The Saxon line of princes continued to rule, with the exception of
three Danish reigns, till the year 1066, when the crown was in the
possession of a usurper named Harold. The country was then invaded by
William, Duke of Normandy, a man of illegitimate birth, attended by a
large and powerful army. Harold opposed him at Hastings (October 14),
and after a well-contested battle, his army was defeated, and himself
slain. William then caused himself to be crowned king at Westminster;
and in the course of a few years he succeeded, by means of his warlike
Norman followers, in completely subduing the Saxons. His chiefs were
settled upon the lands of those who opposed him, and became the
ancestors of most of the present noble families of England.
Previously to this period, the Church of Rome, which was the only
surviving part of the power of that empire, had established its
supremacy over England. The land was also subjected to what is called
the feudal system (see HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES), by which all
proprietors of land were supposed to hold it from the king for
military service, while the tenants were understood to owe them
military service in turn for their use of the land. All orders of men
were thus kept in a chain of servile obedience, while some of the
lower orders were actually slaves to their superiors.
In the year 853, Kenneth, king of the Scots, had added the Pictish
kingdom to his own, and his descendant Malcolm II, in 1020, extended
his dominions over not only the south of Scotland, but a part of the
north of England. Thus, putting aside Wales, which continued to be an
independent country, under its own princes, the island was divided, at
the time of the Norman Conquest, into two considerable kingdoms,
England and Scotland, as they were for some centuries afterwards.
Ireland, which had also been invaded by hordes from the north of
Europe, was divided into a number of small kingdoms, like England
under the Saxon Heptarchy.