=Source.=--William of Malmesbury, _De gestis regum Anglorum_, ed.
Stubbs, vol. ii., p. 306. (Rolls Series.)
In the process of time the study of letters and of religion decayed,
many years before the coming of the Normans. The clergy, content
with insufficient learning, could scarcely stammer the words of the
sacraments, and one who understood grammar was a cause of amazement
and wonder to the rest. The monks made a mock of their rule, wearing
fine garments and eating all kinds of food. The nobles, given over
to gluttony and lust, used not to attend church in the morning in
Christian fashion, but lay in bed till late hours and idly listened to
the service of matins and masses from the lips of a hurrying priest.
The people, unprotected in their midst, were the prey of the stronger
folk, who drained their substance or sold their persons into distant
lands, that they might heap up treasure upon treasure, albeit excess
of feasting rather than of wealth is the instinct of this race. Many
indulged the unnatural custom of selling their handmaids ... into
foreign slavery. They all used to drink in common, spending whole
nights and days in this practice. They consumed their whole substance
in small and mean houses, unlike the French and Normans, who live
moderately in large and noble dwellings. The vices that accompany
drunkenness and enfeeble the minds of men ensued. Hence it came to
pass that they encountered William with headlong rashness and fury
rather than with military skill, and by one battle, and that easily
won, doomed themselves and their country to slavery. Nothing is simpler
than rashness, but that which is impetuously begun speedily comes
to nought or is repressed. In short, the English at that time wore
garments reaching to the middle of the thigh, their hair was cut short,
their beards shaven, their arms laden with golden bracelets, their
skin pricked with pictorial designs; they used to eat till they were
surfeited, and drank till they were sick. These latter habits indeed
they have now passed on to their conquerors, for the rest, however,
adopting the others’ customs. I would not, however, be understood to
ascribe these vices universally to all the English; I know that there
were many clerks who at that time lived simply and trod the path of
holiness; I know that there were many laymen of the same nation, of
every sort and condition, who were pleasing to God. Let my narrative
escape injustice; all are not alike included in this condemnation;
but as in times of peace the wisdom of God full often cherishes the
evil with the good, so in times of captivity His sharp displeasure not
seldom constrains the good with the evil.
Now the Normans, to speak of them also, were at that time and still
are in dress bravely apparelled and in their food delicate but not
excessive; a people accustomed to warfare, and without it scarce able
to live. They are fierce in attacking the enemy, and where strength
fails, they achieve their end no less by craft and bribery. As I have
said, at home they live moderately in large dwellings, they envy their
equals, they would surpass their superiors, and while they plunder
their subjects, they protect them from others; faithful to their lords,
they lightly break faith for a slight offence. They weigh treachery
with its prospect of success, and change their policy for a bribe. They
are, however, the kindliest of all nations and honour strangers equally
with themselves; they also marry with their subject peoples. At their
coming they raised the standard of religion, everywhere lifeless in
England; on all sides you might see churches rising in the villages,
and monasteries in the towns and cities, built in a new style; you
might see renewed services enrich the whole country, so that every man
of means counted that day lost which was not marked by some great and
glorious act.