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, circumscribed the views and politics
of the English within the bounds of their own island. But the Norman
conqueror threw down all 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 neighbouring
continent at the time when this island first came to be interested in
its affairs.
The northern nations, who had overrun the Roman empire, were at first
rather actuated 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 irruptions, 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 enterprises. 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 disputed between the Greek
emperor and the 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 springs
were the papal and the imperial powers; the aggrandisement 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.
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 ancient
greatness. On these accounts she had a respect and a weight, which
increased every day amongst 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 sovereignty. 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
emperor 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 of disposing of it, or at
least of giving validity to the election of the emperor. The emperor, 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 ancient 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 everywhere, 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 pretensions, 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 vanish 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 enterprising 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 adventurers 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 superior 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 enterprise; 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 necessary to reconcile to his enterprise 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 aggrandisement of one already too 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
enterprise, which they believed would probably end in the ruin of the
undertaker. The emperor 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 enterprise, and sent him, as a means of
ensuring success, a consecrated banner.