HISTORY OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST.
London
HENRY FROWDE
[Illustration: [Logo]]
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE
AMEN CORNER, E.C.
THE HISTORY
OF THE
NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND,
ITS CAUSES AND ITS RESULTS.
BY
EDWARD A. FREEMAN, M.A., HON. D.C.L. & LL.D.
LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE,
_Knight Commander of the Greek Order of the Saviour
and of the Servian Order of Tekova,
Corresponding Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Saint
Petersburg,
of the Royal Academy of Lincei of Rome,
of the Royal Society of Sciences of Göttingen,
and of the Historical Society of Massachusetts_.
VOLUME I.
_THE PRELIMINARY HISTORY TO THE ELECTION OF EADWARD THE CONFESSOR._
Αἰνέσωμεν δὴ ἄνδρας ἐνδόξους, καὶ τοὺς πατέρας ἡμῶν τῇ γενέσει....
κυριεύοντες ἐν ταῖς βασιλείαις αὐτῶν.... βουλεύσονται ἐν συνέσει
αὐτῶν.... ἡγούμενοι λαοῦ ἐν διαβουλίοις.—Ecclus. c. xliv.
_THIRD EDITION, REVISED._
=Oxford:=
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.
M.DCCC.LXXVII.
[_All rights reserved_]
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
This third English edition of these two volumes has been again
thoroughly revised throughout. I have not however thought it needful to
recast or enlarge the earlier chapters, as I still cling to the hopes
with regard to my first and fifth volumes which I expressed in the
Preface to the fifth volume. But I have added and corrected in detail,
wherever I have found any fresh matter or any fresh light on old
matters. And I found also, in revising what I wrote twelve years back,
that I could improve a good deal in point of mere style. I have often
put a good English word where I had at first allowed a stranger to creep
in. In the first volume I have seen reason to alter my narrative on one
point of some local and personal interest, though not greatly affecting
the general history. I have been convinced by the arguments of Mr. James
Parker that the murder of Sigeferth and Morkere at Oxford has been
confounded with the massacre of Saint Brice, and that some details which
belong to the earlier event have been transferred to the later. In the
Norman chapter in the second volume, I have once or twice worked in, in
the form of new or enlarged local description, the results of later
journeys in Normandy and Maine. And I have also made some improvements
in the maps.
The author of a work on this scale always does wisely in not reviewing
his reviewers, and I shall certainly not spend any great time reviewing
mine. I, and doubtless others, have been amused at many pieces of
criticism, perhaps not the least at the amazement with which some people
have seen Old-English names written in Old-English fashion. As this
seems to be commonly looked on as some special device of my own, we thus
become aware of the singular fact that there are people who think
themselves fit to write about early English history without having
looked at Kemble or Lappenberg. But, without strictly reviewing my
reviewers, I have had some doubts whether I ought not to examine in
detail an article headed “Earl Godwin and Earl Harold,” which appeared
in the North British Review for April 1870, and which bears the
signature of Mr. C. H. Pearson. In earlier revisions I have made a few
references to Mr. Pearson’s views as set forth in his other works, and I
believe that there are one or two to this article itself. But in my
present revision I thought it was better on the whole not to go into any
long controversy—for a long controversy it could hardly fail to be—with
regard to my general views either of Godwine or of his son. When I read
Mr. Pearson’s arguments, I find that his notions of historical evidence,
and his general way of looking at everything, are so different from mine
that it is really better to leave the question to the judgement of the
few scholars who may think it worth while to make a minute comparison
between Mr. Pearson’s statements and my own. I say a minute comparison,
because it would not be safe to accept either my views or the statements
of the original writers on Mr. Pearson’s showing. I must decline to have
my judgement of Godwine measured by the report which Mr. Pearson has
thought fit to give of it. I do not know where Mr. Pearson found that
“Godwin is the spotless being of Mr. Freeman’s imagination, the saint
and hero of an impure and unheroic age.” He certainly did not find that
picture any where in the History of the Norman Conquest, least of all
where my notions of Godwine are most formally put forth, namely in the
seventh chapter, the first in the second volume. I must further protest
against Mr. Pearson’s statement that I “believe in” a “settlement of the
Witan in 1051” in favour of William. Of this belief no trace will be
found in my writings; indeed it is expressly denied at p. 430 of my
second volume (p. 421 of the first edition). Nor do I admit that I have
“started from the conception that history for eight hundred years has
been in a conspiracy against truth.” I simply go back from legend to
history, from the slanders of later times to the witness of the men who
eight hundred years back wrote real history. Mr. Pearson goes on to say
that “my style throughout is that of a pleader who tries to demolish the
character of witnesses by detecting them in trivial inconsistencies, and
who delights in accumulating the absurd stories of late and obscure
chroniclers in order to throw doubts on a general verdict.” I can only
infer that Mr. Pearson is not a student of comparative mythology. I can
only infer that he does not see the importance of tracing how a story
grew, and what shapes it took in different hands, according to times,
places, and changes of feeling. When Mr. Pearson utterly misunderstands
my plainest words, when I can find no common ground with him from which
to examine historical evidence, I must leave it to others to judge
between him and me on the general question.
At the same time, in case any one should make it his business to compare
Mr. Pearson and me in detail, I must ask him to accept nothing on Mr.
Pearson’s showing—as I ask no one to accept anything on my
showing—without minutely testing it by the authorities. I think that any
one who does so will not fail to see how much of Mr. Pearson’s
genealogical argument is upset by his constant confusion between
Wulfnoth the son of Godwine and Æthelnoth the thegn of Kent. Even a
Domesday copyist, in his wildest departures from the true forms of
English names, would not write _Alnod_ and _Ulnod_ indiscriminately. I
have gone thoroughly into this matter in Appendix N., vol. iv, where I
see that I have referred to an earlier work of Mr. Pearson’s. So again,
when Mr. Pearson rakes up the real or supposed evil deeds (among which
he seems to reckon the marriages) of several English Bishops of the
eleventh century, he makes his list longer by bringing in a tale, true
or false, about Walter of Hereford, who was not an Englishman. And I
must lastly beg that no one will accept Mr. Pearson’s summary of any
part of the _Encomium Emmæ_, without reading every word of the
Encomiast’s text for himself.
As Mr. Pearson is an historical writer of some reputation, I have
thought it right not to let his distinctly controversial article pass by
altogether unnoticed. I do not know that there is any other writer of
position with whom I need to enter into any controversy. If I were to
examine any anonymous criticism, it would be an article signed “H. A.”
in the North American Review, in which I am blamed for maintaining the
innocence of Godwine, though his guilt is asserted in “the Saxon
Chronicle.” It would almost seem as if “H. A.” had written this without
either looking at the Chronicles themselves or at the examination of
their witness in my Appendix. Indeed it would seem that, even in such
respectable quarters as the North American Review, the idea still
lingers that there is a single book called “The Saxon Chronicle.” I need
hardly say that strange havoc would be made of the history, as strange
havoc often has been made, by any one who did not stop to compare the
wide difference in statement and feeling between Abingdon and
Peterborough.
