diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:50:12 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:50:12 -0700 |
| commit | 1405a7b627983e28275c72973c80eac79398dc41 (patch) | |
| tree | 8c77c628fd96b7b75a385374157cbd80447a950e /17037-h | |
Diffstat (limited to '17037-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 17037-h/17037-h.htm | 13485 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17037-h/images/v1-map-1.png | bin | 0 -> 543641 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17037-h/images/v1-map-1t.png | bin | 0 -> 93474 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17037-h/images/v1-map-2.jpg | bin | 0 -> 475493 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17037-h/images/v1-map-2t.jpg | bin | 0 -> 66119 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17037-h/images/v1-map-3.jpg | bin | 0 -> 475068 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17037-h/images/v1-map-3t.jpg | bin | 0 -> 67511 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17037-h/images/v1-map-4.jpg | bin | 0 -> 478411 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17037-h/images/v1-map-4t.jpg | bin | 0 -> 67730 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17037-h/images/v1-map-5.jpg | bin | 0 -> 405749 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17037-h/images/v1-map-5t.jpg | bin | 0 -> 58513 bytes |
11 files changed, 13485 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/17037-h/17037-h.htm b/17037-h/17037-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d1cda4 --- /dev/null +++ b/17037-h/17037-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13485 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of History of the English People, Volume I (of 8), by John Richard Green</title> +<style type="text/css"> + + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em; } + P.noindent { text-indent: 0em; margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + BODY { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; } + + .pagenum { text-indent: 0em; position: absolute; left: 1%; font-size: 60%; text-align: right; color: gray } + .sidenote { text-indent: 0em; position: absolute; left: 91%; right: 100%; width: 9%; font-size: 10pt; + text-align: center; font-weight: bold; } + + .hidden { display: none; } + .center { text-align: center; } + .right { text-align: right; } + .left { text-align: left; } + .center P { text-align: center; } + .right P { text-align: right; } + .left P { text-align: left; } + + .toc { list-style-type: none; text-align: center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } + .toc TABLE { text-align: center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } + .toc TR { text-align: left; } + .toc BR { display: none; } + .toc .header { font-size: 2em; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 1em; } + .toc .volume TD { font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.5em; height: 3em; } + .toc .book TD { font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.2em; height: 3em; } + .toc .chapter TD { font-weight: normal; } + .toc .figure TD { font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; } + .toc HR { width: 90%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; height: 0.25em; color: gray; background-color: gray; } + + .titlepage { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.5em; } + .titlepage SPAN { display: block; } + .titlepage .main { font-size: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; } + .titlepage .sub { font-size: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 2em; } + .titlepage .byline { font-size: 0.8em; margin-bottom: 2em; } + .titlepage .byline SPAN { display: block; } + .titlepage .byline .docauthor { font-size: 1.5em; } + .titlepage UL { margin-bottom: 2em; } + .titlepage LI { list-style-type: none; } + + .head LI { list-style-type: none; } + + .center .head { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.75em; } + .center .head HR { width: 90%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; height: 0.25em; color: gray; background-color: gray; } + + .volume .head { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.75em; } + .volume .head HR { width: 90%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; height: 0.25em; color: gray; background-color: gray; } + + .book .head { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.5em; } + .book .head HR { width: 75%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: gray; background-color: gray; } + + .chapter .head { text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0em;} + .chapter .head HR { width: 50%; color: gray; background-color: gray; } + + .lg { text-align: center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } + hr.pg { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + pre {font-size: x-small;} + +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, History of the English People, Volume I (of +8), by John Richard Green</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p class="noindent">Title: History of the English People, Volume I (of 8)</p> +<p class="noindent"> Early England, 449-1071; Foreign Kings, 1071-1204; The Charter, 1204-1216</p> +<p class="noindent">Author: John Richard Green</p> +<p class="noindent">Release Date: November 9, 2005 [eBook #17037]<br> +Most recently updated: May 20, 2008</p> +<p class="noindent">Language: English</p> +<p class="noindent">Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p class="noindent">***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE, VOLUME I (OF 8)***</p> +<br><br> +<h4>E-text prepared by Paul Murray<br> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br> + (https://www.pgdp.net/)</h4> +<br><br> +<table border=0 bgcolor="ddddee" cellpadding=10> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + The index for the entire 8 volume + set of <i>History of the English People</i> was located + at the end of Volume VIII. For ease in + accessibility, it has been removed and produced as a + separate volume + (<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/25533">https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/25533</a>). </td> + </tr> +</table> +<br><br> +<hr class="pg" noshade> +<br> +<br> +<a name="TOP"></a> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<div class="titlepage"> +<span class="main">HISTORY<br>OF<br>THE ENGLISH PEOPLE</span> +<span class="sub">VOLUME I</span> + <div class="byline">BY <span class="docauthor">JOHN RICHARD GREEN, M.A.<br>HONORARY FELLOW OF JESUS COLLEGE, OXFORD</span> +</div> +<ul> +<li> +<a name="id4522746"></a>EARLY ENGLAND, 449-1071</li> +<li> +<a name="id4522752"></a>FOREIGN KINGS, 1071-1204</li> +<li> +<a name="id4522758"></a>THE CHARTER, 1204-1216</li> +</ul> + +<ul> +<li> +<a name="id4522778"></a><i>First Edition, Demy 8vo, November</i> 1877;<br> +</li> +<li> +<a name="id4522794"></a><i>Reprinted December</i> 1877, 1881, 1885, 1890.<br> +</li> +<li> +<a name="id4522810"></a><i>Eversley Edition,</i> 1895.<br> +</li> +</ul> + +London +MacMillan and Co. +and New York +1895 +</div> + +<div class="center"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="front.1_div.1"></a> +</div> +<p> +I Dedicate this Book +</p> + +<p> +TO TWO DEAR FRIENDS<br> +MY MASTERS IN THE STUDY OF ENGLISH HISTORY +</p> + +<p> +EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN<br> +AND<br> +WILLIAM STUBBS +</p> +</div> + + + +<div class="toc"><div class="chapters"> +<hr> +<div class="header">CONTENTS</div> +<table summary="Table of contents"> +<tr class="volume"><td><a href="#Vol1">VOLUME I</a></td></tr> +<tr class="book"> +<td><a href="#Bk1">BOOK I</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk1">EARLY ENGLAND</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk1">449-1071</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="chapter"> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Auth"> </a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Auth">AUTHORITIES FOR BOOK I</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Auth">449-1071</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="chapter"> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Ch1">CHAPTER I</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Ch1">THE ENGLISH CONQUEST OF BRITAIN</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Ch1">449-577</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="chapter"> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Ch2">CHAPTER II</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Ch2">THE ENGLISH KINGDOMS</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Ch2">577-796</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="chapter"> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Ch3">CHAPTER III</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Ch3">WESSEX AND THE NORTHMEN</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Ch3">796-947</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="chapter"> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Ch4">CHAPTER IV</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Ch4">FEUDALISM AND THE MONARCHY</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk1-Ch4">954-1071</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="book"> +<td><a href="#Bk2">BOOK II</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk2">ENGLAND UNDER FOREIGN KINGS</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk2">1071-1204</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="chapter"> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Auth"> </a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Auth">AUTHORITIES FOR BOOK II</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Auth">1071-1204</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="chapter"> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Ch1">CHAPTER I</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Ch1">THE CONQUEROR</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Ch1">1071-1085</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="chapter"> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Ch2">CHAPTER II</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Ch2">THE NORMAN KINGS</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Ch2">1085-1154</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="chapter"> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Ch3">CHAPTER III</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Ch3">HENRY THE SECOND</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Ch3">1154-1189</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="chapter"> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Ch4">CHAPTER IV</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Ch4">THE ANGEVIN KINGS</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk2-Ch4">1189-1204</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="book"> +<td><a href="#Bk3">BOOK III</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk3">THE CHARTER</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk3">1204-1307</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="chapter"> +<td><a href="#Bk3-Auth"> </a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk3-Auth">AUTHORITIES FOR BOOK III</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk3-Auth">1204-1307</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="chapter"> +<td><a href="#Bk3-Ch1">CHAPTER I</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk3-Ch1">JOHN</a></td> +<td><a href="#Bk3-Ch1">1204-1216</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +</div></div> + +<div class="toc"><div class="maps"> +<hr> +<div class="header">LIST OF MAPS</div> +<table summary="List of maps"> +<tr class="figure"><td><a href="images/v1-map-1.png">Britain and the English Conquest</a></td></tr> +<tr class="figure"><td></td></tr> +<tr class="figure"><td><a href="images/v1-map-2.jpg">The English Kingdoms in A.D. 600</a></td></tr> +<tr class="figure"><td></td></tr> +<tr class="figure"><td><a href="images/v1-map-3.jpg">England and the Danelaw</a></td></tr> +<tr class="figure"><td></td></tr> +<tr class="figure"><td><a href="images/v1-map-4.jpg">The Dominions of the Angevins</a></td></tr> +<tr class="figure"><td></td></tr> +<tr class="figure"><td><a href="images/v1-map-5.jpg">Ireland just before the English Invasion</a></td></tr> +<tr class="figure"><td></td></tr> +</table> +</div></div> + + + +<div class="volume"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Vol1"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4518064"></a>VOLUME I</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + +<div class="book"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk1"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4518111"></a>BOOK I</li> +<li> +<a name="id4518117"></a>EARLY ENGLAND</li> +<li> +<a name="id4518123"></a>449-1071</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-003"></a>1-003]</span> + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk1-Auth"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4517893"></a> </li> +<li> +<a name="id4517898"></a>AUTHORITIES FOR BOOK I</li> +<li> +<a name="id4517904"></a>449-1071</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + +<p> +For the conquest of Britain by the English our authorities +are scant and imperfect. The only extant British account +is the "Epistola" of Gildas, a work written probably about +A.D. 560. The style of Gildas is diffuse and inflated, but +his book is of great value in the light it throws on the state +of the island at that time, and above all as the one record +of the conquest which we have from the side of the conquered. +The English conquerors, on the other hand, have +left jottings of their conquest of Kent, Sussex, and Wessex +in the curious annals which form the opening of the +compilation now known as the "English" or "Anglo-Saxon +Chronicle," annals which are undoubtedly historic, though +with a slight mythical intermixture. For the history of +the English conquest of mid-Britain or the Eastern Coast +we possess no written materials from either side; and a +fragment of the Annals of Northumbria embodied in the +later compilation ("Historia Britonum") which bears the +name of Nennius alone throws light on the conquest of the +North. +</p> + +<p> +From these inadequate materials however Dr. Guest has +succeeded by a wonderful combination of historical and +archæological knowledge in constructing a narrative of the +conquest of Southern and South-Western Britain which +must serve as the starting-point for all future enquirers. +</p> + + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-004"></a>1-004]</span> + +<p> +This narrative, so far as it goes, has served as the basis of +the account given in my text; and I can only trust that it may +soon be embodied in some more accessible form than that of +a series of papers in the Transactions of the Archæological +Institute. In a like way, though Kemble's "Saxons in +England" and Sir F. Palgrave's "History of the English +Commonwealth" (if read with caution) contain much that +is worth notice, our knowledge of the primitive constitution +of the English people and the changes introduced into it +since their settlement in Britain must be mainly drawn from +the "Constitutional History" of Professor Stubbs. +</p> + +<p> +Bæda's "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum," a work +of which I have spoken in my text, is the primary authority +for the history of the Northumbrian overlordship which +followed the Conquest. It is by copious insertions from +Bæda that the meagre regnal and episcopal annals of the +West Saxons have been brought to the shape in which +they at present appear in the part of the English Chronicle +which concerns this period. The life of Wilfrid by Eddi, +with those of Cuthbert by an anonymous contemporary and +by Bæda himself, throws great light on the religious and +intellectual condition of the North at the time of its +supremacy. But with the fall of Northumbria we pass into +a period of historical dearth. A few incidents of Mercian +history are preserved among the meagre annals of Wessex in +the English Chronicle: but for the most part we are thrown +upon later writers, especially Henry of Huntingdon and +William of Malmesbury, who, though authors of the twelfth +century, had access to older materials which are now lost. +A little may be gleaned from biographies such as that of +Guthlac of Crowland; but the letters of Boniface and +Alcwine, which have been edited by Jaffé in his series of +"Monumenta Germanica," form the most valuable contemporary +materials for this period. +</p> + +<p> +From the rise of Wessex our history rests mainly on the +English Chronicle. The earlier part of this work, as we +have said, is a compilation, and consists of (1) Annals of +the Conquest of South Britain, and (2) Short Notices of the +Kings and Bishops of Wessex expanded by copious insertions + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-005"></a>1-005]</span> + +from Bæda, and after the end of his work by brief additions +from some northern sources. These materials may have +been thrown together into their present form in Ælfred's +time as a preface to the far fuller annals which begin with +the reign of Æthelwulf, and which widen into a great +contemporary history when they reach that of Ælfred himself. +After Ælfred's day the Chronicle varies much in value. +Through the reign of Eadward the Elder it is copious, and a +Mercian Chronicle is imbedded in it: it then dies down into +a series of scant and jejune entries, broken however with +grand battle-songs, till the reign of Æthelred when its +fulness returns. +</p> + +<p> +Outside the Chronicle we encounter a great and valuable +mass of historical material for the age of Ælfred and his +successors. The life of Ælfred which bears the name of +Asser, puzzling as it is in some ways, is probably really +Asser's work, and certainly of contemporary authority. The +Latin rendering of the English Chronicle which bears the +name of Æthelweard adds a little to our acquaintance with +this time. The Laws, which form the base of our constitutional +knowledge of this period, fall, as has been well +pointed out by Mr. Freeman, into two classes. Those of +Eadward, Æthelstan, Eadmund, and Eadgar, are like the +earlier laws of Æthelberht and Ine, "mainly of the nature +of amendments of custom." Those of Ælfred, Æthelred, +Cnut, with those which bear the name of Eadward the +Confessor, "aspire to the character of Codes." They are +printed in Mr. Thorpe's "Ancient Laws and Institutes +of England," but the extracts given by Professor Stubbs +in his "Select Charters" contain all that directly bears +on our constitutional growth. A vast mass of Charters +and other documents belonging to this period has been +collected by Kemble in his "Codex Diplomaticus Ævi +Saxonici," and some are added by Mr. Thorpe in his +"Diplomatarium Anglo-Saxonicum." Dunstan's biographies have +been collected and edited by Professor Stubbs in the series +published by the Master of the Rolls. +</p> + +<p> +In the period which follows the accession of Æthelred +we are still aided by these collections of royal Laws and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-006"></a>1-006]</span> + +Charters, and the English Chronicle becomes of great +importance. Its various copies indeed differ so much in tone +and information from one another that they may to some +extent be looked upon as distinct works, and "Florence of +Worcester" is probably the translation of a valuable copy +of the "Chronicle" which has disappeared. The translation +however was made in the twelfth century, and it is coloured +by the revival of national feeling which was characteristic +of the time. Of Eadward the Confessor himself we have +a contemporary biography (edited by Mr. Luard for the +Master of the Rolls) which throws great light on the personal +history of the King and on his relations to the house +of Godwine. +</p> + +<p> +The earlier Norman traditions are preserved by Dudo of +St. Quentin, a verbose and confused writer, whose work +was abridged and continued by William of Jumièges, a +contemporary of the Conqueror. William's work in turn +served as the basis of the "Roman de Rou" composed by +Wace in the time of Henry the Second. The primary +authority for the Conqueror himself is the "Gesta Willelmi" +of his chaplain and violent partizan, William of Poitiers. +For the period of the invasion, in which the English authorities +are meagre, we have besides these the contemporary +"Carmen de Bello Hastingensi," by Guy, Bishop of Amiens, +and the pictures in the Bayeux Tapestry. Orderic, a writer +of the twelfth century, gossipy and confused but honest +and well-informed, tells us much of the religious movement +in Normandy, and is particularly valuable and detailed in +his account of the period after the battle of Senlac. Among +secondary authorities for the Norman Conquest, Simeon of +Durham is useful for northern matters, and William of +Malmesbury worthy of note for his remarkable combination +of Norman and English feeling. Domesday Book is of +course invaluable for the Norman settlement. The chief +documents for the early history of Anjou have been collected +in the "Chroniques d'Anjou" published by the Historical +Society of France. Those which are authentic are little +more than a few scant annals of religious houses; but light +is thrown on them by the contemporary French chronicles. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-007"></a>1-007]</span> + +The "Gesta Consulum" is nothing but a compilation of the +twelfth century, in which a mass of Angevin romance as +to the early story of the Counts is dressed into historical +shape by copious quotations from these French historians. +</p> + +<p> +It is possible that fresh light may be thrown on our +earlier history when historical criticism has done more than +has yet been done for the materials given us by Ireland and +Wales. For Welsh history the "Brut y Tywysogion" and +the "Annales Cambriæ" are now accessible in the series +published by the Master of the Rolls; the "Chronicle of +Caradoc of Lancarvan" is translated by Powel; the Mabinogion, +or Romantic Tales, have been published by Lady +Charlotte Guest; and the Welsh Laws collected by the +Record Commission. The importance of these, as embodying +a customary code of very early date, will probably be +better appreciated when we possess the whole of the Brehon +Laws, the customary laws of Ireland, which are now being +issued by the Irish Laws Commission, and to which attention +has justly been drawn by Sir Henry Maine ("Early History +of Institutions") as preserving Aryan usages of the remotest +antiquity. +</p> + +<p> +The enormous mass of materials which exists for the +early history of Ireland, various as they are in critical +value, may be seen in Mr. O'Curry's "Lectures on the +Materials of Ancient Irish History"; and they may be +conveniently studied by the general reader in the "Annals +of the Four Masters," edited by Dr. O'Donovan. But this +is a mere compilation (though generally a faithful one) +made about the middle of the seventeenth century from +earlier sources, two of which have been published in the +Rolls series. One, the "Wars of the Gaedhil with the +Gaill," is an account of the Danish wars which may have +been written in the eleventh century; the other, the +"Annals of Loch Cé," is a chronicle of Irish affairs from +the end of the Danish wars to 1590. The "Chronicon +Scotorum" (in the same series) extends to the year 1150, +and though composed in the seventeenth century is valuable +from the learning of its author, Duald Mac-Firbis. The +works of Colgan are to Irish church affairs what the "Annals + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-008"></a>1-008]</span> + +of the Four Masters" are to Irish civil history. They +contain a vast collection of translations and transcriptions +of early saints' lives, from those of Patrick downwards. +Adamnan's "Life of Columba" (admirably edited by Dr. +Beeves) supplies some details to the story of the +Northumbrian kingdom. Among more miscellaneous works we +find the "Book of Rights," a summary of the dues and +rights of the several over-kings and under-kings, of much +earlier date probably than the Norman invasion; and +Cormac's "Glossary," attributed to the tenth century and +certainly an early work, from which much may be gleaned +of legal and social details, and something of the pagan +religion of Ireland. +</p> +</div> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-009"></a>1-009]</span> + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk1-Ch1"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4532005"></a>CHAPTER I</li> +<li> +<a name="id4532010"></a>THE ENGLISH CONQUEST OF BRITAIN</li> +<li> +<a name="id4532017"></a>449-577</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Old England</span> +</p> + +<p> +For the fatherland of the English race we must +look far away from England itself. In the fifth +century after the birth of Christ the one country +which we know to have borne the name of Angeln +or the Engleland lay within the district which is +now called Sleswick, a district in the heart of the +peninsula that parts the Baltic from the northern +seas. Its pleasant pastures, its black-timbered +homesteads, its prim little townships looking down +on inlets of purple water, were then but a wild +waste of heather and sand, girt along the coast +with a sunless woodland broken here and there by +meadows that crept down to the marshes and the +sea. The dwellers in this district, however, seem +to have been merely an outlying fragment of what +was called the Engle or English folk, the bulk of +whom lay probably in what is now Lower Hanover + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-010"></a>1-010]</span> + +and Oldenburg. On one side of them the Saxons +of Westphalia held the land from the Weser to +the Rhine; on the other the Eastphalian Saxons +stretched away to the Elbe. North again of the +fragment of the English folk in Sleswick lay +another kindred tribe, the Jutes, whose name is +still preserved in their district of Jutland. Engle, +Saxon, and Jute all belonged to the same Low-German +branch of the Teutonic family; and at +the moment when history discovers them they +were being drawn together by the ties of a common +blood, common speech, common social and political +institutions. There is little ground indeed for +believing that the three tribes looked on themselves +as one people, or that we can as yet apply +to them, save by anticipation, the common name +of Englishmen. But each of them was destined to +share in the conquest of the land in which we +live; and it is from the union of all of them when +its conquest was complete that the English people +has sprung. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The English Village</span> +</p> + +<p> +Of the temper and life of the folk in this older +England we know little. But from the glimpses +that we catch of it when conquest had brought +them to the shores of Britain their political and +social organization must have been that of the +German race to which they belonged. In their +villages lay ready formed the social and political +life which is round us in the England of to-day. +A belt of forest or waste parted each from its + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-011"></a>1-011]</span> + +fellow villages, and within this boundary or mark +the "township," as the village was then called +from the "tun" or rough fence and trench that +served as its simple fortification, formed a complete +and independent body, though linked by ties +which were strengthening every day to the townships +about it and the tribe of which it formed a +part. Its social centre was the homestead where +the ætheling or eorl, a descendant of the first +English settlers in the waste, still handed down +the blood and traditions of his fathers. Around +this homestead or æthel, each in its little croft, +stood the lowlier dwellings of freelings or ceorls, +men sprung, it may be, from descendants of the +earliest settler who had in various ways forfeited +their claim to a share in the original homestead, +or more probably from incomers into the village +who had since settled round it and been admitted +to a share in the land and freedom of the +community. The eorl was distinguished from his +fellow villagers by his wealth and his nobler +blood; he was held by them in an hereditary +reverence; and it was from him and his fellow +æthelings that host-leaders, whether of the village +or the tribe, were chosen in times of war. But +this claim to precedence rested simply on the free +recognition of his fellow villagers. Within the +township every freeman or ceorl was equal. It +was the freeman who was the base of village +society. He was the "free-necked man" whose + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-012"></a>1-012]</span> + +long hair floated over a neck which had never +bowed to a lord. He was the "weaponed man" +who alone bore spear and sword, and who alone +preserved that right of self-redress or private war +which in such a state of society formed the main +check upon lawless outrage. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Justice</span> +</p> + +<p> +Among the English, as among all the races of +mankind, justice had originally sprung from each +man's personal action. There had been a time +when every freeman was his own avenger. But +even in the earliest forms of English society of +which we find traces this right of self-defence was +being modified and restricted by a growing sense +of public justice. The "blood-wite" or compensation +in money for personal wrong was the first +effort of the tribe as a whole to regulate private +revenge. The freeman's life and the freeman's +limb had each on this system its legal price. +"Eye for eye," ran the rough code, and "life for +life," or for each fair damages. We see a further +step towards the modern recognition of a wrong as +done not to the individual man but to the people +at large in another custom of early date. The +price of life or limb was paid, not by the wrong-doer +to the man he wronged, but by the family or +house of the wrong-doer to the family or house of +the wronged. Order and law were thus made to +rest in each little group of people upon the blood-bond +which knit its families together; every outrage +was held to have been done by all who were + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-013"></a>1-013]</span> + +linked in blood to the doer of it, every crime to +have been done against all who were linked in +blood to the sufferer from it. From this sense +of the value of the family bond as a means of +restraining the wrong-doer by forces which the +tribe as a whole did not as yet possess sprang the +first rude forms of English justice. Each kinsman +was his kinsman's keeper, bound to protect him +from wrong, to hinder him from wrong-doing, and +to suffer with him and pay for him if wrong were +done. So fully was this principle recognized that +even if any man was charged before his fellow-tribesmen +with crime his kinsfolk still remained +in fact his sole judges; for it was by their solemn +oath of his innocence or his guilt that he had to +stand or fall. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Land</span> +</p> + +<p> +As the blood-bond gave its first form to English +justice, so it gave their first forms to English +society and English warfare. Kinsmen fought +side by side in the hour of battle, and the feelings +of honour and discipline which held the host +together were drawn from the common duty of +every man in each little group of warriors to his +house. And as they fought side by side on the +field, so they dwelled side by side on the soil. +Harling abode by Harling, and Billing by Billing; +and each "wick" or "ham" or "stead" or "tun" +took its name from the kinsmen who dwelled +together in it. In this way the home or "ham" +of the Billings was Billingham, and the "tun" or + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-014"></a>1-014]</span> + +township of the Harlings was Harlington. But in +such settlements the tie of blood was widened into +the larger tie of land. Land with the German +race seems at a very early time to have become +everywhere the accompaniment of full freedom. +The freeman was strictly the free-holder, and the +exercise of his full rights as a free member of the +community to which he belonged became inseparable +from the possession of his "holding" in it. +But property had not as yet reached that stage of +absolutely personal possession which the social +philosophy of a later time falsely regarded as its +earliest state. The woodland and pasture-land of +an English village were still undivided, and every +free villager had the right of turning into it his +cattle or swine. The meadow-land lay in like +manner open and undivided from hay-harvest to +spring. It was only when grass began to grow +afresh that the common meadow was fenced off +into grass-fields, one for each household in the +village; and when hay-harvest was over fence and +division were at an end again. The plough-land +alone was permanently allotted in equal shares +both of corn-land and fallow-land to the families of +the freemen, though even the plough-land was; +subject to fresh division as the number of claimants +grew greater or less. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Læt and Slave</span> +</p> + +<p> +It was this sharing in the common land which +marked off the freeman or ceorl from the unfree +man or læt, the tiller of land which another owned. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-015"></a>1-015]</span> + +As the ceorl was the descendant of settlers who, +whether from their earlier arrival or from kinship +with the original settlers of the village, had been +admitted to a share in its land and its corporate +life, so the læt was a descendant of later comers to +whom such a share was denied, or in some cases +perhaps of earlier dwellers from whom the land +had been wrested by force of arms. In the modern +sense of freedom the læt was free enough. He +had house and home of his own, his life and limb +were as secure as the ceorl's--save as against his +lord; it is probable from what we see in later +laws that as time went on he was recognized +as a member of the nation, summoned to the folk-moot, +allowed equal right at law, and called like +the full free man to the hosting. But he was +unfree as regards lord and land. He had neither +part nor lot in the common land of the village. +The ground which he tilled he held of some +freeman of the tribe to whom he paid rent +in labour or in kind. And this man was his +lord. Whatever rights the unfree villager might +gain in the general social life of his fellow +villagers, he had no rights as against his lord. +He could leave neither land nor lord at his will. +He was bound to render due service to his lord in +tillage or in fight. So long however as these services +were done the land was his own. His lord could not +take it from him; and he was bound to give him +aid and protection in exchange for his services. +</p> + + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-016"></a>1-016]</span> + +<p> +Far different from the position of the læt was +that of the slave, though there is no ground for +believing that the slave class was other than a +small one. It was a class which sprang mainly +from debt or crime. Famine drove men to "bend +their heads in the evil days for meat"; the debtor, +unable to discharge his debt, flung on the ground +his freeman's sword and spear, took up the +labourer's mattock, and placed his head as a slave +within a master's hands. The criminal whose +kinsfolk would not make up his fine became a +crime-serf of the plaintiff or the king. Sometimes +a father pressed by need sold children and wife +into bondage. In any case the slave became part +of the live stock of his master's estate, to be willed +away at death with horse or ox, whose pedigree +was kept as carefully as his own. His children +were bondsmen like himself; even a freeman's +children by a slave mother inherited the mother's +taint. "Mine is the calf that is born of my cow," +ran an English proverb. Slave cabins clustered +round the homestead of every rich landowner; +ploughman, shepherd, goatherd, swineherd, oxherd +and cowherd, dairymaid, barnman, sower, hayward +and woodward, were often slaves. It was not +indeed slavery such as we have known in modern +times, for stripes and bonds were rare: if the slave +was slain it was by an angry blow, not by the lash. +But his master could slay him if he would; it was +but a chattel the less. The slave had no place in + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-017"></a>1-017]</span> + +the justice court, no kinsmen to claim vengeance +or guilt-fine for his wrong. If a stranger slew him, +his lord claimed the damages; if guilty of wrong-doing, +"his skin paid for him" under his master's +lash. If he fled he might be chased like a strayed +beast, and when caught he might be flogged to +death. If the wrong-doer were a woman-slave she +might be burned. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Moot</span> +</p> + +<p> +With the public life of the village however the +slave had nothing, the last in early days little, to +do. In its Moot, the common meeting of its +villagers for justice and government, a slave had +no place or voice, while the last was originally +represented by the lord whose land he tilled. The +life, the sovereignty of the settlement resided solely +in the body of the freemen whose holdings lay +round the moot-hill or the sacred tree where the +community met from time to time to deal out its +own justice and to make its own laws. Here new +settlers were admitted to the freedom of the +township, and bye-laws framed and headman and +tithing-man chosen for its governance. Here +plough-land and meadow-land were shared in due +lot among the villagers, and field and homestead +passed from man to man by the delivery of a turf +cut from its soil. Here strife of farmer with +farmer was settled according to the "customs" of +the township as its elder men stated them, and +four men were chosen to follow headman or +ealdorman to hundred-court or war. It is with a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-018"></a>1-018]</span> + +reverence such as is stirred by the sight of the +head-waters of some mighty river that one looks +back to these village-moots of Friesland or Sleswick. +It was here that England learned to be a "mother +of Parliaments." It was in these tiny knots of +farmers that the men from whom Englishmen were +to spring learned the worth of public opinion, of +public discussion, the worth of the agreement, the +"common sense," the general conviction to which +discussion leads, as of the laws which derive their +force from being expressions of that general +conviction. A humourist of our own day has laughed +at Parliaments as "talking shops," and the laugh +has been echoed by some who have taken humour +for argument. But talk is persuasion, and persuasion +is force, the one force which can sway +freemen to deeds such as those which have made +England what she is. The "talk" of the village +moot, the strife and judgement of men giving +freely their own rede and setting it as freely aside +for what they learn to be the wiser rede of other +men, is the groundwork of English history. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Folk</span> +</p> + +<p> +Small therefore as it might be, the township or +village was thus the primary and perfect type of +English life, domestic, social, and political. All +that England has been since lay there. But +changes of which we know nothing had long before +the time at which our history opens grouped these +little commonwealths together in larger communities, +whether we name them Tribe, People, or + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-019"></a>1-019]</span> + +Folk. The ties of race and kindred were no doubt +drawn tighter by the needs of war. The organization +of each Folk, as such, sprang in all likelihood +mainly from war, from a common greed of conquest, +a common need of defence. Its form at any rate +was wholly military. The Folk-moot was in fact +the war-host, the gathering of every freeman of +the tribe in arms. The head of the Folk, a head +who existed only so long as war went on, was the +leader whom the host chose to command it. Its +Witenagemot or meeting of wise men was the +host's council of war, the gathering of those +ealdormen who had brought the men of their +villages to the field. The host was formed by +levies from the various districts of the tribe; the +larger of which probably owed their name of +"hundreds" to the hundred warriors which each +originally sent to it. In historic times however +the regularity of such a military organization, if it +ever existed, had passed away, and the quotas +varied with the varying customs of each district. +But men, whether many or few, were still due +from each district to the host, and a cry of war at +once called town-reeve and hundred-reeve with +their followers to the field. +</p> + +<p> +The military organization of the tribe thus +gave from the first its form to the civil organization. +But the peculiar shape which its civil +organization assumed was determined by a +principle familiar to the Germanic races and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-020"></a>1-020]</span> + +destined to exercise a vast influence on the future +of mankind. This was the principle of representation. +The four or ten villagers who followed +the reeve of each township to the general muster +of the hundred were held to represent the whole +body of the township from whence they came. +Their voice was its voice, their doing its doing, +their pledge its pledge. The hundred-moot, a +moot which was made by this gathering of the +representatives of the townships that lay within +its bounds, thus became at once a court of appeal +from the moots of each separate village as well as +of arbitration in dispute between township and +township. The judgement of graver crimes and of +life or death fell to its share; while it necessarily +possessed the same right of law-making for the +hundred that the village-moot possessed for each +separate village. And as hundred-moot stood +above town-moot, so above the hundred-moot +stood the Folk-moot, the general muster of the +people in arms, at once war-host and highest law-court +and general Parliament of the tribe. But +whether in Folk-moot or hundred-moot, the +principle of representation was preserved. In +both the constitutional forms, the forms of +deliberation and decision, were the same. In each +the priests proclaimed silence, the ealdormen of +higher blood spoke, groups of freemen from each +township stood round, shaking their spears in +assent, clashing shields in applause, settling + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-021"></a>1-021]</span> + +matters in the end by loud shouts of "Aye" or +"Nay." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Social Life</span> +</p> + +<p> +Of the social or the industrial life of our +fathers in this older England we know less than +of their political life. But there is no ground for +believing them to have been very different in +these respects from the other German peoples +who were soon to overwhelm the Roman world. +Though their border nowhere touched the border +of the Empire they were far from being utterly +strange to its civilization. Roman commerce +indeed reached the shores of the Baltic, and we +have abundant evidence that the arts and refinement +of Rome were brought into contact with +these earlier Englishmen. Brooches, sword-belts, +and shield-bosses which have been found in +Sleswick, and which can be dated not later than +the close of the third century, are clearly either +of Roman make or closely modelled on Roman +metal-work. Discoveries of Roman coins in +Sleswick peat-mosses afford a yet more +conclusive proof of direct intercourse with the +Empire. But apart from these outer influences +the men of the three tribes were far from +being mere savages. They were fierce warriors, +but they were also busy fishers and tillers of the +soil, as proud of their skill in handling plough +and mattock or steering the rude boat with which +they hunted walrus and whale as of their skill in +handling sword and spear. They were hard + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-022"></a>1-022]</span> + +drinkers, no doubt, as they were hard toilers, and +the "ale-feast" was the centre of their social life. +But coarse as the revel might seem to modern +eyes, the scene within the timbered hall which +rose in the midst of their villages was often +Homeric in its simplicity and dignity. Queen or +Eorl's wife with a train of maidens bore ale-bowl +or mead-bowl round the hall from the high settle +of King or Ealdorman in the midst to the mead +benches ranged around its walls, while the gleeman +sang the hero-songs of his race. Dress and +arms showed traces of a love of art and beauty, +none the less real that it was rude and incomplete. +Rings, amulets, ear-rings, neck-pendants, proved +in their workmanship the deftness of the goldsmith's +art. Cloaks were often fastened with +golden buckles of curious and exquisite form, set +sometimes with rough jewels and inlaid with +enamel. The bronze boar-crest on the warrior's +helmet, the intricate adornment of the warrior's +shield, tell like the honour in which the smith +was held their tale of industrial art. The curiously +twisted glass goblets, so common in the +early graves of Kent, are shewn by their form to +be of English workmanship. It is only in the +English pottery, hand-made, and marked with +coarse zigzag patterns, that we find traces of +utter rudeness. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Religion</span> +</p> + +<p> +The religion of these men was the same as +that of the rest of the German peoples. Christianity + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-023"></a>1-023]</span> + +had by this time brought about the +conversion of the Roman Empire, but it had not +penetrated as yet among the forests of the north. +The common God of the English people was +Woden, the war-god, the guardian of ways and +boundaries, to whom his worshippers attributed +the invention of letters, and whom every tribe +held to be the first ancestor of its kings. Our +own names for the days of the week still recall to +us the gods whom our fathers worshipped in their +German homeland. Wednesday is Woden's-day, +as Thursday is the day of Thunder, the god of +air and storm and rain. Friday is Frea's-day, the +deity of peace and joy and fruitfulness, whose +emblems, borne aloft by dancing maidens, brought +increase to every field and stall they visited. +Saturday may commemorate an obscure god Sætere; +Tuesday the dark god, Tiw, to meet whom was +death. Eostre, the goddess of the dawn or of the +spring, lends her name to the Christian festival of +the Resurrection. Behind these floated the dim +shapes of an older mythology; "Wyrd," the +death-goddess, whose memory lingered long in +the "Weird" of northern superstition; or the +Shield-maidens, the "mighty women" who, an +old rime tells us, "wrought on the battle-field +their toil and hurled the thrilling javelins." +Nearer to the popular fancy lay deities of wood +and fell, or hero-gods of legend and song; Nicor, +the water-sprite who survives in our nixies and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-024"></a>1-024]</span> + +"Old Nick"; Weland, the forger of weighty +shields and sharp-biting swords, who found a later +home in the "Weyland's smithy" of Berkshire; +Ægil, the hero-archer, whose legend is one with +that of Cloudesly or Tell. A nature-worship of +this sort lent itself ill to the purposes of a priesthood; +and though a priestly class existed it seems +at no time to have had much weight among +Englishmen. As each freeman was his own judge +and his own lawmaker, so he was his own house-priest; +and English worship lay commonly in the +sacrifice which the house-father offered to the +gods of his hearth. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The English Temper</span> +</p> + +<p> +It is not indeed in Woden-worship or in the +worship of the older gods of flood and fell that +we must look for the real religion of our fathers. +The song of Beowulf, though the earliest of +English poems, is as we have it now a poem of +the eighth century, the work it may be of some +English missionary of the days of Bæda and +Boniface who gathered in the very homeland of +his race the legends of its earlier prime. But the +thin veil of Christianity which he has flung over +it fades away as we follow the hero-legend of our +fathers; and the secret of their moral temper, of +their conception of life breathes through every +line. Life was built with them not on the hope +of a hereafter, but on the proud self-consciousness +of noble souls. "I have this folk ruled these +fifty winters," sings the hero-king as he sits death-smitten + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-025"></a>1-025]</span> + +beside the dragon's mound. "Lives there +no folk-king of kings about me--not any one of +them--dare in the war-strife welcome my onset! +Time's change and chances I have abided, held my +own fairly, sought not to snare men; oath never +sware I falsely against right. So for all this may +I glad be at heart now, sick though I sit here, +wounded with death-wounds!" In men of such +a temper, strong with the strength of manhood +and full of the vigour and the love of life, the +sense of its shortness and of the mystery of it all +woke chords of a pathetic poetry. "Soon will it +be," ran the warning rime, "that sickness or +sword-blade shear thy strength from thee, or the +fire ring thee, or the flood whelm thee, or the +sword grip thee, or arrow hit thee, or age o'ertake +thee, and thine eye's brightness sink down in +darkness." Strong as he might be, man struggled +in vain with the doom that encompassed him, that +girded his life with a thousand perils and broke +it at so short a span. "To us," cries Beowulf in +his last fight, "to us it shall be as our Weird +betides, that Weird that is every man's lord!" +But the sadness with which these Englishmen +fronted the mysteries of life and death had +nothing in it of the unmanly despair which bids +men eat and drink for to-morrow they die. Death +leaves man man and master of his fate. The +thought of good fame, of manhood, is stronger +than the thought of doom. "Well shall a man + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-026"></a>1-026]</span> + +do when in the strife he minds but of winning +longsome renown, nor for his life cares!" "Death +is better than life of shame!" cries Beowulf's +sword-fellow. Beowulf himself takes up his strife +with the fiend, "go the weird as it will." If life +is short, the more cause to work bravely till it +is over. "Each man of us shall abide the end +of his life-work; let him that may work, work his +doomed deeds ere death come!" +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">English Piracy</span> +</p> + +<p> +The energy of these peoples found vent in a +restlessness which drove them to take part in +the general attack of the German race on the +Empire of Rome. For busy tillers and busy +fishers as Englishmen were, they were at heart +fighters; and their world was a world of war. +Tribe warred with tribe, and village with village; +even within the village itself feuds parted +household from household, and passions of hatred +and vengeance were handed on from father to +son. Their mood was above all a mood of fighting +men, venturesome, self-reliant, proud, with a +dash of hardness and cruelty in it, but ennobled +by the virtues which spring from war, by personal +courage and loyalty to plighted word, by a high +and stern sense of manhood and the worth of +man. A grim joy in hard fighting was already +a characteristic of the race. War was the +Englishman's "shield-play" and "sword-game"; the +gleeman's verse took fresh fire as he sang of the +rush of the host and the crash of its shield-line. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-027"></a>1-027]</span> + +Their arms and weapons, helmet and mailshirt, +tall spear and javelin, sword and seax, the short +broad dagger that hung at each warrior's girdle, +gathered to them much of the legend and the +art which gave colour and poetry to the life of +Englishmen. Each sword had its name like a +living thing. And next to their love of war +came their love of the sea. Everywhere throughout +Beowulf's song, as everywhere throughout +the life that it pictures, we catch the salt whiff +of the sea. The Englishman was as proud of his +sea-craft as of his war-craft; sword in hand he +plunged into the sea to meet walrus and sea-lion; +he told of his whale-chase amidst the icy waters +of the north. Hardly less than his love for the +sea was the love he bore to the ship that traversed +it. In the fond playfulness of English verse the +ship was "the wave-floater," "the foam-necked," +"like a bird" as it skimmed the wave-crest, "like +a swan" as its curved prow breasted the "swan-road" +of the sea. +</p> + +<p> +Their passion for the sea marked out for them +their part in the general movement of the German +nations. While Goth and Lombard were slowly +advancing over mountain and plain the boats of +the Englishmen pushed faster over the sea. Bands +of English rovers, outdriven by stress of fight, +had long found a home there, and lived as they +could by sack of vessel or coast. Chance has +preserved for us in a Sleswick peat-bog one of the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-028"></a>1-028]</span> + +war-keels of these early pirates. The boat is +flat-bottomed, seventy feet long and eight or nine feet +wide, its sides of oak boards fastened with bark +ropes and iron bolts. Fifty oars drove it over the +waves with a freight of warriors whose arms, +axes, swords, lances, and knives, were found +heaped together in its hold. Like the galleys of +the Middle Ages such boats could only creep +cautiously along from harbour to harbour in +rough weather; but in smooth water their swiftness +fitted them admirably for the piracy by which +the men of these tribes were already making +themselves dreaded. Its flat bottom enabled +them to beach the vessel on any fitting coast; +and a step on shore at once transformed the boatmen +into a war-band. From the first the daring +of the English race broke out in the secrecy and +suddenness of the pirates' swoop, in the fierceness +of their onset, in the careless glee with which +they seized either sword or oar. "Foes are they," +sang a Roman poet of the time, "fierce beyond +other foes and cunning as they are fierce; the sea +is their school of war and the storm their friend; +they are sea-wolves that live on the pillage of the +world!" +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Britain</span> +</p> + +<p> +Of the three English tribes the Saxons lay +nearest to the Empire, and they were naturally +the first to touch the Roman world; at the +close of the third century indeed their boats +appeared in such force in the English Channel as + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-029"></a>1-029]</span> + +to call for a special fleet to resist them. The +piracy of our fathers had thus brought them to +the shores of a land which, dear as it is now to +Englishmen, had not as yet been trodden by +English feet. This land was Britain. When the +Saxon boats touched its coast the island was the +westernmost province of the Roman Empire. In +the fifty-fifth year before Christ a descent of +Julius Cæsar revealed it to the Roman world; +and a century after Cæsar's landing the Emperor +Claudius undertook its conquest. The work was +swiftly carried out. Before thirty years were +over the bulk of the island had passed beneath +the Roman sway and the Roman frontier had +been carried to the Firths of Forth and of Clyde. +The work of civilization followed fast on the +work of the sword. To the last indeed the distance +of the island from the seat of empire left +her less Romanized than any other province of +the west. The bulk of the population scattered +over the country seem in spite of imperial edicts +to have clung to their old law as to their old +language, and to have retained some traditional +allegiance to their native chiefs. But Roman +civilization rested mainly on city life, and in +Britain as elsewhere the city was thoroughly +Roman. In towns such as Lincoln or York, +governed by their own municipal officers, guarded +by massive walls, and linked together by a network +of magnificent roads which reached from + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-030"></a>1-030]</span> + +one end of the island to the other, manners, +language, political life, all were of Rome. +</p> + +<p> +For three hundred years the Roman sword +secured order and peace without Britain and +within, and with peace and order came a wide +and rapid prosperity. Commerce sprang up in +ports amongst which London held the first rank; +agriculture flourished till Britain became one of +the corn-exporting countries of the world; the +mineral resources of the province were explored +in the tin mines of Cornwall, the lead mines of +Somerset or Northumberland, and the iron mines +of the Forest of Dean. But evils which sapped +the strength of the whole Empire told at last on +the province of Britain. Wealth and population +alike declined under a crushing system of taxation, +under restrictions which fettered industry, under +a despotism which crushed out all local +independence. And with decay within came danger +from without. For centuries past the Roman +frontier had held back the barbaric world beyond +it, the Parthian of the Euphrates, the Numidian +of the African desert, the German of the Danube +or the Rhine. In Britain a wall drawn from +Newcastle to Carlisle bridled the British tribes, the +Picts as they were called, who had been sheltered +from Roman conquest by the fastnesses of the +Highlands. It was this mass of savage barbarism +which broke upon the Empire as it sank into +decay. In its western dominions the triumph of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-031"></a>1-031]</span> + +these assailants was complete. The Franks conquered +and colonized Gaul. The West-Goths conquered +and colonized Spain. The Vandals founded +a kingdom in Africa. The Burgundians encamped +in the border-land between Italy and the Rhone. +The East-Goths ruled at last in Italy itself. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Conquests of Jute and Saxon</span> +</p> + +<p> +It was to defend Italy against the Goths that +Rome in the opening of the fifth century withdrew +her legions from Britain, and from that +moment the province was left to struggle unaided +against the Picts. Nor were these its only enemies. +While marauders from Ireland, whose inhabitants +then bore the name of Scots, harried the west, the +boats of Saxon pirates, as we have seen, were swarming +off its eastern and southern coasts. For some +thirty years Britain held bravely out against these +assailants; but civil strife broke its powers of +resistance, and its rulers fell back at last on the +fatal policy by which the Empire invited its doom +while striving to avert it, the policy of matching +barbarian against barbarian. By the usual promises +of land and pay a band of warriors was +drawn for this purpose from Jutland in 449 with +two ealdormen, Hengest and Horsa, at their head. +If by English history we mean the history of +Englishmen in the land which from that time they +made their own, it is with this landing of Hengest's +war-band that English history begins. They +landed on the shores of the Isle of Thanet at a +spot known since as Ebbsfleet. No spot can be so + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-032"></a>1-032]</span> + +sacred to Englishmen as the spot which first felt +the tread of English feet. There is little to catch +the eye in Ebbsfleet itself, a mere lift of ground +with a few grey cottages dotted over it, cut off +nowadays from the sea by a reclaimed meadow +and a sea-wall. But taken as a whole the scene +has a wild beauty of its own. To the right the +white curve of Ramsgate cliffs looks down on the +crescent of Pegwell Bay; far away to the left +across grey marsh-levels where smoke-wreaths +mark the sites of Richborough and Sandwich the +coast-line trends dimly towards Deal. Everything +in the character of the spot confirms the national +tradition which fixed here the landing-place of our +fathers; for the physical changes of the country +since the fifth century have told little on its main +features. At the time of Hengest's landing a +broad inlet of sea parted Thanet from the mainland +of Britain; and through this inlet the pirate +boats would naturally come sailing with a fair wind +to what was then the gravel-spit of Ebbsfleet. +</p> + +<center><a href="images/v1-map-1.png"><img src="images/v1-map-1t.png" alt="Britain and the English Conquest"></a></center> + +<p> +The work for which the mercenaries had been +hired was quickly done; and the Picts are said to +have been scattered to the winds in a battle fought +on the eastern coast of Britain. But danger from +the Pict was hardly over when danger came from +the Jutes themselves. Their fellow-pirates must +have flocked from the Channel to their settlement +in Thanet; the inlet between Thanet and the +mainland was crossed, and the Englishmen won + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-033"></a>1-033]</span> + +their first victory over the Britons in forcing their +passage of the Medway at the village of Aylesford. +A second defeat at the passage of the Cray drove +the British forces in terror upon London; but the +ground was soon won back again, and it was not +till 465 that a series of petty conflicts which had +gone on along the shores of Thanet made way for +a decisive struggle at Wippedsfleet. Here however +the overthrow was so terrible that from this +moment all hope of saving Northern Kent seems +to have been abandoned, and it was only along its +southern shore that the Britons held their ground. +Eight years later, in 473, the long contest was over, +and with the fall of Lymne, whose broken walls +look from the slope to which they cling over the +great flat of Romney Marsh, the work of the first +English conqueror was done. +</p> + +<p> +The warriors of Hengest had been drawn from +the Jutes, the smallest of the three tribes who +were to blend in the English people. But the +greed of plunder now told on the great tribe +which stretched from the Elbe to the Rhine, and +in 477 Saxon invaders were seen pushing slowly +along the strip of land which lay westward of +Kent between the weald and the sea. Nowhere +has the physical aspect of the country more utterly +changed. A vast sheet of scrub, woodland, and +waste which then bore the name of the Andredsweald +stretched for more than a hundred miles +from the borders of Kent to the Hampshire + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-034"></a>1-034]</span> + +Downs, extending northward almost to the Thames +and leaving only a thin strip of coast which now +bears the name of Sussex between its southern +edge and the sea. This coast was guarded by a +fortress which occupied the spot now called +Pevensey, the future landing-place of the Norman +Conqueror; and the fall of this fortress of Anderida +in 491 established the kingdom of the South-Saxons. +"Ælle and Cissa beset Anderida," so ran +the pitiless record of the conquerors, "and slew +all that were therein, nor was there henceforth one +Briton left." But Hengest and Ælle's men had +touched hardly more than the coast, and the true +conquest of Southern Britain was reserved for a +fresh band of Saxons, a tribe known as the +Gewissas, who in 495 landed under Cerdic and +Cynric on the shores of the Southampton Water, and +pushed to the great downs or Gwent where Winchester +offered so rich a prize. Nowhere was the strife +fiercer than here; and it was not till 519 that a +decisive victory at Charford ended the struggle for +the "Gwent" and set the crown of the West-Saxons +on the head of Cerdic. But the forest-belt +around it checked any further advance; and +only a year after Charford the Britons rallied +under a new leader, Arthur, and threw back the +invaders as they pressed westward through the +Dorsetshire woodlands in a great overthrow at +Badbury or Mount Badon. The defeat was followed +by a long pause in the Saxon advance from + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-035"></a>1-035]</span> + +the southern coast, but while the Gewissas rested +a series of victories whose history is lost was +giving to men of the same Saxon tribe the coast +district north of the mouth of the Thames. It is +probable however that the strength of Camulodunum, +the predecessor of our modern Colchester, +made the progress of these assailants a slow and +doubtful one; and even when its reduction enabled +the East-Saxons to occupy the territory to +which they have given their name of Essex a line +of woodland which has left its traces in Epping +and Hainault Forests checked their further +advance into the island. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Conquests of the Eagle</span> +</p> + +<p> +Though seventy years had passed since the +victory of Aylesford only the outskirts of Britain +were won. The invaders were masters as yet but +of Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, and Essex. From +London to St. David's Head, from the Andredsweald +to the Firth of Forth the country still +remained unconquered: and there was little in +the years which followed Arthur's triumph to +herald that onset of the invaders which was soon +to make Britain England. Till now its assailants +had been drawn from two only of the three tribes +whom we saw dwelling by the northern sea, from +the Saxons and the Jutes. But the main work of +conquest was to be done by the third, by the +tribe which bore that name of Engle or Englishmen +which was to absorb that of Saxon and Jute, and to +stamp itself on the people which sprang from the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-036"></a>1-036]</span> + +union of the conquerors as on the land that they +won. The Engle had probably been settling for +years along the coast of Northumbria and in the +great district which was cut off from the rest of +Britain by the Wash and the Fens, the later East-Anglia. +But it was not till the moment we have +reached that the line of defences which had +hitherto held the invaders at bay was turned by +their appearance in the Humber and the Trent. +This great river-line led like a highway into the +heart of Britain; and civil strife seems to have +broken the strength of British resistance. But of +the incidents of this final struggle we know +nothing. One part of the English force marched +from the Humber over the Yorkshire wolds to +found what was called the kingdom of the Deirans. +Under the Empire political power had centred in +the district between the Humber and the Roman +wall; York was the capital of Roman Britain; +villas of rich landowners studded the valley of the +Ouse; and the bulk of the garrison maintained in +the island lay camped along its northern border. +But no record tells us how Yorkshire was won, or +how the Engle made themselves masters of the +uplands about Lincoln. It is only by their later +settlements that we follow their march into the +heart of Britain. Seizing the valley of the Don +and whatever breaks there were in the woodland +that then filled the space between the Humber +and the Trent, the Engle followed the curve of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-037"></a>1-037]</span> + +the latter river, and struck along the line of its +tributary the Soar. Here round the Roman Ratæ, +the predecessor of our Leicester, settled a tribe +known as the Middle-English, while a small body +pushed further southwards, and under the name +of "South-Engle" occupied the oolitic upland that +forms our present Northamptonshire. But the +mass of the invaders seem to have held to the line +of the Trent and to have pushed westward to its +head-waters. Repton, Lichfield, and Tamworth +mark the country of these western Englishmen, +whose older name was soon lost in that of +Mercians, or Men of the March. Their settlement +was in fact a new march or borderland between +conqueror and conquered; for here the impenetrable +fastness of the Peak, the mass of Cannock +Chase, and the broken country of Staffordshire +enabled the Briton to make a fresh and desperate +stand. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Conquests of West-Saxons</span> +</p> + +<p> +It was probably this conquest of Mid-Britain +by the Engle that roused the West-Saxons to a +new advance. For thirty years they had rested +inactive within the limits of the Gwent, but in +552 their capture of the hill-fort of Old Sarum +threw open the reaches of the Wiltshire downs, +and a march of King Cuthwulf on the Thames in +571 made them masters of the districts which now +form Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Pushing +along the upper valley of Avon to a new battle at +Barbury Hill they swooped at last from their + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-038"></a>1-038]</span> + +uplands on the rich prey that lay along the +Severn. Gloucester, Cirencester, and Bath, cities +which had leagued under their British kings to +resist this onset, became in 577 the spoil of an +English victory at Deorham, and the line of the +great western river lay open to the arms of the +conquerors. Once the West-Saxons penetrated +to the borders of Chester, and Uriconium, a town +beside the Wrekin which has been recently brought +again to light, went up in flames. The raid +ended in a crushing defeat which broke the West-Saxon +strength, but a British poet in verses still +left to us sings piteously the death-song of +Uriconium, "the white town in the valley," the +town of white stone gleaming among the green +woodlands. The torch of the foe had left it a +heap of blackened ruins where the singer wandered +through halls he had known in happier days, the +halls of its chief Kyndylan, "without fire, without +light, without song," their stillness broken only +by the eagle's scream, the eagle who "has +swallowed fresh drink, heart's blood of Kyndylan +the fair." +</p> + +</div> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-039"></a>1-039]</span> + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk1-Ch2"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4534534"></a>CHAPTER II</li> +<li> +<a name="id4534540"></a>THE ENGLISH KINGDOMS</li> +<li> +<a name="id4534546"></a>577-796</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Britain becomes England</span> +</p> + +<p> +With the victory of Deorham the conquest of the +bulk of Britain was complete. Eastward of a line +which may be roughly drawn along the moorlands +of Northumberland and Yorkshire through Derbyshire +and the Forest of Arden to the Lower +Severn, and thence by Mendip to the sea, the +island had passed into English hands. Britain +had in the main become England. And within +this new England a Teutonic society was settled +on the wreck of Rome. So far as the conquest +had yet gone it had been complete. Not a Briton +remained as subject or slave on English ground. +Sullenly, inch by inch, the beaten men drew back +from the land which their conquerors had won; +and eastward of the border line which the English +sword had drawn all was now purely English. +</p> + +<p> +It is this which distinguishes the conquest +of Britain from that of other provinces of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-040"></a>1-040]</span> + +Rome. The conquest of Gaul by the Franks or +that of Italy by the Lombards proved little more +than a forcible settlement of the one or the other +among tributary subjects who were destined in a +long course of ages to absorb their conquerors. +French is the tongue, not of the Frank, but of the +Gaul whom he overcame; and the fair hair of the +Lombard is all but unknown in Lombardy. But +the English conquest of Britain up to the point +which we have reached was a sheer dispossession +of the people whom the English conquered. It +was not that Englishmen, fierce and cruel as at +times they seem to have been, were more fierce or +more cruel than other Germans who attacked the +Empire; nor have we any ground for saying that +they, unlike the Burgundian or the Frank, were +utterly strange to the Roman civilization. Saxon +mercenaries are found as well as Frank mercenaries +in the pay of Rome; and the presence of +Saxon vessels in the Channel for a century before +the descent on Britain must have familiarized its +invaders with what civilization was to be found in +the Imperial provinces of the West. What really +made the difference between the fate of Britain +and that of the rest of the Roman world was the +stubborn courage of the British themselves. In +all the world-wide struggle between Rome and +the German peoples no land was so stubbornly +fought for or so hardly won. In Gaul no native +resistance met Frank or Visigoth save from the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-041"></a>1-041]</span> + +brave peasants of Britanny and Auvergne. No +popular revolt broke out against the rule of +Odoacer or Theodoric in Italy. But in Britain +the invader was met by a courage almost equal +to his own. Instead of quartering themselves +quietly, like their fellows abroad, on subjects who +were glad to buy peace by obedience and tribute, +the English had to make every inch of Britain +their own by hard fighting. +</p> + +<p> +This stubborn resistance was backed too by +natural obstacles of the gravest kind. Elsewhere +in the Roman world the work of the conquerors +was aided by the very civilization of Rome. Vandal +and Frank marched along Roman highways over +ground cleared by the Roman axe and crossed +river or ravine on the Roman bridge. It was so +doubtless with the English conquerors of Britain. +But though Britain had long been Roman, her +distance from the seat of Empire left her less +Romanized than any other province of the West. +Socially the Roman civilization had made little +impression on any but the townsfolk, and the +material civilization of the island was yet more +backward than its social. Its natural defences +threw obstacles in its invaders' way. In the +forest belts which stretched over vast spaces of +country they found barriers which in all cases +checked their advance and in some cases finally +stopped it. The Kentishmen and the South-Saxons +were brought utterly to a standstill by the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-042"></a>1-042]</span> + +Andredsweald. The East-Saxons could never +pierce the woods of their western border. The +Fens proved impassable to the Northfolk and the +Southfolk of East-Anglia. It was only after a long +and terrible struggle that the West-Saxons could +hew their way through the forests which sheltered +the "Gwent" of the southern coast. Their attempt +to break out of the circle of woodland which girt +in the downs was in fact fruitless for thirty years; +and in the height of their later power they were +thrown back from the forests of Cheshire. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Withdrawal of the Britons</span> +</p> + +<p> +It is only by realizing in this way the physical +as well as the moral circumstances of Britain that +we can understand the character of its earlier +conquest. Field by field, town by town, forest by +forest, the land was won. And as each bit of +ground was torn away by the stranger, the Briton +sullenly withdrew from it only to turn doggedly +and fight for the next. There is no need to +believe that the clearing of the land meant so +impossible a thing as the general slaughter of the +men who held it. Slaughter there was, no doubt, +on the battle-field or in towns like Anderida whose +long resistance woke wrath in their besiegers. But +for the most part the Britons were not slaughtered; +they were defeated and drew back. Such a withdrawal +was only made possible by the slowness of +the conquest. For it is not only the stoutness of +its defence which distinguishes the conquest of +Britain from that of the other provinces of the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-043"></a>1-043]</span> + +Empire, but the weakness of attack. As the +resistance of the Britons was greater than that of +the other provincials of Rome so the forces of their +assailants were less. Attack by sea was less easy +than attack by land, and the numbers who were +brought across by the boats of Hengest or Cerdic +cannot have rivalled those which followed Theodoric +or Chlodewig across the Alps or the Rhine. Landing +in small parties, and but gradually reinforced +by after-comers, the English invaders could only +slowly and fitfully push the Britons back. The +absence of any joint action among the assailants +told in the same way. Though all spoke the same +language and used the same laws, they had no such +bond of political union as the Franks; and though +all were bent on winning the same land, each band +and each leader preferred their own separate +course of action to any collective enterprise. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The English settlement</span> +</p> + +<p> +Under such conditions the overrunning of +Britain could not fail to be a very different matter +from the rapid and easy overrunning of such +countries as Gaul. How slow the work of English +conquest was may be seen from the fact that it +took nearly thirty years to win Kent alone, and +sixty to complete the conquest of Southern Britain, +and that the conquest of the bulk of the island +was only wrought out after two centuries of bitter +warfare. But it was just through the length of +the struggle that of all the German conquests this +proved the most thorough and complete. So far + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-044"></a>1-044]</span> + +as the English sword in these earlier days had +reached, Britain had become England, a land, that +is, not of Britons but of Englishmen. Even if +a few of the vanquished people lingered as slaves +round the homesteads of their English conquerors, +or a few of their household words mingled with +the English tongue, doubtful exceptions such as +these leave the main facts untouched. The keynote +of the conquest was firmly struck. When +the English invasion was stayed for a while by the +civil wars of the invaders, the Briton had +disappeared from the greater part of the land which +had been his own; and the tongue, the religion, +the laws of his English conquerors reigned without +a break from Essex to Staffordshire and from the +British Channel to the Firth of Forth. +</p> + +<center><a href="images/v1-map-2.jpg"><img src="images/v1-map-2t.jpg" alt="The English Kingdoms in A.D. 600"></a></center> + +<p> +For the driving out of the Briton was, as we +have seen, but a prelude to the settlement of his +conqueror. What strikes us at once in the new +England is this, that it was the one purely German +nation that rose upon the wreck of Rome. In +other lands, in Spain or Gaul or Italy, though +they were equally conquered by German peoples, +religion, social life, administrative order, still +remained Roman. Britain was almost the only +province of the Empire where Rome died into a +vague tradition of the past. The whole organization +of government and society disappeared with the +people who used it. Roman roads indeed still led +to desolate cities. Roman camps still crowned hill + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-045"></a>1-045]</span> + +and down. The old divisions of the land remained +to furnish bounds of field and farm for the new +settlers. The Roman church, the Roman country-house, +was left standing, though reft of priest and +lord. But Rome was gone. The mosaics, the +coins which we dig up in our fields are no relics +of our English fathers, but of a world which our +fathers' sword swept utterly away. Its law, its +literature, its manners, its faith, went with it. +Nothing was a stronger proof of the completeness +of this destruction of all Roman life than the +religious change which passed over the land. +Alone among the German assailants of Rome the +English stood aloof from the faith of the Empire +they helped to overthrow. The new England was +a heathen country. Homestead and boundary, the +very days of the week, bore the names of new +gods who displaced Christ. +</p> + +<p> +As we stand amidst the ruins of town or +country-house which recall to us the wealth and +culture of Roman Britain, it is hard to believe that +a conquest which left them heaps of crumbling +stones was other than a curse to the land over +which it passed. But if the new England which +sprang from the wreck of Britain seemed for the +moment a waste from which the arts, the letters, +the refinement of the world had fled hopelessly +away, it contained within itself germs of a nobler +life than that which had been destroyed. The +base of Roman society here as everywhere throughout + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-046"></a>1-046]</span> + +the Roman world was the slave, the peasant +who had been crushed by tyranny, political and +social, into serfdom. The base of the new English +society was the freeman whom we have seen +tilling, judging, or fighting for himself by the +Northern Sea. However roughly he dealt with +the material civilization of Britain while the +struggle went on, it was impossible that such a man +could be a mere destroyer. War in fact was no +sooner over than the warrior settled down into the +farmer, and the home of the ceorl rose beside the +heap of goblin-haunted stones that marked the site +of the villa he had burned. The settlement of the +English in the conquered land was nothing less +than an absolute transfer of English society in its +completest form to the soil of Britain. The slowness +of their advance, the small numbers of each +separate band in its descent upon the coast, made +it possible for the invaders to bring with them, or +to call to them when their work was done, the +wives and children, the læt and slave, even the +cattle they had left behind them. The first wave +of conquest was but the prelude to the gradual +migration of a whole people. It was England +which settled down on British soil, England with +its own language, its own laws, its complete social +fabric, its system of village life and village culture, +its township and its hundred, its principle of kinship, +its principle of representation. It was not as +mere pirates or stray war-bands, but as peoples + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-047"></a>1-047]</span> + +already made, and fitted by a common temper and +common customs to draw together into our English +nation in the days to come, that our fathers left +their German home-land for the land in which we +live. Their social and political organization +remained radically unchanged. In each of the little +kingdoms which rose on the wreck of Britain, the +host camped on the land it had won, and the +divisions of the host supplied here as in its older +home the rough groundwork of local distribution. +The land occupied by the hundred warriors who +formed the unit of military organization became +perhaps the local hundred; but it is needless to +attach any notion of precise uniformity, either in +the number of settlers or in the area of their +settlement, to such a process as this, any more than +to the army organization which the process of +distribution reflected. From the large amount of +public land which we find existing afterwards it +has been conjectured with some probability that +the number of settlers was far too small to occupy +the whole of the country at their disposal, and this +unoccupied ground became "folk-land," the common +property of the tribe as at a later time of the +nation. What ground was actually occupied may +have been assigned to each group and each family +in the group by lot, and Eorl and Ceorl gathered +round them their læt and slave as in their +homeland by the Rhine or the Elbe. And with the +English people passed to the shores of Britain all + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-048"></a>1-048]</span> + +that was to make Englishmen what they are. For +distant and dim as their life in that older England +may have seemed to us, the whole after-life of +Englishmen was there. In its village-moots lay +our Parliament; in the gleeman of its village-feasts +our Chaucer and our Shakspere; in the pirate-bark +stealing from creek to creek our Drakes and +our Nelsons. Even the national temper was fully +formed. Civilization, letters, science, religion +itself, have done little to change the inner mood of +Englishmen. That love of venture and of toil, of +the sea and the fight, that trust in manhood and +the might of man, that silent awe of the mysteries +of life and death which lay deep in English souls +then as now, passed with Englishmen to the land +which Englishmen had won. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The King</span> +</p> + +<p> +But though English society passed thus in its +completeness to the soil of Britain, its primitive +organization was affected in more ways than one +by the transfer. In the first place conquest begat +the King. It seems probable that the English +had hitherto known nothing of kings in their own +fatherland, where each tribe was satisfied in peace +time with the customary government of village-reeve +and hundred-reeve and ealdonnan, while it +gathered at fighting times under war leaders whom +it chose for each campaign. But in the long and +obstinate warfare which they waged against the +Britons it was needful to find a common leader +whom the various tribes engaged in conquests such + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-049"></a>1-049]</span> + +as those of Wessex or Mercia might follow; and +the ceaseless character of a struggle which left few +intervals of rest or peace raised these leaders into +a higher position than that of temporary chieftains. +It was no doubt from this cause that we find +Hengest and his son Æsc raised to the kingdom +in Kent, or Ælle in Sussex, or Cerdic and Cynric +among the West Saxons. The association of son +with father in this new kingship marked the +hereditary character which distinguished it from +the temporary office of an ealdorman. The change +was undoubtedly a great one, but it was less than +the modern conception of kingship would lead us +to imagine. Hereditary as the succession was +within a single house, each successive king was +still the free choice of his people, and for +centuries to come it was held within a people's +right to pass over a claimant too weak or too +wicked for the throne. In war indeed the king +was supreme. But in peace his power was narrowly +bounded by the customs of his people and +the rede of his wise men. Justice was not as yet +the king's justice, it was the justice of village and +hundred and folk in town-moot and hundred-moot +and folk-moot. It was only with the assent of the +wise men that the king could make laws and +declare war and assign public lands and name +public officers. Above all, should his will be to +break through the free customs of his people, he +was without the means of putting his will into + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-050"></a>1-050]</span> + +action, for the one force he could call on was the +host, and the host was the people itself in arms. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Thegn</span> +</p> + +<p> +With the new English king rose a new order +of English nobles. The social distinction of the +eorl was founded on the peculiar purity of his +blood, on his long descent from the original settler +around whom township and thorpe grew up. A +new distinction was now to be found in service +done to the king. From the earliest times of +German society it had been the wont of young +men greedy of honour or seeking training in arms +to bind themselves as "comrades" to king or chief. +The leader whom they chose gave them horses, arms, +a seat in his mead hall, and gifts from his hoard. +The "comrade" on the other hand--the gesith or +thegn, as he was called--bound himself to follow +and fight for his lord. The principle of personal +dependence as distinguished from the warrior's +general duty to the folk at large was embodied in +the thegn. "Chieftains fight for victory," says +Tacitus; "comrades for their chieftain." When +one of Beowulf's "comrades" saw his lord hard +bested "he minded him of the homestead he had +given him, of the folk right he gave him as his +father had it; nor might he hold back then." +Snatching up sword and shield he called on his +fellow-thegns to follow him to the fight. "I mind +me of the day," he cried, "when we drank the +mead, the day we gave pledge to our lord in the +beer hall as he gave us these rings, our pledge that + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-051"></a>1-051]</span> + +we would pay him back our war-gear, our helms +and our hard swords, if need befel him. Unmeet +is it, methinks, that we should bear back our +shields to our home unless we guard our lord's +life." The larger the band of such "comrades," +the more power and repute it gave their lord. It +was from among the chiefs whose war-band was +strongest that the leaders of the host were +commonly chosen; and as these leaders grew into +kings, the number of their thegns naturally +increased. The rank of the "comrades" too rose +with the rise of their lord. The king's thegns +were his body-guard, the one force ever ready to +carry out his will. They were his nearest and +most constant counsellors. As the gathering of +petty tribes into larger kingdoms swelled the +number of eorls in each realm, and in a corresponding +degree diminished their social importance, it +raised in equal measure the rank of the king's +thegns. A post among them was soon coveted and +won by the greatest and noblest in the land. +Their service was rewarded by exemption from +the general jurisdiction of hundred-court or shire-court, +for it was part of a thegn's meed for his +service that he should be judged only by the lord +he served. Other meed was found in grants of +public land which made them a local nobility, no +longer bound to actual service in the king's +household or the king's war-band, but still bound +to him by personal ties of allegiance far closer than + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-052"></a>1-052]</span> + +those which bound an eorl to the chosen war-leader +of his tribe. In a word, thegnhood contained +within itself the germ of that later feudalism which +was to battle so fiercely with the Teutonic freedom +out of which it grew. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Bernicians</span> +</p> + +<p> +But the strife between the conquering tribes +which at once followed on their conquest of +Britain was to bring about changes even more +momentous in the development of the English +people. While Jute and Saxon and Engle were +making themselves masters of central and southern +Britain, the English who had landed on its +northernmost shores had been slowly winning for +themselves the coast district between the Forth +and the Tyne which bore the name of Bernicia. +Their progress seems to have been small till they +were gathered into a kingdom in 547 by Ida the +"Flame-bearer," who found a site for his King's +town on the impregnable rock of Bamborough; +nor was it till the reign of his fourth son Æthelric +that they gained full mastery over the Britons +along their western border. But once masters of +the Britons the Bernician Englishmen turned to +conquer their English neighbours to the south, +the men of Deira, whose first King Ælla was now +sinking to the grave. The struggle filled the +foreign markets with English slaves, and one of +the most memorable stories in our history shows +us a group of such captives as they stood in the +market-place at Rome, it may be in the great + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-053"></a>1-053]</span> + +Forum of Trajan, which still in its decay recalled +the glories of the Imperial City. Their white +bodies, their fair faces, their golden hair was +noted by a deacon who passed by. "From what +country do these slaves come?" Gregory asked +the trader who brought them. The slave-dealer +answered "They are English," or as the word ran +in the Latin form it would bear at Rome, "they are +Angles." The deacon's pity veiled itself in poetic +humour. "Not Angles but Angels," he said, "with +faces so angel-like! From what country come +they?" "They come," said the merchant, "from +Deira." "<i>De irâ!</i>" was the untranslatable wordplay +of the vivacious Roman--"aye, plucked from +God's ire and called to Christ's mercy! And +what is the name of their king?" They told him +"Ælla," and Gregory seized on the word as of +good omen. "Alleluia shall be sung in Ælla's +land," he said, and passed on, musing how the +angel-faces should be brought to sing it. +</p> + +<p> +While Gregory was thus playing with Ælla's +name the old king passed away, and with his +death in 588 the resistance of his kingdom seems +to have ceased. His children fled over the western +border to find refuge among the Welsh, and +Æthelric of Bernicia entered Deira in triumph. +A new age of our history opens in this submission +of one English people to another. When the two +kingdoms were united under a common lord the +period of national formation began. If a new + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-054"></a>1-054]</span> + +England sprang out of the mass of English states +which covered Britain after its conquest, we owe +it to the gradual submission of the smaller peoples +to the supremacy of a common political head. +The difference in power between state and state +which inevitably led to this process of union was +due to the character which the conquest of Britain +was now assuming. Up to this time all the kingdoms +which had been established by the invaders +had stood in the main on a footing of equality. +All had taken an independent share in the work +of conquest. Though the oneness of a common +blood and a common speech was recognized by all +we find no traces of any common action or +common rule. Even in the two groups of kingdoms, +the five English and the five Saxon kingdoms, +which occupied Britain south of the Humber, +the relations of each member of the group to its +fellows seem to have been merely local. It was +only locally that East and West and South and +North English were grouped round the Middle +English of Leicester, or East and West and South +and North Saxons round the Middle Saxons about +London. In neither instance do we find any real +trace of a confederacy, or of the rule of one +member of the group over the others; while north +of the Humber the feeling between the Englishmen +of Yorkshire and the Englishmen who had +settled towards the Firth of Forth was one of +hostility rather than of friendship. But this age + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-055"></a>1-055]</span> + +of isolation, of equality, of independence, had now +come to an end. The progress of the conquest had +drawn a sharp line between the kingdoms of the +conquerors. The work of half of them was done. +In the south of the island not only Kent but +Sussex, Essex, and Middlesex were surrounded by +English territory, and hindered by that single fact +from all further growth. The same fate had +befallen the East Engle, the South Engle, the +Middle and the North Engle. The West Saxons, +on the other hand, and the West Engle, or +Mercians, still remained free to conquer and +expand on the south of the Humber, as the +Englishmen of Deira and Bernicia remained free +to the north of that river. It was plain, therefore, +that from this moment the growth of these +powers would throw their fellow kingdoms into +the background, and that with an ever-growing +inequality of strength must come a new arrangement +of political forces. The greater kingdoms +would in the end be drawn to subject and absorb +the lesser ones, and to the war between Englishman +and Briton would be added a struggle between +Englishman and Englishman. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Kent</span> +</p> + +<p> +It was through this struggle and the establishment +of a lordship on the part of the stronger +and growing states over their weaker and stationary +fellows that the English kingdoms were to make +their first step towards union in a single England. +Such an overlordship seemed destined but a few + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-056"></a>1-056]</span> + +years before to fall to the lot of Wessex. The +victories of Ceawlin and Cuthwulf left it the most +powerful of the English kingdoms. None of its +fellow states seemed able to hold their own +against a power which stretched from the Chilterns +to the Severn and from the Channel to the Ouse. +But after its defeat in the march upon Chester +Wessex suddenly broke down into a chaos of +warring tribes; and her place was taken by two +powers whose rise to greatness was as sudden as +her fall. The first of these was Kent. The +Kentish king Æthelberht found himself hemmed +in on every side by English territory; and since +conquest over Britons was denied him he sought a +new sphere of action in setting his kingdom at +the head of the conquerors of the south. The +break up of Wessex no doubt aided his attempt; +but we know little of the causes or events which +brought about his success. We know only that +the supremacy of the Kentish king was owned at +last by the English peoples of the east and centre +of Britain. But it was not by her political action +that Kent was in the end to further the creation +of a single England; for the lordship which +Æthelberht built up was doomed to fall for ever +with his death, and yet his death left Kent the +centre of a national union far wider as it was far +more enduring than the petty lordship which +stretched over Eastern Britain. Only three or four +years after Gregory had pitied the English slaves + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-057"></a>1-057]</span> + +in the market-place of Rome, he found himself as +Bishop of the Imperial City in a position to carry +out his dream of winning Britain to the faith; and +an opening was given him by Æthelberht's marriage +with Bertha, a daughter of the Frankish king +Charibert of Paris. Bertha like her Frankish +kindred was a Christian; a Christian bishop +accompanied her from Gaul; and a ruined +Christian church, the church of St. Martin beside +the royal city of Canterbury, was given them for +their worship. The king himself remained true +to the gods of his fathers; but his marriage no +doubt encouraged Gregory to send a Roman abbot, +Augustine, at the head of a band of monks to +preach the Gospel to the English people. The +missionaries landed in 597 in the Isle of Thanet, +at the spot where Hengest had landed more than +a century before; and Æthelberht received them +sitting in the open air on the chalk-down above +Minster, where the eye nowadays catches miles +away over the marshes the dim tower of Canterbury. +The king listened patiently to the long +sermon of Augustine as the interpreters the abbot +had brought with him from Gaul rendered it in +the English tongue. "Your words are fair," +Æthelberht replied at last with English good +sense, "but they are new and of doubtful meaning." +For himself, he said, he refused to forsake +the gods of his fathers, but with the usual religious +tolerance of the German race he promised shelter + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-058"></a>1-058]</span> + +and protection to the strangers. The band of +monks entered Canterbury bearing before them a +silver cross with a picture of Christ, and singing +in concert the strains of the litany of their Church. +"Turn from this city, O Lord," they sang, "Thine +anger and wrath, and turn it from Thy holy house, +for we have sinned." And then in strange contrast +came the jubilant cry of the older Hebrew +worship, the cry which Gregory had wrested in +prophetic earnestness from the name of the +Yorkshire king in the Roman market-place, +"Alleluia!" +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Christian England</span> +</p> + +<p> +It was thus that the spot which witnessed the +landing of Hengest became yet better known as +the landing-place of Augustine. But the second +landing at Ebbsfleet was in no small measure a +reversal and undoing of the first. "Strangers +from Rome" was the title with which the missionaries +first fronted the English king. The +march of the monks as they chaunted their solemn +litany was in one sense a return of the Roman +legions who withdrew at the trumpet-call of Alaric. +It was to the tongue and the thought not of +Gregory only but of the men whom his Jutish +fathers had slaughtered or driven out that Æthelberht +listened in the preaching of Augustine. +Canterbury, the earliest royal city of German +England, became a centre of Latin influence. The +Roman tongue became again one of the tongues +of Britain, the language of its worship, its correspondence, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-059"></a>1-059]</span> + +its literature. But more than the +tongue of Rome returned with Augustine. Practically +his landing renewed that union with the +Western world which the landing of Hengest had +destroyed. The new England was admitted into +the older commonwealth of nations. The civilization, +art, letters, which had fled before the sword +of the English conquerors returned with the +Christian faith. The fabric of the Roman law +indeed never took root in England, but it is +impossible not to recognize the result of the influence +of the Roman missionaries in the fact that +codes of the customary English law began to be +put in writing soon after their arrival. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Æthelfrith</span> +</p> + +<p> +A year passed before Æthelberht yielded to +the preaching of Augustine. But from the moment +of his conversion the new faith advanced rapidly +and the Kentish men crowded to baptism in the +train of their king. The new religion was carried +beyond the bounds of Kent by the supremacy +which Æthelberht wielded over the neighbouring +kingdoms. Sæberht, King of the East-Saxons, received +a bishop sent in 604 from Kent, and suffered +him to build up again a Christian church in what +was now his subject city of London, while soon after +the East-Anglian king Rædwald resolved to serve +Christ and the older gods together. But while +Æthelberht was thus furnishing a future centre +of spiritual unity in Canterbury, the see to which +Augustine was consecrated, the growth of Northumbria + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-060"></a>1-060]</span> + +was pointing it out as the coming political +centre of the new England. In 593, four years +before the landing of the missionaries in Kent, +Æthelric was succeeded by his son Æthelfrith, +and the new king took up the work of conquest +with a vigour greater than had yet been shown +by any English leader. For ten years he waged +war with the Britons of Strathclyde, a tract +which stretched along his western border from +Dumbarton to Carlisle. The contest ended in a +great battle at Dægsastan, perhaps Dawston in +Liddesdale; and Æthelfrith turned to deliver a +yet more crushing blow on his southern border. +British kingdoms still stretched from Clyde-mouth +to the mouth of Severn; and had their line +remained unbroken the British resistance might +yet have withstood the English advance. It was +with a sound political instinct therefore that +Æthelfrith marched in 613 upon Chester, the +point where the kingdom of Cumbria, a kingdom +which stretched from the Lune to the Dee, linked +itself to the British states of what we now call +Wales. Hard by the city two thousand monks +were gathered in one of those vast religious +settlements which were characteristic of Celtic +Christianity, and after a three days' fast a crowd +of these ascetics followed the British army to the +field. Æthelfrith watched the wild gestures of +the monks as they stood apart from the host with +arms outstretched in prayer, and bade his men slay + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-061"></a>1-061]</span> + +them in the coming fight. "Bear they arms or no," +said the King, "they war against us when they cry +against us to their God," and in the surprise and +rout which followed the monks were the first to fall. +</p> + +<p> +With the battle of Chester Britain as a country +ceased to exist. By their victory at Deorham the +West-Saxons had cut off the Britons of Dyvnaint, +of our Devon, Dorset, Somerset, and Cornwall, +from the general body of their race. By Æthelfrith's +victory at Chester and the reduction of +southern Lancashire which followed it what remained +of Britain was broken into two several +parts. From this time therefore the character of the +English conquest of Britain changes. The warfare +of Briton and Englishman died down into a warfare +of separate English kingdoms against separate +British kingdoms, of Northumbria against the Cumbrians +and Strathclyde, of Mercia against the Welsh +between Anglesea and the British Channel, of +Wessex against the tract of country from Mendip +to the Land's End. But great as was the importance +of the battle of Chester to the fortunes of Britain, +it was of still greater importance to the fortunes of +England itself. The drift towards national unity +had already begun, but from the moment of +Æthelfrith's victory this drift became the main +current of our history. Masters of the larger and +richer part of the land, its conquerors were no +longer drawn greedily westward by the hope of +plunder; while the severance of the British kingdoms + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-062"></a>1-062]</span> + +took from their enemies the pressure of a +common danger. The conquests of Æthelfrith +left him without a rival in military power, and he +turned from victories over the Welsh, as their +English foes called the Britons, to the building up +of a lordship over his own countrymen. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Eadwine</span> +</p> + +<p> +The power of Æthelberht seems to have declined +with old age, and though the Essex men +still owned his supremacy, the English tribes of +Mid-Britain shook it off. So strong however had +the instinct of union now become, that we hear +nothing of any return to their old isolation. +Mercians and Southumbrians, Middle-English and +South-English now owned the lordship of the +East-English King Rædwald. The shelter given +by Rædwald to Ælla's son Eadwine served as a +pretext for a Northumbrian attack. Fortune +however deserted Æthelfrith, and a snatch of +northern song still tells of the day when the river +Idle by Retford saw his defeat and fall. But the +greatness of Northumbria survived its king. In +617 Eadwine was welcomed back by his own men +of Deira; and his conquest of Bernicia maintained +that union of the two realms which the Bernician +conquest of Deira had first brought about. The +greatness of Northumbria now reached its height. +Within his own dominions, Eadwine displayed a +genius for civil government which shows how +utterly the mere age of conquest had passed away. +With him began the English proverb so often + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-063"></a>1-063]</span> + +applied to after kings: "A woman with her babe +might walk scatheless from sea to sea in Eadwine's +day." Peaceful communication revived along the +deserted highways; the springs by the roadside +were marked with stakes, and a cup of brass set +beside each for the traveller's refreshment. Some +faint traditions of the Roman past may have flung +their glory round this new "Empire of the +English"; a royal standard of purple and gold +floated before Eadwine as he rode through the +villages; a feather tuft attached to a spear, the +Roman tufa, preceded him as he walked through +the streets. The Northumbrian king became in +fact supreme over Britain as no king of English +blood had been before. Northward his frontier +reached to the Firth of Forth, and here, if we +trust tradition, Eadwine founded a city which +bore his name, Edinburgh, Eadwine's burgh. To +the west his arms crushed the long resistance of +Elmet, the district about Leeds; he was master +of Chester, and the fleet he equipped there subdued +the isles of Anglesea and Man. South of +the Humber he was owned as overlord by the five +English states of Mid-Britain. The West-Saxons +remained awhile independent. But revolt and +slaughter had fatally broken their power when +Eadwine attacked them. A story preserved by +Bæda tells something of the fierceness of the +struggle which ended in the subjection of the +south to the overlordship of Northumbria. In an + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-064"></a>1-064]</span> + +Easter-court which he held in his royal city by +the river Derwent, Eadwine gave audience to +Eumer, an envoy of Wessex, who brought a +message from its king. In the midst of the +conference Eumer started to his feet, drew a dagger +from his robe, and rushed on the Northumbrian +sovereign. Lilla, one of the king's war-band, +threw himself between Eadwine and his assassin; +but so furious was the stroke that even through +Lilla's body the dagger still reached its aim. The +king however recovered from his wound to march +on the West-Saxons; he slew or subdued all who +had conspired against him, and returned victorious +to his own country. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Conversion of Northumbria</span> +</p> + +<p> +Kent had bound itself to him by giving him its +King's daughter as a wife, a step which probably +marked political subordination; and with the +Kentish queen had come Paulinus, one of Augustine's +followers, whose tall stooping form, slender +aquiline nose, and black hair falling round a thin +worn face, were long remembered in the North. +Moved by his queen's prayers Eadwine promised +to become Christian if he returned successful from +Wessex; and the wise men of Northumbria +gathered to deliberate on the new faith to which +he bowed. To finer minds its charm lay then as +now in the light it threw on the darkness which +encompassed men's lives, the darkness of the +future as of the past. "So seems the life of man, +O king," burst forth an aged ealdorman, "as a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-065"></a>1-065]</span> + +sparrow's flight through the hall when one is +sitting at meat in winter-tide with the warm fire +lighted on the hearth but the icy rain-storm +without. The sparrow flies in at one door and +tarries for a moment in the light and heat of the +hearth-fire, and then flying forth from the other +vanishes into the darkness whence it came. +So tarries for a moment the life of man in our +sight, but what is before it, what after it, we +know not. If this new teaching tell us aught +certainly of these, let us follow it." Coarser +argument told on the crowd. "None of your +people, Eadwine, have worshipped the gods more +busily than I," said Coifi the priest, "yet there +are many more favoured and more fortunate. +Were these gods good for anything they would +help their worshippers." Then leaping on horseback, +he hurled his spear into the sacred temple +at Godmanham, and with the rest of the Witan +embraced the religion of the king. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Penda</span> +</p> + +<p> +But the faith of Woden and Thunder was not +to fall without a struggle. Even in Kent a +reaction against the new creed began with the +death of Æthelberht. The young kings of the +East-Saxons burst into the church where the +Bishop of London was administering the Eucharist +to the people, crying, "Give us that white bread +you gave to our father Saba," and on the bishop's +refusal drove him from their realm. This earlier +tide of reaction was checked by Eadwine's conversion; + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-066"></a>1-066]</span> + +but Mercia, which had as yet owned the +supremacy of Northumbria, sprang into a sudden +greatness as the champion of the heathen gods. +Its king, Penda, saw in the rally of the old +religion a chance of winning back his people's +freedom and giving it the lead among the tribes +about it. Originally mere settlers along the +Upper Trent, the position of the Mercians on the +Welsh border invited them to widen their possessions +by conquest while the rest of their Anglian +neighbours were shut off from any chance of +expansion. Their fights along the frontier too +kept their warlike energy at its height. Penda +must have already asserted his superiority over the +four other English tribes of Mid-Britain before he +could have ventured to attack Wessex and tear +from it in 628 the country of the Hwiccas and +Magesætas on the Severn. Even with this accession +of strength however he was still no match for +Northumbria. But the war of the English people +with the Britons seems at this moment to have +died down for a season, and the Mercian ruler +boldly broke through the barrier which had +parted the two races till now by allying himself +with a Welsh King, Cadwallon, for a joint attack +on Eadwine. The armies met in 633 at a place +called the Heathfield, and in the fight which +followed Eadwine was defeated and slain. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Oswald</span> +</p> + +<p> +Bernicia seized on the fall of Eadwine to recall +the line of Æthelfrith to its throne; and after a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-067"></a>1-067]</span> + +year of anarchy his second son, Oswald, became +its king. The Welsh had remained encamped in +the heart of the north, and Oswald's first fight +was with Cadwallon. A small Northumbrian +force gathered in 635 near the Roman Wall, and +pledged itself at the new King's bidding to become +Christian if it conquered in the fight. Cadwallon +fell fighting on the "Heaven's Field," as after +times called the field of battle; the submission of +Deira to the conqueror restored the kingdom of +Northumbria; and for seven years the power of +Oswald equalled that of Eadwine. It was not the +Church of Paulinus which nerved Oswald to this +struggle for the Cross, or which carried out in +Bernicia the work of conversion which his victory +began. Paulinus fled from Northumbria at Eadwine's +fall; and the Roman Church, though +established in Kent, did little in contending elsewhere +against the heathen reaction. Its place in +the conversion of northern England was taken by +missionaries from Ireland. To understand the +true meaning of this change we must remember +how greatly the Christian Church in the west had +been affected by the German invasion. Before +the landing of the English in Britain the Christian +Church stretched in an unbroken line across +Western Europe to the furthest coasts of Ireland. +The conquest of Britain by the pagan English +thrust a wedge of heathendom into the heart of +this great communion and broke it into two + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-068"></a>1-068]</span> + +unequal parts. On one side lay Italy, Spain, and +Gaul, whose churches owned obedience to and +remained in direct contact with the See of Rome, +on the other, practically cut off from the general +body of Christendom, lay the Church of Ireland. +But the condition of the two portions of Western +Christendom was very different. While the +vigour of Christianity in Italy and Gaul and +Spain was exhausted in a bare struggle for life, +Ireland, which remained unscourged by invaders, +drew from its conversion an energy such as it has +never known since. Christianity was received +there with a burst of popular enthusiasm, and +letters and arts sprang up rapidly in its train. +The science and Biblical knowledge which fled +from the Continent took refuge in its schools. +The new Christian life soon beat too strongly to +brook confinement within the bounds of Ireland +itself. Patrick, the first missionary of the island, +had not been half a century dead when Irish +Christianity flung itself with a fiery zeal into +battle with the mass of heathenism which was +rolling in upon the Christian world. Irish missionaries +laboured among the Picts of the Highlands +and among the Frisians of the northern +seas. An Irish missionary, Columban, founded +monasteries in Burgundy and the Apennines. +The canton of St. Gall still commemorates in its +name another Irish missionary before whom the +spirits of flood and fell fled wailing over the waters + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-069"></a>1-069]</span> + +of the Lake of Constance. For a time it seemed +as if the course of the world's history was to be +changed, as if the older Celtic race that Roman +and German had swept before them had turned to +the moral conquest of their conquerors, as if +Celtic and not Latin Christianity was to mould +the destinies of the Churches of the West. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Aidan</span> +</p> + +<p> +On a low island of barren gneiss-rock off the +west coast of Scotland an Irish refugee, Columba, +had raised the famous mission-station of Iona. It +was within its walls that Oswald in youth found +refuge, and on his accession to the throne of +Northumbria he called for missionaries from among +its monks. The first preacher sent in answer to +his call obtained little success. He declared on his +return that among a people so stubborn and +barbarous as the Northumbrian folk success was +impossible. "Was it their stubbornness or your +severity?" asked Aidan, a brother sitting by; +"did you forget God's word to give them the milk +first and then the meat?" All eyes turned on the +speaker as fittest to undertake the abandoned +mission, and Aidan sailing at their bidding fixed +his bishop's see in the island-peninsula of Lindisfarne. +Thence, from a monastery which gave to +the spot its after name of Holy Island, preachers +poured forth over the heathen realms. Aidan +himself wandered on foot, preaching among the +peasants of Yorkshire and Northumbria. In his +own court the King acted as interpreter to the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-070"></a>1-070]</span> + +Irish missionaries in their efforts to convert his +thegns. A new conception of kingship indeed +began to blend itself with that of the warlike glory +of Æthelfrith or the wise administration of Eadwine, +and the moral power which was to reach its +height in Ælfred first dawns in the story of +Oswald. For after times the memory of Oswald's +greatness was lost in the memory of his piety. +"By reason of his constant habit of praying or +giving thanks to the Lord he was wont wherever +he sat to hold his hands upturned on his knees." +As he feasted with Bishop Aidan by his side, the +thegn, or noble of his war-band, whom he had set +to give alms to the poor at his gate told him of a +multitude that still waited fasting without. The +king at once bade the untasted meat before him be +carried to the poor, and his silver dish be parted +piecemeal among them. Aidan seized the royal +hand and blessed it. "May this hand," he cried, +"never grow old." +</p> + +<p> +Oswald's lordship stretched as widely over +Britain as that of his predecessor Eadwine. In +him even more than in Eadwine men saw some +faint likeness of the older Emperors; once indeed +a writer from the land of the Picts calls Oswald +"Emperor of the whole of Britain." His power +was bent to carry forward the conversion of all +England, but prisoned as it was to the central +districts of the country heathendom fought +desperately for life. Penda was still its rallying-point. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-071"></a>1-071]</span> + +His long reign was one continuous battle +with the new religion; but it was a battle rather +with the supremacy of Christian Northumbria than +with the supremacy of the Cross. East-Anglia +became at last the field of contest between the +two powers; and in 642 Oswald marched to +deliver it from the Mercian rule. But his doom +was the doom of Eadwine, and in a battle called +the battle of the Maserfeld he was overthrown and +slain. For a few years after his victory at the +Maserfeld, Penda stood supreme in Britain. +Heathenism triumphed with him. If Wessex did +not own his overlordship as it had owned that of +Oswald, its king threw off the Christian faith +which he had embraced but a few years back at +the preaching of Birinus. Even Deira seems to +have owned Penda's sway. Bernicia alone, though +distracted by civil war between rival claimants for +its throne, refused to yield. Year by year the +Mercian king carried his ravages over the north; +once he reached even the royal city, the impregnable +rock-fortress of Bamborough. Despairing +of success in an assault, he pulled down the +cottages around, and piling their wood against its +walls fired the mass in a fair wind that drove the +flames on the town. "See, Lord, what ill Penda +is doing," cried Aidan from his hermit cell in the +islet of Farne, as he saw the smoke drifting over +the city, and a change of wind--so ran the legend +of Northumbria's agony--drove back the flames + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-072"></a>1-072]</span> + +on those who kindled them. But burned and +harried as it was, Bernicia still clung to the +Cross. Oswiu, a third son of Æthelfrith, held his +ground stoutly against Penda's inroads till their +cessation enabled him to build up again the old +Northumbrian kingdom by a march upon Deira. +The union of the two realms was never henceforth +to be dissolved; and its influence was at once seen +in the renewal of Christianity throughout Britain. +East-Anglia, conquered as it was, had clung to its +faith. Wessex quietly became Christian again. +Penda's own son, whom he had set over the +Middle-English, received baptism and teachers from +Lindisfarne. At last the missionaries of the new +belief appeared fearlessly among the Mercians +themselves. Penda gave them no hindrance. In +words that mark the temper of a man of whom we +would willingly know more, Bæda tells us that the +old king only "hated and scorned those whom he +saw not doing the works of the faith they had +received." His attitude shows that Penda looked +with the tolerance of his race on all questions of +creed, and that he was fighting less for heathenism +than for political independence. And now the +growing power of Oswiu called him to the old +struggle with Northumbria. In 655 he met Oswiu +in the field of Winwæd by Leeds. It was in vain +that the Northumbrian sought to avert Penda's +attack by offers of ornaments and costly gifts. +"If the pagans will not accept them," Oswiu cried + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-073"></a>1-073]</span> + +at last, "let us offer them to One that will"; and +he vowed that if successful he would dedicate his +daughter to God, and endow twelve monasteries +in his realm. Victory at last declared for the +faith of Christ. Penda himself fell on the field. +The river over which the Mercians fled was swollen +with a great rain; it swept away the fragments of +the heathen host, and the cause of the older gods +was lost for ever. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Oswiu</span> +</p> + +<p> +The terrible struggle between heathendom and +Christianity was followed by a long and profound +peace. For three years after the battle of Winwæd +Mercia was governed by Northumbrian thegns in +Oswiu's name. The winning of central England +was a victory for Irish Christianity as well as for +Oswiu. Even in Mercia itself heathendom was +dead with Penda. "Being thus freed," Bæda tells +us, "the Mercians with their King rejoiced to +serve the true King, Christ." Its three provinces, +the earlier Mercia, the Middle-English, and the +Lindiswaras, were united in the bishopric of the +missionary Ceadda, the St. Chad to whom Lichfield +is still dedicated. Ceadda was a monk of Lindisfarne, +so simple and lowly in temper that he +travelled on foot on his long mission journeys till +Archbishop Theodore with his own hands lifted +him on horseback. The old Celtic poetry breaks +out in his death-legend, as it tells us how voices of +singers singing sweetly descended from heaven to +the little cell beside St. Mary's Church where the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-074"></a>1-074]</span> + +bishop lay dying. Then "the same song ascended +from the roof again, and returned heavenward by +the way that it came." It was the soul of his +brother, the missionary Cedd, come with a choir of +angels to solace the last hours of Ceadda. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Cuthbert</span> +</p> + +<p> +In Northumbria the work of his fellow missionaries +has almost been lost in the glory of +Cuthbert. No story better lights up for us the +new religious life of the time than the story of +this Apostle of the Lowlands. Born on the +southern edge of the Lammermoor, Cuthbert +found shelter at eight years old in a widow's +house in the little village of Wrangholm. Already +in youth his robust frame hid a poetic sensibility +which caught even in the chance word of a game +a call to higher things, and a passing attack of +lameness deepened the religious impression. A +traveller coming in his white mantle over the +hillside and stopping his horse to tend Cuthbert's +injured knee seemed to him an angel. The boy's +shepherd life carried him to the bleak upland, still +famous as a sheepwalk, though a scant herbage +scarce veils the whinstone rock. There meteors +plunging into the night became to him a company +of angelic spirits carrying the soul of Bishop +Aidan heavenward, and his longings slowly settled +into a resolute will towards a religious life. In +651 he made his way to a group of straw-thatched +log-huts, in the midst of an untilled solitude, where +a few Irish monks from Lindisfarne had settled in + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-075"></a>1-075]</span> + +the mission-station of Melrose. To-day the land +is a land of poetry and romance. Cheviot and +Lammermoor, Ettrick and Teviotdale, Yarrow and +Annan-water, are musical with old ballads and +border minstrelsy. Agriculture has chosen its +valleys for her favourite seat, and drainage and +steam-power have turned sedgy marshes into farm +and meadow. But to see the Lowlands as they +were in Cuthbert's day we must sweep meadow +and farm away again, and replace them by vast +solitudes, dotted here and there with clusters of +wooden hovels and crossed by boggy tracks, over +which travellers rode spear in hand and eye +kept cautiously about them. The Northumbrian +peasantry among whom he journeyed were for +the most part Christians only in name. With +Teutonic indifference they yielded to their thegns +in nominally accepting the new Christianity as +these had yielded to the king. But they retained +their old superstitions side by side with the new +worship; plague or mishap drove them back to a +reliance on their heathen charms and amulets; +and if trouble befell the Christian preachers who +came settling among them, they took it as proof +of the wrath of the older gods. When some log-rafts +which were floating down the Tyne for the +construction of an abbey at its mouth drifted with +the monks who were at work on them out to sea, +the rustic bystanders shouted, "Let nobody pray +for them; let nobody pity these men; for they + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-076"></a>1-076]</span> + +have taken away from us our old worship, and +how their new-fangled customs are to be kept +nobody knows." On foot, on horseback, Cuthbert +wandered among listeners such as these, choosing +above all the remoter mountain villages from +whose roughness and poverty other teachers +turned aside. Unlike his Irish comrades, he +needed no interpreter as he passed from village +to village; the frugal, long-headed Northumbrians +listened willingly to one who was himself a +peasant of the Lowlands, and who had caught +the rough Northumbrian burr along the banks of +the Tweed. His patience, his humorous good +sense, the sweetness of his look, told for him, +and not less the stout vigorous frame which fitted +the peasant-preacher for the hard life he had +chosen. "Never did man die of hunger who +served God faithfully," he would say, when nightfall +found them supperless in the waste. "Look at +the eagle overhead! God can feed us through him +if He will"--and once at least he owed his meal to +a fish that the scared bird let fall. A snowstorm +drove his boat on the coast of Fife. "The snow +closes the road along the shore," mourned his +comrades; "the storm bars our way over sea." +"There is still the way of heaven that lies open," +said Cuthbert. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Cædmon</span> +</p> + +<p> +While missionaries were thus labouring among +its peasantry, Northumbria saw the rise of a number +of monasteries, not bound indeed by the strict ties + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-077"></a>1-077]</span> + +of the Benedictine rule, but gathered on the loose +Celtic model of the family or the clan round some +noble and wealthy person who sought devotional +retirement. The most notable and wealthy of +these houses was that of Streoneshealh, where Hild, +a woman of royal race, reared her abbey on the +cliffs of Whitby, looking out over the Northern +Sea. Hild was a Northumbrian Deborah whose +counsel was sought even by kings; and the double +monastery over which she ruled became a seminary +of bishops and priests. The sainted John of +Beverley was among her scholars. But the name +which really throws glory over Whitby is the +name of a cowherd from whose lips during the +reign of Oswiu flowed the first great English song. +Though well advanced in years, Cædmon had +learned nothing of the art of verse, the alliterative +jingle so common among his fellows, "wherefore +being sometimes at feasts, when all agreed for +glee's sake to sing in turn, he no sooner saw the +harp come towards him than he rose from the +board and went homewards. Once when he had +done thus, and gone from the feast to the stable +where he had that night charge of the cattle, there +appeared to him in his sleep One who said, greeting +him by name, 'Sing, Cædmon, some song to Me.' +'I cannot sing,' he answered; 'for this cause left +I the feast and came hither.' He who talked with +him answered, 'However that be, you shall sing +to Me.' 'What shall I sing?' rejoined Cædmon. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-078"></a>1-078]</span> + +'The beginning of created things,' replied He. +In the morning the cowherd stood before Hild +and told his dream. Abbess and brethren alike +concluded 'that heavenly grace had been conferred +on him by the Lord.' They translated for +Cædmon a passage in Holy Writ, 'bidding him, +if he could, put the same into verse.' The next +morning he gave it them composed in excellent +verse, whereon the abbess, understanding the +divine grace in the man, bade him quit the +secular habit and take on him the monastic life." +Piece by piece the sacred story was thus thrown +into Cædmon's poem. "He sang of the creation +of the world, of the origin of man, and of all the +history of Israel; of their departure from Egypt +and entering into the Promised Land; of the +incarnation, passion, and resurrection of Christ, +and of His ascension; of the terror of future +judgement, the horror of hell-pangs, and the joys +of heaven." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Synod of Whitby</span> +</p> + +<p> +But even while Cædmon was singing the glories +of Northumbria and of the Irish Church were passing +away. The revival of Mercia was as rapid as +its fall. Only a few years after Penda's defeat +the Mercians threw off Oswin's yoke and set Wulfhere, +a son of Penda, on their throne. They were aided +in their revolt, no doubt, by a religious strife +which was now rending the Northumbrian realm. +The labour of Aidan, the victories of Oswald and +Oswin, seemed to have annexed the north to the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-079"></a>1-079]</span> + +Irish Church. The monks of Lindisfarne, or of +the new religious houses whose foundation followed +that of Lindisfarne, looked for their ecclesiastical +tradition, not to Rome but to Ireland; and quoted +for their guidance the instructions, not of Gregory, +but of Columba. Whatever claims of supremacy +over the whole English Church might be pressed +by the see of Canterbury, the real metropolitan of +the Church as it existed in the North of England +was the Abbot of Iona. But Oswiu's queen brought +with her from Kent the loyalty of the Kentish +Church to the Roman See; and the visit of two +young thegns to the Imperial City raised their love +of Rome into a passionate fanaticism. The elder +of these, Benedict Biscop, returned to denounce +the usages in which the Irish Church differed from +the Roman as schismatic; and the vigour of his +comrade Wilfrid stirred so hot a strife that Oswiu +was prevailed upon to summon in 664 a great +council at Whitby, where the future ecclesiastical +allegiance of his realm should be decided. The +points actually contested were trivial enough. +Colman, Aidan's successor at Holy Island, pleaded +for the Irish fashion of the tonsure, and for the +Irish time of keeping Easter: Wilfrid pleaded for +the Roman. The one disputant appealed to the +authority of Columba, the other to that of St. +Peter. "You own," cried the king at last to +Colman, "that Christ gave to Peter the keys of +the kingdom of heaven--has He given such power + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-080"></a>1-080]</span> + +to Columba?" The bishop could but answer +"No." "Then will I rather obey the porter of +heaven," said Oswiu, "lest when I reach its gates +he who has the keys in his keeping turn his back +on me, and there be none to open." The humorous +tone of Oswiu's decision could not hide its +importance, and the synod had no sooner broken +up than Colman, followed by the whole of the +Irish-born brethren and thirty of their English +fellows, forsook the see of St. Aidan and sailed +away to Iona. Trivial in fact as were the actual +points of difference which severed the Roman +Church from the Irish, the question to which +communion Northumbria should belong was of +immense moment to the after fortunes of England. +Had the Church of Aidan finally won, the later +ecclesiastical history of England would probably +have resembled that of Ireland. Devoid of that +power of organization which was the strength of +the Roman Church, the Celtic Church in its own +Irish home took the clan system of the country as +the basis of its government. Tribal quarrels and +ecclesiastical controversies became inextricably +confounded; and the clergy, robbed of all really +spiritual influence, contributed no element save +that of disorder to the state. Hundreds of wandering +bishops, a vast religious authority wielded by +hereditary chieftains, the dissociation of piety from +morality, the absence of those larger and more +humanizing influences which contact with a wider + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-081"></a>1-081]</span> + +world alone can give, this is a picture which the +Irish Church of later times presents to us. It was +from such a chaos as this that England was saved +by the victory of Rome in the Synod of Whitby. +But the success of Wilfrid dispelled a yet greater +danger. Had England clung to the Irish Church +it must have remained spiritually isolated from +the bulk of the Western world. Fallen as Rome +might be from its older greatness, it preserved +the traditions of civilization, of letters and art and +law. Its faith still served as a bond which held +together the nations that sprang from the wreck +of the Empire. To fight against Rome was, as +Wilfrid said, "to fight against the world." To +repulse Rome was to condemn England to isolation. +Dimly as such thoughts may have presented +themselves to Oswiu's mind, it was the instinct of +a statesman that led him to set aside the love and +gratitude of his youth and to link England to +Rome in the Synod of Whitby. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Theodore</span> +</p> + +<p> +Oswiu's assent to the vigorous measures of +organization undertaken by a Greek monk, Theodore +of Tarsus, whom Rome despatched in 668 to +secure England to her sway as Archbishop of +Canterbury, marked a yet more decisive step in +the new policy. The work of Theodore lay mainly +in the organization of the episcopate, and thus the +Church of England, as we know it to-day, is the +work, so far as its outer form is concerned, of +Theodore. His work was determined in its main + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-082"></a>1-082]</span> + +outlines by the previous history of the English +people. The conquest of the Continent had been +wrought either by races which were already Christian, +or by heathens who bowed to the Christian +faith of the nations they conquered. To this oneness +of religion between the German invaders of +the Empire and their Roman subjects was owing +the preservation of all that survived of the Roman +world. The Church everywhere remained untouched. +The Christian bishop became the defender +of the conquered Italian or Gaul against +his Gothic and Lombard conqueror, the mediator +between the German and his subjects, the one +bulwark against barbaric violence and oppression. +To the barbarian, on the other hand, he was the +representative of all that was venerable in the +past, the living record of law, of letters, and of +art. But in Britain the priesthood and the people +had been driven out together. When Theodore +came to organize the Church of England, the very +memory of the older Christian Church which +existed in Roman Britain had passed away. The +first missionaries to the Englishmen, strangers in +a heathen land, attached themselves necessarily to +the courts of the kings, who were their earliest +converts, and whose conversion was generally +followed by that of their people. The English +bishops were thus at first royal chaplains, and +their diocese was naturally nothing but the kingdom. +In this way realms which are all but forgotten + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-083"></a>1-083]</span> + +are commemorated in the limits of existing +sees. That of Rochester represented till of late +an obscure kingdom of West Kent, and the frontier +of the original kingdom of Mercia may be +recovered by following the map of the ancient +bishopric of Lichfield. In adding many sees to +those he found Theodore was careful to make their +dioceses co-extensive with existing tribal demarcations. +But he soon passed from this extension of +the episcopate to its organization. In his arrangement +of dioceses, and the way in which he grouped +them round the see of Canterbury, in his national +synods and ecclesiastical canons, Theodore did +unconsciously a political work. The old divisions of +kingdoms and tribes about him, divisions which +had sprung for the most part from mere accidents +of the conquest, were now fast breaking down. +The smaller states were by this time practically +absorbed by the three larger ones, and of these +three Mercia and Wessex were compelled to bow +to the superiority of Northumbria. The tendency +to national unity which was to characterize the +new England had thus already declared itself; but +the policy of Theodore clothed with a sacred form +and surrounded with divine sanctions a unity +which as yet rested on no basis but the sword. +The single throne of the one Primate at Canterbury +accustomed men's minds to the thought of a single +throne for their one temporal overlord. The +regular subordination of priest to bishop, of bishop + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-084"></a>1-084]</span> + +to primate, in the administration of the Church, +supplied a mould on which the civil organization +of the state quietly shaped itself. Above all, the +councils gathered by Theodore were the first of +our national gatherings for general legislation. It +was at a much later time that the Wise Men of +Wessex, or Northumbria, or Mercia learned to +come together in the Witenagemot of all England. +The synods which Theodore convened as religiously +representative of the whole English nation led the +way by their example to our national parliaments. +The canons which these synods enacted led the +way to a national system of law. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Wulfhere</span> +</p> + +<p> +The organization of the episcopate was followed +by the organization of the parish system. The +mission-station or monastery from which priest or +bishop went forth on journey after journey to +preach and baptize naturally disappeared as the +land became Christian. The missionaries turned +into settled clergy. As the king's chaplain became +a bishop and the kingdom his diocese, so the +chaplain of an English noble became the priest and +the manor his parish. But this parish system is +probably later than Theodore, and the system of +tithes which has been sometimes coupled with his +name dates only from the close of the eighth +century. What was really due to him was the +organization of the episcopate, and the impulse +which this gave to national unity. But the movement +towards unity found a sudden check in the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-085"></a>1-085]</span> + +revived strength of Mercia. Wulfhere proved a +vigorous and active ruler, and the peaceful reign +of Oswiu left him free to build up again during +fifteen years of rule (659-675) that Mercian +overlordship over the tribes of Mid-England which +had been lost at Penda's death. He had more +than his father's success. Not only did Essex +again own his supremacy, but even London fell +into Mercian hands. The West-Saxons were driven +across the Thames, and nearly all their settlements +to the north of that river were annexed to the +Mercian realm. Wulfhere's supremacy soon reached +even south of the Thames, for Sussex in its dread +of West-Saxons found protection in accepting his +overlordship, and its king was rewarded by a gift +of the two outlying settlements of the Jutes--the +Isle of Wight and the lands of the Meonwaras +along the Southampton water--which we must +suppose had been reduced by Mercian arms. The +industrial progress of the Mercian kingdom went +hand in hand with its military advance. The +forests of its western border, the marshes of its +eastern coast, were being cleared and drained by +monastic colonies, whose success shows the hold +which Christianity had now gained over its people. +Heathenism indeed still held its own in the wild +western woodlands and in the yet wilder +fen-country on the eastern border of the kingdom +which stretched from the "Holland," the sunk, +hollow land of Lincolnshire, to the channel of the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-086"></a>1-086]</span> + +Ouse, a wilderness of shallow waters and reedy +islets wrapped in its own dark mist-veil and tenanted +only by flocks of screaming wild-fowl. But in either +quarter the new faith made its way. In the western +woods Bishop Ecgwine found a site for an abbey +round which gathered the town of Evesham, and +the eastern fen-land was soon filled with religious +houses. Here through the liberality of King +Wulfhere rose the Abbey of Peterborough. Here +too, Guthlac, a youth of the royal race of Mercia, +sought a refuge from the world in the solitudes of +Crowland, and so great was the reverence he won, +that only two years had passed since his death +when the stately Abbey of Crowland rose over his +tomb. Earth was brought in boats to form a site; +the buildings rested on oaken piles driven into the +marsh; a great stone church replaced the hermit's +cell; and the toil of the new brotherhood changed +the pools around them into fertile meadow-land. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Ecgfrith</span> +</p> + +<p> +In spite however of this rapid recovery of its +strength by Mercia, Northumbria remained the +dominant state in Britain: and Ecgfrith, who +succeeded Oswiu in 670, so utterly defeated Wulfhere +when war broke out between them that he +was glad to purchase peace by the surrender +of Lincolnshire. Peace would have been purchased +more hardly had not Ecgfrith's ambition +turned rather to conquests over the Briton than +to victories over his fellow Englishmen. The +war between Briton and Englishman which had + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-087"></a>1-087]</span> + +languished since the battle of Chester had been +revived some twelve years before by an advance of +the West-Saxons to the south-west. Unable to +save the possessions of Wessex north of the Thames +from the grasp of Wulfhere, their king, Cenwealh, +sought for compensation in an attack on his Welsh +neighbours. A victory at Bradford on the Avon +enabled him to overrun the country near Mendip +which had till then been held by the Britons; and +a second campaign in 658, which ended in a victory +on the skirts of the great forest that covered +Somerset to the east, settled the West-Saxons as +conquerors round the sources of the Parret. It +may have been the example of the West-Saxons +which spurred Ecgfrith to a series of attacks upon +his British neighbours in the west which widened +the bounds of his kingdom. His reign marks the +highest pitch of Northumbrian power. His armies +chased the Britons from the kingdom of Cumbria, +and made the district of Carlisle English ground. A +large part of the conquered country was bestowed +upon the see of Lindisfarne, which was at this time +filled by one whom we have seen before labouring +as the Apostle of the Lowlands. Cuthbert had +found a new mission-station in Holy Island, and +preached among the moors of Northumberland as +he had preached beside the banks of Tweed. He +remained there through the great secession which +followed on the Synod of Whitby, and became +prior of the dwindled company of brethren, now + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-088"></a>1-088]</span> + +torn with endless disputes against which his patience +and good humour struggled in vain. Worn out at +last, he fled to a little island of basaltic rock, one +of the Farne group not far from Ida's fortress of +Bamborough, strewn for the most part with kelp +and sea-weed, the home of the gull and the seal. +In the midst of it rose his hut of rough stones and +turf, dug down within deep into the rock, and +roofed with logs and straw. But the reverence +for his sanctity dragged Cuthbert back to fill the +vacant see of Lindisfarne. He entered Carlisle, +which the king had bestowed upon the bishopric, +at a moment when all Northumbria was waiting +for news of a fresh campaign of Ecgfrith's against +the Britons in the north. The Firth of Forth had +long been the limit of Northumbria, but the Picts +to the north of it owned Ecgfrith's supremacy. +In 685 however the king resolved on their actual +subjection and marched across the Forth. A sense +of coming ill weighed on Northumbria, and its +dread was quickened by a memory of the curses +which had been pronounced by the bishops of +Ireland on its king, when his navy, setting out +a year before from the newly-conquered western +coast, swept the Irish shores in a raid which seemed +like sacrilege to those who loved the home of +Aidan and Columba. As Cuthbert bent over +a Roman fountain which still stood unharmed +amongst the ruins of Carlisle, the anxious +bystanders thought they caught words of ill-omen + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-089"></a>1-089]</span> + +falling from the old man's lips. "Perhaps," he +seemed to murmur, "at this very hour the peril +of the fight is over and done." "Watch and +pray," he said, when they questioned him on the +morrow; "watch and pray." In a few days more +a solitary fugitive escaped from the slaughter told +that the Picts had turned desperately to bay as +the English army entered Fife; and that Ecgfrith +and the flower of his nobles lay, a ghastly ring of +corpses, on the far-off moorland of Nectansmere. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Mercian greatness</span> +</p> + +<p> +The blow was a fatal one for Northumbrian +greatness, for while the Picts pressed on the +kingdom from the north Æthelred, Wulfhere's +successor, attacked it on the Mercian border, and +the war was only ended by a peace which left him +master of Middle-England and free to attempt the +direct conquest of the south. For the moment +this attempt proved a fruitless one. Mercia was +still too weak to grasp the lordship which was +slipping from Northumbria's hands, while Wessex +which seemed her destined prey rose at this +moment into fresh power under the greatest of its +early kings. Ine, the West-Saxon king whose +reign covered the long period from 688 to 726, +carried on during the whole of it the war which +Cenwealh and Centwine had begun. He pushed his +way southward round the marshes of the Parret to +a more fertile territory, and guarded the frontier +of his new conquests by a fort on the banks of +the Tone which has grown into the present Taunton. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-090"></a>1-090]</span> + +The West-Saxons thus became masters of the whole +district which now bears the name of Somerset. +The conquest of Sussex and of Kent on his eastern +border made Ine master of all Britain south of the +Thames, and his repulse of a new Mercian king +Ceolred in a bloody encounter at Wanborough in +715 seemed to establish the threefold division of +the English race between three realms of almost +equal power. But able as Ine was to hold Mercia +at bay, he was unable to hush the civil strife that +was the curse of Wessex, and a wild legend tells +the story of the disgust which drove him from the +world. He had feasted royally at one of his +country houses, and on the morrow, as he rode +from it, his queen bade him turn back thither. +The king returned to find his house stripped of +curtains and vessels, and foul with refuse and the +dung of cattle, while in the royal bed where he +had slept with Æthelburh rested a sow with her +farrow of pigs. The scene had no need of the +queen's comment: "See, my lord, how the fashion +of this world passeth away!" In 726 he sought +peace in a pilgrimage to Rome. The anarchy +which had driven Ine from the throne broke out +in civil strife which left Wessex an easy prey to +Æthelbald, the successor of Ceolred in the Mercian +realm. Æthelbald took up with better fortune +the struggle of his people for supremacy over the +south. He penetrated to the very heart of the +West-Saxon kingdom, and his siege and capture + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-091"></a>1-091]</span> + +of the royal town of Somerton in 733 ended +the war. For twenty years the overlordship of +Mercia was recognized by all Britain south of +the Humber. It was at the head of the forces +not of Mercia only but of East-Anglia and Kent, +as well as of the West-Saxons, that Æthelbald +marched against the Welsh on his western border. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Bæda</span> +</p> + +<p> +In so complete a mastery of the south the +Mercian King found grounds for a hope that +Northern Britain would also yield to his sway. +But the dream of a single England was again +destined to be foiled. Fallen as Northumbria was +from its old glory, it still remained a great power. +Under the peaceful reigns of Ecgfrith's successors, +Aldfrith and Ceolwulf, their kingdom became the +literary centre of Western Europe. No schools +were more famous than those of Jarrow and York. +The whole learning of the age seemed to be +summed up in a Northumbrian scholar. Bæda--the +Venerable Bede as later times styled him--was +born nine years after the Synod of Whitby +on ground which passed a year later to Benedict +Biscop as the site of the great abbey which he +reared by the mouth of the Wear. His youth +was trained and his long tranquil life was +wholly spent in an offshoot of Benedict's house +which was founded by his friend Ceolfrid. +Bæda never stirred from Jarrow. "I spent my +whole life in the same monastery," he says, "and +while attentive to the rule of my order and the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-092"></a>1-092]</span> + +service of the Church, my constant pleasure lay in +learning, or teaching, or writing." The words +sketch for us a scholar's life, the more touching in +its simplicity that it is the life of the first great +English scholar. The quiet grandeur of a life +consecrated to knowledge, the tranquil pleasure +that lies in learning and teaching and writing, +dawned for Englishmen in the story of Bæda. +While still young he became a teacher, and six +hundred monks besides strangers that flocked +thither for instruction formed his school of +Jarrow. It is hard to imagine how among the +toils of the schoolmaster and the duties of the +monk, Bæda could have found time for the +composition of the numerous works that made his +name famous in the West. But materials for +study had accumulated in Northumbria through +the journeys of Wilfrid and Benedict Biscop and +the libraries which were forming at Wearmouth +and York. The tradition of the older Irish +teachers still lingered to direct the young scholar +into that path of Scriptural interpretation to which +he chiefly owed his fame. Greek, a rare accomplishment +in the West, came to him from the school +which the Greek Archbishop Theodore founded +beneath the walls of Canterbury. His skill in the +ecclesiastical chant was derived from a Roman +cantor whom Pope Vitalian sent in the train of +Benedict Biscop. Little by little the young +scholar thus made himself master of the whole + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-093"></a>1-093]</span> + +range of the science of his time; he became, as +Burke rightly styled him, "the father of English +learning." The tradition of the older classic +culture was first revived for England in his +quotations of Plato and Aristotle, of Seneca and +Cicero, of Lucretius and Ovid. Virgil cast over +him the same spell that he cast over Dante; verses +from the Æneid break his narratives of martyrdoms, +and the disciple ventures on the track of +the great master in a little eclogue descriptive of +the approach of spring. His work was done with +small aid from others. "I am my own secretary," +he writes; "I make my own notes. I am my +own librarian." But forty-five works remained +after his death to attest his prodigious industry. +In his own eyes and those of his contemporaries +the most important among these were the commentaries +and homilies upon various books of the +Bible which he had drawn from the writings of +the Fathers. But he was far from confining +himself to theology. In treatises compiled as +textbooks for his scholars, Bæda threw together all +that the world had then accumulated in astronomy +and meteorology, in physics and music, in philosophy, +grammar, rhetoric, arithmetic, medicine. +But the encyclopædic character of his researches +left him in heart a simple Englishman. He loved +his own English tongue, he was skilled in English +song, his last work was a translation into English +of the Gospel of St. John, and almost the last + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-094"></a>1-094]</span> + +words that broke from his lips were some English +rimes upon death. +</p> + +<p> +But the noblest proof of his love of England lies +in the work which immortalizes his name. In his +"Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation," +Bæda was at once the founder of mediæval history +and the first English historian. All that we really +know of the century and a half that follows the +landing of Augustine we know from him. Wherever +his own personal observation extended, the +story is told with admirable detail and force. He +is hardly less full or accurate in the portions which +he owed to his Kentish friends, Albinus and +Nothelm. What he owed to no informant was +his exquisite faculty of story-telling, and yet no +story of his own telling is so touching as the story +of his death. Two weeks before the Easter of 735 +the old man was seized with an extreme weakness +and loss of breath. He still preserved however +his usual pleasantness and gay good-humour, and +in spite of prolonged sleeplessness continued his +lectures to the pupils about him. Verses of his +own English tongue broke from time to time from +the master's lip--rude rimes that told how before +the "need-fare," Death's stern "must go," none +can enough bethink him what is to be his doom +for good or ill. The tears of Bæda's scholars +mingled with his song. "We never read without +weeping," writes one of them. So the days rolled +on to Ascension-tide, and still master and pupils + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-095"></a>1-095]</span> + +toiled at their work, for Based longed to bring to +an end his version of St. John's Gospel into the +English tongue and his extracts from Bishop +Isidore. "I don't want my boys to read a lie," +he answered those who would have had him rest, +"or to work to no purpose after I am gone." A +few days before Ascension-tide his sickness grew +upon him, but he spent the whole day in teaching, +only saying cheerfully to his scholars, "Learn +with what speed you may; I know not how long +I may last." The dawn broke on another sleepless +night, and again the old man called his scholars +round him and bade them write. "There is still +a chapter wanting," said the scribe, as the morning +drew on, "and it is hard for thee to question +thyself any longer." "It is easily done," said +Bæda; "take thy pen and write quickly." Amid +tears and farewells the day wore on till eventide. +"There is yet one sentence unwritten, dear +master," said the boy. "Write it quickly," bade +the dying man. "It is finished now," said the +little scribe at last. "You speak truth," said the +master; "all is finished now." Placed upon the +pavement, his head supported in his scholar's arms, +his face turned to the spot where he was wont to +pray, Bæda chanted the solemn "Glory to God." +As his voice reached the close of his song he passed +quietly away. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Æthelbald</span> +</p> + +<p> +First among English scholars, first among +English theologians, first among English historians, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-096"></a>1-096]</span> + +it is in the monk of Jarrow that English literature +strikes its roots. In the six hundred scholars +who gathered round him for instruction he is the +father of our national education. In his physical +treatises he is the first figure to which our science +looks back. But the quiet tenor of his scholar's +life was broken by the growing anarchy of +Northumbria, and by threats of war from its +Mercian rival. At last Æthelbald marched on a +state which seemed exhausted by civil discord and +ready for submission to his arms. But its king +Eadberht showed himself worthy of the kings that +had gone before him, and in 740 he threw back +Æthelbald's attack in a repulse which not only +ruined the Mercian ruler's hopes of northern +conquest but loosened his hold on the south. +Already goaded to revolt by exactions, the +West-Saxons were roused to a fresh struggle for +independence, and after twelve years of continued +outbreaks the whole people mustered at Burford +under the golden dragon of their race. The fight +was a desperate one, but a sudden panic seized the +Mercian King. He fled from the field, and a +decisive victory freed Wessex from the Mercian +yoke. Æthelbald's own throne seems to have +been shaken; for three years later, in 757, the +Mercian king was surprised and slain in a night +attack by his ealdormen, and a year of confusion +passed ere his kinsman Offa could avenge him on +his murderers and succeed to the realm. +</p> + + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-097"></a>1-097]</span> + +<p> +But though Eadberht might beat back the +inroads of the Mercians and even conquer Strathclyde, +before the anarchy of his own kingdom he +could only fling down his sceptre and seek a +refuge in the cloister of Lindisfarne. From the +death of Bæda the history of Northumbria became +in fact little more than a wild story of lawlessness +and bloodshed. King after king was swept away +by treason and revolt, the country fell into the +hands of its turbulent nobles, its very fields lay +waste, and the land was scourged by famine and +plague. An anarchy almost as complete fell on +Wessex after the recovery of its freedom. Only +in Mid-England was there any sign of order and +settled rule. The crushing defeat at Burford, +though it had brought about revolts which +stripped Mercia of all the conquests it had +made, was far from having broken the Mercian +power. Under the long reign of Offa, which +went on from 758 to 796, it rose again to all +but its old dominion. Since the dissolution of +the temporary alliance which Penda formed with +the Welsh King Cadwallon the war with the +Britons in the west had been the one great +hindrance to the progress of Mercia. But under +Offa Mercia braced herself to the completion of +her British conquests. Pushing after 779 over +the Severn, and carrying his ravages into the +heart of Wales, Offa drove the King of Powys +from his capital, which changed its old name + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-098"></a>1-098]</span> + +of Pengwern for the significant English title of +the Town in the Scrub or Bush, Scrobbesbyryg, +Shrewsbury. Experience however had taught the +Mercians the worthlessness of raids like these and +Offa resolved to create a military border by +planting a settlement of Englishmen between the +Severn, which had till then served as the western +boundary of the English race, and the huge +"Offa's Dyke" which he drew from the mouth of +Wye to that of Dee. Here, as in the later +conquests of the West-Saxons, the old plan of +extermination was definitely abandoned and the +Welsh who chose to remain dwelled undisturbed +among their English conquerors. From these +conquests over the Britons Offa turned to build +up again the realm which had been shattered at +Burford. But his progress was slow. A reconquest +of Kent in 775 woke anew the jealousy +of the West-Saxons; and though Offa defeated +their army at Bensington in 779 the victory was +followed by several years of inaction. It was not +till Wessex was again weakened by fresh anarchy +that he was able in 794 to seize East-Anglia and +restore his realm to its old bounds under Wulfhere. +Further he could not go. A Kentish revolt +occupied him till his death in 796, and his +successor Cenwulf did little but preserve the +realm he bequeathed him. At the close of the +eighth century the drift of the English peoples +towards a national unity was in fact utterly + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-099"></a>1-099]</span> + +arrested. The work of Northumbria had been +foiled by the resistance of Mercia; the effort of +Mercia had broken down before the resistance of +Wessex. A threefold division seemed to have +stamped itself upon the land; and so complete +was the balance of power between the three +realms which parted it that no subjection of one +to the other seemed likely to fuse the English +tribes into an English people. +</p> + +</div> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-100"></a>1-100]</span> + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk1-Ch3"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4538593"></a>CHAPTER III</li> +<li> +<a name="id4538599"></a>WESSEX AND THE NORTHMEN</li> +<li> +<a name="id4538605"></a>796-947</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Northmen</span> +</p> + +<p> +The union which each English kingdom in turn +had failed to bring about was brought about by +the pressure of the Northmen. The dwellers in +the isles of the Baltic or on either side of +the Scandinavian peninsula had lain hidden +till now from Western Christendom, waging their +battle for existence with a stern climate, a barren +soil, and stormy seas. It was this hard fight for +life that left its stamp on the temper of Dane, +Swede, or Norwegian alike, that gave them their +defiant energy, their ruthless daring, their passion +for freedom and hatred of settled rule. Forays +and plunder raids over sea eked out their scanty +livelihood, and at the close of the eighth century +these raids found a wider sphere than the waters +of the northern seas. Tidings of the wealth +garnered in the abbeys and towns of the new +Christendom which had risen from the wreck of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-101"></a>1-101]</span> + +Rome drew the pirates slowly southwards to the +coasts of Northern Gaul; and just before Offa's +death their boats touched the shores of Britain. +To men of that day it must have seemed as +though the world had gone back three hundred +years. The same northern fiords poured forth +their pirate-fleets as in the days of Hengest or +Cerdic. There was the same wild panic as the +black boats of the invaders struck inland along +the river-reaches or moored round the river isles, +the same sights of horror, firing of homesteads, +slaughter of men, women driven off to slavery or +shame, children tossed on pikes or sold in the +market-place, as when the English themselves had +attacked Britain. Christian priests were again +slain at the altar by worshippers of Woden; +letters, arts, religion, government disappeared +before these northmen as before the northmen of +three centuries before. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Ecgberht</span> +</p> + +<p>In 794 a pirate band plundered the monasteries +of Wearmouth and Jarrow, and the presence of +the freebooters soon told on the political balance +of the English realms. A great revolution was +going on in the south, where Mercia was torn by +civil wars which followed on Cenwulf's death, while +the civil strife of the West-Saxons was hushed by +a new king, Ecgberht. In Offa's days Ecgberht +had failed in his claim of the crown of Wessex and +had been driven to fly for refuge to the court of +the Franks. He remained there through the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-102"></a>1-102]</span> + +memorable year during which Charles the Great +restored the Empire of the West, and returned in +802 to be quietly welcomed as King by the West-Saxon +people. A march into the heart of Cornwall +and the conquest of this last fragment of the +British kingdom in the south-west freed his hands +for a strife with Mercia, which broke out in 825 +when the Mercian King Beornwulf marched into +the heart of Wiltshire. A victory of Ecgberht at +Ellandun gave all England south of Thames to the +West-Saxons, and the defeat of Beornwulf spurred +the men of East-Anglia to rise in a desperate revolt +against Mercia. Two great overthrows at +their hands had already spent its strength when +Ecgberht crossed the Thames in 828, and the realm +of Penda and Offa bowed without a struggle to its +conqueror. But Ecgberht had wider aims than +those of supremacy over Mercia alone. The dream +of a union of all England drew him to the north. +Northumbria was still strong; in learning and arts +it stood at the head of the English race; and +under a king like Eadberht it would have withstood +Ecgberht as resolutely as it had withstood +Æthelbald. But the ruin of Jarrow and Wearmouth +had cast on it a spell of terror. Torn by +civil strife, and desperate of finding in itself the +union needed to meet the northmen, Northumbria +sought union and deliverance in subjection to +a foreign master. Its thegns met Ecgberht in +Derbyshire, and owned the supremacy of Wessex. +</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-103"></a>1-103]</span> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Conquests of the Northmen</span> +</p> + +<p> +With the submission of Northumbria the work +which Oswiu and Æthelbald had failed to do was +done, and the whole English race was for the first +time knit together under a single rule. The union +came not a moment too soon. Had the old severance +of people from people, the old civil strife +within each separate realm, gone on it is hard to +see how the attacks of the northmen could have +been withstood. They were already settled in +Ireland; and from Ireland a northern host landed +in 836 at Charmouth in Dorsetshire strong enough +to drive Ecgberht, when he hastened to meet them, +from the field. His victory the year after at +Hengestdun won a little rest for the land; but +Æthelwulf who mounted the throne on Ecgberht's +death in 839 had to face an attack which was +only beaten off by years of hard fighting. Æthelwulf +fought bravely in defence of his realm; in +his defeat at Charmouth as in a final victory at +Aclea in 851 he led his troops in person against +the sea-robbers; and his success won peace for +the land through the short and uneventful reigns +of his sons Æthelbald and Æthelberht. But the +northern storm burst in full force upon England +when a third son, Æthelred, followed his brothers +on the throne. The northmen were now settled +on the coast of Ireland and the coast of Gaul; +they were masters of the sea; and from west and +east alike they closed upon Britain. While one +host from Ireland fell on the Scot kingdom north + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-104"></a>1-104]</span> + +of the Firth of Forth, another from Scandinavia +landed in 866 on the coast of East-Anglia under +Ivar the Boneless and marched the next year upon +York. A victory over two claimants of its crown +gave the pirates Northumbrian and seizing the +passage of the Trent they threatened an attack on +the Mercian realm. Mercia was saved by a march +of King Æthelred to Nottingham, but the peace he +made there with the northmen left them leisure to +prepare for an invasion of East-Anglia, whose +under-king, Eadmund, brought prisoner before +their leaders, was bound to a tree and shot to +death with arrows. His martyrdom by the heathen +made Eadmund the St. Sebastian of English legend; +in later days his figure gleamed from the pictured +windows of church after church along the eastern +coast, and the stately Abbey of St. Edmundsbury +rose over his relics. With him ended the line of +East-Anglian under-kings, for his kingdom was not +only conquered, but divided among the soldiers of +the pirate host when in 880 Guthrum assumed its +crown. Already the northmen had turned to the +richer spoil of the great abbeys of the Fen. Peterborough, +Crowland, Ely went up in flames, and their +monks fled or lay slain among the ruins. Mercia, +though still free from actual attack, cowered +panic-stricken before the Danes, and by payment +of tribute owned them as its overlords. +</p> + +<center><a href="images/v1-map-3.jpg"><img src="images/v1-map-3t.jpg" alt="England and the Danelaw"></a></center> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Wessex and the Northmen</span> +</p> + +<p> +In five years the work of Ecgberht had been +undone, and England north of the Thames had + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-105"></a>1-105]</span> + +been torn from the overlordship of Wessex. So +rapid a change could only have been made possible +by the temper of the conquered kingdoms. To +them the conquest was simply their transfer from +one overlord to another, and it may be that in all +there were men who preferred the overlordship of +the Northman to the overlordship of the West-Saxon. +But the loss of the subject kingdoms left +Wessex face to face with the invaders. The time +had now come for it to fight, not for supremacy, +but for life. As yet the land seemed paralyzed by +terror. With the exception of his one march on +Nottingham, King Æthelred had done nothing to +save his under-kingdoms from the wreck. But the +pirates no sooner pushed up Thames to Reading +in 871 than the West-Saxons, attacked on their +own soil, turned fiercely at bay. A desperate +attack drove the northmen from Ashdown on the +heights that overlook the Vale of White Horse, +but their camp in the tongue of land between the +Kennet and Thames proved impregnable. Æthelred +died in the midst of the struggle, and his +brother Ælfred, who now became king, bought +the withdrawal of the pirates and a few years' +breathing-space for his realm. It was easy for the +quick eye of Ælfred to see that the northmen had +withdrawn simply with the view of gaining firmer +footing for a new attack; three years indeed had +hardly passed before Mercia was invaded and its +under-king driven over sea to make place for a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-106"></a>1-106]</span> + +tributary of the invaders. From Repton half +their host marched northwards to the Tyne, +while Guthrum led the rest to Cambridge to +prepare for their next year's attack on Wessex. +In 876 his fleet appeared before Wareham, and +in spite of a treaty bought by Ælfred, the +northmen threw themselves into Exeter. Their +presence there was likely to stir a rising of the +Welsh, and through the winter Ælfred girded +himself for this new peril. At break of spring +his army closed round the town, a hired fleet +cruised off the coast to guard against rescue, and +the defeat of their fellows at Wareham in an attempt +to relieve them drove the pirates to surrender. +They swore to leave Wessex and withdrew to +Gloucester. But Ælfred had hardly disbanded his +troops when his enemies, roused by the arrival of +fresh hordes eager for plunder, reappeared at +Chippenham, and in the opening of 878 marched +ravaging over the land. The surprise of Wessex +was complete, and for a month or two the general +panic left no hope of resistance. Ælfred, with his +small band of followers, could only throw himself +into a fort raised hastily in the isle of Athelney +among the marshes of the Parret, a position from +which he could watch closely the movements of his +foes. But with the first burst of spring he called +the thegns of Somerset to his standard, and still +gathering troops as he moved marched through +Wiltshire on the northmen. He found their host + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-107"></a>1-107]</span> + +at Edington, defeated it in a great battle, and after +a siege of fourteen days forced them to surrender +and to bind themselves by a solemn peace or +"frith" at Wedmore in Somerset. In form the +Peace of Wedmore seemed a surrender of the bulk +of Britain to its invaders. All Northumbria, all +East-Anglia, all Central England east of a line +which stretched from Thames' mouth along the +Lea to Bedford, thence along the Ouse to Watling +Street, and by Watling Street to Chester, was left +subject to the northmen. Throughout this "Danelaw"--as +it was called--the conquerors settled +down among the conquered population as lords of +the soil, thickly in northern Britain, more thinly +in its central districts, but everywhere guarding +jealously their old isolation and gathering in +separate "heres" or armies round towns which +were only linked in loose confederacies. The +peace had in fact saved little more than Wessex +itself. But in saving Wessex it saved England. +The spell of terror was broken. The tide of invasion +turned. From an attitude of attack the +northmen were thrown back on an attitude of +defence. The whole reign of Ælfred was a preparation +for a fresh struggle that was to wrest back +from the pirates the land they had won. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Ælfred</span> +</p> + +<p> +What really gave England heart for such a +struggle was the courage and energy of the King +himself. Alfred was the noblest as he was the +most complete embodiment of all that is great, all + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-108"></a>1-108]</span> + +that is loveable, in the English temper. He combined +as no other man has ever combined its +practical energy, its patient and enduring force, its +profound sense of duty, the reserve and self-control +that steadies in it a wide outlook and a restless +daring, its temperance and fairness, its frank +geniality, its sensitiveness to affection, its poetic +tenderness, its deep and passionate religion. +Religion indeed was the groundwork of Ælfred's +character. His temper was instinct with piety. +Everywhere throughout his writings that remain +to us the name of God, the thought of God, stir +him to outbursts of ecstatic adoration. But he +was no mere saint. He felt none of that scorn of +the world about him which drove the nobler souls +of his day to monastery or hermitage. Vexed as he +was by sickness and constant pain, his temper took +no touch of asceticism. His rare geniality, a +peculiar elasticity and mobility of nature, gave +colour and charm to his life. A sunny frankness +and openness of spirit breathes in the pleasant +chat of his books, and what he was in his books he +showed himself in his daily converse. Ælfred was +in truth an artist, and both the lights and shadows +of his life were those of the artistic temperament. +His love of books, his love of strangers, his questionings +of travellers and scholars, betray an +imaginative restlessness that longs to break out of +the narrow world of experience which hemmed him +in. At one time he jots down news of a voyage to + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-109"></a>1-109]</span> + +the unknown seas of the north. At another he +listens to tidings which his envoys bring back from +the churches of Malabar. And side by side with this +restless outlook of the artistic nature he showed its +tenderness and susceptibility, its vivid apprehension +of unseen danger, its craving for affection, +its sensitiveness to wrong. It was with himself +rather than with his reader that he communed as +thoughts of the foe without, of ingratitude and +opposition within, broke the calm pages of Gregory +or Boethius. "Oh, what a happy man was he," he +cries once, "that man that had a naked sword +hanging over his head from a single thread; so as +to me it always did!" "Desirest thou power?" +he asks at another time. "But thou shalt never +obtain it without sorrows--sorrows from strange +folk, and yet keener sorrows from thine own +kindred." "Hardship and sorrow!" he breaks +out again, "not a king but would wish to be +without these if he could. But I know that he +cannot!" The loneliness which breathes in words +like these has often begotten in great rulers a +cynical contempt of men and the judgements of +men. But cynicism found no echo in the large +and sympathetic temper of Ælfred. He not only +longed for the love of his subjects, but for the +remembrance of "generations" to come. Nor did +his inner gloom or anxiety check for an instant his +vivid and versatile activity. To the scholars he +gathered round him he seemed the very type of a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-110"></a>1-110]</span> + +scholar, snatching every hour he could find to read +or listen to books read to him. The singers of his +court found in him a brother singer, gathering the +old songs of his people to teach them to his children, +breaking his renderings from the Latin with simple +verse, solacing himself in hours of depression with +the music of the Psalms. He passed from court and +study to plan buildings and instruct craftsmen in +gold-work, to teach even falconers and dog-keepers +their business. But all this versatility and ingenuity +was controlled by a cool good sense. +Ælfred was a thorough man of business. He was +careful of detail, laborious, methodical. He +carried in his bosom a little handbook in which he +noted things as they struck him--now a bit of +family genealogy, now a prayer, now such a story +as that of Ealdhelm playing minstrel on the bridge. +Each hour of the day had its appointed task, there +was the same order in the division of his revenue +and in the arrangement of his court. +</p> + +<p> +Wide however and various as was the King's +temper, its range was less wonderful than its +harmony. Of the narrowness, of the want of proportion, +of the predominance of one quality +over another which goes commonly with an +intensity of moral purpose Ælfred showed not a +trace. Scholar and soldier, artist and man of +business, poet and saint, his character kept that +perfect balance which charms us in no other +Englishman save Shakspere. But full and harmonious + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-111"></a>1-111]</span> + +as his temper was, it was the temper of a +king. Every power was bent to the work of rule. +His practical energy found scope for itself in the +material and administrative restoration of the +wasted land. His intellectual activity breathed +fresh life into education and literature. His +capacity for inspiring trust and affection drew the +hearts of Englishmen to a common centre, and began +the upbuilding of a new England. And all was +guided, controlled, ennobled by a single aim. "So +long as I have lived," said the King as life closed +about him, "I have striven to live worthily." +Little by little men came to know what such a life +of worthiness meant. Little by little they came to +recognize in Ælfred a ruler of higher and nobler +stamp than the world had seen. Never had it +seen a King who lived solely for the good of +his people. Never had it seen a ruler who set +aside every personal aim to devote himself solely +to the welfare of those whom he ruled. It was +this grand self-mastery that gave him his power +over the men about him. Warrior and conqueror +as he was, they saw him set aside at thirty the +warrior's dream of conquest; and the self-renouncement +of Wedmore struck the key-note of his reign. +But still more is it this height and singleness of +purpose, this absolute concentration of the noblest +faculties to the noblest aim, that lifts Ælfred out +of the narrow bounds of Wessex. If the sphere +of his action seems too small to justify the comparison + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-112"></a>1-112]</span> + +of him with the few whom the world owns +as its greatest men, he rises to their level in the +moral grandeur of his life. And it is this which +has hallowed his memory among his own English +people. "I desire," said the King in some of his +latest words, "I desire to leave to the men that +come after me a remembrance of me in good +works." His aim has been more than fulfilled. +His memory has come down to us with a living +distinctness through the mists of exaggeration and +legend which time gathered round it. The +instinct of the people has clung to him with a +singular affection. The love which he won a +thousand years ago has lingered round his name +from that day to this. While every other name of +those earlier times has all but faded from the +recollection of Englishmen, that of Ælfred remains +familiar to every English child. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">English Literature</span> +</p> + +<p> +The secret of Ælfred's government lay in his +own vivid energy. He could hardly have chosen +braver or more active helpers than those whom he +employed both in his political and in his +educational efforts. The children whom he +trained to rule proved the ablest rulers of their +time. But at the outset of his reign he stood +alone, and what work was to be done was done +by the King himself. His first efforts were +directed to the material restoration of his realm. +The burnt and wasted country saw its towns built +again, forts erected in positions of danger, new + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-113"></a>1-113]</span> + +abbeys founded, the machinery of justice and +government restored, the laws codified and +amended. Still more strenuous were Ælfred's +efforts for its moral and intellectual restoration. +Even in Mercia and Northumbria the pirates' +sword had left few survivors of the schools of +Ecgberht or Bæda, and matters were even worse +in Wessex which had been as yet the most +ignorant of the English kingdoms. "When I +began to reign," said Ælfred, "I cannot remember +one priest south of the Thames who could render +his service-book into English." For instructors +indeed he could find only a few Mercian prelates +and priests with one Welsh bishop, Asser. +"In old times," the King writes sadly, "men +came hither from foreign lands to seek for instruction, +and now if we are to have it we can +only get it from abroad." But his mind was far +from being prisoned within his own island. He +sent a Norwegian ship-master to explore the +White Sea, and Wulfstan to trace the coast of +Esthonia; envoys bore his presents to the +churches of India and Jerusalem, and an annual +mission carried Peter's-pence to Rome. But it +was with the Franks that his intercourse was +closest, and it was from them that he drew the +scholars to aid him in his work of education. +Grimbald came from St. Omer to preside over +his new abbey at Winchester; and John, the Old +Saxon, was fetched it may be from the Westphalian + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-114"></a>1-114]</span> + +abbey of Corbey to rule the monastery that +Ælfred's gratitude for his deliverance from the +Danes raised in the marshes of Athelney. The +real work however to be done was done, not by +these teachers but by the King himself. Ælfred +established a school for the young nobles at his +own court, and it was to the need of books for +these scholars in their own tongue that we owe +his most remarkable literary effort. He took his +books as he found them--they were the popular +manuals of his age--the Consolation of Boethius, +the Pastoral Book of Pope Gregory, the compilation +of "Orosius," then the one accessible handbook +of universal history, and the history of his own +people by Bæda. He translated these works into +English, but he was far more than a translator, he +was an editor for his people. Here he omitted, +there he expanded. He enriched "Orosius" by a +sketch of the new geographical discoveries in +the North. He gave a West-Saxon form to his +selections from Bæda. In one place he stops to +explain his theory of government, his wish for +a thicker population, his conception of national +welfare as consisting in a due balance of the priest, +the thegn, and the churl. The mention of Nero +spurs him to an outbreak on the abuses of power. +The cold Providence of Boethius gives way to an +enthusiastic acknowledgement of the goodness of +God. As he writes, his large-hearted nature +flings off its royal mantle, and he talks as a man + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-115"></a>1-115]</span> + +to men. "Do not blame me," he prays with a +charming simplicity, "if any know Latin better +than I, for every man must say what he says +and do what he does according to his ability." +But simple as was his aim, Ælfred changed the +whole front of our literature. Before him, +England possessed in her own tongue one great +poem and a train of ballads and battle-songs. +Prose she had none. The mighty roll of the +prose books that fill her libraries begins with the +translations of Ælfred, and above all with the +chronicle of his reign. It seems likely that the +King's rendering of Bæda's history gave the first +impulse towards the compilation of what is known +as the English or Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which +was certainly thrown into its present form during +his reign. The meagre lists of the kings of +Wessex and the bishops of Winchester, which +had been preserved from older times, were +roughly expanded into a national history by +insertions from Bæda: but it is when it reaches +the reign of Ælfred that the chronicle suddenly +widens into the vigorous narrative, full of life and +originality, that marks the gift of a new power to +the English tongue. Varying as it does from age +to age in historic value, it remains the first +vernacular history of any Teutonic people, and +save for the work of Ulfilas who found no successors +among his Gothic people, the earliest and +most venerable monument of Teutonic prose. +</p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-116"></a>1-116]</span> + +<p> +But all this literary activity was only a part +of that general upbuilding of Wessex by which +Ælfred was preparing for a fresh contest with the +stranger. He knew that the actual winning back +of the Danelaw must be a work of the sword, +and through these long years of peace he was +busy with the creation of such a force as might +match that of the northmen. A fleet grew out +of the little squadron which Ælfred had been +forced to man with Frisian seamen. The national +fyrd or levy of all freemen at the King's call was +reorganized. It was now divided into two halves, +one of which served in the field while the other +guarded its own burhs and townships and served +to relieve its fellow when the men's forty days of +service were ended. A more disciplined military +force was provided by subjecting all owners of +five hides of land to thegn-service, a step which +recognized the change that had now substituted +the thegn for the eorl and in which we see the +beginning of a feudal system. How effective +these measures were was seen when the new +resistance they met on the Continent drove the +northmen to a fresh attack on Britain. In 893 +a large fleet steered for the Andredsweald, while +the sea-king Hasting entered the Thames. Ælfred +held both at bay through the year till the men of +the Danelaw rose at their comrades' call. Wessex +stood again front to front with the northmen. +But the King's measures had made the realm + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-117"></a>1-117]</span> + +strong enough to set aside its old policy of defence +for one of vigorous attack. His son +Eadward and his son-in-law Æthelred, whom he +had set as Ealdorman over what remained of +Mercia, showed themselves as skilful and active +as the King. The aim of the northmen was to +rouse again the hostility of the Welsh, but while +Ælfred held Exeter against their fleet, Eadward +and Æthelred caught their army near the Severn +and overthrew it with a vast slaughter at Buttington. +The destruction of their camp on the +Lea by the united English forces ended the war; +in 897 Hasting again withdrew across the Channel, +and the Danelaw made peace. It was with the +peace he had won still about him that Ælfred died +in 901, and warrior as his son Eadward had shown +himself, he clung to his father's policy of rest. +It was not till 910 that a fresh rising of the +northmen forced Ælfred's children to gird themselves +to the conquest of the Danelaw. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Eadward the Elder</span> +</p> + +<p> +While Eadward bridled East-Anglia his sister +Æthelflæd, in whose hands Æthelred's death left +English Mercia, attacked the "Five Boroughs," a +rude confederacy which had taken the place of +the older Mercian kingdom. Derby represented +the original Mercia on the upper Trent, Lincoln +the Lindiswaras, Leicester the Middle-English, +Stamford the province of the Gyrwas, Nottingham +probably that of the Southumbrians. Each +of these "Five Boroughs" seems to have been + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-118"></a>1-118]</span> + +ruled by its earl with his separate "host"; within +each twelve "lawmen" administered Danish law, +while a common "Thing" may have existed for the +whole district. In her attack on this powerful +league Æthelflæd abandoned the older strategy of +battle and raid for that of siege and fortress-building. +Advancing along the line of Trent, she +fortified Tamworth and Stafford on its head-waters; +when a rising in Gwent called her back to the +Welsh border, her army stormed Brecknock; and +its king no sooner fled for shelter to the northmen +in whose aid he had risen than Æthelflæd at +once closed on Derby. Raids from Middle-England +failed to draw the Lady of Mercia from her +prey; and Derby was hardly her own when, +turning southward, she forced the surrender of +Leicester. Nor had the brilliancy of his sister's +exploits eclipsed those of the King, for the son +of Ælfred was a vigorous and active ruler; he +had repulsed a dangerous inroad of the northmen +from France, summoned no doubt by the cry of +distress from their brethren in England, and had +bridled East-Anglia to the south by the erection +of forts at Hertford and Witham. On the death +of Æthelflæd in 918 he came boldly to the front. +Annexing Mercia to Wessex, and thus gathering +the whole strength of the kingdom into his single +hand, he undertook the systematic reduction of +the Danelaw. South of the Middle-English and +the Fens lay a tract watered by the Ouse and the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-119"></a>1-119]</span> + +Nen--originally the district of a tribe known as +the South-English, and now, like the Five +Boroughs of the north, grouped round the towns +of Bedford, Huntingdon, and Northampton. The +reduction of these was followed by that of East-Anglia; +the northmen of the Fens submitted +with Stamford, the Southumbrians with Nottingham. +Eadward's Mercian troops had already +seized Manchester; he himself was preparing to +complete his conquests, when in 924 the whole +of the North suddenly laid itself at his feet. +Not merely Northumbria but the Scots and the +Britons of Strathclyde "chose him to father and +lord." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Æthelstan</span> +</p> + +<p> +The triumph was his last. Eadward died in +925, but the reign of his son Æthelstan, Ælfred's +golden-haired grandson whom the King had girded +as a child with a sword set in a golden scabbard +and a gem-studded belt, proved even more glorious +than his own. In spite of its submission the +North had still to be won. Dread of the northmen +had drawn Scot and Cumbrian to their +acknowledgement of Eadward's overlordship, but +Æthelstan no sooner incorporated Northumbria +with his dominions than dread of Wessex took +the place of dread of the Danelaw. The Scot +King Constantine organized a league of Scot, +Cumbrian, and Welshman with the northmen. +The league was broken by Æthelstan's rapid +action in 926; the North-Welsh were forced to + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-120"></a>1-120]</span> + +pay annual tribute, to march in his armies, and +to attend his councils; the West-Welsh of Cornwall +were reduced to a like vassalage, and +finally driven from Exeter, which they had shared +till then with its English inhabitants, But eight +years later the same league called Æthelstan +again to the North; and though Constantine was +punished by an army which wasted his kingdom +while a fleet ravaged its coasts to Caithness the +English army had no sooner withdrawn than +Northumbria rose in 937 at the appearance of a +fleet of pirates from Ireland under the sea-king +Anlaf in the Humber. Scot and Cumbrian fought +beside the northmen against the West-Saxon +King; but his victory at Brunanburh crushed +the confederacy and won peace till his death. His +brother Eadmund was but eighteen at his accession +in 940, and the North again rose in revolt. The +men of the Five Boroughs joined their kinsmen +in Northumbria; once Eadmund was driven to a +peace which left him king but south of the +Watling Street; and only years of hard fighting +again laid the Danelaw at his feet. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Dunstan</span> +</p> + +<p> +But policy was now to supplement the work +of the sword. The completion of the West-Saxon +realm was in fact reserved for the hands, +not of a king or warrior, but of a priest. Dunstan +stands first in the line of ecclesiastical statesmen +who counted among them Lanfranc and Wolsey +and ended in Laud. He is still more remarkable + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-121"></a>1-121]</span> + +in himself, in his own vivid personality after +eight centuries of revolution and change. He +was born in the little hamlet of Glastonbury, the +home of his father, Heorstan, a man of wealth +and brother of the bishops of Wells and of Winchester. +It must have been in his father's hall +that the fair, diminutive boy, with scant but +beautiful hair, caught his love for "the vain +songs of heathendom, the trifling legends, the +funeral chaunts," which afterwards roused against +him the charge of sorcery. Thence too he might +have derived his passionate love of music, and his +custom of carrying his harp in hand on journey +or visit. Wandering scholars of Ireland had left +their books in the monastery of Glastonbury, as +they left them along the Rhine and the Danube; +and Dunstan plunged into the study of sacred +and profane letters till his brain broke down in +delirium. So famous became his knowledge in the +neighbourhood that news of it reached the court +of Æthelstan, but his appearance there was the +signal for a burst of ill-will among the courtiers. +Again they drove him from Eadmund's train, +threw him from his horse as he passed through +the marshes, and with the wild passion of their +age trampled him under foot in the mire. The +outrage ended in fever, and Dunstan rose from +his sick-bed a monk. But the monastic profession +was then little more than a vow of celibacy and +his devotion took no ascetic turn. His nature in + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-122"></a>1-122]</span> + +fact was sunny, versatile, artistic; full of strong +affections, and capable of inspiring others with +affections as strong. Quick-witted, of tenacious +memory, a ready and fluent speaker, gay and +genial in address, an artist, a musician, he was +at the same time an indefatigable worker alike +at books or handicraft. As his sphere began +to widen we see him followed by a train of +pupils, busy with literature, writing, harping, +painting, designing. One morning a lady summons +him to her house to design a robe which +she is embroidering, and as he bends with her +maidens over their toil his harp hung upon the +wall sounds without mortal touch tones which the +excited ears around frame into a joyous antiphon. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Conquest of the Danelaw</span> +</p> + +<p> +From this scholar-life Dunstan was called to +a wider sphere of activity towards the close of +Eadmund's reign. But the old jealousies revived +at his reappearance at court, and counting the game +lost Dunstan prepared again to withdraw. The +king had spent the day in the chase; the red +deer which he was pursuing dashed over Cheddar +cliffs, and his horse only checked itself on the +brink of the ravine at the moment when Eadmund +in the bitterness of death was repenting of his injustice +to Dunstan. He was at once summoned +on the king's return. "Saddle your horse," said +Eadmund, "and ride with me." The royal train +swept over the marshes to his home; and the +king, bestowing on him the kiss of peace, seated + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-123"></a>1-123]</span> + +him in the abbot's chair as Abbot of Glastonbury. +Dunstan became one of Eadmund's councillors, +and his hand was seen in the settlement of the +north. It was the hostility of the states around +it to the West-Saxon rule which had roused so +often revolt in the Danelaw; but from the time of +Brunanburh we hear nothing more of the hostility +of Bernicia, while Cumbria was conquered by +Eadmund and turned adroitly to account in winning +over the Scots to his cause. The greater part of it +was granted to their king Malcolm on terms that +he should be Eadmund's "fellow-worker by sea and +land." The league of Scot and Briton was thus +finally broken up, and the fidelity of the Scots +secured by their need of help in holding down +their former ally. The settlement was soon +troubled by the young king's death. As he +feasted at Pucklechurch in the May of 946, +Leofa, a robber whom Eadmund had banished +from the land, entered the hall, seated himself at +the royal board, and drew sword on the cup-bearer +when he bade him retire. The king sprang in +wrath to his thegn's aid, and seizing Leofa by the +hair, flung him to the ground; but in the struggle +the robber drove his dagger to Eadmund's heart. +His death at once stirred fresh troubles in the +north; the Danelaw rose against his brother and +successor, Eadred, and some years of hard fighting +were needed before it was again driven to own the +English supremacy. But with its submission in + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-124"></a>1-124]</span> + +954 the work of conquest was done. Dogged as +his fight had been, the Dane at last owned +himself beaten. From the moment of Eadred's +final triumph all resistance came to an end. The +Danelaw ceased to be a force in English politics. +North might part anew from South; men of Yorkshire +might again cross swords with men of Hampshire; +but their strife was henceforth a local strife +between men of the same people; it was a strife of +Englishmen with Englishmen, and not of Englishmen +with Northmen. +</p> + +</div> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-125"></a>1-125]</span> + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk1-Ch4"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4540289"></a>CHAPTER IV</li> +<li> +<a name="id4540295"></a>FEUDALISM AND THE MONARCHY</li> +<li> +<a name="id4540301"></a>954-1071</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Absorption of the Northmen</span> +</p> + +<p> +The fierceness of the northman's onset had hidden +the real character of his attack. To the men who +first fronted the pirates it seemed as though the +story of the world had gone back to the days +when the German barbarians first broke in upon +the civilized world. It was so above all in +Britain. All that tradition told of the Englishmen's +own attack on the island was seen in the +northmen's attack on it. Boats of marauders from +the northern seas again swarmed off the British +coast; church and town were again the special +object of attack; the invaders again settled on the +conquered soil; heathendom again proved stronger +than the faith of Christ. But the issues of the +two attacks showed the mighty difference between +them. When the English ceased from their onset +upon Roman Britain, Roman Britain had disappeared, +and a new people of conquerors stood + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-126"></a>1-126]</span> + +alone on the conquered land. The Northern +storm on the other hand left land, people, +government unchanged. England remained a +country of Englishmen. The conquerors sank +into the mass of the conquered, and Woden yielded +without a struggle to Christ. The strife +between Briton and Englishman was in fact a +strife between men of different races, while the +strife between northman and Englishman was a +strife between men whose race was the same. The +followers of Hengest or of Ida were men utterly +alien from the life of Britain, strange to its arts, +its culture, its wealth, as they were strange to the +social degradation which Rome had brought on its +province. But the northman was little more than +an Englishman bringing back to an England which +had drifted far from its origin the barbaric life +of its earliest forefathers. Nowhere throughout +Europe was the fight so fierce, because nowhere +else were the fighters men of one blood and one +speech. But just for this reason the union of the +combatants was nowhere so peaceful or so complete. +The victory of the house of Ælfred only +hastened a process of fusion which was already +going on. From the first moment of his settlement +in the Danelaw the northman had been +passing into an Englishman. The settlers were +few; they were scattered among a large population; +in tongue, in manner, in institutions there +was little to distinguish them from the men among + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-127"></a>1-127]</span> + +whom they dwelt. Moreover their national temper +helped on the process of assimilation. Even in +France, where difference of language and difference +of custom seemed to interpose an impassable +barrier between the northman settled in Normandy +and his neighbours, he was fast becoming +a Frenchman. In England, where no such barriers +existed, the assimilation was even quicker. The +two peoples soon became confounded. In a few +years a northman in blood was Archbishop of +Canterbury and another northman in blood was +Archbishop of York. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The three Northern Kingdoms</span> +</p> + +<p> +The fusion might have been delayed if not +wholly averted by continued descents from the +Scandinavian homeland. But with Eadred's reign +the long attack which the northman had directed +against western Christendom came, for a while at +least, to an end. On the world which it assailed +its results had been immense. It had utterly +changed the face of the west. The empire of +Ecgberht, the empire of Charles the Great, had +been alike dashed to pieces. But break and +change as it might, Christendom had held the +northmen at bay. The Scandinavian power +which had grown up on the western seas had +disappeared like a dream. In Ireland the northman's +rule had dwindled to the holding of a few +coast towns. In France his settlements had +shrunk to the one settlement of Normandy. In +England every northman was a subject of the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-128"></a>1-128]</span> + +English King. Even the empire of the seas +had passed from the sea-kings' hands. It was +an English and not a Scandinavian fleet that for +fifty years to come held mastery in the English +and the Irish Channels. With Eadred's victory +in fact the struggle seemed to have reached its +close. Stray pirate boats still hung off headland +and coast; stray wikings still shoved out in springtide +to gather booty. But for nearly half-a-century +to come no great pirate fleet made its way to the +west, or landed on the shores of Britain. The +energies of the northmen were in fact absorbed +through these years in the political changes of +Scandinavia itself. The old isolation of fiord from +fiord and dale from dale was breaking down. +The little commonwealths which had held so +jealously aloof from each other were being drawn +together whether they would or no. In each of +the three regions of the north great kingdoms +were growing up. In Sweden King Eric made +himself lord of the petty states about him. In +Denmark King Gorm built up in the same way +a monarchy of the Danes. Norway itself was +the first to become a single monarchy. Legend +told how one of its many rulers, Harald of +Westfold, sent his men to bring him Gytha of +Hordaland, a girl he had chosen for wife, and how +Gytha sent his men back again with taunts at his +petty realm. The taunts went home, and Harald +vowed never to clip or comb his hair till he had + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-129"></a>1-129]</span> + +made all Norway his own. So every springtide +came war and hosting, harrying and burning, till +a great fight at Hafursfiord settled the matter, and +Harald "Ugly-Head," as men called him while the +strife lasted, was free to shear his locks again +and became Harald "Fair-Hair." The Northmen +loved no master, and a great multitude fled out of +the country, some pushing as far as Iceland and +colonizing it, some swarming to the Orkneys and +Hebrides till Harald harried them out again and +the sea-kings sailed southward to join Guthrum's +host in the Rhine country or follow Hrolf to his +fights on the Seine. But little by little the land +settled down into order, and the three Scandinavian +realms gathered strength for new efforts +which were to leave their mark on our after +history. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">England and its King</span> +</p> + +<p> +But of the new danger which threatened it in +this union of the north England knew little. The +storm seemed to have drifted utterly away; and +the land passed from a hundred years of ceaseless +conflict into a time of peace. Here as elsewhere +the northman had failed in his purpose of conquest; +but here as elsewhere he had done a +mighty work. In shattering the empire of Charles +the Great he had given birth to the nations of +modern Europe. In his long strife with Englishmen +he had created an English people. The +national union which had been brought about +for a moment by the sword of Ecgberht was a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-130"></a>1-130]</span> + +union of sheer force which broke down at the first +blow of the sea-robbers. The black boats of the +northmen were so many wedges that split up the +fabric of the roughly-built realm. But the very +agency which destroyed the new England was +destined to bring it back again, and to breathe +into it a life that made its union real. The +peoples who had so long looked on each other as +enemies found themselves fronted by a common +foe. They were thrown together by a common +danger and the need of a common defence. Their +common faith grew into a national bond as religion +struggled hand in hand with England itself against +the heathen of the north. They recognized a +common king as a common struggle changed +Ælfred and his sons from mere leaders of West-Saxons +into leaders of all Englishmen in their +fight with the stranger. And when the work +which Ælfred set his house to do was done, when +the yoke of the northman was lifted from the +last of his conquests, Engle and Saxon, Northumbrian +and Mercian, spent with the battle for a +common freedom and a common country, knew +themselves in the hour of their deliverance as an +English people. +</p> + +<p> +The new people found its centre in the King. +The heightening of the royal power was a direct +outcome of the war. The dying out of other +royal stocks left the house of Cerdic the one line +of hereditary kingship. But it was the war with + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-131"></a>1-131]</span> + +the northmen that raised Ælfred and his sons +from tribal leaders into national kings. The long +series of triumphs which wrested the land from the +stranger begot a new and universal loyalty; while +the wider dominion which their success bequeathed +removed the kings further and further from their +people, lifted them higher and higher above the +nobles, and clothed them more and more with +a mysterious dignity. Above all the religious +character of the war against the northmen gave +a religious character to the sovereigns who waged +it. The king, if he was no longer sacred as the +son of Woden, became yet more sacred as "the +Lord's Anointed." By the very fact of his consecration +he was pledged to a religious rule, to +justice, mercy, and good government; but his +"hallowing" invested him also with a power +drawn not from the will of man or the assent of +his subjects but from the will of God, and treason +against him became the worst of crimes. Every +reign lifted the sovereign higher in the social +scale. The bishop, once ranked equal with him +in value of life, sank to the level of the ealdorman. +The ealdorman himself, once the hereditary +ruler of a smaller state, became a mere delegate +of the national king, with an authority curtailed +in every shire by that of the royal shire-reeves, +officers charged with levying the royal revenues and +destined ultimately to absorb judicial authority. +Among the later nobility of the thegns personal + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-132"></a>1-132]</span> + +service with such a lord was held not to degrade +but to ennoble. "Horse-thegn," and "cup-thegn," +and "border," the constable, butler, and treasurer, +found themselves officers of state; and the developement +of politics, the wider extension of home +and foreign affairs were already transforming these +royal officers into a standing council or ministry +for the transaction of the ordinary administrative +business and the reception of judicial appeals. +Such a ministry, composed of thegns or prelates +nominated by the king, and constituting in itself +a large part of the Witenagemot when that +assembly was gathered for legislative purposes, +drew the actual control of affairs more and more +into the hands of the sovereign himself. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Growth of Feudalism</span> +</p> + +<p> +But the king's power was still a personal power. +He had to be everywhere and to see for himself +that everything he willed was done. The royal +claims lay still far ahead of the real strength of +the Crown. There was a want of administrative +machinery in actual connexion with the government, +responsible to it, drawing its force directly +from it, and working automatically in its name +even in moments when the royal power was itself +weak or wavering. The Crown was strong under +a king who was strong, whose personal action was +felt everywhere throughout the realm, whose +dread lay on every reeve and ealdorman. But +with a weak king the Crown was weak. Ealdor-men, +provincial witenagemots, local jurisdictions, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-133"></a>1-133]</span> + +ceased to move at the royal bidding the +moment the direct royal pressure was loosened +or removed. Enfeebled as they were, the old +provincial jealousies, the old tendency to severance +and isolation lingered on and woke afresh +when the crown fell to a nerveless ruler or to a +child. And at the moment we have reached the +royal power and the national union it embodied +had to battle with fresh tendencies towards +national disintegration which sprang like itself +from the struggle with the northman. The tendency +towards personal dependence and towards a +social organization based on personal dependence +received an overpowering impulse from the strife. +The long insecurity of a century of warfare drove +the ceorl, the free tiller of the soil, to seek protection +more and more from the thegn beside him. +The freeman "commended" himself to a lord who +promised aid, and as the price of this shelter he +surrendered his freehold to receive it back as a +fief laden with conditions of military service. +The principle of personal allegiance which was +embodied in the very notion of thegnhood, itself +tended to widen into a theory of general dependence. +From Ælfred's day it was assumed that no +man could exist without a lord. The "lordless +man" became a sort of outlaw in the realm. The +free man, the very base of the older English constitution, +died down more and more into the +"villein," the man who did suit and service to a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-134"></a>1-134]</span> + +master, who followed him to the field, who looked +to his court for justice, who rendered days of +service in his demesne. The same tendencies +drew the lesser thegns around the greater nobles, +and these around the provincial ealdormen. The +ealdormen had hardly been dwarfed into lieutenants +of the national sovereign before they again +began to rise into petty kings, and in the century +which follows we see Mercian or Northumbrian +thegns following a Mercian or Northumbrian +ealdorman to the field though it were against the +lord of the land. Even the constitutional forms +which sprang from the old English freedom +tended to invest the higher nobles with a commanding +power. In the "great meeting" of the +Witenagemot or Assembly of the Wise lay the +rule of the realm. It represented the whole +English people, as the wise-moots of each kingdom +represented the separate peoples of each; and its +powers were as supreme in the wider field as +theirs in the narrower. It could elect or depose +the King. To it belonged the higher justice, the +imposition of taxes, the making of laws, the conclusion +of treaties, the control of wars, the disposal +of public lands, the appointment of great officers +of state. But such a meeting necessarily differed +greatly in constitution from the Witan of the +lesser kingdoms. The individual freeman, save +when the host was gathered together, could hardly +take part in its deliberations. The only relic of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-135"></a>1-135]</span> + +its popular character lay at last in the ring of +citizens who gathered round the Wise Men at +London or Winchester, and shouted their "aye" +or "nay" at the election of a king. Distance and +the hardships of travel made the presence of the +lesser thegns as rare as that of the freemen; and +the national council practically shrank into a +gathering of the ealdormen, the bishops, and the +officers of the crown. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Feudalism and the Monarchy</span> +</p> + +<p> +The old English democracy had thus all but +passed into an oligarchy of the narrowest kind. +The feudal movement which in other lands was +breaking up every nation into a mass of loosely-knit +states with nobles at their head who owned +little save a nominal allegiance to their king +threatened to break up England itself. What +hindered its triumph was the power of the Crown, +and it is the story of this struggle between the +monarchy and these tendencies to feudal isolation +which fills the period between the death of Eadred +and the conquest of the Norman. It was a +struggle which England shared with the rest of +the western world, but its issue here was a peculiar +one. In other countries feudalism won an easy +victory over the central government. In England +alone the monarchy was strong enough to hold +feudalism at bay. Powerful as he might be, the +English ealdorman never succeeded in becoming +really hereditary or independent of the Crown. +Kings as weak as Æthelred could drive ealdormen + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-136"></a>1-136]</span> + +into exile and could replace them by fresh nominees. +If the Witenagemot enabled the great +nobles to bring their power to bear directly on +the Crown, it preserved at any rate a feeling of +national unity and was forced to back the Crown +against individual revolt. The Church too never +became feudalized. The bishop clung to the +Crown, and the bishop remained a great social +and political power. As local in area as the +ealdorman, for the province was his diocese and +he sat by his side in the local Witenagemot, he +furnished a standing check on the independence +of the great nobles. But if feudalism proved too +weak to conquer the monarchy, it was strong +enough to paralyze its action. Neither of the +two forces could master the other, but each could +weaken the other, and throughout the whole +period of their conflict England lay a prey to +disorder within and to insult from without. +</p> + +<p> +The first sign of these troubles was seen when +the death of Eadred in 955 handed over the realm +to a child king, his nephew Eadwig. Eadwig +was swayed by a woman of high lineage, Æthelgifu; +and the quarrel between her and the older +counsellors of Eadred broke into open strife at the +coronation feast. On the young king's insolent +withdrawal to her chamber Dunstan, at the bidding +of the Witan, drew him roughly back to his seat. +But the feast was no sooner ended than a sentence +of outlawry drove the abbot over sea, while the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-137"></a>1-137]</span> + +triumph of Æthelgifu was crowned in 957 by the +marriage of her daughter to the king and the +spoliation of the monasteries which Dunstan had +befriended. As the new queen was Eadwig's +kinswoman the religious opinion of the day regarded +his marriage as incestuous, and it was +followed by a revolution. At the opening of 958 +Archbishop Odo parted the King from his wife +by solemn sentence; while the Mercians and +Northumbrians rose in revolt, proclaimed Eadwig's +brother Eadgar their king, and recalled Dunstan. +The death of Eadwig a few months later restored +the unity of the realm; but his successor Eadgar +was only a boy of sixteen and at the outset of his +reign the direction of affairs must have lain in the +hands of Dunstan, whose elevation to the see of +Canterbury set him at the head of the Church as +of the State. The noblest tribute to his rule lies +in the silence of our chroniclers. His work indeed +was a work of settlement, and such a work was +best done by the simple enforcement of peace. +During the years of rest in which King and +Primate enforced justice and order northman +and Englishman drew together into a single +people. Their union was the result of no direct +policy of fusion; on the contrary Dunstan's policy +preserved to the conquered Danelaw its local +rights and local usages. But he recognized the +men of the Danelaw as Englishmen, he employed +northmen in the royal service, and promoted + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-138"></a>1-138]</span> + +them to high posts in Church and State. For the +rest he trusted to time, and time justified his +trust. The fusion was marked by a memorable +change in the name of the land. Slowly as the +conquering tribes had learned to know themselves, +by the one national name of Englishmen, they +learned yet more slowly to stamp their name on +the land they had won. It was not till Eadgar's +day that the name of Britain passed into the +name of Engla-land, the land of Englishmen, +England. The same vigorous rule which secured +rest for the country during these years of national +union told on the growth of material prosperity. +Commerce sprang into a wider life. Its extension +is seen in the complaint that men learned fierceness +from the Saxon of Germany, effeminacy from +the Fleming, and drunkenness from the Dane. +The laws of Æthelred which provide for the protection +and regulation of foreign trade only recognize +a state of things which grew up under +Eadgar. "Men of the Empire," traders of Lower +Lorraine and the Rhine-land, "Men of Rouen," +traders from the new Norman duchy of the Seine, +were seen in the streets of London. It was in +Eadgar's day indeed that London rose to the +commercial greatness it has held ever since. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Eadward the Martyr</span> +</p> + +<p> +Though Eadgar reigned for sixteen years, he +was still in the prime of manhood when he died +in 975. His death gave a fresh opening to the +great nobles. He had bequeathed the crown to + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-139"></a>1-139]</span> + +his elder son Eadward; but the ealdorman of +East-Anglia, Æthelwine, rose at once to set a +younger child, Æthelred, on the throne. But the +two primates of Canterbury and York who had +joined in setting the crown on the head of Eadgar +now joined in setting it on the head of Eadward, +and Dunstan remained as before master of the +realm. The boy's reign however was troubled +by strife between the monastic party and their +opponents till in 979 the quarrel was cut short +by his murder at Corfe, and with the accession of +Æthelred, the power of Dunstan made way for +that of ealdorman Æthelwine and the queen-mother. +Some years of tranquillity followed this +victory; but though Æthelwine preserved order +at home he showed little sense of the danger +which threatened from abroad. The North was +girding itself for a fresh, onset on England. The +Scandinavian peoples had drawn together into +their kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway; +and it was no longer in isolated bands but +in national hosts that they were about to seek +conquests in the South. As Æthelred drew to +manhood some chance descents on the coast told +of this fresh stir in the North, and the usual +result of the northman's presence was seen in +new risings among the Welsh. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Æthelred</span> +</p> + +<p> +In 991 ealdorman Brihtnoth of East-Anglia +fell in battle with a Norwegian force at Maldon, +and the withdrawal of the pirates had to be + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-140"></a>1-140]</span> + +bought by money. Æthelwine too died at this +moment, and the death of the two ealdormen left +Æthelred free to act as King. But his aim was +rather to save the Crown from his nobles than +England from the northmen. Handsome and +pleasant of address, the young King's pride showed +itself in a string of imperial titles, and his restless +and self-confident temper drove him to push the +pretensions of the Crown to their furthest extent. +His aim throughout his reign was to free himself +from the dictation of the great nobles, and it was +his indifference to their "rede" or counsel that +won him the name of "Æthelred the Redeless." +From the first he struck boldly at his foes, and +Ælfric, the ealdorman of Central Wessex, whom the +death of his rival Æthelwine left supreme in the +realm, was driven possibly by fear to desert to +a Danish force which he was sent in 992 to drive +from the coast. Æthelred turned from his triumph +at home to meet the forces of the Danish and +Norwegian kings, Swein and Olaf, which +anchored off London in 994. His policy through-out +was a policy of diplomacy rather than of +arms, and a treaty of subsidy gave time for +intrigues which parted the invaders till troubles +at home drew both again to the North. Æthelrod +took quick advantage of his success at home +and abroad; the place of the great ealdormen in +the royal councils was taken by court-thegns, in +whom we see the rudiments of a ministry, while + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-141"></a>1-141]</span> + +the king's fleet attacked the pirates' haunts in +Cumberland and the Cotentin. But in spite of +all this activity the news of a fresh invasion found +England more weak and broken than ever. The +rise of the "new men" only widened the breach +between the court and the great nobles, and their +resentment showed itself in delays which foiled +every attempt of Æthelred to meet the pirate-bands +who still clung to the coast. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Swein</span> +</p> + +<p> +They came probably from the other side of the +Channel, and it was to clear them away as well +as secure himself against Swein's threatened +descent that Æthelred took a step which brought +England in contact with a land over-sea. Normandy, +where the northmen had settled a hundred +years before, was now growing into a great power, +and it was to win the friendship of Normandy +and to close its harbours against Swein that +Æthelred in 1002 took the Norman Duke's +daughter, Emma, to wife. The same dread of +invasion gave birth to a panic of treason from the +northern mercenaries whom the king had drawn +to settle in the land as a fighting force against +their brethren; and an order of Æthelred brought +about a general massacre of them on St. Brice's +day. Wedding and murder however proved +feeble defences against Swein. His fleet reached +the coast in 1003, and for four years he marched +through the length and breadth of southern and +eastern England, "lighting his war-beacons as he + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-142"></a>1-142]</span> + +went" in blazing homestead and town. Then for +a heavy bribe he withdrew, to prepare for a later +and more terrible onset. But there was no rest +for the realm. The fiercest of the Norwegian +jarls took his place, and from Wessex the war +extended over Mercia and East-Anglia. In 1012 +Canterbury was taken and sacked, Æltheah the +Archbishop dragged to Greenwich, and there in +default of ransom brutally slain. The Danes set +him in the midst of their husting, pelting him +with bones and skulls of oxen, till one more +pitiful than the rest clove his head with an axe. +Meanwhile the court was torn with intrigue and +strife, with quarrels between the court-thegns in +their greed of power and yet fiercer quarrels +between these favourites and the nobles whom +they superseded in the royal councils. The +King's policy of finding aid among his new +ministers broke down when these became themselves +ealdormen. With their local position they +took up the feudal claims of independence; and +Eadric, whom Æthelred raised to be ealdorman +of Mercia, became a power that overawed the +Crown. In this paralysis of the central authority +all organization and union was lost. "Shire +would not help other" when Swein returned in +1013. The war was terrible but short. Everywhere +the country was pitilessly harried, churches +plundered, men slaughtered. But, with the one +exception of London, there was no attempt at + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-143"></a>1-143]</span> + +resistance. Oxford and Winchester flung open +their gates. The thegns of Wessex submitted to +the northmen at Bath. Even London was forced +at last to give way, and Æthelred fled over-sea to +a refuge in Normandy. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Cnut</span> +</p> + +<p> +He was soon called back again. In the opening +of 1014 Swein died suddenly at Gainsborough; +and the spell of terror was broken. The Witan +recalled "their own born lord," and Æthelred +returned to see the Danish fleet under Swein's +son, Cnut, sail away to the North. It was but to +plan a more terrible return. Youth of nineteen as +he was, Cnut showed from the first the vigour of +his temper. Setting aside his brother he made +himself king of Denmark; and at once gathered +a splendid fleet for a fresh attack on England, +whose king and nobles were again at strife, and +where a bitter quarrel between ealdorman Eadric +of Mercia and Æthelred's son Eadmund Ironside +broke the strength of the realm. The desertion of +Eadric to Cnut as soon as he appeared off the +coast threw open England to his arms; Wessex +and Mercia submitted to him; and though the +loyalty of London enabled Eadmund, when his +father's death raised him in 1016 to the throne, to +struggle bravely for a few months against the +Danes, a decisive overthrow at Assandun and a +treaty of partition which this wrested from him at +Olney were soon followed by the young king's +death. Cnut was left master of the realm. His + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-144"></a>1-144]</span> + +first acts of government showed little but the +temper of the mere northman, passionate, revengeful, +uniting the guile of the savage with his thirst +for blood. Eadric of Mercia, whose aid had given +him the Crown, was felled by an axe-blow at the +king's signal; a murder removed Eadwig, the +brother of Eadmund Ironside, while the children +of Eadmund were hunted even into Hungary by +his ruthless hate. But from a savage such as this +the young conqueror rose abruptly into a wise and +temperate king. His aim during twenty years +seems to have been to obliterate from men's minds +the foreign character of his rule and the bloodshed +in which it had begun. +</p> + +<p> +Conqueror indeed as he was, the Dane was no +foreigner in the sense that the Norman was a +foreigner after him. His language differed little +from the English tongue. He brought in no new +system of tenure or government. Cnut ruled in +fact not as a foreign conqueror but as a native +king. He dismissed his Danish host, and retaining +only a trained band of household troops or +"hus-carls" to serve as a body-guard relied boldly +for support within his realm on the justice and +good government he secured it. He fell back on +"Eadgar's Law," on the old constitution of the +realm, for his rule of government; and owned no +difference between Dane and Englishman among +his subjects. He identified himself even with the +patriotism which had withstood the stranger. The + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-145"></a>1-145]</span> + +Church had been the centre of the national resistance; +Archbishop Ælfheah had been slain by +Danish hands. But Cnut sought the friendship of +the Church; he translated Ælfheah's body with +great pomp to Canterbury; he atoned for his +father's ravages by gifts to the religious houses; +he protected English pilgrims even against the +robber-lords of the Alps. His love for monks +broke out in a song which he composed as he +listened to their chaunt at Ely. "Merrily sang +the monks of Ely when Cnut King rowed by" +across the vast fen-waters that surrounded their +abbey. "Row, boatmen, near the land, and hear +we these monks sing." A letter which Cnut wrote +after twelve years of rule to his English subjects +marks the grandeur of his character and the noble +conception he had formed of kingship. "I have +vowed to God to lead a right life in all things," +wrote the king, "to rule justly and piously my +realms and subjects, and to administer just judgement +to all. If heretofore I have done aught beyond +what was just, through headiness or negligence of +youth, I am ready, with God's help, to amend it +utterly." No royal officer, either for fear of the +king or for favour of any, is to consent to injustice, +none is to do wrong to rich or poor "as they +would value my friendship and their own well-being." +He especially denounces unfair exactions: +"I have no need that money be heaped together +for me by unjust demands." "I have sent this + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-146"></a>1-146]</span> + +letter before me," Cnut ends, "that all the people +of my realm may rejoice in my well-doing; for as +you yourselves know, never have I spared, nor will +I spare, to spend myself and my toil in what is +needful and good for my people." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Cnut and Scotland</span> +</p> + +<p> +Cnut's greatest gift to his people was that of +peace. With him began the long internal tranquillity +which was from this time to be the keynote +of the national history. Without, the Dane +was no longer a terror; on the contrary it was +English ships and English soldiers who now +appeared in the North and followed Cnut in his +campaigns against Wend or Norwegian. Within, +the exhaustion which follows a long anarchy gave +fresh strength to the Crown, and Cnut's own +ruling temper was backed by the force of hus-carls +at his disposal. The four Earls of Northumberland, +Mercia, Wessex, and East-Anglia, whom +he set in the place of the older caldormen, knew +themselves to be the creatures of his will; the +ablest indeed of their number, Godwine, earl of +Wessex, was the minister or close counsellor of the +King. The troubles along the Northern border +were ended by a memorable act of policy. From +Eadgar's day the Scots had pressed further and +further across the Firth of Forth till a victory of +their king Malcolm over Earl Eadwulf at Carham +in 1018 made him master of Northern Northumbria. +In 1031 Cnut advanced to the North, but the +quarrel ended in a formal cession of the district + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-147"></a>1-147]</span> + +between the Forth and the Tweed, Lothian as it +was called, to the Scot-king on his doing homage +to Cnut. The gain told at once on the character +of the Northern kingdom. The kings of the Scots +had till now been rulers simply of Gaelic and +Celtic peoples; but from the moment that Lothian +with its English farmers and English seamen +became a part of their dominions it became the +most important part. The kings fixed their seat +at Edinburgh, and in the midst of an English +population passed from Gaelic chieftains into the +Saxon rulers of a mingled people. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Cnut's Sons</span> +</p> + +<p> +But the greatness of Cnut's rule hung solely on +the greatness of his temper, and the Danish power +was shaken by his death in 1035. The empire he +had built up at once fell to pieces. He had bequeathed +both England and Denmark to his son +Harthacnut; but the boy's absence enabled his +brother, Harald Harefoot, to acquire all England +save Godwine's earldom of Wessex, and in the end +even Godwine was forced to submit to him. +Harald's death in 1040 averted a conflict between +the brothers, and placed Harthacnut quietly on +the throne. But the love which Cnut's justice +had won turned to hatred before the lawlessness +of his successors. The long peace sickened men of +their bloodshed and violence. "Never was a +bloodier deed done in the land since the Danes +came," ran a popular song, when Harald's men +seized Ælfred, a brother of Eadmund Ironside, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-148"></a>1-148]</span> + +who returned to England from Normandy where +he had found a refuge since his father's flight to +its shores. Every tenth man among his followers +was killed, the rest sold for slaves, and Ælfred's +eyes torn out at Ely. Harthacnut, more savage +than his predecessor, dug up his brother's body +and flung it into a marsh; while a rising at +Worcester against his hus-carls was punished by +the burning of the town and the pillage of the +shire. The young king's death was no less brutal +than his life; in 1042 "he died as he stood at his +drink in the house of Osgod Clapa at Lambeth." +England wearied of rulers such as these: but their +crimes helped her to free herself from the impossible +dream of Cnut. The North, still more +barbarous than herself, could give her no new +element of progress or civilization. It was the +consciousness of this and a hatred of rulers such +as Harald and Harthacnut which co-operated with +the old feeling of reverence for the past in calling +back the line of Ælfred to the throne. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Eadward the Confessor</span> +</p> + +<p> +It is in such transitional moments of a nation's +history that it needs the cool prudence, the sensitive +selfishness, the quick perception of what is +possible, which distinguished the adroit politician +whom the death of Cnut left supreme in England. +Originally of obscure origin, Godwine's ability had +raised him high in the royal favour; he was allied +to Cnut by marriage, entrusted by him with the +earldom of Wessex, and at last made the Viceroy + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-149"></a>1-149]</span> + +or justiciar of the King in the government of the +realm. In the wars of Scandinavia he had shown +courage and skill at the head of a body of English +troops, but his true field of action lay at home. +Shrewd, eloquent, an active administrator, Godwine +united vigilance, industry, and caution with +a singular dexterity in the management of men. +During the troubled years that followed the death +of Cnut he did his best to continue his master's +policy in securing the internal union of England +under a Danish sovereign and in preserving her +connexion with the North. But at the death of +Harthacnut Cnut's policy had become impossible, +and abandoning the Danish cause Godwine drifted +with the tide of popular feeling which called +Eadward, the one living son of Æthelred, to the +throne. Eadward had lived from his youth in +exile at the court of Normandy. A halo of +tenderness spread in after-time round this last +king of the old English stock; legends told of his +pious simplicity, his blitheness and gentleness of +mood, the holiness that gained him his name of +"Confessor" and enshrined him as a saint in his +abbey-church at Westminster. Gleemen sang in +manlier tones of the long peace and glories of his +reign, how warriors and wise counsellors stood +round his throne, and Welsh and Scot and Briton +obeyed him. His was the one figure that stood +out bright against the darkness when England lay +trodden under foot by Norman conquerors; and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-150"></a>1-150]</span> + +so dear became his memory that liberty and independence +itself seemed incarnate in his name. +Instead of freedom, the subjects of William or +Henry called for the "good laws of Eadward the +Confessor." But it was as a mere shadow of the +past that the exile really returned to the throne +of Ælfred; there was something shadow-like in +his thin form, his delicate complexion, his transparent +womanly hands; and it is almost as a +shadow that he glides over the political stage. +The work of government was done by sterner +hands. