Whatever doubts may exist as to the influence of the Norman Conquest
upon the mass of the people--the FREEMEN, the ceorls, and the
serfs--there can be no doubt that its effect upon the higher classes was
very great. It added to the existing FEUDALISM--the system of Baronage,
with its concomitants of castellated residences filled with armed men.
It led to frequent contests between neighboring lords, in which the
liberty and rights of the FREEMEN were imperilled. It also eventuated
in the formation of a distinct order-the peerage--and for a time the
constitutional influence of the assembled people, the FOLC-GEMOT, was
overborne.
The principal Norman chieftains were barons in their own country, and
they retained that position in England, but their holdings in both were
feudal, not hereditary. When the Crown, originally elective, became
hereditary, the barons sought to have their possessions governed by the
same rule, to remove them from the class of TERRAREGIS (FOLC-LAND), and
to convert them into chartered land. Being gifts from the monarch, he
had the right to direct the descent, and all charters which gave land
to a man and his heirs, made each of them only a tenant for life; the
possessor was bound to hand over the estate undivided to the heir, and
he could neither give, sell, nor bequeath it. The land was BENEFICIA,
just as appointments in the Church, and reverted, as they do, to the
patron to be re-granted. They were held upon military service, and the
major barons, adopting the Saxon title Earl, claimed to be PEERS of
the monarch, and were called to the councils of the state as
barons-by-tenure. In reply to a QUO WARRANTO, issued to the Earl of
Surrey, in the reign of Edward I., he asserted that his ancestors had
assisted William in gaining England, and were equally entitled to
a share of the spoils. "It was," said he, "by their swords that his
ancestors had obtained their lands, and that by his he would maintain
his rights." The same monarch required the Earls of Hereford and Norfolk
to go over with his army to Guienne, and they replied, "The tenure of
our lands does not require us to do so, unless the king went in person."
The king insisted; the earls were firm. "By God, sir Earl," said Edward
to Hereford, "you shall go or hang." "By God, sir King," replied the
earl, "I will neither go nor hang." The king submitted and forgave his
warmth.
The struggle between the nobles and the Crown commenced, and was
continued, under varying circumstances. Each of the barons had a large
retinue of armed men under his own command, and the Crown was liable to
be overborne by a union of ambitious nobles. At one time the monarch had
to face them at Runnymede and yield to their demands; at another he was
able to restrain them with a strong hand. The Church and the barons,
when acting in union, proved too strong for the sovereign, and he had to
secure the alliance of one of these parties to defeat the views of the
other. The barons abused their power over the FREEMEN, and sought to
establish the rule "that every man must have a lord," thus reducing
them to a state of vassalage. King John separated the barons into two
classes--major and minor; the former should have at least thirteen
knights' fees and a third part; the latter remained country gentlemen.
The 20th Henry III., cap. 2 and 4, was passed to secure the rights of
FREEMEN, who were disturbed by the great lords, and gave them an appeal
to the king's courts of assize.
Bracton, an eminent lawyer who wrote in the time of Henry III., says:
"The king hath superiors--viz., God and the law by which he is made
king; also his court--viz., his earls and barons. Earls are the king's
associates, and he that hath an associate hath a master; and therefore,
if the king be unbridled, or (which is all one) without law, they ought
to bridle him, unless they will be unbridled as the king, and then the
commons may cry, Lord Jesus, pity us," etc.
An eminent lawyer, time of Edward I., writes:
"Although the king ought to have no equal in the land, yet because the
king and his commissioners can be both judge and party, the king ought
by right to have companions, to hear and determine in Parliament all
writs and plaints of wrongs done by the king, the queen, or their
children."
These views found expression in the coronation oath. Edward II. was
forced to swear:
"Will you grant and keep, and by your oath confirm to the people of
England the laws and customs to them, granted by the ancient kings of
England, your righteous and godly predecessors; and especially to the
clergy and people, by the glorious King St. Edward, your predecessor?"