The Index to the whole five volumes, which will include the index to the
present edition of these two, is in preparation.
SOMERLEAZE, WELLS,
_April 14th, 1877_.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
In revising these volumes for the present edition, I have made many
improvements for which I feel that I must in some sort throw myself on
the indulgence of the buyers and readers of the first edition. The
publication of a large work of this kind in distinct volumes is, I
believe, on the whole, the most satisfactory way for the reader, as it
certainly is for the author. But it has its disadvantages. If no part of
a work is printed till the last page of the last volume is written, a
final revision may give the earlier parts the advantage of the author’s
researches up to the last moment. But if volumes are published
separately, the researches which are needful for the composition of the
later volumes continually bring to light matter which would have been
highly useful during the composition of the earlier volumes. This is
especially the case with a subject like mine, where information has to
be sought for in so many quarters, and where a great deal of information
is drawn from purely incidental notices in quarters where it might
hardly have been looked for. Take for instance one of our primary
authorities for a great part of my subject, the Norman Survey. None but
a professed editor or commentator on Domesday would sit down to read it
through, word for word; but, in searching in it for facts bearing on one
subject, one is sure to light by the way on facts bearing on
half-a-dozen other subjects as well. In these ways I have, in the course
of writing the later parts of my work, come across much matter which
enables me to correct and improve what I had already written in the
earlier parts. All these improvements in detail I have thought it right
to make in preparing a second edition. And I have also in many places
improved the arrangement of the matter, by throwing some portions of the
text and a considerable portion of the notes into the form of
Appendices. These portions were chiefly passages which consisted of
dissertation rather than narrative, and which therefore seemed better
suited to the form of detached essays. This change will, I hope, be
found to make the narrative hang better together; but, as the passages
removed to the Appendix have shown a tendency to grow on the road, it
has somewhat increased the size of the volumes.
I have also done my best to improve the maps. I have added a map of Gaul
in the tenth century, which seemed needful for the better understanding
of the fourth Chapter. I have also recast the map of Britain in 597,
which, as it stood in the first edition, was a failure, owing to the
attempt, which can never be thoroughly successful, to represent the
state of things at two different periods at once. As it is, it is
designed to show, as far as evidence or probable conjecture makes it
possible to show, how things stood at the exact time of the mission of
Augustine. In this difficult task I have been much helped by Archdeacon
Jones, my former colleague in writing the History of Saint David’s, by
Mr. J. R. Green, and yet more by Mr. Haddan, whose knowledge of Celtic
matters is really amazing. But, after all, there are many points on
which it is impossible to get beyond conjecture.
As the changes in the text and notes have disturbed the order of paging,
I have added a special Index to this edition of these two volumes. When
the whole work is complete, a general Index to the whole five volumes
will be given.
It will be at once seen that these improvements are in some sort made at
the cost of the purchasers of the first edition, for it is impossible
for them to be thrown into the form of a separate supplement for their
benefit. I can only ask again for their indulgence towards a course
which could not be helped, if the book was to be brought as near
perfection as might be.
The revision required by these volumes has unavoidably delayed the
composition of the fourth volume; but I am happy to say that it is
begun.
SOMERLEAZE, WELLS,
_November 26th, 1869_.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
The present volume is the first instalment of a work which I have
contemplated, and for which I have at various times collected materials,
for the last twenty years. I had hoped to complete the work, or so much
of it as would come down to the actual accession of William the
Conqueror, in time for it to appear during the year 1866, the
octocentenary year of the Conquest. I found however that, to make the
main subject really intelligible from my point of view, it was necessary
to treat the preliminary history at much greater length than I had
originally thought of. The present volume therefore is merely
introductory to the account of the actual Conquest. The second portion
of the narrative, containing the reigns of Eadward, Harold, and William,
is already in progress, and will follow with all possible speed.
I think it right to add that this work must not be taken as a sign that
I have at all given up the design of going on with my History of Federal
Government. Of the second volume of that work a considerable part is
already written. One or two circumstances led me to lay it aside for a
time, and I do not at all regret that such has been the case. The part
on which I was engaged was the history of the German Confederation, and
I find that, of what I have written, part has already become antiquated
through the events of the past year. When Germany shall have assumed a
shape possessing some greater chance of permanence than her present
clearly transitional state, I shall be better able to take a general
view of German Federal history from the beginning. The peculiarity of
the German Confederation is that it is the one recorded Confederation
which arose from the separation of the component parts of a Kingdom.
There now seems every chance of its changing back again into something
more like its original state. The condition of the Hanseatic towns also,
another part of my subject, is already greatly modified by the same
events. It is even possible that they may not be without effect on the
European position of Switzerland. On the whole, I believe that the delay
in my work will only lead to its improvement, and that a volume on Swiss
Federalism, and on German Federalism generally, will be far more
valuable two or three years hence than it would have been if I had been
able to complete it in the year before last.
With regard to my present work, my main object is to draw out that view
of the Norman Conquest which I believe to be the one true one. That
view, I may say, is formed by uniting the views of the two most eminent
writers who have dealt with the subject, Augustine Thierry and Sir
Francis Palgrave. The name of the last-mentioned illustrious scholar can
never be uttered by any student of early English history without a
feeling of deep gratitude. But his great and unfinished works set forth
only half the truth. His eloquent French rival sets forth the other
half. Each of these great writers must stand charged with considerable
exaggeration on his own side of the question. Still, in the main, I
think we may say that each is right in what he asserts and wrong only in
what he leaves out of sight. From one point of view, the Norman Conquest
was nearly all that Thierry says that it was; from another point of
view, it was hardly more than Sir Francis Palgrave says that it was.
Both writers also singularly resemble each other in a certain lack of
critical power. Nothing in any period of history, above all, nothing in
the period of history with which I am concerned, is more necessary than
to distinguish the respective value of different authorities. Now in
this respect both Thierry and Sir Francis Palgrave were deficient.
Neither, I believe, ever made a statement for which he could not give
chapter and verse in some shape or other. But both of them were too apt
to catch at any statement which seemed at all to support their several
theories, without always stopping to reflect whether such statements
came from contemporary chronicles or charters or from careless and
ill-informed compilers three or four centuries later.
