concluded this great
treaty with a tyrannous ruler. The rights of the commoner are guarded as
well as those of the noble. As the king promises to observe the
liberties and customs of his vassals and not to abuse his feudal
prerogatives, so the vassals agree to observe the rights of their men.
The merchant is not to be deprived of his goods for small offenses, nor
the farmer of his wagon and implements. The king is to impose no tax,
beside the three stated feudal aids,[96] except by the consent of the
great council of the nation. This is to include the prelates and greater
barons and all who hold directly of the king.
There is no more notable clause in the Charter than that which provides
that no one is to be arrested or imprisoned or deprived of his property
unless he be immediately sent before a court of his peers for trial. To
realize the importance of this, we must recollect that in France, down
to 1789, the king exercised such unlimited powers that he could order
the arrest of any one he pleased, and could imprison him for any length
of time without bringing him to trial, or even informing him of the
nature of his offense. The Great Charter provided further that the king
should permit merchants to move about freely and should observe the
privileges of the various towns; nor were his officers longer to
exercise despotic powers over those under them.
"The Great Charter is the first great public act of the nation after it
has realized its own identity, the consummation of the work for which
unconsciously kings, prelates, and lawyers have been laboring for a
century. There is not a word in it that recalls the distinctions of race
and blood, or that maintains the differences of English and Norman law.
It is in one view the summing up of a period of national life, in
another the starting-point of a new period, not less eventful than that
which it closes" (Stubbs).
In spite of his solemn confirmation of the Charter, John, with his
accustomed treachery, made a futile attempt to abrogate his engagements;
but neither he nor his successors ever succeeded in getting rid of the
document. Later there were times when the English kings evaded its
provisions and tried to rule as absolute monarchs. But the people always
sooner or later bethought them of the Charter, which thus continued to
form an effective barrier against permanent despotism in England.
[Sidenote: Henry III, 1216-1272.]
55. During the long reign of John's son, Henry III, England began to
construct her Parliament, an institution which has not only played a
most important rôle in English history, but has also served as the model
for similar bodies in almost every civilized state in the world. Henry's
fondness for appointing foreigners to office, his anxiety to enjoy
powers which he had not the intelligence or energy to justify by the use
he made of them, and his willingness to permit the pope to levy taxes in
England, led the nobles to continue their hostility to the crown. The
nobles and the people of the towns, who were anxious to check the
arbitrary powers of the king, joined forces in what is known as the War
of the Barons. They found a leader in the patriotic Simon de Montfort,
who proved himself a valiant and unselfish defender of the rights of the
nation.
[Sidenote: The English Parliament.]
The older Witenagemot of Saxon times, as well as the Great Council of
the Norman kings, was a meeting of nobles, bishops, and abbots, which
the king summoned from time to time to give him advice and aid, and to
sanction important governmental undertakings. During Henry's reign its
meetings became more frequent and its discussions more vigorous than
before, and the name _Parliament_ began to be applied to it.
[Sidenote: Simon de Montfort summons the commons to Parliament.]
In 1265 a famous Parliament was held, where, through the influence of
Simon de Montfort, a most important new class of members--the
_commons_--was present, which was destined to give it its future
greatness. In addition to the nobles and prelates, the sheriffs were
ordered to summon two simple knights from each county and two citizens
from each of the more flourishing towns to attend and take part in the
discussions.
[Sidenote: The Model Parliament of Edward I, 1295.]
Edward I, the next king, definitely adopted this innovation. He
doubtless called in the representatives of the towns because the
townspeople were becoming rich and he wished to have an opportunity to
ask them to make grants to meet the expenses of the government. He also
wished to obtain the approval of all classes when he determined upon
important measures affecting the whole realm. Since the Model Parliament
of 1295, the commons, or representatives of the people, have always been
included along with the clergy and nobility when the national assembly
of England has been summoned. We shall see later how the present houses
of Lords and Commons came into existence under Edward's son.
[Sidenote: England in the fourteenth century.]
From the reign of Edward I we are, as a distinguished English historian
has well said, "face to face with modern England. Kings, Lords, Commons,
the courts of justice, ... the relations of Church and State, in a great
measure the framework of society itself, have all taken the shape which
they still essentially retain" (Green). The English language was,
moreover, about to become the speech we use to-day.