The prominence which I have given to the preliminary history contained
in this volume is due to a deep and growing conviction that the history
of the Norman Conquest, and indeed all later English history also, is
constantly misunderstood through a fatal habit of beginning the study of
English history with the Norman Conquest itself. A confused and unhappy
nomenclature hinders many people from realizing that Englishmen before
1066 were the same people as Englishmen after 1066. They thus fail to
perceive that the Norman Conquest, instead of wiping out the race, the
laws, or the language which existed before it, did but communicate to us
a certain foreign infusion in all three branches, which was speedily
absorbed and assimilated into the preexisting mass. We cannot understand
the Norman Conquest of England without knowing something of the history
both of Englishmen and of Normans before they met in arms on the hills
of Sussex. As regards the Normans, the conquest of England was but the
most brilliant and the most permanent of a series of brilliant
conquests, from the occupation of Rouen to the occupation of Naples. As
regards England, the Conquest was the grand and final result of causes
which had been at work at least ever since the death of Eadgar. The
Danish invasions, and the Norman tendencies of Eadward, each, in
different ways, both suggested the enterprise of William and made that
enterprise easier to be effected. I therefore look on the earlier
history of Normandy, and still more on the English history from the
accession of Æthelred to the death of Harthacnut, as so closely
connected with my subject as to need a treatment in considerable detail.
With the reign of Eadward the period of the Conquest itself begins. And
I may add that I have done my best to throw some life into a period of
our history which is full alike of political instruction and of living
personal interest. That period is commonly presented to ordinary readers
in the guise either of fantastic legends or else of summaries of the
most repulsive dryness. I have striven to show what was the real
political state of England in the tenth and eleventh centuries. I have
striven also to clothe with flesh and blood the dry bones of men like
Brihtnoth and Ulfcytel and Eadmund and our illustrious Danish conqueror
himself.
As in my History of Federal Government I ventured to restore the Greek
spelling of proper names, so I now follow the example of scholars like
Kemble, Lappenberg, and others, in employing the genuine spelling of
Old-English names. As they are generally spelled, they are a mere chaos
of French and Latin corruptions, following no principle of any kind.
_Æðelstán_ becomes “Athelsta_ne_,” while _Æðelred_, exactly the same
form, becomes “_E_thelred.” I do not however follow Mr. Kemble in
retaining the obsolete letter _ð_. It seems to me as much out of place
to write _Æðelðryð_ in the midst of a modern English sentence, as it
would be to write _Αθênê_ or _Θeopompos_. At one time I felt inclined to
except those names which are still in familiar use, like _Alfred_ and
_Edward_, on the same principle on which I write _Philip_ and not
_Philippos_. Were the English names, like the Greek, simply cut short at
the end, there would be no difficulty in so doing. But it would be
unpleasantly inconsistent to write _Ælfric_ and _Alfred_, _Eadwig_ and
_Edward_. I therefore make a chronological distinction; by the time of
our post-Norman Edwards, the _a_ had been dropped in contemporary
spelling, and I write accordingly. The names of Normans and other
foreigners, William, John, and the like, I give in their modern shape.
Nothing could be gained by writing _Willelm_, _Willaume_, or
_Guillaume_, all of them mere corruptions just as much as the modern
English form. Names of places again I write with their usual modern
spelling, because in them we have, what in the names of men we have not,
an universally received and, allowing for some misconceptions, fairly
consistent system. I except only one or two places, like Brunanburh,
Ethandun, Assandun, of which the geographical position is more or less
uncertain, and whose fame is wholly confined to the time of which I am
writing.
I have given two maps, chiefly founded on those in Spruner’s Hand-Atlas.
As in the maps which accompanied my History of Federal Government, any
attempts to mark the boundaries of states whose boundaries were always
fluctuating must always be more or less conjectural, and my conjectures,
or those of Dr. Spruner, may not be the same as the conjectures of all
my readers. All such attempts must be taken at what they are worth and
no more. For one such conjecture I am specially responsible. In the map
of Britain in 597 I have attempted, by means of cross-colouring, to mark
the extent of territory north of the Thames and Avon which was
West-Saxon in 597, but which I believe to have become Mercian in 628. In
so doing I have followed the indications given by Dr. Guest in his
papers and local maps; but I believe that mine is the first attempt to
show the results of his researches on the general map of Britain. In
this map my object was to mark all ascertained places mentioned in the
Chronicles, with the addition of a few from Bæda, up to the time of
Ecgberht. In the later map of the English Empire my principle was to
mark those places which were mentioned in my own history from the time
of Ecgberht to the Norman Conquest.
I have now only to return my thanks to those friends who have helped me
in my undertaking in various ways, by comments and suggestions, by the
loan of books, and in a few cases, though very few, by verifying
references to books which I had not at hand. At their head I am proud to
place the two men who stand at the head of living students of English
history, Dr. Guest and Professor Stubbs. I have also to thank Viscount
Strangford for several valuable suggestions as to the early Celtic
ethnology of Britain. My thanks are due also for help of different kinds
to the Rev. S. W. Wayte, now President of Trinity College, to the Rev.
John Earle, late Professor of Anglo-Saxon, to the Rev. J. E. B. Mayor,
of St. John’s College, Cambridge, to F. H. Dickinson, Esq., of Trinity
College, Cambridge, to the Rev. J. R. Green, of Jesus College, a rising
scholar to whom I look for the continuation of my own work, and to W. B.
Dawkins, Esq., of Jesus College and of the Geological Survey. Mr.
Dawkins I have especially to thank for much help in my investigations of
the battle-fields of Maldon and Assandun, and I look to him for more
valuable help still when I come to the greater battle which forms the
centre of my whole history. And I must add my thanks for the kindness of
every sort which I have uniformly received from the Delegates of the
University Press, from one especially whose loss all historical students
are now lamenting, my late learned and deeply esteemed friend Dr.
Shirley.
SOMERLEAZE, WELLS,
_January 4th, 1867_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
A. D. PAGE
The Norman Conquest important, not as the beginning
of English history, but as its chief turning-point 1
Necessity of the earlier English history to its right
understanding 2
Its character as compared with earlier and later
conquests 3
Nature of the changes effected by it 4–5
Divisions of the work 5–7
CHAPTER II.
FORMATION OF THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND. 449–975.
§ 1. _The Heathen Period of English Conquest._ 449–597.
The languages, races, and local names of Britain
essentially the same now as at the time of the
Norman Conquest 8
The Norman element absorbed in the existing English
nation 9
The English Conquest; credibility of the narrative 9
Question of earlier Teutonic settlements 10–12
Analogy of the Danish invasions 12
Course of the English Conquest to the end of the
sixth century 13–15
Difference between the English Conquest and other
Teutonic conquests 15–18
Extermination of the Celtic inhabitants 18
Causes and results of the difference 19–21
Britain at the end of the sixth century; occupation
of the country by various Low-Dutch tribes 21–23
No regular Heptarchy, but seven Kingdoms prominent
among others 23–24
Growth of Wessex 24–25
Peculiar character of Mercia 26–27
Supremacy of the Bretwaldas 28
§ 2. _Conversion of the English to Christianity._ 597–681.
Peaceful progress of Christianity in England 29
Effects of the conversion; increased intercourse with
the Continent 30–31
England the first national Church in the West 31–32
Cessation of wars of extermination 33
Advance of Wessex; Celtic element in the Western
shires 33–35
§ 3. _Fluctuations of Dominion between Northumberland, Mercia, and
Wessex._ 577–823.
617–633 Rivalry of Mercia and Northumberland; reign of
Eadwine 35–36
627–655 Reign of Penda of Mercia 36–37
635–685 Greatness of Northumberland under Oswald and his
successors 37
716–819 Renewed greatness of Mercia; reign of Offa 37–38
Influence of Charles the Great in English affairs 38–39
802 Accession of Ecgberht of Wessex 39
§ 4. _Permanent supremacy of Wessex._ 823–924.
802–837 Gradual submission of the other English Kingdoms to
Ecgberht 40–41
815–837 His successes over the Welsh; independence of the
Northern Celts 41–42
789–1070 Danish Invasions 43
Three Periods of the Danish Invasions 43–45
837–901 Reigns of Æthelwulf and his sons 45–46
867–877 Danish Conquest of Northumberland, East-Anglia, and
part of Mercia 46
871–880 Election of Ælfred; Danish Invasions of Wessex 46–47
878–890 Peace of Wedmore and establishment of Guthrum in
East-Anglia 47–48
Character and extent of the Danish occupation; its
effect on local nomenclature 48
Character of Ælfred 49–53
Consolidation of England promoted by the Danish Wars 53–55
893–901 Later wars and death of Ælfred 55–56
901–925 Reign of Eadward the Elder; his Kingdom reaches the
Humber 56–58
924 Commendation of Northumberland, Scotland, and
Strathclyde 58–60
§ 5. _Imperial Supremacy of the West-Saxon Kings of the English._
924–975.
925–940 Reign of Æthelstan; Northumberland first incorporated 60
937 Battle of Brunanburh 61
940–955 Reigns of Eadmund and Eadred; final incorporation of
Northumberland 62
945 Grant of Cumberland to Malcolm of Scotland 63
955 Reign of Eadwig in Wessex and Eadgar in Mercia 63
Character of Dunstan 63–64
958–975 Sole reign of Eadgar; his supremacy over all Britain 64–66
975–1016 Reigns of Eadward and Æthelred 66–67
Recapitulation 67–68
CHAPTER III.
THE CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND IN THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH CENTURIES.
The Old-English Constitution survived the Norman
Conquest 69–71
§ 1. _Origin of the Old-English Kingship._
Summary of the growth of Wessex 72
The germs of our institutions to be traced to the
earliest times 72–74
Analogy with other Teutonic and other Aryan nations 74
Origin of Kingship; earlier government by Ealdormen
or Heretogan 74–76
Difference between Ealdormen and Kings 76–78
Title of King 78
Kingship national and not territorial 78–79
Growth of kingly power through extension of territory 79–80
§ 2. _The Early Teutonic Constitution and its Decay._
The _Teutonic Free Community_; analogies elsewhere 80–81
_Eorls_ and _Ceorls_ 82–84
The _Mark_; _Folkland_; the _Eðel_ 84–85
Origin and nature of the _Comitatus_ or _Thegnhood_;
Homeric and other analogies 85–89
The _Thegns_ supplant the old _Eorls_ 89
Effects of the change; Commendation; depression of
the Ceorls 90–91
Growth of feudal principles 91–93
Earlier form of military service 93–94
_Folkland_ and _Bookland_ 94–96
Comparison between England, Germany, and Switzerland 96–97
Changes in the ancient Constitution; their necessity 97
Ceorldom sinks into Villainage, but the Villains are
gradually emancipated 97
Amalgamation of Marks into Shires and of Shires into
Kingdoms 98–100
§ 3. _Origin and Powers of the Witenagemót._
Democratic constitution of the old Assemblies of the
Mark and the Shire 100–102
The Assembly of the Kingdom inevitably shrinks up
into an Assembly of the King’s Thegns 102–103
The _Witenagemót_ of Wessex becomes the General
Legislature, the Gemóts of other Kingdoms surviving
as local bodies 104
Powers of the Gemót greater than those of a modern
Parliament 105–106
Right of deposing the King 106–107
Right of electing the King; combination of the
hereditary and elective principles 107–110
Direct action of the Witan in all matters 110–112
Joint action of the King and the Witan 112–113
Loss and recovery of Parliamentary freedom after the
Conquest 113–114
Importance of the personal character of the King 114–115
His influence as Executive and as _Hlaford_ of the
chief men 116–117
§ 4. _The Imperial Power of the King and his Relation to the Dependent
Kingdoms._
954 England one Kingdom, but much local independence
retained 117
Statement of the question as to the superiority of
the West-Saxon Kings over all Britain 118
924 Superiority over Scotland dates from the Commendation
to Eadward 118–119
922 Final Commendation of the Welsh 119
Nature of Commendation; analogous instances 119–121
924–1291 Claims of the two Edwards; change of ideas meanwhile 122
Threefold relation of the King of Scots to the
English Crown 122–123
Geography and relations of Scotland, Lothian, and
Strathclyde 123–124
History of Cumberland 124–126
History of Lothian; it becomes the historical
Scotland 126–129
Analogy between Scotland and Switzerland 129–130
922–1283 History of Wales 130–131
Position of the dependent Kingdoms 131–133
Statement of the case as to the Imperial Titles 133–134
The Titles used in the Charters imply an Imperial
position 134–136
No continuous tradition from the Provincial Emperors 136–137
286–407 Real position of the “Tyrants” 137–139
No analogy between them and the Bretwaldas 139–140
The Imperial style adopted through a feeling that the
position of the West-Saxon Kings was analogous to
that of the Emperors 140–143
Position of Ecgberht, of Æthelstan, of Eadgar 140–141
The Imperial titles go out of use after the Norman
Conquest 143–144
Late instances of their use 144–145
827–1869 Growth of the English system of dependencies 145–146
The Kingdom of England and Empire of Britain
transferred to William 146–147
CHAPTER IV.
SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF NORMANDY DURING THE TENTH CENTURY.
Original kindred of Englishmen, Danes, and Normans 148–149
Danes in England become Englishmen, in Gaul,
Frenchmen 149–151
§ 1. _General Effects of the Scandinavian Settlements in Gaul._
Analogy between the settlements of Rolf and Guthrum 151
Results of the Norman settlement on general history;
character of the Normans 151–154
Effects on French history; position of Gaul; struggle
between Paris and Laon decided by the Normans 154–155
Origin of Modern France 155–156
888 Division of the Empire; Eastern and Western Franks 156
830–888 Growing importance of Paris; Odo the first Parisian
King 156–159
§ 2. _Settlement and Reign of Rolf._ 911–927.
The Danish ravages within the Empire compared with
those in England 159–163
Various Danish settlements in Gaul; exceptional
importance of that at Rouen 163–164
876–911? Character of Rolf; his earlier exploits 164–166
911 Rolf in possession of Rouen; his defeat at Chartres 166
912 Peace of Clair-on-Epte; analogy with that of Wedmore 166–167
The Kingdom strengthened by the cession 167–168
Rolf’s homage to Charles; extent of his grant 168–170
Internal condition of Normandy; probable position of
the two races; vestiges of the Danish language 171–173
Normandy not an absolute Monarchy 173–174
922–927 Rolf supports the Karlings against Robert and Rudolf 174–176
927? 932? Abdication and death of Rolf 176
924 His acquisition of the Bessin; its importance 176–179
§ 3. _Reign of William Longsword._ 927–943.
Religion of Rolf; birth and education of his son
William 179–181
931 Breton revolt 182–183
Relations between Æthelstan and the Continent; Alan
of Britanny takes refuge in England 183–186
936 Alan restored; the Côtentin and the Channel Islands
become Norman; their subsequent history 186–189
932 Danish and Christian parties; revolt and submission
of the Danish party 189–190
William’s position between the two; Danish education
of his son Richard 190–192
Part played by William in French history; condition
of Gaul 192–196
926–933 William’s fidelity to Charles the Simple; he does
homage to Rudolf after his death 196–197
936 Election of Lewis; influence of Æthelstan 198–200
Reign and character of Lewis; true character of the
later Karlings 200–201
939–940 Affairs of Montreuil and Lotharingia; intervention of
Æthelstan and Otto 201–205
942–943 Council of Attigny; murder of William Longsword 205–206
§ 4. _Reign of Richard the Fearless._ 943–996.
943 Accession of Richard; his minority and doubtful
legitimacy 206–208
942–973 Events of the year 943; influence of Germany in
French affairs 208–210
943 New Danish settlement; apostasy of Richard; the
Christians seek French help 210–211
Lewis defeats the Danes and recovers Richard 212
Norman version 213–214
944–945 Lewis in Normandy; his defeat and capture by Harold
Blaatand 214–219
945–946 Lewis imprisoned by Hugh; intervention of Eadmund and
Otto; release of Lewis and renewal of his Kingship 219–221
Commendation of Richard to Hugh of Paris 221–222
The alliance between Normandy and Paris determines
the fall of the Karlings 223
946 War of the three Kings against the two Dukes; defeat
of Otto before Rouen 224–226
947–954 Series of Synods; progress and death of Lewis 227–230
954–986 Reign of Lothar; the old generation dies off 230–231
956–960 Relations between Hugh Capet and Richard 232
962 Theobald of Chartres; his enmity towards Richard 233–234
Second intervention of Harold? 234–235
Policy of Hugh Capet; general peace between Ducal and
Royal France 236
973–980 Changed relations between France and Germany on the
death of Otto the Great 236–238
986–991 Reign of Lewis the Fifth; his death; election of Hugh
Capet; permanence of his dynasty; position of
Rheims as crowning-place 239–240
987–991 Robert associated with his father in the Kingdom;
struggle with Charles of Lotharingia 240–241
Permanent establishment of the Parisian dynasty;
effects of the change 241–242
Lotharingia finally becomes German under Carolingian
Dukes 242–243
§ 5. _Comparison between France, England, and Normandy._
Influence of the Normans on the Capetian revolution;
their settlement made Gaul French 243–245
Relations between Normandy and France fixed by the
Capetian Revolution 245–246
Contrast between England and France 247–249
Position of the later Karlings; power of the Crown
not immediately increased by the change of dynasty 249–251
Growth of the doctrine of nobility 252–253
996 Last days and death of Richard 254–255
§ 6. _Early Years of Richard the Good._ 996–997.
Aristocratic feelings of Richard 255–256
997 Revolt of the Peasants; their political organization;
the revolt crushed by Rudolf of Ivry 256–258
CHAPTER V.
THE DANISH CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. 975–1016.
Character and reign of Æthelred 260–263
§ 1. _Reign of Eadward the Martyr._ 975–979.
975 Death of Eadgar; reaction against the monks 263–264
Disputed election to the Crown; election of Eadward;
banishment of Oslac of Northumberland 264–266
§ 2. _From the election of Æthelred to the first dispute with
Normandy._ 979–1000.
979 Murder of Eadward; election of Æthelred 266
979–988 Death of Dunstan; various internal events 267–268
980–982 Beginning of Danish inroads; characters of Swegen and
Olaf 268–270
988–993 Beginning of Danish attempts at settlement 268
991 Norwegian invasion; battle of Maldon and death of
Brihtnoth 270–276
The Danes first bought off; Ealdorman Ælfric 277–279
992 Naval victory of the English; treason of Ælfric 279–280
Greatness of London 280–283
993 Ravages in the North; treason of Godwine and others 283–284
988–991 Affairs of Wales 284–285
991 Dispute between Æthelred and Richard appeased by Pope
John the Fifteenth; increasing connexion between
England and Normandy 285–287
§ 3. _From the first dispute with Normandy to the Massacre of Saint
Brice._ 991–1002.
994 Great combined expedition of Olaf and Swegen; attack
on London defeated by the citizens; Æthelred buys
peace 287–289
994–1000 Peace with Olaf; his later days 289–291
994–1003 Inaction of Swegen 291
995 Meetings of the Witenagemót; Ælfric elected
Archbishop; Translation of the Bernician Bishopric
to Durham 291–294
996–998 Gemóts of Cealcyth, Calne, and London; legislation 294–295
997–999 Renewed ravages and inefficient resistance 295–297
Causes of inefficient resistance 297–299
1000 Character of Æthelred; he ravages Cumberland 299–301
Second quarrel with Normandy; alleged English
invasion of the Côtentin 301–303
1002 Marriage of Æthelred and Emma; its results 303–307
1000 Expected end of the world; condition of Europe and
Asia 307–308
1001 Invasion of Sussex; treason of Pallig; defence of
Exeter; Battle of Pinhoe 308–312
1001–1002 Meetings of the Witan; fresh payments to the Danes 312–315
1002 Massacre of the Danes; its probable extent 315–316
Burning of Saint Frithswyth’s church at Oxford;
murder of Gunhild 316
§ 4. _From the Massacre of Saint Brice to Swegen’s Conquest of
England._ 1002–1013.
1003 Results of the Massacre; invasion by Swegen in
person; Exeter betrayed by Hugh the Frenchman 317–318
Renewed treason of Ælfric; Swegen sacks Salisbury 318–321
1004 Exploits of Ulfcytel of East-Anglia; Swegen burns
Norwich and Thetford; his drawn battle with
Ulfcytel 322–325
1005 Year of respite and famine 325
1006 Rise and character of Eadric; murder of Ælfhelm 326–328
Malcolm of Scotland besieges Durham; the city
delivered by Uhtred 328–330
1006 Great devastation of the Danes in Wessex 330–332
1007 Witenagemót of Shrewsbury; tribute paid again 333
1007–1008 Two years’ respite; Eadric Ealdorman of the Mercians 333–334
1008–1009 Legislation; decree for the formation of a fleet 334–339
The fleet raised by assessments; origin of ship-money 339–341
1009 Alleged Embassy to Normandy; Richard’s treaty with
Swegen 341–343
The fleet assembled at Sandwich; quarrel of Wulfnoth
and Brihtric; dispersion of the fleet 343–344
1009–1010 Invasion of Thurkill; vain attack on London; Oxford
burned 344–346
1010 Last year of resistance; Ulfcytel’s battle at
Ringmere; hopeless state of the country 346–350
1011 Peace again purchased; Eadric invades Wales 350–352
Siege and capture of Canterbury; captivity of Ælfheah 352–354
1012 Martyrdom of Ælfheah 354–355
Money paid to the Danes; Thurkill joins the English 355–356
1013 Swegen’s last invasion; the North submits 356–358
He ravages Mercia and is repulsed from London 358–360
The West-Saxons submit; Swegen acknowledged King;
London submits 360–361
1013–1014 Æthelred and his family take refuge in Normandy 361–362
§ 5. _From the Conquest of England by Swegen to the Death of Æthelred._
1013–1016.
Importance of Swegen’s Conquest as preparatory to
William’s 362–364
1014 Death of Swegen 365–366
Double election to the Crown; the Danes choose Cnut;
the English Witan vote the restoration of Æthelred 367–368
Return and legislation of Æthelred 368–370
Æthelred drives out Cnut; position of Thurkill 370–371
1015 Witenagemót of Oxford; murder of Sigeferth and
Morkere 371–374
The Ætheling Eadmund marries Ealdgyth and establishes
himself in the Five Boroughs 374
Cnut returns; he ravages Wessex and is joined by
Eadric; Wessex submits to Cnut 375–377
1016 Cnut and Eadric invade Mercia; Eadmund and Uhtred in
the North; submission and murder of Uhtred 377–379
Cnut sails towards London 380
Death of Æthelred 380
§ 6. _The War of Cnut and Eadmund._ 1016.
Double election of Cnut and Eadmund; short and
glorious reign of Eadmund 380–383
Eadmund acknowledged in Wessex; Cnut’s fresh siege of
London 383–384
Battle of Pen Selwood; victory of Eadmund 384–385
Battle of Sherstone; victory doubtful 385–387
Cnut renews the siege of London; Eadric joins Eadmund 387
Battles of London and Brentford; third siege of
London 387–388
Cnut ravages Mercia; battle of Otford 388–389
Battle of Assandun; treason of Eadric; final victory
of Cnut 389–394
Conference of Olney and division of the Kingdom 395–398
Death and burial of Eadmund 398–400
CHAPTER VI.
THE DANISH KINGS IN ENGLAND. 1017–1042.
Character of the Reigns of Cnut and his Sons 401–404
§ 1. _The Reign of Cnut in England._ 1017–1035.
1016–1017 Witenagemót of London; Cnut chosen King 405
Outlawry of the two Eadwigs; fate of the Ætheling 406
Fourfold division of England; Cnut’s preference for
Wessex 406–407
First appearance of Earl Godwine; his first Earldom 408–410
1017 Cnut marries Ælfgifu-Emma; his relations with Ælfgifu
of Northampton and her sons 410–412
Banishments and executions 412–415
Execution and character of Eadric 415–418
Leofwine succeeds Eadric in Mercia 418
1018 Danegeld paid; Cnut sends home most of his ships 418–419
Witenagemót of Oxford; renewal of Eadgar’s Law 419–422
1019 Cnut visits Denmark 422
Exploits of Godwine; his marriage with Gytha 422–424
1020 Cnut returns to England; Witenagemót at Cirencester;
banishment of Æthelweard 424–425
Godwine Earl of the West-Saxons 425–426
Consecration of the church on Assandun; import of the
ceremony 426–428
Later policy of Cnut; Danes make way for Englishmen 428
1021 Banishment of Thurkill 428–429
1023 Thurkill viceroy of Denmark 429
1023–1030 Banishment of Eric; banishment and death of Hakon 429–430
1025 Ulf put to death 431
Character and position of Cnut 432–434
1027 His letter from Rome 434
1028–1035 His Laws 434–436
Personal traditions of Cnut; his ecclesiastical
foundations 437–443
§ 2. _The Foreign Relations of Cnut._ 1018–1035.
Unparalleled peace of Cnut’s reign 443–444
The Housecarls; Cnut’s military legislation 444–446
Cnut’s foreign policy; affairs of Wales 446–447
Affairs of Northumberland and Scotland; succession of
the Northumbrian Earls 448
1018 Malcolm defeats Eadwulf at Carham 448–449
1028? Affairs of Cumberland; submission of Duncan 449–450
1031 Submission of Scotland; homage of three Kings 450–451
1015 Cnut’s northern wars; loss of Norway 452–453
1015–1028 Reign of Saint Olaf in Norway 453–454
1025 Cnut’s defeat at the Helga 454
1028 Cnut chosen King of all Norway 454
Cnut’s friendly relations with the Empire; he
recovers the frontier of the Eider 455–456
996–1031 Affairs of Normandy; friendly relations between
Normandy and France 456–458
Affairs of Britanny and Chartres 458–460
1013? Story of Olaf and Lacman 460–463
Foreign expeditions and conquests of the Normans 463–464
1024 Burgundian War 464
1018 Norman exploits in Spain 464–465
1016–1090 Conquest of Apulia and Sicily; its bearing on that of
England 465–467
1026 Unbroken peace between Richard and Cnut; death of
Richard 467
1026–1028 Reign of Richard the Third 468
1028–1031 Accession of Robert; he restores various expelled
princes 468–470
1026 Relations between Cnut and Robert; marriage of Robert
and Estrith 471–473
1028–1035 Robert’s intervention on behalf of the Æthelings; his
attempted invasion of England 473–477
1035 Pilgrimage of Robert; death of Robert and Cnut 477–479
§ 3. _The Reign of Harold the son of Cnut._ 1035–1040.
Extent and partition of Cnut’s Empire 479–481
1036 Swegen expelled from Norway 481
1035–1036 Candidature of Harold and Harthacnut; Witenagemót at
Oxford; division of the Kingdom 481–488
1035–1037 Emma and Godwine Regents for Harthacnut in Wessex 488–489
1036 Attempt of the Ætheling Ælfred; conflicting versions
of the story 489–493
Estimate of the evidence; real position of Ælfred;
real question as to the conduct of Godwine 493–497
Inconsistency of the ordinary story 497–498
Evidence and suspicion against Godwine; his probable
innocence 498–501
Dissatisfaction in Wessex at the absence of
Harthacnut 501–502
1037 Harthacnut deposed and Harold chosen King over all
England 503
He banishes Emma 503
His reign and character 504–506
1039 Welsh inroad and death of Eadwine 506
1040 Duncan besieges Durham and is defeated by the
citizens 507–508
1039 Preparations of Harthacnut 508
1040 Death of Harold 509
§ 4. _The Reign of Harthacnut._ 1040–1042.
1040 Election of Harthacnut; his landing and coronation 509–511
His character; he lays on a Danegeld and digs up
Harold’s body 511–513
1040–1041 His second Danegeld 513
Accusation, trial, and acquittal of Godwine 514–517
1041 The Danegeld levied by the Housecarls; tumult at
Worcester 517–520
Worcester burned and the shire ravaged 521–522
Harthacnut recalls Eadward 522–524
Succession of the Northumbrian Earls; Ealdred,
Eadwulf, Siward; Siward murders Eadwulf by the
connivance of Harthacnut and obtains the whole
Earldom 524–527
Harthacnut sells the See of Durham to Eadred 527
1042 War with Magnus; defeat of Swegen Estrithson 528
Death of Harthacnut; marriage of Tofig and Gytha;
first foundation of Waltham 528–530
Election of Eadward 530
Summary 530–532
APPENDIX.
NOTE A. The use of the word “English” 533
B. The Bretwaldadom and the Imperial Titles 548
C. The Early Relations between England and the Continent 565
D. The Relations of Charles the Great with Mercia and
Northumberland 569
E. The Changes in Nomenclature produced by the Danish
Settlement 570
F. Æthelred and Æthelflæd of Mercia 573
G. The Commendation of 924 575
H. The Grant of Cumberland 580
I. The Cession of Lothian 582
K. Ealdormen and Kings 589
L. Origin of the word _King_ 593
M. King of England or King of the English? 594
N. Commendation 597
O. Growth of the Thegnhood 599
P. Grants of Folkland 600
Q. The Constitution of the Witenagemót 601
R. The Right of the Witan to depose the King 604
S. The Election of Kings 608
T. Names of Kingdoms and Nations 609
V. Notices of Language in the Tenth Century 617
W. The Vassalage of Normandy 620
X. Danish Marriages 624
Y. The Election of Lewis 626
Z. The Death of William Longsword 628
AA. Leading Men in England at the Death of Eadgar 633
BB. The Election of Eadward the Martyr 638
CC. The two Ælfrics 639
DD. The Treaty with Olaf and Justin 641
EE. The Relations of Æthelred with Normandy 642
FF. Æthelred’s Invasion of Cumberland 646
GG. The Massacre of Saint Brice 648
HH. Ulfcytel of East-Anglia 653
II. The Rise of Eadric 654
KK. The Succession of the Northumbrian Earls 659
LL. The Assessment of 1008 661
MM. Wulfnoth of Sussex 663
NN. Thurkill the Dane 666
OO. Wulfric Spot 671
PP. The Taking of Canterbury and the Martyrdom of Ælfheah 673
QQ. The Kingship and Death of Swegen 678
RR. The Sermon of Wulfstan or Lupus 683
SS. The Children of Æthelred 685
TT. The Elections of Cnut and Eadmund 689
VV. The War of Cnut and Eadmund 694
WW. The Conference of Cnut and Eadmund 705
XX. The Death of Eadmund 711
YY. The two Eadwigs 717
ZZ. The Origin of Earl Godwine 719
AAA. The West-Saxon Earldom 731
BBB. The Marriage of Cnut and Emma 733
CCC. The Family of Leofwine of Mercia 737
DDD. The Death of Eadric 740
EEE. The Exploits and Marriage of Godwine 743
FFF. Wyrtgeorn King of the Wends 747
GGG. The Death of Ulf 749
HHH. The Pilgrimage of Cnut 751
III. The Laws of Cnut 753
KKK. The Housecarls 755
LLL. Cnut’s Relations with Scotland 759
MMM. The Battle at the Helga 765
NNN. Cnut’s Relations with the Empire 766
OOO. Ælfred the Giant 770
PPP. Cnut’s Relations with Normandy 771
QQQ. The Division of Cnut’s Dominions 774
RRR. The Candidature of Harold and Harthacnut 775
SSS. The Death of the Ætheling Ælfred 779
TTT. The Burial of Harold the First 787
VVV. The Trial and Acquittal of Godwine 789
WWW. The Origin of Earl Siward 791
XXX. Tofig the Proud 792
YYY. Events after the Death of Harthacnut 794
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
[Sidenote: Importance of the Norman Conquest, not as the beginning of
English history, but as its chief turning-point.]
The Norman Conquest is the great turning-point in the history of the
English nation. Since the first settlement of the English in Britain,
the introduction of Christianity is the only event which can compare
with it in importance. And there is this wide difference between the
two. The introduction of Christianity was an event which could hardly
fail to happen sooner or later; in accepting the Gospel, the English
only followed the same law which, sooner or later, affected all the
Teutonic nations. But the Norman Conquest is something which stands
without a parallel in any other Teutonic land. If that Conquest be only
looked on in its true light, it is impossible to exaggerate its
importance. And yet there is no event whose true nature has been more
commonly and more utterly mistaken. No event is less fitted to be taken,
as it so often has been taken, for the beginning of our national
history. For its whole importance is not the importance which belongs to
a beginning, but the importance which belongs to a turning-point. The
Norman Conquest brought with it a most extensive foreign infusion, an
infusion which affected our blood, our language, our laws, our arts;
still it was only an infusion; the older and stronger elements still
survived, and in the long run they again made good their supremacy. So
far from being the beginning of our national history, the Norman
Conquest was the temporary overthrow of our national being. But it was
only a temporary overthrow. To a superficial observer the English people
might seem for a while to be wiped out of the roll-call of the nations,
or to exist only as the bondmen of foreign rulers in their own land. But
in a few generations we led captive our conquerors; England was England
once again, and the descendants of the Norman invaders were found to be
among the truest of Englishmen. England may be as justly proud of
rearing such step-children as Simon of Montfort and Edward the First as
of being the natural mother of Ælfred and of Harold. In no part of
history [Sidenote: Importance of the earlier English history to the
right understanding of the Conquest.] can any event be truly understood
without reference to the events which went before it and which prepared
the way for it. But in no case is such reference more needful than in
dealing with an event like that with which we are now concerned. The
whole importance of the Norman Conquest consists in the effect which it
had on an existing nation, humbled indeed, but neither wiped out nor
utterly enslaved, in the changes which it wrought in an existing
constitution, which was by degrees greatly modified, but which was never
either wholly abolished or wholly trampled under foot. William, King of
the English, claimed to reign as the lawful successor of the Kings of
the English who reigned before him. He claimed to inherit their rights,
and he professed to govern according to their laws. His position
therefore, and the whole nature of the great revolution which he
wrought, are utterly unintelligible without a full understanding of the
state of things which he found existing. Even when one nation actually
displaces another, some knowledge of the condition of the displaced
nation is necessary to understand the position of the displacing nation.
The English Conquest of Britain cannot be thoroughly understood without
some knowledge of the earlier history of the Celt and the Roman. But
when there is no displacement of a nation, when there is not even the
utter overthrow of a constitution, when there are only changes, however
many and important, wrought in an existing system, a knowledge of the
earlier state of things is an absolutely essential part of any knowledge
of the later. The Norman Conquest of England is simply an insoluble
puzzle without a clear notion of the condition of England and the
English people at the time when the Conqueror and his followers first
set foot upon our shores.
[Sidenote: Character of the Norman Conquest as compared with earlier and
later conquests.]
The Norman Conquest again is an event which stands by itself in the
history of Europe. It took place at a transitional period in the world’s
developement. Those elements, Roman and Teutonic, Imperial and
ecclesiastical, which stood, as it were, side by side in the system of
the early middle age, were then being fused together into the later
system of feudal, papal, crusading Europe. The Conquest itself was one
of the most important steps in the change. A kingdom which had hitherto
been purely Teutonic was brought within the sphere of the laws, the
manners, the speech, of the Romance nations. At the very moment when
Pope and Cæsar held each other in the death-grasp, a Church which had
hitherto maintained a kind of insular and barbaric independence was
brought into a far more intimate connexion with the Roman See. And as a
conquest, compared with earlier and with later conquests, the Norman
Conquest of England holds a middle position between the two classes, and
shares somewhat of the nature of both. It was something less than such
conquests as form the main subject of history during the great Wandering
of the Nations. It was something more than those political conquests
which fill up too large a space in the history of modern times. It was
much less than a [Sidenote: The immediate change effected by the Norman
Conquest less than the change effected by the Barbarian conquests.]
national migration; it was much more than a mere change of frontier or
of dynasty. It was not such a change as when the first English
conquerors slew, expelled, or enslaved the whole nation of the
vanquished Britons. It was not even such a change as when Goths or
Burgundians sat down as a ruling people, keeping their own language and
their own law, and leaving the language and law of Rome to the
vanquished Romans. But it was a far greater change than commonly follows
on the transfer of a province from one sovereign to another, or even on
the forcible acquisition of a crown by an alien dynasty. The conquest of
England by William wrought less immediate change than the conquest of
Africa by Genseric; it wrought a greater immediate change than the
conquest of Sicily by Charles of Anjou. [Sidenote: In what the change
really consisted.] It brought with it not only a new dynasty, but a new
nobility; it did not expel or transplant the English nation or any part
of it; but it gradually deprived the leading men and families of England
of their lands and offices, and thrust them down into a secondary
position under alien intruders. It did not at once sweep away the old
laws and liberties of the land; but it at once changed the manner and
spirit of their administration, and it opened the way for endless later
changes in the laws themselves. It did not abolish the English language;
but it brought in a new language by its side, a language which for a
while supplanted it as the language of polite intercourse, and which did
not yield to the reviving elder speech till it had affected it by the
largest infusion that the vocabulary of one [Sidenote: Formal
legislative changes for the most part of a later date.] European tongue
ever received from another. The most important of the formal changes in
legislation, in language, in the system of government and in the tenure
of land, were no immediate consequences of the Conquest, no direct
innovations of the reign of William. They were the gradual developements
of later times, of times when the Norman as well as the Englishman found
himself under the yoke of a foreign master. But the reign of William
paved the way for all the later changes that were to come, and the
immediate changes which [Sidenote: Immediate results of the Conquest
mainly practical.] he himself wrought were, after all, great and
weighty. They were in truth none the less great and weighty because they
affected the practical condition of the people far more than they
affected its written laws and institutions. When a nation is driven to
receive a foreigner as its King, when that foreign King divides the
highest offices and the greatest estates of the land among his foreign
followers, though such a change must be carefully distinguished from
changes in the written law, still the change is, for the time,
practically the greatest which a nation and its leaders can undergo.
[Sidenote: Plan and extent of the present History.]
I propose then, as a necessary introduction to my narrative of the
actual Conquest, to sketch the condition of England and of Normandy at
the time when the two nations came into contact with each other. This
process will involve a summary of the earlier history of both [Sidenote:
Narrative of the actual Conquest and its immediate causes. 1042–1087.]
countries. From the beginning of the eleventh century the history of
England and of Normandy becomes more and more intermixed, and it will be
necessary to tell the story more and more in detail. The period of the
actual Conquest and its immediate causes, the reigns of Eadward, of
Harold, and of William, will form the centre of the work. The reigns of
William’s sons will show the character of the Norman government in
England, and the amount of immediate change which it really [Sidenote:
Accession of the Angevin dynasty. 1154.] brought with it. With the
accession of the Angevin dynasty the purely Norman period comes to an
end. A King succeeds who is in one sense both Norman and English, in
another sense neither Norman nor English. Presently Norman and
Englishman alike have to struggle for their own against the perpetual
intrusion of fresh shoals of foreigners seeking their fortunes at the
expense of both. The natural effect of this struggle was that Norman and
Englishman forgot their differences, and [Sidenote: Reign of Henry the
Second. 1154–1189.] united in resistance to the common enemy. Under
Henry the Second the struggle is for a while delayed, or veils itself
under an ecclesiastical form. A prelate of English birth but of the
purest Norman descent, wins the love of the English people in a struggle
in which nothing but an unerring instinct could have shown them that
their interest was in any way involved. [Sidenote: Degradation of
England under Richard the First. 1189–1199.] Under Richard, the most
thoroughly foreign of all our Kings, the evil reaches its height, and
England might pass for a dependency of the Count of Poitiers. As is
usual in cases of national discontent, it is not till the worst day is
passed that the counter-revolution openly [Sidenote: National struggle
against foreigners. 1214–1272.] begins. Under John and his son Henry,
the history of England becomes mainly the history of a struggle between
the natives of the land, of whatever race, and the foreign favourites of
the court. Norman and Englishman are [Sidenote: 1265.] now reconciled;
and by their joint work the Old-English liberties are won back in
another form, and the modern [Sidenote: End of the work under Edward the
First. 1272–1307.] constitution of England begins. At last England,
having already won over her baronage, at last wins over her King. The
work of reconciliation is completed under the best and greatest of our
later Kings, the first who, since the Norman entered our land, either
bore a purely English name or followed a purely English policy. Under
the great Edward England finally assumed those constitutional forms
which, with mere changes of detail, she has preserved uninterrupted ever
since. The work of the Conquest is now over; the two races are united
under a legislation whose outward form and language was in a great
measure French, but whose real life was drawn from the truest English
sources. Here then our narrative, even as the merest sketch, comes to
its natural close. But for a long time before this point, a mere sketch,
pointing out the working of earlier events in their results, will be all
that will be needed. The kernel of my narrative will consist of the
history of the five and forty years from the election of Eadward to the
death of William. The history of these years will fill my three central
volumes, containing the history of the actual Conquest and its immediate
causes. This central portion will be introduced, as is essential to its
understanding, by a sketch of the events which led to it, gradually
developing in minuteness from the beginning of the English Conquest to
the extinction of the Danish dynasty in England. And it will be wound up
with what is no less essential, with a sketch of the history gradually
lessening in minuteness down to the reign of Edward the First, and
discussing the permanent results of the Conquest on the laws, the
language, the arts, and the social condition of England.