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Godwine</span> +</p> + +<p> +Throughout his earlier reign, in fact, England +lay in the hands of its three Earls, Siward of +Northumbria, Leofric of Mercia, and Godwine of +Wessex, and it seemed as if the feudal tendency +to provincial separation against which Æthelred +had struggled was to triumph with the death of +Cnut. What hindered this severance was the +greed of Godwine. Siward was isolated in the +North: Leofric's earldom was but a fragment of +Mercia. But the Earl of Wessex, already master +of the wealthiest part of England, seized district +after district for his house. His son Swein +secured an earldom in the south-west; his son +Harold became earl of East-Anglia; his nephew +Beorn was established in Central England: while +the marriage of his daughter Eadgyth to the king +himself gave Godwine a hold upon the throne. +Policy led the earl, as it led his son, rather to aim + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-151"></a>1-151]</span> + +at winning England itself than at breaking up +England to win a mere fief in it. But his aim +found a sudden check through the lawlessness of +his son Swein. Swein seduced the abbess of +Leominster, sent her home again with a yet more +outrageous demand of her hand in marriage, and +on the king's refusal to grant it fled from the +realm. Godwine's influence secured his pardon, +but on his very return to seek it Swein murdered +his cousin Beorn who had opposed the reconciliation +and again fled to Flanders. A storm of +national indignation followed him over-sea. The +meeting of the Wise men branded him as +"nithing," the "utterly worthless," yet in a year +his father wrested a new pardon from the King +and restored him to his earldom. The scandalous +inlawing of such a criminal left Godwine alone in +a struggle which soon arose with Eadward himself. +The king was a stranger in his realm, and +his sympathies lay naturally with the home and +friends of his youth and exile. He spoke the +Norman tongue. He used in Norman fashion a +seal for his charters. He set Norman favourites +in the highest posts of Church and State. +Foreigners such as these, though hostile to the +minister, were powerless against Godwine's influence +and ability, and when at a later time they +ventured to stand alone against him they fell +without a blow. But the general ill-will at +Swein's inlawing enabled them to stir Eadward + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-152"></a>1-152]</span> + +to attack the earl, and in 1051 a trivial quarrel +brought the opportunity of a decisive break with +him. On his return from a visit to the court +Eustace, Count of Boulogne, the husband of the +king's sister, demanded quarters for his train in +Dover. Strife arose, and many both of the +burghers and foreigners were slain. All Godwine's +better nature withstood Eadward when the +king angrily bade him exact vengeance from the +town for the affront to his kinsman; and he +claimed a fair trial for the townsmen. But +Eadward looked on his refusal as an outrage, and +the quarrel widened into open strife. Godwine +at once gathered his forces and marched upon +Gloucester, demanding the expulsion of the foreign +favourites. But even in a just quarrel the country +was cold in his support. The earls of Mercia and +Northumberland united their forces to those of +Eadward at Gloucester, and marched with the +king to a gathering of the Witenagemot at +London. Godwine again appeared in arms, but +Swein's outlawry was renewed, and the Earl of +Wessex, declining with his usual prudence a useless +struggle, withdrew over sea to Flanders. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Harold</span> +</p> + +<p> +But the wrath of the nation was appeased by +his fall. Great as were Godwine's faults, he was +the one man who now stood between England and +the rule of the strangers who flocked to the +Court; and a year had hardly passed when he +was strong enough to return. At the appearance + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-153"></a>1-153]</span> + +of his fleet in the Thames in 1052 Eadward was +once more forced to yield. The foreign prelates +and bishops fled over sea, outlawed by the same +meeting of the Wise men which restored Godwine +to his home. But he returned only to die, and +the direction of affairs passed quietly to his son +Harold. Harold came to power unfettered by the +obstacles which beset his father, and for twelve +years he was the actual governor of the realm. +The courage, the ability, the genius for administration, +the ambition and subtlety of Godwine were +found again in his son. In the internal government +of England he followed out his father's +policy while avoiding its excesses. Peace was +preserved, justice administered, and the realm +increased in wealth and prosperity. Its gold work +and embroidery became famous in the markets of +Flanders and France. Disturbances from without +were crushed sternly and rapidly; Harold's military +talents displayed themselves in a campaign +against Wales, and in the boldness and rapidity +with which, arming his troops with weapons +adapted for mountain conflict, he penetrated to +the heart of its fastnesses and reduced the country +to complete submission. With the gift of the +Northumbrian earldom on Siward's death to his +brother Tostig all England save a small part of the +older Mercia lay in the hands of the house of +Godwine, and as the waning health of the king, +the death of his nephew, the son of Eadmund who + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-154"></a>1-154]</span> + +had returned from Hungary as his heir, and the +childhood of the Ætheling Eadgar who stood next +in blood, removed obstacle after obstacle to his +plans, Harold patiently but steadily moved forward +to the throne. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Normandy</span> +</p> + +<p> +But his advance was watched by one even more +able and ambitious than himself. For the last +half-century England had been drawing nearer to +the Norman land which fronted it across the +Channel. As we pass nowadays through Normandy, +it is English history which is round about +us. The name of hamlet after hamlet has memories +for English ears; a fragment of castle wall marks +the home of the Bruce, a tiny village preserves +the name of the Percy. The very look of the +country and its people seem familiar to us; the +Norman peasant in his cap and blouse recalls the +build and features of the small English farmer; +the fields about Caen, with their dense hedgerows, +their elms, their apple-orchards, are the very picture +of an English country-side. Huge cathedrals lift +themselves over the red-tiled roofs of little market +towns, the models of stately fabrics which superseded +the lowlier churches of Ælfred or Dunstan, +while the windy heights that look over orchard +and meadowland are crowned with the square grey +keeps which Normandy gave to the cliffs of +Richmond and the banks of Thames. It was +Hrolf the Ganger, or Walker, a pirate leader like +Guthrum or Hasting, who wrested this land from + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-155"></a>1-155]</span> + +the French king, Charles the Simple, in 912, at +the moment when Ælfred's children were beginning +their conquest of the English Danelaw. The +treaty of Clair-on-Epte in which France purchased +peace by this cession of the coast was a close imitation +of the Peace of Wedmore. Hrolf, like Guthrum, +was baptized, received the king's daughter in +marriage, and became his vassal for the territory +which now took the name of "the Northman's +land" or Normandy. But vassalage and the new +faith sat lightly on the Dane. No such ties of +blood and speech tended to unite the northman +with the French among whom he settled along the +Seine as united him to the Englishmen among +whom he settled along the Humber. William +Longsword, the son of Hrolf, though wavering +towards France and Christianity, remained a northman +in heart; he called in a Danish colony to +occupy his conquest of the Cotentin, the peninsula +which runs out from St. Michael's Mount to the +cliffs of Cherbourg, and reared his boy among the +northmen of Bayeux where the Danish tongue and +fashions most stubbornly held their own. A +heathen reaction followed his death, and the bulk +of the Normans, with the child Duke Richard, fell +away for the time from Christianity, while new +pirate-fleets came swarming up the Seine. To the +close of the century the whole people were still +"Pirates" to the French around them, their land +the "Pirates' land," their Duke the "Pirates' + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-156"></a>1-156]</span> + +Duke." Yet in the end the same forces which +merged the Dane in the Englishman told even +more powerfully on the Dane in France. No race +has ever shown a greater power of absorbing all +the nobler characteristics of the peoples with whom +they came in contact, or of infusing their own +energy into them. During the long reign of +Duke Richard the Fearless, the son of William +Longsword, a reign which lasted from 945 to 996, +the heathen Norman pirates became French +Christians and feudal at heart. The old Norse +language lived only at Bayeux and in a few local +names. As the old Northern freedom died silently +away, the descendants of the pirates became feudal +nobles and the "Pirates' land" sank into the most +loyal of the fiefs of France. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Duke William</span> +</p> + +<p> +From the moment of their settlement on the +Frankish coast, the Normans had been jealously +watched by the English kings; and the anxiety of +Æthelred for their friendship set a Norman woman +on the English throne. The marriage of Emma +with Æthelred brought about a close political connexion +between the two countries. It was in +Normandy that the King found a refuge from +Swein's invasion, and his younger boys grew up +in exile at the Norman court. Their presence +there drew the eyes of every Norman to the rich +land which offered so tempting a prey across the +Channel. The energy which they had shown in +winning their land from the Franks, in absorbing + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-157"></a>1-157]</span> + +the French civilization and the French religion, +was now showing itself in adventures on far-off +shores, in crusades against the Moslem of Spain or +the Arabs of Sicily. It was this spirit of adventure +that roused the Norman Duke Robert to sail against +England in Cnut's day under pretext of setting +Æthelred's children on its throne, but the wreck +of his fleet in a storm put an end to a project which +might have anticipated the work of his son. It +was that son, William the Great, as men of his +own day styled him, William the Conqueror as he +was to stamp himself by one event on English +history, who was now Duke of Normandy. The +full grandeur of his indomitable will, his large and +patient statesmanship, the loftiness of aim which +lifts him out of the petty incidents of his age, were +as yet only partly disclosed. But there never had +been a moment from his boyhood when he was not +among the greatest of men. His life from the very +first was one long mastering of difficulty after +difficulty. The shame of his birth remained in +his name of "the Bastard." His father Robert +had seen Arlotta, a tanner's daughter of the town, +as she washed her linen in a little brook by Falaise; +and loving her he had made her the mother of his +boy. The departure of Robert on a pilgrimage +from which he never returned left William a child-ruler +among the most turbulent baronage in +Christendom; treason and anarchy surrounded +him as he grew to manhood; and disorder broke + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-158"></a>1-158]</span> + +at last into open revolt. But in 1047 a fierce +combat of horse on the slopes of Val-ès-dunes +beside Caen left the young Duke master of his +duchy and he soon made his mastery felt. "Normans" +said a Norman poet "must be trodden down +and kept under foot, for he only that bridles them +may use them at his need." In the stern order he +forced on the land Normandy from this hour felt +the bridle of its Duke. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">William and France</span> +</p> + +<p> +Secure at home, William seized the moment of +Godwine's exile to visit England, and received from +his cousin, King Eadward, as he afterwards asserted, +a promise of succession to his throne. Such a +promise however, unconfirmed by the Witenagemot, +was valueless; and the return of Godwine +must have at once cut short the young Duke's +hopes. He found in fact work enough to do in +his own duchy, for the discontent of his baronage +at the stern justice of his rule found support in the +jealousy which his power raised in the states around +him, and it was only after two great victories at +Mortemer and Varaville and six years of hard +fighting that outer and inner foes were alike trodden +under foot. In 1060 William stood first among +the princes of France. Maine submitted to his +rule. Britanny was reduced to obedience by a +single march. While some of the rebel barons +rotted in the Duke's dungeons and some were +driven into exile, the land settled down into a +peace which gave room for a quick upgrowth of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-159"></a>1-159]</span> + +wealth and culture. Learning and education found +their centre in the school of Bec, which the teaching +of a Lombard scholar, Lanfranc, raised in a few +years into the most famous school of Christendom. +Lanfranc's first contact with William, if it showed +the Duke's imperious temper, showed too his marvellous +insight into men. In a strife with the +Papacy which William provoked by his marriage +with Matilda, a daughter of the Count of Flanders, +Lanfranc took the side of Rome. His opposition +was met by a sentence of banishment, and the +Prior had hardly set out on a lame horse, the only +one his house could afford, when he was overtaken +by the Duke, impatient that he should quit Normandy. +"Give me a better horse and I shall go +the quicker," replied the imperturbable Lombard, +and William's wrath passed into laughter and +good will. From that hour Lanfranc became his +minister and counsellor, whether for affairs in the +duchy itself or for the more daring schemes of +ambition which opened up across the Channel. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">William and England</span> +</p> + +<p> +William's hopes of the English crown are said +to have been revived by a storm which threw +Harold, while cruising in the Channel, on the +coast of Ponthieu. Its count sold him to the +Duke; and as the price of return to England +William forced him to swear on the relics of saints +to support his claim to its throne. But, true or +no, the oath told little on Harold's course. As +the childless King drew to his grave one obstacle + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-160"></a>1-160]</span> + +after another was cleared from the earl's path. +His brother Tostig had become his most dangerous +rival; but a revolt of the Northumbrians drove +Tostig to Flanders, and the earl was able to win +over the Mercian house of Leofric to his cause by +owning Morkere, the brother of the Mercian Earl +Eadwine, as his brother's successor. His aim was +in fact attained without a struggle. In the opening +of 1066 the nobles and bishops who gathered +round the death-bed of the Confessor passed quietly +from it to the election and coronation of Harold. +But at Eouen the news was welcomed with a burst +of furious passion, and the Duke of Normandy at +once prepared to enforce his claim by arms. +William did not claim the Crown. He claimed +simply the right which he afterwards used when +his sword had won it of presenting himself for +election by the nation, and he believed himself +entitled so to present himself by the direct commendation +of the Confessor. The actual election +of Harold which stood in his way, hurried as it +was, he did not recognize as valid. But with this +constitutional claim was inextricably mingled +resentment at the private wrong which Harold +had done him, and a resolve to exact vengeance +on the man whom he regarded as untrue to his +oath. The difficulties in the way of his enterprise +were indeed enormous. He could reckon on no +support within England itself. At home he had +to extort the consent of his own reluctant baronage; + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-161"></a>1-161]</span> + +to gather a motley host from every quarter of +France and to keep it together for months; to +create a fleet, to cut down the very trees, to build, +to launch, to man the vessels; and to find time +amidst all this for the common business of government, +for negotiations with Denmark and the +Empire, with France, Britanny, and Anjou, with +Flanders and with Rome which had been estranged +from England by Archbishop Stigand's acceptance +of his pallium from one who was not owned as a +canonical Pope. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Stamford Bridge</span> +</p> + +<p> +But his rival's difficulties were hardly less than +his own. Harold was threatened with invasion +not only by William but by his brother Tostig, +who had taken refuge in Norway and secured the +aid of its king, Harald Hardrada. The fleet and +army he had gathered lay watching for months +along the coast. His one standing force was his +body of hus-carls, but their numbers only enabled +them to act as the nucleus of an army. On the +other hand the Land-fyrd or general levy of +fighting-men was a body easy to raise for any +single encounter but hard to keep together. To +assemble such a force was to bring labour to a +standstill. The men gathered under the King's +standard were the farmers and ploughmen of their +fields. The ships were the fishing-vessels of the +coast. In September the task of holding them +together became impossible, but their dispersion +had hardly taken place when the two clouds which + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-162"></a>1-162]</span> + +had so long been gathering burst at once upon the +realm. A change of wind released the landlocked +armament of William; but before changing, the +wind which prisoned the Duke brought the host +of Tostig and Harald Hardrada to the coast of +Yorkshire. The King hastened with his household +troops to the north and repulsed the +Norwegians in a decisive overthrow at Stamford +Bridge, but ere he could hurry back to London the +Norman host had crossed the sea and William, +who had anchored on the twenty-eighth of +September off Pevensey, was ravaging the coast +to bring his rival to an engagement. His merciless +ravages succeeded in drawing Harold from +London to the south; but the King wisely refused +to attack with the troops he had hastily summoned +to his banner. If he was forced to give battle, +he resolved to give it on ground he had himself +chosen, and advancing near enough to the coast to +check William's ravages he entrenched himself on +a hill known afterwards as that of Senlac, a low +spur of the Sussex downs near Hastings. His +position covered London and drove William to +concentrate his forces. With a host subsisting by +pillage, to concentrate is to starve; and no alternative +was left to the Duke but a decisive victory +or ruin. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Hastings</span> +</p> + +<p> +On the fourteenth of October William led his +men at dawn along the higher ground that leads +from Hastings to the battle-field which Harold + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-163"></a>1-163]</span> + +had chosen. From the mound of Telham the +Normans saw the host of the English gathered +thickly behind a rough trench and a stockade on +the height of Senlac. Marshy ground covered +their right; on the left, the most exposed part of +the position, the hus-carls or body-guard of Harold, +men in full armour and wielding huge axes, were +grouped round the Golden Dragon of Wessex and +the Standard of the King. The rest of the ground +was covered by thick masses of half-armed rustics +who had flocked at Harold's summons to the fight +with the stranger. It was against the centre of +this formidable position that William arrayed his +Norman knighthood, while the mercenary forces +he had gathered in France and Britanny were +ordered to attack its flanks. A general charge of +the Norman foot opened the battle; in front rode +the minstrel Taillefer, tossing his sword in the air +and catching it again while he chaunted the song +of Roland. He was the first of the host who +struck a blow, and he was the first to fall. The +charge broke vainly on the stout stockade behind +which the English warriors plied axe and javelin +with fierce cries of "Out, out," and the repulse of +the Norman footmen was followed by a repulse of +the Norman horse. Again and again the Duke +rallied and led them to the fatal stockade. All +the fury of fight that glowed in his Norseman's +blood, all the headlong valour that spurred him +over the slopes of Val-ès-dunes, mingled that day + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-164"></a>1-164]</span> + +with the coolness of head, the dogged perseverance, +the inexhaustible faculty of resource which shone +at Mortemer and Varaville. His Breton troops, +entangled in the marshy ground on his left, broke +in disorder, and as panic spread through the army +a cry arose that the Duke was slain. William tore +off his helmet; "I live," he shouted, "and by +God's help I will conquer yet." Maddened by a +fresh repulse, the Duke spurred right at the +Standard; unhorsed, his terrible mace struck down +Gyrth, the King's brother; again dismounted, a +blow from his hand hurled to the ground an +unmannerly rider who would not lend him his +steed. Amidst the roar and tumult of the battle +he turned the flight he had arrested into the means +of victory. Broken as the stockade was by his +desperate onset, the shield-wall of the warriors +behind it still held the Normans at bay till +William by a feint of flight drew a part of the +English force from their post of vantage. Turning +on his disorderly pursuers, the Duke cut them to +pieces, broke through the abandoned line, and +made himself master of the central ground. Meanwhile +the French and Bretons made good their +ascent on either flank. At three the hill seemed +won, at six the fight still raged around the Standard +where Harold's hus-carls stood stubbornly at bay +on a spot marked afterwards by the high altar of +Battle Abbey. An order from the Duke at last +brought his archers to the front. Their arrow-flight + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-165"></a>1-165]</span> + +told heavily on the dense masses crowded +around the King and as the sun went down a shaft +pierced Harold's right eye. He fell between the +royal ensigns, and the battle closed with a desperate +melly over his corpse. +</p> + +<p> +Night covered the flight of the English army: +but William was quick to reap the advantage of +his victory. Securing Romney and Dover, he +marched by Canterbury upon London. Faction +and intrigue were doing his work for him as he +advanced; for Harold's brothers had fallen with +the King on the field of Senlac, and there was +none of the house of Godwine to contest the +crown. Of the old royal line there remained but +a single boy, Eadgar the Ætheling. He was +chosen king; but the choice gave little strength +to the national cause. The widow of the +Confessor surrendered Winchester to the Duke. +The bishops gathered at London inclined to submission. +The citizens themselves faltered as +William, passing by their walls, gave Southwark +to the flames. The throne of the boy-king really +rested for support on the Earls of Mercia and +Northumbria, Eadwine and Morkere; and William, +crossing the Thames at Wallingford and marching +into Hertfordshire, threatened to cut them off from +their earldoms. The masterly movement forced +the Earls to hurry home, and London gave way at +once. Eadgar himself was at the head of the +deputation who came to offer the crown to the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-166"></a>1-166]</span> + +Norman Duke. "They bowed to him," says the +English annalist pathetically, "for need." They +bowed to the Norman as they had bowed to the +Dane, and William accepted the crown in the +spirit of Cnut. London indeed was secured by +the erection of a fortress which afterwards grew +into the Tower, but William desired to reign not +as a Conqueror but as a lawful king. At Christmas +he received the crown at Westminster from the +hands of Archbishop Ealdred amid shouts of "Yea, +Yea," from his new English subjects. Fines from +the greater landowners atoned for a resistance +which now counted as rebellion; but with this +exception every measure of the new sovereign +showed his desire of ruling as a successor of +Eadward or Ælfred. As yet indeed the greater +part of England remained quietly aloof from him, +and he can hardly be said to have been recognized +as king by Northumberland or the greater part of +Mercia. But to the east of a line which stretched +from Norwich to Dorsetshire his rule was unquestioned, +and over this portion he ruled as an +English king. His soldiers were kept in strict +order. No change was made in law or custom. +The privileges of London were recognized by a +royal writ which still remains, the most venerable +of its muniments, among the city's archives. Peace +and order were restored. William even attempted, +though in vain, to learn the English tongue that +he might personally administer justice to the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-167"></a>1-167]</span> + +suitors in his court. The kingdom seemed so +tranquil that only a few months had passed after +the battle of Senlac when leaving England in +charge of his brother, Odo Bishop of Bayeux, and +his minister, William Fitz-Osbern, the King +returned in 1067 for a while to Normandy. The +peace he left was soon indeed disturbed. Bishop +Odo's tyranny forced the Kentishmen to seek aid +from Count Eustace of Boulogne; while the Welsh +princes supported a similar rising against Norman +oppression in the west. But as yet the bulk of the +land held fairly to the new king. Dover was +saved from Eustace; and the discontented fled +over sea to seek refuge in lands as far off as +Constantinople, where Englishmen from this time +formed great part of the body-guard or Varangians +of the Eastern Emperors. William returned to +take his place again as an English king. It was +with an English force that he subdued a rising in +the south-west with Exeter at its head, and it was +at the head of an English army that he completed +his work by marching to the North. His march +brought Eadwine and Morkere again to submission; +a fresh rising ended in the occupation of York, and +England as far as the Tees lay quietly at William's +feet. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Norman Conquest</span> +</p> + +<p> +It was in fact only the national revolt of 1068 +that transformed the King into a conqueror. The +signal for this revolt came from Swein, king of +Denmark, who had for two years past been + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-168"></a>1-168]</span> + +preparing to dispute England with the Norman, +but on the appearance of his fleet in the Humber +all northern, all western and south-western England +rose as one man. Eadgar the Ætheling with a +band of exiles who had found refuge in Scotland +took the head of the Northumbrian revolt; in the +south-west the men of Devon, Somerset, and Dorset +gathered to the sieges of Exeter and Montacute; +while a new Norman castle at Shrewsbury alone +bridled a rising in the West. So ably had the +revolt been planned that even William was taken +by surprise. The outbreak was heralded by a +storm of York and the slaughter of three thousand +Normans who formed its garrison. The news of +this slaughter reached William as he was hunting +in the forest of Dean; and in a wild outburst of +wrath he swore "by the splendour of God" to +avenge himself on the North. But wrath went +hand in hand with the coolest statesmanship. The +centre of resistance lay in the Danish fleet, and +pushing rapidly to the Humber with a handful of +horsemen William bought at a heavy price its +inactivity and withdrawal. Then turning westward +with the troops that gathered round him he swept +the Welsh border and relieved Shrewsbury while +William Fitz-Osbern broke the rising around +Exeter. His success set the King free to fulfil his +oath of vengeance on the North. After a long +delay before the flooded waters of the Aire he +entered York and ravaged the whole country as + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-169"></a>1-169]</span> + +far as the Tees. Town and village were harried +and burned, their inhabitants were slain or driven +over the Scottish border. The coast was especially +wasted that no hold might remain for future +landings of the Danes. Crops, cattle, the very +implements of husbandry were so mercilessly +destroyed that a famine which followed is said to +have swept off more than a hundred thousand +victims. Half a century later indeed the land still +lay bare of culture and deserted of men for sixty +miles northward of York. The work of vengeance +once over, William led his army back from the +Tees to York, and thence to Chester and the West. +Never had he shown the grandeur of his character +so memorably as in this terrible march. The +winter was hard, the roads choked with snowdrifts +or broken by torrents, provisions failed; and his +army, storm-beaten and forced to devour its horses +for food, broke out into mutiny at the order to +cross the bleak moorlands that part Yorkshire from +the West. The mercenaries from Anjou and +Britanny demanded their release from service. +William granted their prayer with scorn. On +foot, at the head of the troops which still clung to +him, he forced his way by paths inaccessible to +horses, often helping the men with his own hands +to clear the road, and as the army descended upon +Chester the resistance of the English died away. +</p> + +<p> +For two years William was able to busy himself +in castle-building and in measures for holding + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-170"></a>1-170]</span> + +down the conquered land. How effective these +were was seen when the last act of the conquest +was reached. All hope of Danish aid was now +gone, but Englishmen still looked for help to +Scotland where Eadgar the Ætheling had again +found refuge and where his sister Margaret had +become wife of King Malcolm. It was probably +some assurance of Malcolm's aid which roused the +Mercian Earls, Eadwine and Morkere, to a fresh +rising in 1071. But the revolt was at once foiled +by the vigilance of the Conqueror. Eadwine fell +in an obscure skirmish, while Morkere found +shelter for a while in the fen country where a +desperate band of patriots gathered round an +outlawed leader, Hereward. Nowhere had William +found so stubborn a resistance: but a causeway +two miles long was at last driven across the +marshes, and the last hopes of English freedom +died in the surrender of Ely. It was as the +unquestioned master of England that William +marched to the North, crossed the Lowlands and +the Forth, and saw Malcolm appear in his camp +upon the Tay to swear fealty at his feet. +</p> + +</div> +</div> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-171"></a>1-171]</span> + + +<div class="book"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk2"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4543374"></a>BOOK II</li> +<li> +<a name="id4543380"></a>ENGLAND UNDER FOREIGN KINGS</li> +<li> +<a name="id4543386"></a>1071-1204</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-173"></a>1-173]</span> + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk2-Auth"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4543453"></a> </li> +<li> +<a name="id4543458"></a>AUTHORITIES FOR BOOK II</li> +<li> +<a name="id4543464"></a>1071-1204</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + +<p> +Among the Norman chroniclers Orderic becomes from +this point particularly valuable and detailed. The Chronicle +and Florence of Worcester remain the primary English +authorities, while Simeon of Durham gives much special +information on northern matters. For the reign of William +the Red the chief source of information is Eadmer, a monk +of Canterbury, in his "Historia Noverum" and "Life of +Anselm." William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon +are both contemporary authorities during that of +Henry the First; the latter remains a brief but accurate +annalist; the former is the leader of a new historic school, +who treat English events as part of the history of the world, +and emulate classic models by a more philosophical arrangement +of their materials. To these the opening of Stephen's +reign adds the "Gesta Stephani," a record in great detail +by one of the King's clerks, and the Hexham Chroniclers. +</p> + +<p> +All this wealth of historical material however suddenly +leaves us in the chaos of civil war. Even the Chronicle +dies out in the midst of Stephen's reign, and the close +at the same time of the works we have noted leaves a +blank in our historical literature which extends over the +early years of Henry the Second. But this dearth is +followed by a vast outburst of historical industry. For the +Beket struggle we have the mass of the Archbishop's own +correspondence with that of Foliot and John of Salisbury. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-174"></a>1-174]</span> + +From 1169 to 1192 our primary authority is the Chronicle +known as that of Benedict of Peterborough, whose authorship +Professor Stubbs has shown to be more probably due +to the royal treasurer, Bishop Richard Fitz-Neal. This is +continued to 1201 by Roger of Howden in a record of equally +official value. William of Newburgh's history, which ends +in 1198, is a work of the classical school, like William of +Malmesbury's. It is distinguished by its fairness and good +sense. To these may be added the Chronicle of Ralph +Niger, with the additions of Ralph of Coggeshall, that of +Gervase of Canterbury, and the interesting life of St. Hugh +of Lincoln. +</p> + +<p> +But the intellectual energy of Henry the Second's time +is shown even more remarkably in the mass of general +literature which lies behind these distinctively historical +sources, in the treatises of John of Salisbury, the voluminous +works of Giraldus Cambrensis, the "Trifles" and satires of +Walter Map, Glanvill's treatise on Law, Richard Fitz-Neal's +"Dialogue on the Exchequer," to which we owe +our knowledge of Henry's financial system, the romances of +Gaimar and of Wace, the poem of the San Graal. But this +intellectual fertility is far from ceasing with Henry the +Second. The thirteenth century has hardly begun when +the romantic impulse quickens even the old English tongue +in the long poem of Layamon. The Chronicle of Richard +of Devizes and an "Itinerarium Regis" supplement Roger +of Howden for Richard's reign. With John we enter upon +the Annals of Barnwell and are aided by the invaluable +series of the Chroniclers of St. Albans. Among the side +topics of the time, we may find much information as to the +Jews in Toovey's "Anglia Judaica"; the Chronicle of +Jocelyn of Brakelond gives us a peep into social and +monastic life; the Cistercian revival may be traced in the +records of the Cistercian abbeys in Dugdale's Monasticon; +the Charter Rolls give some information as to municipal +history; and constitutional developement may be traced +in the documents collected by Professor Stubbs in his +"Select Charters." +</p> +</div> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-175"></a>1-175]</span> + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk2-Ch1"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4543652"></a>CHAPTER I</li> +<li> +<a name="id4543658"></a>THE CONQUEROR</li> +<li> +<a name="id4543664"></a>1071-1085</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Foreign Kings</span> +</p> + +<p> +In the five hundred years that followed the +landing of Hengest Britain had become England, +and its conquest had ended in the settlement of +its conquerors, in their conversion to Christianity, +in the birth of a national literature, of an imperfect +civilization, of a rough political order. +But through the whole of this earlier age every +attempt to fuse the various tribes of conquerors +into a single nation had failed. The effort of +Northumbria to extend her rule over all England +had been foiled by the resistance of Mercia; +that of Mercia by the resistance of Wessex. +Wessex herself, even under the guidance of great +kings and statesmen, had no sooner reduced the +country to a seeming unity than local independence +rose again at the call of the Northmen. The +sense of a single England deepened with the +pressure of the invaders; the monarchy of Ælfred + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-176"></a>1-176]</span> + +and his house broadened into an English kingdom; +but still tribal jealousies battled with national +unity. Northumbrian lay apart from West-Saxon, +Northman from Englishman. A common national +sympathy held the country roughly together, but +a real national union had yet to come. It came +with foreign rule. The rule of the Danish kings +broke local jealousies as they had never been +broken before, and bequeathed a new England to +Godwine and the Confessor. But Cnut was more +Englishman than Northman, and his system of +government was an English system. The true +foreign yoke was only felt when England saw its +conqueror in William the Norman. +</p> + +<p> +For nearly a century and a half, from the hour +when William turned triumphant from the fens of +Ely to the hour when John fled defeated from +Norman shores, our story is one of foreign masters. +Kings from Normandy were followed by kings +from Anjou. But whether under Norman or +Angevin Englishmen were a subject race, conquered +and ruled by men of strange blood and of +strange speech. And yet it was in these years of +subjection that England first became really England. +Provincial differences were finally crushed +into national unity by the pressure of the stranger. +The firm government of her foreign kings secured +the land a long and almost unbroken peace in +which the new nation grew to a sense of its +oneness, and this consciousness was strengthened + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-177"></a>1-177]</span> + +by the political ability which in Henry the First +gave it administrative order and in Henry the +Second built up the fabric of its law. New +elements of social life were developed alike by the +suffering and the prosperity of the times. The +wrong which had been done by the degradation of +the free landowner into a feudal dependant was +partially redressed by the degradation of the bulk +of the English lords themselves into a middle +class as they were pushed from their place by the +foreign baronage who settled on English soil; and +this social change was accompanied by a gradual +enrichment and elevation of the class of servile +and semi-servile cultivators which had lifted them +at the close of this period into almost complete +freedom. The middle class which was thus created +was reinforced by the upgrowth of a corresponding +class in our towns. Commerce and trade were +promoted by the justice and policy of the foreign +kings; and with their advance rose the political +importance of the trader. The boroughs of +England, which at the opening of this period were +for the most part mere villages, were rich enough +at its close to buy liberty from the Crown and to +stand ready for the mightier part they were to +play in the developement of our parliament. The +shame of conquest, the oppression of the conquerors, +begot a moral and religious revival which +raised religion into a living thing; while the close +connexion with the Continent which foreign + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-178"></a>1-178]</span> + +conquest brought about secured for England a +new communion with the artistic and intellectual +life of the world without her. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">William the Conqueror</span> +</p> + +<p> +In a word, it is to the stern discipline of our +foreign kings that we owe not merely English +wealth and English freedom but England herself. +And of these foreign masters the greatest was +William of Normandy. In William the wild impulses +of the northman's blood mingled strangely +with the cool temper of the modern statesman. +As he was the last, so he was the most terrible +outcome of the northern race. The very spirit of +the sea-robbers from whom he sprang seemed +embodied in his gigantic form, his enormous +strength, his savage countenance, his desperate +bravery, the fury of his wrath, the ruthlessness of +his revenge. "No knight under heaven," his +enemies owned, "was William's peer." Boy as he +was at Val-ès-dunes, horse and man went down +before his lance. All the fierce gaiety of his +nature broke out in the warfare of his youth, in +his rout of fifteen Angevins with but five men at +his back, in his defiant ride over the ground which +Geoffry Martel claimed from him, a ride with hawk +on fist as if war and the chase were one. No man +could bend William's bow. His mace crashed its +way through a ring of English warriors to the foot +of the Standard. He rose to his greatest height +at moments when other men despaired. His voice +rang out as a trumpet when his soldiers fled before + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-179"></a>1-179]</span> + +the English charge at Senlac, and his rally turned +the flight into a means of victory. In his winter +march on Chester he strode afoot at the head of +his fainting troops and helped with his own hand +to clear a road through the snowdrifts. And with +the northman's daring broke out the northman's +pitilessness. When the townsmen of Alençon +hung raw hides along their walls in scorn of the +"tanner's" grandson, William tore out his prisoners' +eyes, hewed off their hands and feet, and flung +them into the town. Hundreds of Hampshire +men were driven from their homes to make him +a hunting-ground and his harrying of Northumbria +left Northern England a desolate waste. Of men's +love or hate he recked little. His grim look, his +pride, his silence, his wild outbursts of passion, +left William lonely even in his court. His subjects +trembled as he passed. "So stark and +fierce was he," writes the English chronicler, "that +none dared resist his will." His very wrath was +solitary. "To no man spake he and no man dared +speak to him" when the news reached him of +Harold's seizure of the throne. It was only when +he passed from his palace to the loneliness of the +woods that the King's temper unbent. "He loved +the wild deer as though he had been their father." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">His rule</span> +</p> + +<p> +It was the genius of William which lifted him +out of this mere northman into a great general +and a great statesman. The wary strategy of his +French campaigns, the organization of his attack + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-180"></a>1-180]</span> + +upon England, the victory at Senlac, the quick +resource, the steady perseverance which achieved +the Conquest showed the wide range of his generalship. +His political ability had shown itself from +the first moment of his accession to the ducal +throne. William had the instinct of government. +He had hardly reached manhood when Normandy +lay peaceful at his feet. Revolt was crushed. +Disorder was trampled under foot. The Duke +"could never love a robber," be he baron or knave. +The sternness of his temper stamped itself throughout +upon his rule. "Stark he was to men that +withstood him," says the Chronicler of his English +system of government; "so harsh and cruel was +he that none dared withstand his will. Earls that +did aught against his bidding he cast into bonds; +bishops he stripped of their bishopricks, abbots +of their abbacies. He spared not his own brother: +first he was in the land, but the King cast him +into bondage. If a man would live and hold his +lands, need it were he followed the King's will." +Stern as such a rule was, its sternness gave rest to +the land. Even amidst the sufferings which +necessarily sprang from the circumstances of the +Conquest itself, from the erection of castles or the +enclosure of forests or the exactions which built +up William's hoard at Winchester, Englishmen +were unable to forget "the good peace he made in +the land, so that a man might fare over his realm +with a bosom full of gold." Strange touches too + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-181"></a>1-181]</span> + +of a humanity far in advance of his age contrasted +with this general temper of the Conqueror's government. +One of the strongest traits in his +character was an aversion to shed blood by process +of law; he formally abolished the punishment of +death, and only a single execution stains the +annals of his reign. An edict yet more honourable +to his humanity put an end to the slave-trade +which had till then been carried on at the port of +Bristol. The contrast between the ruthlessness +and pitifulness of his public acts sprang indeed +from a contrast within his temper itself. The +pitiless warrior, the stern and aweful king was a +tender and faithful husband, an affectionate father. +The lonely silence of his bearing broke into gracious +converse with pure and sacred souls like Anselm. +If William was "stark" to rebel and baron, men +noted that he was "mild to those that loved God." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">William and feudalism</span> +</p> + +<p> +But the greatness of the Conqueror was seen in +more than the order and peace which he imposed +upon the land. Fortune had given him one of the +greatest opportunities ever offered to a king of +stamping his own genius on the destinies of a +people; and it is the way in which he seized on +this opportunity which has set William among the +foremost statesmen of the world. The struggle +which ended in the fens of Ely had wholly changed +his position. He no longer held the land merely +as its national and elected King. To his elective +right he added the right of conquest. It is the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-182"></a>1-182]</span> + +way in which William grasped and employed this +double power that marks the originality of his +political genius, for the system of government +which he devised was in fact the result of this +double origin of his rule. It represented neither +the purely feudal system of the Continent nor the +system of the older English royalty: more truly +perhaps it may be said to have represented both. +As the conqueror of England William developed +the military organization of feudalism so far as +was necessary for the secure possession of his +conquests. The ground was already prepared for +such an organization. We have watched the beginnings +of English feudalism in the warriors, the +"companions" or "thegns" who were personally +attached to the king's war-band and received +estates from the folk-land in reward for their +personal services. In later times this feudal distribution +of estates had greatly increased as the +bulk of the nobles followed the king's example +and bound their tenants to themselves by a similar +process of subinfeudation. The pure freeholders +on the other hand, the class which formed the basis +of the original English society, had been gradually +reduced in number, partly through imitation of +the class above them, but more through the +pressure of the Danish wars and the social disturbance +consequent upon them which forced these +freemen to seek protectors among the thegns at +the cost of their independence. Even before the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-183"></a>1-183]</span> + +reign of William therefore feudalism was superseding +the older freedom in England as it had +already superseded it in Germany or France. But +the tendency was quickened and intensified by the +Conquest. The desperate and universal resistance +of the country forced William to hold by the sword +what the sword had won; and an army strong +enough to crush at any moment a national revolt +was needful for the preservation of his throne. +Such an army could only be maintained by a vast +confiscation of the soil, and the failure of the +English risings cleared the ground for its establishment. +The greater part of the higher nobility +fell in battle or fled into exile, while the lower +thegnhood either forfeited the whole of their lands +or redeemed a portion by the surrender of the rest. +We see the completeness of the confiscation in the +vast estates which William was enabled to grant +to his more powerful followers. Two hundred +manors in Kent with more than an equal number +elsewhere rewarded the services of his brother +Odo, and grants almost as large fell to William's +counsellors Fitz-Osbern and Montgomery or to +barons like the Mowbrays and the Clares. But +the poorest soldier of fortune found his part in the +spoil. The meanest Norman rose to wealth and +power in this new dominion of his lord. Great +or small, each manor thus granted was granted +on condition of its holder's service at the King's +call; a whole army was by this means encamped + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-184"></a>1-184]</span> + +upon the soil; and William's summons could at +any hour gather an overwhelming force around +his standard. +</p> + +<p> +Such a force however, effective as it was against +the conquered English, was hardly less formidable +to the Crown itself. When once it was established, +William found himself fronted in his new realm +by a feudal baronage, by the men whom he had so +hardly bent to his will in Normandy, and who +were as impatient of law, as jealous of the royal +power, as eager for an unbridled military and +judicial independence within their own manors, +here as there. The political genius of the Conqueror +was shown in his appreciation of this +danger and in the skill with which he met it. +Large as the estates he granted were, they were +scattered over the country in such a way as to +render union between the great landowners or the +hereditary attachment of great areas of population +to any one separate lord equally impossible. A +yet wiser measure struck at the very root of +feudalism. When the larger holdings were divided +by their owners into smaller sub-tenancies, the +under-tenants were bound by the same conditions +of service to their lord as he to the Crown. +"Hear, my lord," swore the vassal as kneeling +bareheaded and without arms he placed his hands +within those of his superior, "I become liege man +of yours for life and limb and earthly regard; and +I will keep faith and loyalty to you for life and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-185"></a>1-185]</span> + +death, God help me!" Then the kiss of his lord +invested him with land as a "fief" to descend to +him and his heirs for ever. In other countries +such a vassal owed fealty to his lord against all foes, +be they king or no. By the usage however which +William enacted in England each sub-tenant, in +addition to his oath of fealty to his lord, swore +fealty directly to the Crown, and loyalty to the +King was thus established as the supreme and +universal duty of all Englishmen. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">William and England</span> +</p> + +<p> +But the Conqueror's skill was shown not so +much in these inner checks upon feudalism as in +the counterbalancing forces which he provided +without it. He was not only the head of the +great garrison that held England down, he was +legal and elected King of the English people. If +as Conqueror he covered the country with a new +military organization, as the successor of Eadward +he maintained the judicial and administrative organization +of the old English realm. At the +danger of a severance of the land between the +greater nobles he struck a final blow by the +abolition of the four great earldoms. The shire +became the largest unit of local government, and +in each shire the royal nomination of sheriffs for +its administration concentrated the whole executive +power in the King's hands. The old legal constitution +of the country gave him the whole judicial +power, and William was jealous to retain and +heighten this. While he preserved the local courts + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-186"></a>1-186]</span> + +of the hundred and the shire he strengthened +the jurisdiction of the King's Court, which seems +even in the Confessor's day to have become more +and more a court of highest appeal with a right to +call up all cases from any lower jurisdiction to its +bar. The control over the national revenue which +had rested even in the most troubled times in the +hands of the King was turned into a great financial +power by the Conqueror's system. Over the +whole face of the land a large part of the manors +were burthened with special dues to the Crown: +and it was for the purpose of ascertaining and +recording these that William sent into each +county the commissioners whose enquiries are +recorded in his Domesday Book. A jury empannelled +in each hundred declared on oath the +extent and nature of each estate, the names, +number, and condition of its inhabitants, its value +before and after the Conquest, and the sums due +from it to the Crown. These, with the Danegeld +or land-tax levied since the days of Æthelred, +formed as yet the main financial resources of the +Crown, and their exaction carried the royal +authority in its most direct form home to every +landowner. But to these were added a revenue +drawn from the old Crown domain, now largely +increased by the confiscations of the Conquest, the +ever-growing income from the judicial "fines" +imposed by the King's judges in the King's courts, +and the fees and redemptions paid to the Crown + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-187"></a>1-187]</span> + +on the grant or renewal of every privilege or +charter. A new source of revenue was found in +the Jewish traders, many of whom followed +William from Normandy, and who were glad to +pay freely for the royal protection which enabled +them to settle in their quarters or "Jewries" in all +the principal towns of England. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Church</span> +</p> + +<p> +William found a yet stronger check on his +baronage in the organization of the Church. Its +old dependence on the royal power was strictly +enforced. Prelates were practically chosen by the +King. Homage was exacted from bishop as from +baron. No royal tenant could be excommunicated +save by the King's leave. No synod could legislate +without his previous assent and subsequent +confirmation of its decrees. No papal letters +could be received within the realm save by his +permission. The King firmly repudiated the +claims which were beginning to be put forward by +the court of Rome. When Gregory VII. called on +him to do fealty for his kingdom the King sternly +refused to admit the claim. "Fealty I have never +willed to do, nor will I do it now. I have never +promised it, nor do I find that my predecessors did +it to yours." William's reforms only tended to +tighten this hold of the Crown on the clergy. +Stigand was deposed; and the elevation of +Lanfranc to the see of Canterbury was followed +by the removal of most of the English prelates +and by the appointment of Norman ecclesiastics + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-188"></a>1-188]</span> + +in their place. The new archbishop did much to +restore discipline, and William's own efforts were +no doubt partly directed by a real desire for the +religious improvement of his realm. But the +foreign origin of the new prelates cut them off +from the flocks they ruled and bound them firmly +to the foreign throne; while their independent +position was lessened by a change which seemed +intended to preserve it. Ecclesiastical cases had +till now been decided, like civil cases, in shire or +hundred-court, where the bishop sate side by side +with ealdorman or sheriff. They were now withdrawn +from it to the separate court of the bishop. +The change was pregnant with future trouble to +the Crown; but for the moment it told mainly in +removing the bishop from his traditional contact +with the popular assembly and in effacing the +memory of the original equality of the religious +with the civil power. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">William's death</span> +</p> + +<p> +In any struggle with feudalism a national +king, secure of the support of the Church, and +backed by the royal hoard at Winchester, stood +in different case from the merely feudal sovereigns +of the Continent. The difference of power was +seen as soon as the Conquest was fairly over, and +the struggle which William had anticipated +opened between the baronage and the Crown. +The wisdom of his policy in the destruction of +the great earldoms which had overshadowed the +throne was shown in an attempt at their restoration + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-189"></a>1-189]</span> + +made in 1075 by Roger, the son of his +minister William Fitz-Osbern, and by the Breton, +Ralf de Guader, whom the King had rewarded +for his services at Senlac with the earldom of +Norfolk. The rising was quickly suppressed, +Roger thrown into prison, and Ralf driven over +sea. The intrigues of the baronage soon found +another leader in William's half-brother, the +Bishop of Bayeux. Under pretence of aspiring +by arms to the papacy Bishop Odo collected +money and men, but the treasure was at once +seized by the royal officers and the bishop +arrested in the midst of the court. Even at the +King's bidding no officer would venture to seize +on a prelate of the Church; and it was with his +own hands that William was forced to effect his +arrest. The Conqueror was as successful against +foes from without as against foes from within. +The fear of the Danes, which had so long hung +like a thunder-cloud over England, passed away +before the host which William gathered in 1085 +to meet a great armament assembled by king +Cnut. A mutiny dispersed the Danish fleet, and +the murder of its king removed all peril from the +north. Scotland, already humbled by William's +invasion, was bridled by the erection of a strong +fortress at Newcastle-upon-Tyne; and after penetrating +with his army to the heart of Wales the +King commenced its systematic reduction by +settling three of his great barons along its + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-190"></a>1-190]</span> + +frontier. It was not till his closing years that +William's unvarying success was troubled by a +fresh outbreak of the Norman baronage under +his son Robert and by an attack which he was +forced to meet in 1087 from France. Its king +mocked at the Conqueror's unwieldy bulk and at +the sickness which bound him to his bed at +Rouen. "King William has as long a lying-in," +laughed Philip, "as a woman behind her +curtains." "When I get up," William swore +grimly, "I will go to mass in Philip's land and +bring a rich offering for my churching. I will +offer a thousand candles for my fee. Flaming +brands shall they be, and steel shall glitter over +the fire they make." At harvest-tide town and +hamlet flaring into ashes along the French border +fulfilled the ruthless vow. But as the King rode +down the steep street of Mantes which he had +given to the flames his horse stumbled among +the embers, and William was flung heavily against +his saddle. He was borne home to Rouen to die. +The sound of the minster bell woke him at dawn +as he lay in the convent of St. Gervais, overlooking +the city--it was the hour of prime--and +stretching out his hands in prayer the King +passed quietly away. Death itself took its colour +from the savage solitude of his life. Priests and +nobles fled as the last breath left him, and the +Conqueror's body lay naked and lonely on the +floor. +</p> + +</div> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-191"></a>1-191]</span> + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk2-Ch2"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4544775"></a>CHAPTER II</li> +<li> +<a name="id4544781"></a>THE NORMAN KINGS</li> +<li> +<a name="id4544787"></a>1085-1154</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">William the Red</span> +</p> + +<p> +With the death of the Conqueror passed the +terror which had held the barons in awe, while +the severance of his dominions roused their hopes +of successful resistance to the stern rule beneath +which they had bowed. William bequeathed +Normandy to his eldest son Robert; but William +the Red, his second son, hastened with his father's +ring to England where the influence of Lanfranc +secured him the crown. The baronage seized the +opportunity to rise in arms under pretext of +supporting the claims of Robert, whose weakness +of character gave full scope for the growth of +feudal independence; and Bishop Odo, now freed +from prison, placed himself at the head of the +revolt. The new King was thrown almost wholly +on the loyalty of his English subjects. But the +national stamp which William had given to his +kingship told at once. The English rallied to + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-192"></a>1-192]</span> + +the royal standard; Bishop Wulfstan of Worcester, +the one surviving bishop of English blood, defeated +the insurgents in the west; while the +King, summoning the freemen of country and +town to his host under pain of being branded as +"nithing" or worthless, advanced with a large +force against Rochester where the barons were +concentrated. A plague which broke out among +the garrison forced them to capitulate, and as +the prisoners passed through the royal army cries +of "gallows and cord" burst from the English +ranks. The failure of a later conspiracy whose +aim was to set on the throne a kinsman of the +royal house, Stephen of Albemarle, with the +capture and imprisonment of its head, Robert +Mowbray, the Earl of Northumberland, brought +home at last to the baronage their helplessness +in a strife with the King. The genius of the +Conqueror had saved England from the danger +of feudalism. But he had left as weighty a +danger in the power which trod feudalism +under foot. The power of the Crown was a +purely personal power, restrained under the Conqueror +by his own high sense of duty, but +capable of becoming a pure despotism in the +hands of his son. The nobles were at his feet, +and the policy of his minister, Ranulf Flambard, +loaded their estates with feudal obligations. Each +tenant was held as bound to appear if needful +thrice a year at the royal court, to pay a heavy + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-193"></a>1-193]</span> + +fine or rent on succession to his estate, to +contribute aid in case of the king's capture in +war or the knighthood of the king's eldest son +or the marriage of his eldest daughter. An heir +who was still a minor passed into the king's +wardship, and all profit from his lands went +during the period of wardship to the king. +If the estate fell to an heiress, her hand was at +the king's disposal, and was generally sold by +him to the highest bidder. These rights of +"marriage" and "wardship" as well as the exaction +of aids at the royal will poured wealth +into the treasury while they impoverished and +fettered the baronage. A fresh source of revenue +was found in the Church. The same principles +of feudal dependence were applied to its lands as +to those of the nobles; and during the vacancy +of a see or abbey its profits, like those of a minor, +were swept into the royal hoard. William's +profligacy and extravagance soon tempted him +to abuse this resource, and so steadily did he +refuse to appoint successors to prelates whom +death removed that at the close of his reign one +archbishoprick, four bishopricks, and eleven abbeys +were found to be without pastors. +</p> + +<p> +Vile as was this system of extortion and misrule +but a single voice was raised in protest +against it. Lanfranc had been followed in his +abbey at Bec by the most famous of his scholars, +Anselm of Aosta, an Italian like himself. Friends + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-194"></a>1-194]</span> + +as they were, no two men could be more strangely +unlike. Anselm had grown to manhood in the +quiet solitude of his mountain-valley, a tenderhearted +poet-dreamer, with a soul pure as the +Alpine snows above him, and an intelligence keen +and clear as the mountain-air. The whole temper +of the man was painted in a dream of his youth. +It seemed to him as though heaven lay, a stately +palace, amid the gleaming hill-peaks, while the +women reaping in the corn-fields of the valley +became harvest-maidens of its king. They reaped +idly, and Anselm, grieved at their sloth, hastily +climbed the mountain side to accuse them to their +lord. As he reached the palace the king's voice +called him to his feet and he poured forth his +tale; then at the royal bidding bread of an unearthly +whiteness was set before him, and he ate +and was refreshed. The dream passed with the +morning; but the sense of heaven's nearness to +earth, the fervid loyalty to the service of his Lord, +the tender restfulness and peace in the Divine +presence which it reflected lived on in the life of +Anselm. Wandering like other Italian scholars to +Normandy, he became a monk under Lanfranc, +and on his teacher's removal to higher duties +succeeded him in the direction of the Abbey of +Bec. No teacher has ever thrown a greater spirit +of love into his toil. "Force your scholars to +improve!" he burst out to another teacher who +relied on blows and compulsion. "Did you ever + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-195"></a>1-195]</span> + +see a craftsman fashion a fair image out of a golden +plate by blows alone? Does he not now gently press +it and strike it with his tools, now with wise art +yet more gently raise and shape it? What do +your scholars turn into under this ceaseless beating?" +"They turn only brutal," was the reply. +"You have bad luck," was the keen answer, "in +a training that only turns men into beasts." The +worst natures softened before this tenderness and +patience. Even the Conqueror, so harsh and +terrible to others, became another man, gracious +and easy of speech, with Anselm. But amidst his +absorbing cares as a teacher, the Prior of Bec found +time for philosophical speculations to which we +owe the scientific inquiries which built up the +theology of the Middle Ages. His famous works +were the first attempts of any Christian thinker to +elicit the idea of God from the very nature of the +human reason. His passion for abstruse thought +robbed him of food and sleep. Sometimes he +could hardly pray. Often the night was a long +watch till he could seize his conception and write +it on the wax tablets which lay beside him. But +not even a fever of intense thought such as this +could draw Anselm's heart from its passionate +tenderness and love. Sick monks in the infirmary +could relish no drink save the juice which his hand +squeezed for them from the grape-bunch. In the +later days of his archbishoprick a hare chased by +the hounds took refuge under his horse, and his + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-196"></a>1-196]</span> + +gentle voice grew loud as he forbade a huntsman +to stir in the chase while the creature darted off +again to the woods. Even the greed of lands for +the Church to which so many religious men yielded +found its characteristic rebuke as the battling +lawyers in such a suit saw Anselm quietly close his +eyes in court and go peacefully to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">William and Anselm</span> +</p> + +<p> +A sudden impulse of the Red King drew the +abbot from these quiet studies into the storms of +the world. The see of Canterbury had long been +left without a Primate when a dangerous illness +frightened the king into the promotion of Anselm. +The Abbot, who happened at the time to be in +England on the business of his house, was dragged +to the royal couch and the cross forced into his +hands. But William had no sooner recovered from +his sickness than he found himself face to face with +an opponent whose meek and loving temper rose +into firmness and grandeur when it fronted the +tyranny of the king. Much of the struggle +between William and the Archbishop turned on +questions such as the right of investiture, which +have little bearing on our history, but the particular +question at issue was of less importance than the +fact of a contest at all. The boldness of Anselm's +attitude not only broke the tradition of ecclesiastical +servitude but infused through the nation +at large a new spirit of independence. The real +character of the strife appears in the Primate's +answer when his remonstrances against the lawless + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-197"></a>1-197]</span> + +exactions from the Church were met by a demand +for a present on his own promotion, and his first +offer of five hundred pounds was contemptuously +refused. "Treat me as a free man," Anselm +replied, "and I devote myself and all that I have +to your service, but if you treat me as a slave you +shall have neither me nor mine." A burst of the +Red King's fury drove the Archbishop from court, +and he finally decided to quit the country, but his +example had not been lost, and the close of William's +reign found a new spirit of freedom in England +with which the greatest of the Conqueror's sons +was glad to make terms. His exile however left +William without a check. Supreme at home, he +was full of ambition abroad. As a soldier the Red +King was little inferior to his father. Normandy +had been pledged to him by his brother Robert in +exchange for a sum which enabled the Duke to +march in the first Crusade for the delivery of the +Holy Land, and a rebellion at Le Mans was subdued +by the fierce energy with which William +flung himself at the news of it into the first boat +he found, and crossed the Channel in face of a +storm. "Kings never drown," he replied contemptuously +to the remonstrances of his followers. +Homage was again wrested from Malcolm by a +march to the Firth of Forth, and the subsequent +death of that king threw Scotland into a disorder +which enabled an army under Eadgar Ætheling to +establish Eadgar, the son of Margaret, as an English + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-198"></a>1-198]</span> + +feudatory on the throne. In Wales William was +less triumphant, and the terrible losses inflicted on +the heavy Norman cavalry in the fastnesses of +Snowdon forced him to fall back on the slower but +wiser policy of the Conqueror. But triumph and +defeat alike ended in a strange and tragical close. +In 1100 the Red King was found dead by peasants +in a glade of the New Forest, with the arrow +either of a hunter or an assassin in his breast. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Henry the First</span> +</p> + +<p> +Robert was at this moment on his return from +the Holy Land, where his bravery had redeemed +much of his earlier ill-fame, and the English crown +was seized by his younger brother Henry in spite +of the opposition of the baronage, who clung to +the Duke of Normandy and the union of their +estates on both sides the Channel under a single +ruler. Their attitude threw Henry, as it had +thrown Rufus, on the support of the English, and +the two great measures which followed his coronation, +his grant of a charter, and his marriage with +Matilda, mark the new relation which this support +brought about between the people and their king. +Henry's Charter is important, not merely as a +direct precedent for the Great Charter of John, +but as the first limitation on the despotism established +by the Conqueror and carried to such a +height by his son. The "evil customs" by which +the Red King had enslaved and plundered the +Church were explicitly renounced in it, the unlimited +demands made by both the Conqueror and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-199"></a>1-199]</span> + +his son on the baronage exchanged for customary +fees, while the rights of the people itself, though +recognized more vaguely, were not forgotten. The +barons were held to do justice to their undertenants +and to renounce tyrannical exactions from +them, the king promising to restore order and the +"law of Eadward," the old constitution of the +realm, with the changes which his father had introduced. +His marriage gave a significance to these +promises which the meanest English peasant could +understand. Edith, or Matilda, was the daughter +of King Malcolm of Scotland and of Margaret, the +sister of Eadgar Ætheling. She had been brought +up in the nunnery of Romsey where her aunt Christina +was a nun; and the veil which she had taken +there formed an obstacle to her union with the +King, which was only removed by the wisdom of +Anselm. While Flambard, the embodiment of the +Red King's despotism, was thrown into the Tower, +the Archbishop's recall had been one of Henry's +first acts after his accession. Matilda appeared +before his court to tell her tale in words of passionate +earnestness. She had been veiled in her childhood, +she asserted, only to save her from the +insults of the rude soldiery who infested the land, +had flung the veil from her again and again, and +had yielded at last to the unwomanly taunts, the +actual blows of her aunt. "As often as I stood in +her presence," the girl pleaded, "I wore the veil, +trembling as I wore it with indignation and grief. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-200"></a>1-200]</span> + +But as soon as I could get out of her sight I used +to snatch it from my head, fling it on the ground, +and trample it under foot. That was the way, +and none other, in which I was veiled." Anselm +at once declared her free from conventual bonds, +and the shout of the English multitude when he +set the crown on Matilda's brow drowned the +murmur of Churchman or of baron. The mockery +of the Norman nobles, who nicknamed the king +and his spouse Godric and Godgifu, was lost in the +joy of the people at large. For the first time since +the Conquest an English sovereign sat on the +English throne. The blood of Cerdic and Ælfred +was to blend itself with that of Hrolf and the +Conqueror. Henceforth it was impossible that +the two peoples should remain parted from each +other; so quick indeed was their union that the +very name of Norman had passed away in half a +century, and at the accession of Henry's grandson +it was impossible to distinguish between the +descendants of the conquerors and those of the +conquered at Senlac. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Henry and the Barons</span> +</p> + +<p> +Charter and marriage roused an enthusiasm +among his subjects which enabled Henry to defy +the claims of his brother and the disaffection of +his nobles. Early in 1101 Robert landed at +Portsmouth to win the crown in arms. The +great barons with hardly an exception stood aloof +from the king. But the Norman Duke found +himself face to face with an English army which + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-201"></a>1-201]</span> + +gathered at Anselm's summons round Henry's +standard. The temper of the English had rallied +from the panic of Senlac. The soldiers who came +to fight for their king "nowise feared the Normans." +As Henry rode along their lines showing +them how to keep firm their shield-wall against +the lances of Robert's knighthood, he was met +with shouts for battle. But king and duke alike +shrank from a contest in which the victory of +either side would have undone the Conqueror's +work. The one saw his effort was hopeless, the +other was only anxious to remove his rival from +the realm, and by a peace which the Count of +Meulan negotiated Robert recognized Henry as +King of England while Henry gave up his fief +in the Cotentin to his brother the Duke. Robert's +retreat left Henry free to deal sternly with the +barons who had forsaken him. Robert de Lacy +was stripped of his manors in Yorkshire; Robert +Malet was driven from his lands in Suffolk; Ivo +of Grantmesnil lost his vast estates and went to +the Holy Land as a pilgrim. But greater even +than these was Robert of Belesme, the son of +Roger of Montgomery, who held in England the +earldoms of Shrewsbury and Arundel, while in +Normandy he was Count of Ponthieu and Alençon. +Robert stood at the head of the baronage in wealth +and power: and his summons to the King's Court +to answer for his refusal of aid to the king was +answered by a haughty defiance. But again + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-202"></a>1-202]</span> + +the Norman baronage had to feel the strength +which English loyalty gave to the Crown. Sixty +thousand Englishmen followed Henry to the attack +of Robert's strongholds along the Welsh border. +It was in vain that the nobles about the king, +conscious that Robert's fall left them helpless in +Henry's hands, strove to bring about a peace. +The English soldiers shouted "Heed not these +traitors, our lord King Henry," and with the +people at his back the king stood firm. Only +an early surrender saved Robert's life. He was +suffered to retire to his estates in Normandy, but +his English lands were confiscated to the Crown. +"Rejoice, King Henry," shouted the English +soldiers, "for you began to be a free king on +that day when you conquered Robert of Belesme +and drove him from the land." Master of his +own realm and enriched by the confiscated lands +of the ruined barons Henry crossed into Normandy, +where the misgovernment of the Duke +had alienated the clergy and tradesfolk, and +where the outrages of nobles like Robert of +Belesme forced the more peaceful classes to call +the king to their aid. In 1106 his forces met +those of his brother on the field of Tenchebray, +and a decisive English victory on Norman soil +avenged the shame of Hastings. The conquered +duchy became a dependency of the English crown, +and Henry's energies were frittered away through +a quarter of a century in crushing its revolts, the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-203"></a>1-203]</span> + +hostility of the French, and the efforts of his +nephew William, the son of Robert, to regain +the crown which his father had lost. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Henry's rule</span> +</p> + +<p> +With the victory of Tenchebray Henry was +free to enter on that work of administration +which was to make his reign memorable in our +history. Successful as his wars had been he was +in heart no warrior but a statesman, and his +greatness showed itself less in the field than in +the council chamber. His outer bearing like his +inner temper stood in marked contrast to that +of his father. Well read, accomplished, easy and +fluent of speech, the lord of a harem of mistresses, +the centre of a gay court where poet and jongleur +found a home, Henry remained cool, self-possessed, +clear-sighted, hard, methodical, loveless himself, +and neither seeking nor desiring his people's love, +but wringing from them their gratitude and regard +by sheer dint of good government. His work of +order was necessarily a costly work; and the +steady pressure of his taxation, a pressure made +the harder by local famines and plagues during +his reign, has left traces of the grumbling it +roused in the pages of the English Chronicle. +But even the Chronicler is forced to own amidst +his grumblings that Henry "was a good man, +and great was the awe of him." He had little +of his father's creative genius, of that far-reaching +originality by which the Conqueror stamped himself +and his will on the very fabric of our history. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-204"></a>1-204]</span> + +But he had the passion for order, the love of +justice, the faculty of organization, the power of +steady and unwavering rule, which was needed +to complete the Conqueror's work. His aim was +peace, and the title of the Peace-loving King +which was given him at his death showed with +what a steadiness and constancy he carried out +his aim. In Normandy indeed his work was ever +and anon undone by outbreaks of its baronage, +outbreaks sternly repressed only that the work +might be patiently and calmly taken up again +where it had been broken off. But in England +his will was carried out with a perfect success. +For more than a quarter of a century the land +had rest. Without, the Scots were held in friendship, +the Welsh were bridled by a steady and +well-planned scheme of gradual conquest. Within, +the licence of the baronage was held sternly down, +and justice secured for all. "He governed with +a strong hand," says Orderic, but the strong hand +was the hand of a king, not of a tyrant. "Great +was the awe of him," writes the annalist of Peterborough. +"No man durst ill-do to another in +his days. Peace he made for man and beast." +Pitiless as were the blows he aimed at the nobles +who withstood him, they were blows which his +English subjects felt to be struck in their cause. +"While he mastered by policy the foremost counts +and lords and the boldest tyrants, he ever cherished +and protected peaceful men and men of religion + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-205"></a>1-205]</span> + +and men of the middle class." What impressed +observers most was the unswerving, changeless +temper of his rule. The stern justice, the terrible +punishments he inflicted on all who broke his +laws, were parts of a fixed system which differed +widely from the capricious severity of a mere +despot. Hardly less impressive was his unvarying +success. Heavy as were the blows which destiny +levelled at him, Henry bore and rose unconquered +from all. To the end of his life the proudest +barons lay bound and blinded in his prison. His +hoard grew greater and greater. Normandy, toss +as she might, lay helpless at his feet to the last. +In England it was only after his death that men +dared mutter what evil things they had thought +of Henry the Peace-lover, or censure the pitilessness, +the greed, and the lust which had blurred +the wisdom and splendour of his rule. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Henry's Administration</span> +</p> + +<p> +His vigorous administration carried out into +detail the system of government which the Conqueror +had sketched. The vast estates which had +fallen to the crown through revolt and forfeiture +were granted out to new men dependent on royal +favour. On the ruins of the great feudatories +whom he had crushed Henry built up a class of +lesser nobles, whom the older barons of the +Conquest looked down on in scorn, but who were +strong enough to form a counterpoise to their +influence, while they furnished the Crown with a +class of useful administrators whom Henry employed + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-206"></a>1-206]</span> + +as his sheriffs and judges. A new organization +of justice and finance bound the kingdom +more tightly together in Henry's grasp. The +Clerks of the Royal Chapel were formed into a +body of secretaries or royal ministers, whose head +bore the title of Chancellor. Above them stood +the Justiciar, or Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, +who in the frequent absence of the king +acted as Regent of the realm, and whose staff, +selected from the barons connected with the royal +household, were formed into a Supreme Court of +the realm. The King's Court, as this was called, +permanently represented the whole court of royal +vassals which had hitherto been summoned thrice +in the year. As the royal council, it revised and +registered laws, and its "counsel and consent," +though merely formal, preserved the principle of +the older popular legislation. As a court of justice, +it formed the highest court of appeal: it could +call up any suit from a lower tribunal on the +application of a suitor, while the union of several +sheriffdoms under some of its members connected +it closely with the local courts. As a financial +body, its chief work lay in the assessment and +collection of the revenue. In this capacity it took +the name of the Court of Exchequer from the +chequered table, much like a chess-board, at which +it sat and on which accounts were rendered. In +their financial capacity its justices became "barons +of the Exchequer." Twice every year the sheriff + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-207"></a>1-207]</span> + +of each county appeared before these barons and +rendered the sum of the fixed rent from royal +domains, the Danegeld or land tax, the fines of the +local courts, the feudal aids from the baronial +estates, which formed the chief part of the royal +revenue. Local disputes respecting these payments +or the assessment of the town-rents were settled +by a detachment of barons from the court who +made the circuit of the shires, and whose fiscal +visitations led to the judicial visitations, the +"judges' circuits," which still form so marked a +feature in our legal system. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Angevin Marriage</span> +</p> + +<p> +Measures such as these changed the whole +temper of the Norman rule. It remained a despotism, +but from this moment it was a despotism +regulated and held in check by the forms of administrative +routine. Heavy as was the taxation +under Henry the First, terrible as was the suffering +throughout his reign from famine and plague, +the peace and order which his government secured +through thirty years won a rest for the land in which +conqueror and conquered blended into a single people +and in which this people slowly moved forward to +a new freedom. But while England thus rested +in peace a terrible blow broke the fortunes of her +king. In 1120 his son, William the "Ætheling," +with a crowd of nobles accompanied Henry on his +return from Normandy; but the White Ship in +which he embarked lingered behind the rest of the +royal fleet till the guards of the king's treasure + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-208"></a>1-208]</span> + +pressed its departure. It had hardly cleared the +harbour when the ship's side struck on a rock, and +in an instant it sank beneath the waves. One +terrible cry, ringing through the silence of the +night, was heard by the royal fleet; but it was not +till the morning that the fatal news reached the +king. Stern as he was, Henry fell senseless to +the ground, and rose never to smile again. He had +no other son, and the circle of his foreign foes +closed round him the more fiercely that William, +the son of his captive brother Robert, was now his +natural heir. Henry hated William while he loved +his own daughter Maud, who had been married to +the Emperor Henry the Fifth, but who had been +restored by his death to her father's court. The +succession of a woman was new in English history; +it was strange to a feudal baronage. But when +all hope of issue from a second wife whom he +wedded was over Henry forced priests and nobles +to swear allegiance to Maud as their future mistress, +and affianced her to Geoffry the Handsome, the +son of the one foe whom he dreaded, Count Fulk +of Anjou. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Anjou</span> +</p> + +<p> +The marriage of Matilda was but a step in the +wonderful history by which the descendants of a +Breton woodman became masters not of Anjou +only, but of Touraine, Maine, and Poitou, of +Gascony and Auvergne, of Aquitaine and Normandy, +and sovereigns at last of the great realm +which Normandy had won. The legend of the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-209"></a>1-209]</span> + +father of their race carries us back to the times of +our own Ælfred, when the Danes were ravaging +along Loire as they ravaged along Thames. In +the heart of the Breton border, in the debateable +land between France and Britanny, dwelt Tortulf +the Forester, half-brigand, half-hunter as the +gloomy days went, living in free outlaw-fashion in +the woods about Rennes. Tortulf had learned in +his rough forest school "how to strike the foe, to +sleep on the bare ground, to bear hunger and toil, +summer's heat and winter's frost, how to fear +nothing save ill-fame." Following King Charles the +Bald in his struggle with the Danes, the woodman +won broad lands along Loire, and his son Ingelger, +who had swept the northmen from Touraine and +the land to the west, which they had burned and +wasted into a vast solitude, became the first Count +of Anjou. But the tale of Tortulf and Ingelger is +a mere creation of some twelfth century jongleur. +The earliest Count whom history recognizes is +Fulk the Red. Fulk attached himself to the Dukes +of France who were now drawing nearer to the +throne, and between 909 and 929 he received +from them in guerdon the county of Anjou. The +story of his son is a story of peace, breaking like a +quiet idyll the war-storms of his house. Alone of +his race Fulk the Good waged no wars: his delight +was to sit in the choir of Tours and to be called +"Canon." One Martinmas eve Fulk was singing +there in clerkly guise when the French king, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-210"></a>1-210]</span> + +Lewis d'Outremer, entered the church. "He +sings like a priest," laughed the king as his nobles +pointed mockingly to the figure of the Count-Canon. +But Fulk was ready with his reply. +"Know, my lord," wrote the Count of Anjou, +"that a king unlearned is a crowned ass." Fulk +was in fact no priest, but a busy ruler, governing, +enforcing peace, and carrying justice to every +corner of the wasted land. To him alone of his +race men gave the title of "the Good." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Fulk the Black</span> +</p> + +<p> +Hampered by revolt, himself in character little +more than a bold, dashing soldier, Fulk's son, +Geoffry Greygown, sank almost into a vassal of +his powerful neighbours, the Counts of Blois and +Champagne. But this vassalage was roughly +shaken off by his successor. Fulk Nerra, Fulk the +Black, is the greatest of the Angevins, the first in +whom we can trace that marked type of character +which their house was to preserve through two +hundred years. He was without natural affection. +In his youth he burnt a wife at the stake, and +legend told how he led her to her doom decked out +in his gayest attire. In his old age he waged his +bitterest war against his son, and exacted from him +when vanquished a humiliation which men reserved +for the deadliest of their foes. "You are conquered, +you are conquered!" shouted the old man +in fierce exultation, as Geoffry, bridled and saddled +like a beast of burden, crawled for pardon to his +father's feet. In Fulk first appeared that low type + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-211"></a>1-211]</span> + +of superstition which startled even superstitious +ages in the early Plantagenets. Robber as he was +of Church lands, and contemptuous of ecclesiastical +censures, the fear of the end of the world drove +Fulk to the Holy Sepulchre. Barefoot and with +the strokes of the scourge falling heavily on his +shoulders, the Count had himself dragged by a +halter through the streets of Jerusalem, and courted +the doom of martyrdom by his wild outcries of +penitence. He rewarded the fidelity of Herbert +of Le Mans, whose aid saved him from utter ruin, +by entrapping him into captivity and robbing him +of his lands. He secured the terrified friendship +of the French king by despatching twelve assassins +to cut down before his eyes the minister who had +troubled it. Familiar as the age was with treason +and rapine and blood, it recoiled from the cool +cynicism of his crimes, and believed the wrath of +Heaven to have been revealed against the union of +the worst forms of evil in Fulk the Black. But +neither the wrath of Heaven nor the curses of men +broke with a single mishap the fifty years of his +success. +</p> + +<p> +At his accession in 987 Anjou was the least +important of the greater provinces of France. At +his death in 1040 it stood, if not in extent, at least +in real power, first among them all. Cool-headed, +clear-sighted, quick to resolve, quicker to strike, +Fulk's career was one long series of victories over +all his rivals. He was a consummate general, and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-212"></a>1-212]</span> + +he had the gift of personal bravery, which was +denied to some of his greatest descendants. There +was a moment in the first of his battles when the +day seemed lost for Anjou; a feigned retreat of +the Bretons drew the Angevin horsemen into a +line of hidden pitfalls, and the Count himself was +flung heavily to the ground. Dragged from the +medley of men and horses, he swept down almost +singly on the foe "as a storm-wind" (so rang the +pæan of the Angevins) "sweeps down on the thick +corn-rows," and the field was won. But to these +qualities of the warrior he added a power of +political organization, a capacity for far-reaching +combinations, a faculty of statesmanship, which +became the heritage of his race, and lifted them +as high above the intellectual level of the rulers +of their time as their shameless wickedness degraded +them below the level of man. His overthrow +of Britanny on the field of Conquereux was +followed by the gradual absorption of Southern +Touraine; a victory at Pontlevoi crushed the rival +house of Blois; the seizure of Saumur completed +his conquests in the south, while Northern Touraine +was won bit by bit till only Tours resisted the +Angevin. The treacherous seizure of its Count, +Herbert Wakedog, left Maine at his mercy. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Death of Henry</span> +</p> + +<p> +His work of conquest was completed by his +son. Geoffry Martel wrested Tours from the +Count of Blois, and by the seizure of Le Mans +brought his border to the Norman frontier. Here + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-213"></a>1-213]</span> + +however his advance was checked by the genius +of William the Conqueror, and with his death the +greatness of Anjou came for a while to an end. +Stripped of Maine by the Normans and broken +by dissensions within, the weak and profligate rule +of Fulk Rechin left Anjou powerless. But in 1109 +it woke to fresh energy with the accession of his +son, Fulk of Jerusalem. Now urging the turbulent +Norman nobles to revolt, now supporting Robert's +son, William, in his strife with his uncle, offering +himself throughout as the loyal supporter of the +French kingdom which was now hemmed in on +almost every side by the forces of the English +king and of his allies the Counts of Blois and +Champagne, Fulk was the one enemy whom +Henry the First really feared. It was to disarm +his restless hostility that the king gave the hand +of Matilda to Geoffry the Handsome. But the +hatred between Norman and Angevin had been +too bitter to make such a marriage popular, and +the secrecy with which it was brought about +was held by the barons to free them from the +oath they had previously sworn. As no baron +if he was sonless could give a husband to his +daughter save with his lord's consent, the nobles +held by a strained analogy that their own assent +was needful to the marriage of Maud. Henry +found a more pressing danger in the greed of her +husband Geoffry, whose habit of wearing the +common broom of Anjou, the planta genista, in + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-214"></a>1-214]</span> + +his helmet gave him the title of Plantagenet. +His claims ended at last in intrigues with the +Norman nobles, and Henry hurried to the border +to meet an Angevin invasion; but the plot broke +down at his presence, the Angevins retired, and at +the close of 1135 the old king withdrew to the +Forest of Lions to die. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Stephen</span> +</p> + +<p> +"God give him," wrote the Archbishop of +Rouen from Henry's death-bed, "the peace he +loved." With him indeed closed the long peace +of the Norman rule. An outburst of anarchy +followed on the news of his departure, and in the +midst of the turmoil Earl Stephen, his nephew, +appeared at the gates of London. Stephen was a +son of the Conqueror's daughter, Adela, who had +married a Count of Blois; he had been brought +up at the English court, had been made Count of +Mortain by Henry, had become Count of Boulogne +by his marriage, and as head of the Norman +baronage had been the first to pledge himself to +support Matilda's succession. But his own claim +as nearest male heir of the Conqueror's blood (for +his cousin, the son of Robert, had fallen some years +before in Flanders) was supported by his personal +popularity; mere swordsman as he was, his good-humour, +his generosity, his very prodigality made +Stephen a favourite with all. No noble however +had as yet ventured to join him nor had any town +opened its gates when London poured out to meet +him with uproarious welcome. Neither baron nor + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-215"></a>1-215]</span> + +prelate was present to constitute a National Council, +but the great city did not hesitate to take their place. +The voice of her citizens had long been accepted +as representative of the popular assent in the +election of a king; but it marks the progress of +English independence under Henry that London +now claimed of itself the right of election. +Undismayed by the absence of the hereditary +counsellors of the crown its "Aldermen and wise +folk gathered together the folk-moot, and these +providing at their own will for the good of the +realm unanimously resolved to choose a king." +The solemn deliberation ended in the choice of +Stephen, the citizens swore to defend the king +with money and blood, Stephen swore to apply +his whole strength to the pacification and good +government of the realm. It was in fact the +new union of conquered and conquerors into a +single England that did Stephen's work. The +succession of Maud meant the rule of Geoffry of +Anjou, and to Norman as to Englishman the rule +of the Angevin was a foreign rule. The welcome +Stephen won at London and Winchester, his seizure +of the royal treasure, the adhesion of the Justiciar +Bishop Roger to his cause, the reluctant consent +of the Archbishop, the hopelessness of aid from +Anjou where Geoffry was at this moment pressed +by revolt, the need above all of some king to meet +the outbreak of anarchy which followed Henry's +death, secured Stephen the voice of the baronage. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-216"></a>1-216]</span> + +He was crowned at Christmas-tide; and soon +joined by Robert Earl of Gloucester, a bastard +son of Henry and the chief of his nobles; while +the issue of a charter from Oxford in 1136, a +charter which renewed the dead king's pledge of +good government, promised another Henry to the +realm. The charter surrendered all forests made +in the last reign as a sop to the nobles, and conciliated +the Church by granting freedom of election +and renouncing all right to the profits of vacant +churches; while the king won the people by a +promise to abolish the tax of Danegeld. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Battle of the Standard</span> +</p> + +<p> +The king's first two years were years of success +and prosperity. Two risings of barons in the east +and west were easily put down, and in 1137 +Stephen passed into Normandy and secured the +Duchy against an attack from Anjou. But already +the elements of trouble were gathering round him. +Stephen was a mere soldier, with few kingly +qualities save that of a soldier's bravery; and +the realm soon began to slip from his grasp. +He turned against himself the jealous dread of +foreigners to which he owed his accession by +surrounding himself with hired knights from +Flanders; he drained the treasury by creating +new earls endowed with pensions from it, and +recruited his means by base coinage. His consciousness +of the gathering storm only drove +Stephen to bind his friends to him by suffering +them to fortify castles and to renew the feudal + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-217"></a>1-217]</span> + +tyranny which Henry had struck down. But the +long reign of the dead king had left the Crown so +strong that even yet Stephen could hold his +own. A plot which Robert of Gloucester had +been weaving from the outset of his reign came +indeed to a head in 1138, and the Earl's revolt +stripped Stephen of Caen and half Normandy. +But when his partizans in England rose in the +south and the west and the King of Scots, whose +friendship Stephen had bought in the opening of +his reign by the cession of Carlisle, poured over the +northern border, the nation stood firmly by the king. +Stephen himself marched on the western rebels +and soon left them few strongholds save Bristol. +His people fought for him in the north. The +pillage and cruelties of the wild tribes of Galloway +and the Highlands roused the spirit of the Yorkshiremen. +Baron and freeman gathered at York +round Archbishop Thurstan and marched to the +field of Northallerton to await the foe. The +sacred banners of St. Cuthbert of Durham, St. +Peter of York, St. John of Beverley, and St. +Wilfrid of Ripon hung from a pole fixed in +a four-wheeled car which stood in the centre +of the host. The first onset of David's host +was a terrible one. "I who wear no armour," +shouted the chief of the Galwegians, "will go as +far this day as any one with breastplate of mail"; +his men charged with wild shouts of "Albin, +Albin," and were followed by the Norman knighthood + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-218"></a>1-218]</span> + +of the Lowlands. But their repulse was complete; +the fierce hordes dashed in vain against the +close English ranks around the Standard, and the +whole army fled in confusion to Carlisle. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Seizure of the Bishops</span> +</p> + +<p> +Weak indeed as Stephen was, the administrative +organization of Henry still did its work. +Roger remained justiciar, his son was chancellor, +his nephew Nigel, the Bishop of Ely, was treasurer. +Finance and justice were thus concentrated in the +hands of a single family which preserved amidst +the deepening misrule something of the old order +and rule, and which stood at the head of the "new +men," whom Henry had raised into importance +and made the instruments of his will. These new +men were still weak by the side of the older +nobles; and conscious of the jealousy and ill-will +with which they were regarded they followed in +self-defence the example which the barons were +setting in building and fortifying castles on their +domains. Roger and his house, the objects from +their official position of a deeper grudge than any, +were carried away by the panic. The justiciar +and his son fortified their castles, and it was only +with a strong force at their back that the prelates +appeared at court. Their attitude was one to +rouse Stephen's jealousy, and the news of Matilda's +purpose of invasion lent strength to the doubts +which the nobles cast on their fidelity. All the +weak violence of the king's temper suddenly broke +out. He seized Roger the Chancellor and the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-219"></a>1-219]</span> + +Bishop of Lincoln when they appeared at Oxford +in June 1139, and forced them to surrender their +strongholds. Shame broke the justiciar's heart; +he died at the close of the year, and his nephew +Nigel of Ely was driven from the realm. But the +fall of this house shattered the whole system of +government. The King's Court and the Exchequer +ceased to work at a moment when the landing of +Earl Robert and the Empress Matilda set Stephen +face to face with a danger greater than he had yet +encountered, while the clergy, alienated by the +arrest of the Bishops and the disregard of their +protests, stood angrily aloof. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Civil War</span> +</p> + +<p> +The three bases of Henry's system of government, +the subjection of the baronage to the law, +the good-will of the Church, and the organization +of justice and finance, were now utterly ruined; +and for the fourteen years which passed from +this hour to the Treaty of Wallingford England +was given up to the miseries of civil war. The +country was divided between the adherents of the +two rivals, the West supporting Matilda, London +and the East Stephen. A defeat at Lincoln in +1141 left the latter a captive in the hands of his +enemies, while Matilda was received throughout +the land as its "Lady." But the disdain with +which she repulsed the claim of London to the +enjoyment of its older privileges called its +burghers to arms; her resolve to hold Stephen a +prisoner roused his party again to life, and she + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-220"></a>1-220]</span> + +was driven to Oxford to be besieged there in 1142 +by Stephen himself, who had obtained his release +in exchange for Earl Robert after the capture of +the Earl in a battle at Winchester. She escaped +from the castle, but with the death of Robert her +struggle became a hopeless one, and in 1148 she +withdrew to Normandy. The war was now a +mere chaos of pillage and bloodshed. The royal +power came to an end. The royal courts were +suspended, for not a baron or bishop would come +at the king's call. The bishops met in council to +protest, but their protests and excommunications +fell on deafened ears. For the first and last time +in her history England was in the hands of the +baronage, and their outrages showed from what +horrors the stern rule of the Norman kings had +saved her. Castles sprang up everywhere. "They +filled the land with castles," say the terrible +annals of the time. "They greatly oppressed +the wretched people by making them work at +these castles, and when they were finished they +filled them with devils and armed men." In each +of these robber-holds a petty tyrant ruled like a +king. The strife for the Crown had broken into +a medley of feuds between baron and baron, for +none could brook an equal or a superior in his +fellow. "They fought among themselves with +deadly hatred, they spoiled the fairest lands with +fire and rapine; in what had been the most fertile +of counties they destroyed almost all the provision + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-221"></a>1-221]</span> + +of bread." For fight as they might with one +another, all were at one in the plunder of the +land. Towns were put to ransom. Villages were +sacked and burned. All who were deemed to +have goods, whether men or women, were carried +off and flung into dungeons and tortured till they +yielded up their wealth. No ghastlier picture of +a nation's misery has ever been painted than that +which closes the English Chronicle whose last +accents falter out amidst the horrors of the time. +"They hanged up men by their feet and smoked +them with foul smoke. Some were hanged up by +their thumbs, others by the head, and burning +things were hung on to their feet. They put +knotted strings about men's heads, and writhed +them till they went to the brain. They put men +into prisons where adders and snakes and toads +were crawling, and so they tormented them. +Some they put into a chest short and narrow and +not deep and that had sharp stones within, and +forced men therein so that they broke all their +limbs. In many of the castles were hateful and +grim things called rachenteges, which two or three +men had enough to do to carry. It was thus +made: it was fastened to a beam and had a sharp +iron to go about a man's neck and throat, so that +he might noways sit, or lie, or sleep, but he bore +all the iron. Many thousands they starved with +hunger." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Religious Revival</span> +</p> + +<p> +It was only after years of this feudal anarchy + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-222"></a>1-222]</span> + +that England was rescued from it by the efforts of +the Church. The political influence of the Church +had been greatly lessened by the Conquest: for +pious, learned, and energetic as the bulk of the +Conqueror's bishops were, they were not Englishmen. +Till the reign of Henry the First no Englishman +occupied an English see. This severance of +the higher clergy from the lower priesthood and +from the people went far to paralyze the constitutional +influence of the Church. Anselm stood +alone against Rufus, and when Anselm was gone +no voice of ecclesiastical freedom broke the silence +of the reign of Henry the First. But at the close +of Henry's reign and throughout the reign of +Stephen England was stirred by the first of those +great religious movements which it was to experience +afterwards in the preaching of the Friars, the +Lollardism of Wyclif, the Reformation, the Puritan +enthusiasm, and the mission work of the Wesleys. +Everywhere in town and country men banded +themselves together for prayer: hermits flocked +to the woods: noble and churl welcomed the +austere Cistercians, a reformed offshoot of the +Benedictine order, as they spread over the moors +and forests of the North. A new spirit of devotion +woke the slumbers of the religious houses, and +penetrated alike to the home of the noble and the +trader. London took its full share in the revival. +The city was proud of its religion, its thirteen +conventual and more than a hundred parochial + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-223"></a>1-223]</span> + +churches. The new impulse changed its very +aspect. In the midst of the city Bishop Richard +busied himself with the vast cathedral church of +St. Paul which Bishop Maurice had begun; barges +came up the river with stone from Caen for the +great arches that moved the popular wonder, +while street and lane were being levelled to make +room for its famous churchyard. Rahere, a +minstrel at Henry's court, raised the Priory of St. +Bartholomew beside Smithfield. Alfune built St. +Giles's at Cripplegate. The old English Cnichtenagild +surrendered their soke of Aldgate as a site +for the new priory of the Holy Trinity. The tale +of this house paints admirably the temper of the +citizens at the time. Its founder, Prior Norman, +built church and cloister and bought books and +vestments in so liberal a fashion that no money +remained to buy bread. The canons were at their +last gasp when the city-folk, looking into the +refectory as they passed round the cloister in their +usual Sunday procession, saw the tables laid but +not a single loaf on them. "Here is a fine set +out," said the citizens; "but where is the bread to +come from?" The women who were present +vowed each to bring a loaf every Sunday, and +there was soon bread enough and to spare for the +priory and its priests. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Thomas of London</span> +</p> + +<p> +We see the strength of the new movement in +the new class of ecclesiastics whom it forced on to +the stage. Men like Archbishop Theobald drew + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-224"></a>1-224]</span> + +whatever influence they wielded from a belief in +their holiness of life and unselfishness of aim. +The paralysis of the Church ceased as the new +impulse bound prelacy and people together, and at +the moment we have reached its power was found +strong enough to wrest England out of the chaos +of feudal misrule. In the early part of Stephen's +reign his brother Henry, the Bishop of Winchester, +who had been appointed in 1139 Papal Legate for +the realm, had striven to supply the absence of any +royal or national authority by convening synods of +bishops, and by asserting the moral right of the +Church to declare sovereigns unworthy of the +throne. The compact between king and people +which became a part of constitutional law in the +Charter of Henry had gathered new force in the +Charter of Stephen, but its legitimate consequence +in the responsibility of the crown for the execution +of the compact was first drawn out by these +ecclesiastical councils. From their alternate depositions +of Stephen and Matilda flowed the after +depositions of Edward and Richard, and the +solemn act by which the succession was changed +in the case of James. Extravagant and unauthorized +as their expression of it may appear, they +expressed the right of a nation to good government. +Henry of Winchester however, "half monk, half +soldier," as he was called, possessed too little +religious influence to wield a really spiritual power, +and it was only at the close of Stephen's reign that + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-225"></a>1-225]</span> + +the nation really found a moral leader in Theobald, +the Archbishop of Canterbury. Theobald's ablest +agent and adviser was Thomas, the son of Gilbert +Beket, a leading citizen and, it is said, Portreeve +of London, the site of whose house is still marked +by the Mercers' chapel in Cheapside. His mother +Rohese was a type of the devout woman of her +day; she weighed her boy every year on his birthday +against money, clothes, and provisions which +she gave to the poor. Thomas grew up amidst the +Norman barons and clerks who frequented his +father's house with a genial freedom of character +tempered by the Norman refinement; he passed +from the school of Merton to the University of +Paris, and returned to fling himself into the life of +the young nobles of the time. Tall, handsome, +bright-eyed, ready of wit and speech, his firmness +of temper showed itself in his very sports; to +rescue his hawk which had fallen into the water +he once plunged into a millrace and was all but +crushed by the wheel. The loss of his father's +wealth drove him to the court of Archbishop +Theobald, and he soon became the Primate's confidant +in his plans for the rescue of England. +</p> + +<center><a href="images/v1-map-4.jpg"><img src="images/v1-map-4t.jpg" alt="The Dominions of the Angevins"></a></center> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Treaty of Wallingford</span> +</p> + +<p> +The natural influence which the Primate would +have exerted was long held in suspense by the +superior position of Bishop Henry of Winchester +as Papal Legate; but this office ceased with the +Pope who granted it, and when in 1150 it was +transferred to the Archbishop himself Theobald + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-226"></a>1-226]</span> + +soon made his weight felt. The long disorder of +the realm was producing its natural reaction in +exhaustion and disgust, as well as in a general +craving for return to the line of hereditary succession +whose breaking seemed the cause of the +nation's woes. But the growth of their son Henry +to manhood set naturally aside the pretensions +both of Count Geoffry and Matilda. Young as he +was Henry already showed the cool long-sighted +temper which was to be his characteristic on the +throne. Foiled in an early attempt to grasp the +crown, he looked quietly on at the disorder which +was doing his work till the death of his father at +the close of 1151 left him master of Normandy and +Anjou. In the spring of the following year his +marriage with its duchess, Eleanor of Poitou, +added Aquitaine to his dominions. Stephen saw +the gathering storm, and strove to meet it. He +called on the bishops and baronage to secure the +succession of his son Eustace by consenting to +his association with him in the kingdom. But +the moment was now come for Theobald to play +his part. He was already negotiating through +Thomas of London with Henry and the Pope; he +met Stephen's plans by a refusal to swear fealty to +his son, and the bishops, in spite of Stephen's +threats, went with their head. The blow was +soon followed by a harder one. Thomas, as +Theobald's agent, invited Henry to appear in +England, and though the Duke disappointed his + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-227"></a>1-227]</span> + +supporters' hopes by the scanty number of men he +brought with him in 1153, his weakness proved in +the end a source of strength. It was not to +foreigners, men said, that Henry owed his success +but to the arms of Englishmen. An English army +gathered round him, and as the hosts of Stephen +and the Duke drew together a battle seemed near +which would decide the fate of the realm. But +Theobald who was now firmly supported by the +greater barons again interfered and forced the +rivals to an agreement. To the excited partizans +of the house of Anjou it seemed as if the nobles +were simply playing their own game in the proposed +settlement and striving to preserve their power +by a balance of masters. The suspicion was +probably groundless, but all fear vanished with +the death of Eustace, who rode off from his father's +camp, maddened with the ruin of his hopes, to die +in August, smitten, as men believed, by the hand +of God for his plunder of abbeys. The ground +was now clear, and in November the Treaty of +Wallingford abolished the evils of the long anarchy. +The castles were to be razed, the crown lands +resumed, the foreign mercenaries banished from +the country, and sheriffs appointed to restore order. +Stephen was recognized as king, and in turn +recognized Henry as his heir. The duke received +at Oxford the fealty of the barons, and passed into +Normandy in the spring of 1154. The work of +reformation had already begun. Stephen resented + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-228"></a>1-228]</span> + +indeed the pressure which Henry put on him to +enforce the destruction of the castles built during +the anarchy; but Stephen's resistance was but the +pettish outbreak of a ruined man. He was in fact +fast drawing to the grave; and on his death in +October 1154 Henry returned to take the crown +without a blow. +</p> + +</div> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-229"></a>1-229]</span> + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk2-Ch3"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4547319"></a>CHAPTER III</li> +<li> +<a name="id4547325"></a>HENRY THE SECOND</li> +<li> +<a name="id4547331"></a>1154-1189</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Henry Fitz-Empress</span> +</p> + +<p> +Young as he was, and he had reached but his +twenty-first year when he returned to England as +its king, Henry mounted the throne with a +purpose of government which his reign carried +steadily out. His practical, serviceable frame +suited the hardest worker of his time. There was +something in his build and look, in the square stout +form, the fiery face, the close-cropped hair, the +prominent eyes, the bull neck, the coarse strong +hands, the bowed legs, that marked out the keen, +stirring, coarse-fibred man of business. "He never +sits down," said one who observed him closely; +"he is always on his legs from morning till night." +Orderly in business, careless of appearance, sparing +in diet, never resting or giving his servants rest, +chatty, inquisitive, endowed with a singular charm +of address and strength of memory, obstinate in +love or hatred, a fair scholar, a great hunter, his + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-230"></a>1-230]</span> + +general air that of a rough, passionate, busy man, +Henry's personal character told directly on the +character of his reign. His accession marks the +period of amalgamation when neighbourhood and +traffic and intermarriage drew Englishmen and +Normans into a single people. A national feeling +was thus springing up before which the barriers of +the older feudalism were to be swept away. Henry +had even less reverence for the feudal past than +the men of his day: he was indeed utterly without +the imagination and reverence which enable men +to sympathize with any past at all. He had a +practical man's impatience of the obstacles thrown +in the way of his reforms by the older constitution +of the realm, nor could he understand other men's +reluctance to purchase undoubted improvements +by the sacrifice of customs and traditions of bygone +days. Without any theoretical hostility to the +co-ordinate powers of the state, it seemed to him a +perfectly reasonable and natural course to trample +either baronage or Church under foot to gain his +end of good government. He saw clearly that the +remedy for such anarchy as England had endured +under Stephen lay in the establishment of a kingly +rule unembarrassed by any privileges of order or +class, administered by royal servants, and in whose +public administration the nobles acted simply as +delegates of the sovereign. His work was to lie +in the organization of judicial and administrative +reforms which realized this idea. But of the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-231"></a>1-231]</span> + +currents of thought and feeling which were tending +in the same direction he knew nothing. What he +did for the moral and social impulses which were +telling on men about him was simply to let them +alone. Religion grew more and more identified +with patriotism under the eyes of a king who +whispered, and scribbled, and looked at picture-books +during mass, who never confessed, and cursed +God in wild frenzies of blasphemy. Great peoples +formed themselves on both sides of the sea round +a sovereign who bent the whole force of his mind +to hold together an Empire which the growth of +nationality must inevitably destroy. There is +throughout a tragic grandeur in the irony of +Henry's position, that of a Sforza of the fifteenth +century set in the midst of the twelfth, building up +by patience and policy and craft a dominion alien +to the deepest sympathies of his age and fated to +be swept away in the end by popular forces to +whose existence his very cleverness and activity +blinded him. But whether by the anti-national +temper of his general system or by the administrative +reforms of his English rule his policy did +more than that of all his predecessors to prepare +England for the unity and freedom which the fall +of his house was to reveal. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Great Scutage</span> +</p> + +<p> +He had been placed on the throne, as we have +seen, by the Church. His first work was to repair +the evils which England had endured till his +accession by the restoration of the system of Henry + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-232"></a>1-232]</span> + +the First; and it was with the aid and counsel of +Theobald that the foreign marauders were driven +from the realm, the new castles demolished in +spite of the opposition of the baronage, the King's +Court and Exchequer restored. Age and infirmity +however warned the Primate to retire from the +post of minister, and his power fell into the +younger and more vigorous hands of Thomas +Beket, who had long acted as his confidential +adviser and was now made Chancellor. Thomas +won the personal favour of the king. The two +young men had, in Theobald's words, "but one +heart and mind"; Henry jested in the Chancellor's +hall, or tore his cloak from his shoulders in rough +horse-play as they rode through the streets. He +loaded his favourite with riches and honours, but +there is no ground for thinking that Thomas in +any degree influenced his system of rule. Henry's +policy seems for good or evil to have been throughout +his own. His work of reorganization went +steadily on amidst troubles at home and abroad. +Welsh outbreaks forced him in 1157 to lead an +army over the border; and a crushing repulse +showed that he was less skilful as a general than +as a statesman. The next year saw him drawn +across the Channel, where he was already master +of a third of the present France. Anjou, Maine, +and Touraine he had inherited from his father, +Normandy from his mother, he governed Britanny +through his brother, while the seven provinces + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-233"></a>1-233]</span> + +of the South, Poitou, Saintonge, La Marche, +Périgord, the Limousin, the Angoumois, and +Gascony, belonged to his wife. As Duchess of +Aquitaine Eleanor had claims on Toulouse, and +these Henry prepared in 1159 to enforce by arms. +But the campaign was turned to the profit of his +reforms. He had already begun the work of +bringing the baronage within the grasp of the law +by sending judges from the Exchequer year after +year to exact the royal dues and administer the +king's justice even in castle and manor. He now +attacked its military influence. Each man who +held lands of a certain value was bound to furnish +a knight for his lord's service; and the barons +thus held a body of trained soldiers at their +disposal. When Henry called his chief lords to +serve in the war of Toulouse, he allowed the lower +tenants to commute their service for sums payable +to the royal treasury under the name of "scutage," +or shield-money. The "Great Scutage" did much +to disarm the baronage, while it enabled the king +to hire foreign mercenaries for his service abroad. +Again however he was luckless in war. King +Lewis of France threw himself into Toulouse. +Conscious of the ill-compacted nature of his wide +dominion, Henry shrank from an open contest +with his suzerain; he withdrew his forces, and the +quarrel ended in 1160 by a formal alliance and the +betrothal of his eldest son to the daughter of +Lewis. +</p> + + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-234"></a>1-234]</span> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Archbishop Thomas</span> +</p> + +<p> +Henry returned to his English realm to regulate +the relations of the State with the Church. These +rested in the main on the system established by +the Conqueror, and with that system Henry had +no wish to meddle. But he was resolute that, +baron or priest, all should be equal before the law; +and he had no more mercy for clerical than for +feudal immunities. The immunities of the clergy +indeed were becoming a hindrance to public justice. +The clerical order in the Middle Ages extended +far beyond the priesthood; it included in Henry's +day the whole of the professional and educated +classes. It was subject to the jurisdiction of the +Church courts alone; but bodily punishment +could only be inflicted by officers of the lay courts, +and so great had the jealousy between clergy and +laity become that the bishops no longer sought +civil aid but restricted themselves to the purely +spiritual punishments of penance and deprivation +of orders. Such penalties formed no effectual +check upon crime, and while preserving the Church +courts the king aimed at the delivery of convicted +offenders to secular punishment. For the carrying +out of these designs he sought an agent in Thomas +the Chancellor. Thomas had now been his minister +for eight years, and had fought bravely in the war +against Toulouse at the head of the seven hundred +knights who formed his household. But the king +had other work for him than war. On Theobald's +death he forced on the monks of Canterbury his + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-235"></a>1-235]</span> + +election as Archbishop. But from the moment of +his appointment in 1162 the dramatic temper of the +new Primate flung its whole energy into the part +he set himself to play. At the first intimation +of Henry's purpose he pointed with a laugh to his +gay court attire: "You are choosing a fine dress," +he said, "to figure at the head of your Canterbury +monks"; once monk and Archbishop he passed with +a fevered earnestness from luxury to asceticism; +and a visit to the Council of Tours in 1163, where +the highest doctrines of ecclesiastical authority +were sanctioned by Pope Alexander the Third, +strengthened his purpose of struggling for the +privileges of the Church. His change of attitude +encouraged his old rivals at court to vex him with +petty lawsuits, but no breach had come with the +king till Henry proposed that clerical convicts +should be punished by the civil power. Thomas +refused; he would only consent that a clerk, once +degraded, should for after offences suffer like a +layman. Both parties appealed to the "customs" +of the realm; and it was to state these "customs" +that a court was held in 1164 at Clarendon near +Salisbury. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Legal Reforms</span> +</p> + +<p> +The report presented by bishops and barons +formed the Constitutions of Clarendon, a code +which in the bulk of its provisions simply re-enacted +the system of the Conqueror. Every +election of bishop or abbot was to take place before +royal officers, in the king's chapel, and with the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-236"></a>1-236]</span> + +king's assent. The prelate-elect was bound to do +homage to the king for his lands before consecration, +and to hold his lands as a barony from the +king, subject to all feudal burthens of taxation +and attendance in the King's Court. No bishop +might leave the realm without the royal permission. +No tenant in chief or royal servant might be +excommunicated, or their land placed under interdict, +but by the king's assent. What was new +was the legislation respecting ecclesiastical jurisdiction. +The King's Court was to decide whether +a suit between clerk and layman, whose nature +was disputed, belonged to the Church courts or +the King's. A royal officer was to be present at +all ecclesiastical proceedings in order to confine +the Bishop's court within its own due limits, and +a clerk convicted there passed at once under the +civil jurisdiction. An appeal was left from the +Archbishop's court to the King's Court for defect +of justice, but none might appeal to the Papal +court save with the king's leave. The privilege +of sanctuary in churches and churchyards was +repealed, so far as property and not persons was +concerned. After a passionate refusal the Primate +was at last brought to give his assent to these Constitutions, +but the assent was soon retracted, and +Henry's savage resentment threw the moral +advantage of the position into his opponent's +hands. Vexatious charges were brought against +Thomas, and he was summoned to answer at a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-237"></a>1-237]</span> + +Council held in the autumn at Northampton. All +urged him to submit; his very life was said to be +in peril from the king's wrath. But in the +presence of danger the courage of the man rose to +its full height. Grasping his archiepiscopal cross +he entered the royal court, forbade the nobles to +condemn him, and appealed in the teeth of the +Constitutions to the Papal See. Shouts of +"Traitor!" followed him as he withdrew. The +Primate turned fiercely at the word: "Were I a +knight," he shouted back, "my sword should +answer that foul taunt!" Once alone however, +dread pressed more heavily; he fled in disguise at +nightfall and reached France through Flanders. +</p> + +<p> +Great as were the dangers it was to bring with +it, the flight of Thomas left Henry free to carry +on the reforms he had planned. In spite of +denunciations from Primate and Pope, the Constitutions +regulated from this time the relations of +the Church with the State. Henry now turned to +the actual organization of the realm. His reign, +it has been truly said, "initiated the rule of law" +as distinct from the despotism, whether personal +or tempered by routine, of the Norman sovereigns. +It was by successive "assizes" or codes issued +with the sanction of the great councils of barons +and prelates which he summoned year by year, +that he perfected in a system of gradual reforms +the administrative measures which Henry the +First had begun. The fabric of our judicial legislation + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-238"></a>1-238]</span> + +commences in 1166 with the Assize of +Clarendon, the first object of which was to provide +for the order of the realm by reviving the old +English system of mutual security or frankpledge. +No stranger might abide in any place save a +borough and only there for a single night unless +sureties were given for his good behaviour; and +the list of such strangers was to be submitted to +the itinerant justices. In the provisions of this +assize for the repression of crime we find the +origin of trial by jury, so often attributed to +earlier times. Twelve lawful men of each hundred, +with four from each township, were sworn +to present those who were known or reputed as +criminals within their district for trial by ordeal. +The jurors were thus not merely witnesses, but +sworn to act as judges also in determining the +value of the charge, and it is this double character +of Henry's jurors that has descended to our +"grand jury," who still remain charged with the +duty of presenting criminals for trial after examination +of the witnesses against them. Two later +steps brought the jury to its modern condition. +Under Edward the First witnesses acquainted +with the particular fact in question were added in +each case to the general jury, and by the separation +of these two classes of jurors at a later time +the last became simply "witnesses" without any +judicial power, while the first ceased to be witnesses +at all and became our modern jurors, who + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-239"></a>1-239]</span> + +are only judges of the testimony given. With +this assize too a practice which had prevailed from +the earliest English times, the practice of "compurgation," +passed away. Under this system the +accused could be acquitted of the charge by the +voluntary oath of his neighbours and kinsmen; +but this was abolished by the Assize of Clarendon, +and for the fifty years which followed it his trial, +after the investigation of the grand jury, was +found solely in the ordeal or "judgement of God," +where innocence was proved by the power of +holding hot iron in the hand or by sinking when +flung into the water, for swimming was a proof of +guilt. It was the abolition of the whole system of +ordeal by the Council of Lateran in 1216 which +led the way to the establishment of what is called +a "petty jury" for the final trial of prisoners. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Murder of Thomas</span> +</p> + +<p> +But Henry's work of reorganization had hardly +begun when it was broken by the pressure of the +strife with the Primate. For six years the contest +raged bitterly; at Rome, at Paris, the agents +of the two powers intrigued against each other. +Henry stooped to acts of the meanest persecution +in driving the Primate's kinsmen from England, +and in confiscating the lands of their order till the +monks of Pontigny should refuse Thomas a home; +while Beket himself exhausted the patience of his +friends by his violence and excommunications, +as well as by the stubbornness with which he +clung to the offensive clause "Saving the honour + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-240"></a>1-240]</span> + +of my order," the addition of which to his consent +would have practically neutralised the king's +reforms. The Pope counselled mildness, the +French king for a time withdrew his support, his +own clerks gave way at last. "Come up," said +one of them bitterly when his horse stumbled on +the road, "saving the honour of the Church and +my order." But neither warning nor desertion +moved the resolution of the Primate. Henry, in +dread of Papal excommunication, resolved in 1170 +on the coronation of his son: and this office, +which belonged to the see of Canterbury, he transferred +to the Archbishop of York. But the Pope's +hands were now freed by his successes in Italy, +and the threat of an interdict forced the king +to a show of submission. The Archbishop was +allowed to return after a reconciliation with the +king at Fréteval, and the Kentishmen flocked +around him with uproarious welcome as he entered +Canterbury. "This is England," said his clerks, +as they saw the white headlands of the coast. +"You will wish yourself elsewhere before fifty +days are gone," said Thomas sadly, and his foreboding +showed his appreciation of Henry's character. +He was now in the royal power, and +orders had already been issued in the younger +Henry's name for his arrest when four knights +from the King's Court, spurred to outrage by a +passionate outburst of their master's wrath, crossed +the sea, and on the 29th of December forced their + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-241"></a>1-241]</span> + +way into the Archbishop's palace. After a stormy +parley with him in his chamber they withdrew to +arm. Thomas was hurried by his clerks into the +cathedral, but as he reached the steps leading +from the transept to the choir his pursuers burst +in from the cloisters. "Where," cried Reginald +Fitzurse in the dusk of the dimly-lighted minster, +"where is the traitor, Thomas Beket?" The +Primate turned resolutely back: "Here am I, no +traitor, but a priest of God," he replied, and again +descending the steps he placed himself with his +back against a pillar and fronted his foes. All +the bravery and violence of his old knightly life +seemed to revive in Thomas as he tossed back the +threats and demands of his assailants. "You are +our prisoner," shouted Fitzurse, and the four +knights seized him to drag him from the church. +"Do not touch me, Reginald," cried the Primate, +"pander that you are, you owe me fealty"; and +availing himself of his personal strength he shook +him roughly off. "Strike, strike," retorted Fitzurse, +and blow after blow struck Thomas to the +ground. A retainer of Ranulf de Broc with the +point of his sword scattered the Primate's brains +on the ground. "Let us be off," he cried triumphantly, +"this traitor will never rise again." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Church and Literature</span> +</p> + +<p> +The brutal murder was received with a thrill +of horror throughout Christendom; miracles were +wrought at the martyr's tomb; he was canonized, +and became the most popular of English saints. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-242"></a>1-242]</span> + +The stately "martyrdom" which rose over his +relics at Canterbury seemed to embody the triumph +which his blood had won. But the contest +had in fact revealed a new current of educated +opinion which was to be more fatal to the Church +than the reforms of the king. Throughout it +Henry had been aided by a silent revolution which +now began to part the purely literary class from +the purely clerical. During the earlier ages of +our history we have seen literature springing up +in ecclesiastical schools, and protecting itself +against the ignorance and violence of the time +under ecclesiastical privileges. Almost all our +writers from Bæda to the days of the Angevins +are clergy or monks. The revival of letters which +followed the Conquest was a purely ecclesiastical +revival; the intellectual impulse which Bee had +given to Normandy travelled across the Channel +with the new Norman abbots who were established +in the greater English monasteries; and writing-rooms +or scriptoria, where the chief works of +Latin literature, patristic or classical, were copied +and illuminated, the lives of saints compiled, and +entries noted in the monastic chronicle, formed +from this time a part of every religious house of +any importance. But the literature which found +this religious shelter was not so much ecclesiastical +as secular. Even the philosophical and devotional +impulse given by Anselm produced no English +work of theology or metaphysics. The literary + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-243"></a>1-243]</span> + +revival which followed the Conquest took mainly +the old historical form. At Durham Turgot and +Simeon threw into Latin shape the national annals +to the time of Henry the First with an especial +regard to northern affairs, while the earlier events +of Stephen's reign were noted down by two Priors +of Hexham in the wild border-land between England +and the Scots. +</p> + +<p> +These however were the colourless jottings of +mere annalists; it was in the Scriptorium of +Canterbury, in Osbern's lives of the English saints +or in Eadmer's record of the struggle of Anselm +against the Red King and his successor, that we +see the first indications of a distinctively English +feeling telling on the new literature. The national +impulse is yet more conspicuous in the two +historians that followed. The war-songs of the +English conquerors of Britain were preserved by +Henry, an Archdeacon of Huntingdon, who wove +them into annals compiled from Bæda, and the +Chronicle; while William, the librarian of Malmesbury, +as industriously collected the lighter ballads +which embodied the popular traditions of the +English kings. It is in William above all others +that we see the new tendency of English literature. +In himself, as in his work, he marks the fusion of +the conquerors and the conquered, for he was of +both English and Norman parentage and his sympathies +were as divided as his blood. The form +and style of his writings show the influence of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-244"></a>1-244]</span> + +those classical studies which were now reviving +throughout Christendom. Monk as he is, William +discards the older ecclesiastical models and the +annalistic form. Events are grouped together with +no strict reference to time, while the lively narrative +flows rapidly and loosely along with constant +breaks of digression over the general history of +Europe and the Church. It is in this change of +historic spirit that William takes his place as first +of the more statesmanlike and philosophic school +of historians who began to arise in direct connexion +with the Court, and among whom the author of +the chronicle which commonly bears the name of +"Benedict of Peterborough" with his continuator +Roger of Howden are the most conspicuous. Both +held judicial offices under Henry the Second, and +it is to their position at Court that they owe the +fulness and accuracy of their information as to +affairs at home and abroad, as well as their copious +supply of official documents. What is noteworthy +in these writers is the purely political temper with +which they regard the conflict of Church and State +in their time. But the English court had now +become the centre of a distinctly secular literature. +The treatise of Ranulf de Glanvill, a justiciar of +Henry the Second, is the earliest work on English +law, as that of the royal treasurer, Richard Fitz-Neal, +on the Exchequer is the earliest on English +government. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Gerald of Wales</span> +</p> + +<p> +Still more distinctly secular than these, though + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-245"></a>1-245]</span> + +the work of a priest who claimed to be a bishop, +are the writings of Gerald de Barri. Gerald is the +father of our popular literature as he is the originator +of the political and ecclesiastical pamphlet. +Welsh blood (as his usual name of Giraldus +Cambrensis implies) mixed with Norman in his +veins, and something of the restless Celtic fire runs +alike through his writings and his life. A busy +scholar at Paris, a reforming Archdeacon in Wales, +the wittiest of Court chaplains, the most troublesome +of bishops, Gerald became the gayest and +most amusing of all the authors of his time. In +his hands the stately Latin tongue took the vivacity +and picturesqueness of the jongleur's verse. Reared +as he had been in classic studies, he threw pedantry +contemptuously aside. "It is better to be dumb +than not to be understood," is his characteristic +apology for the novelty of his style: "new times +require new fashions, and so I have thrown utterly +aside the old and dry method of some authors and +aimed at adopting the fashion of speech which is +actually in vogue to-day." His tract on the conquest +of Ireland and his account of Wales, which +are in fact reports of two journeys undertaken in +those countries with John and Archbishop Baldwin, +illustrate his rapid faculty of careless observation, +his audacity, and his good sense. They are just +the sort of lively, dashing letters that we find in +the correspondence of a modern journal. There +is the same modern tone in his political pamphlets; + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-246"></a>1-246]</span> + +his profusion of jests, his fund of anecdote, the +aptness of his quotations, his natural shrewdness +and critical acumen, the clearness and vivacity of +his style, are backed by a fearlessness and impetuosity +that made him a dangerous assailant even to +such a ruler as Henry the Second. The invectives +in which Gerald poured out his resentment against +the Angevins are the cause of half the scandal +about Henry and his sons which has found its way +into history. His life was wasted in an ineffectual +attempt to secure the see of St. David's, but his +pungent pen played its part in rousing the nation +to its later struggle with the Crown. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Romance</span> +</p> + +<p>A tone of distinct hostility to the Church +developed itself almost from the first among the +singers of romance. Romance had long before +taken root in the court of Henry the First, where +under the patronage of Queen Maud the dreams of +Arthur, so long cherished by the Celts of Britanny, +and which had travelled to Wales in the train of +the exile Rhys ap Tewdor, took shape in the +History of the Britons by Geoffry of Monmouth. +Myth, legend, tradition, the classical pedantry of +the day, Welsh hopes of future triumph over the +Saxon, the memories of the Crusades and of the +world-wide dominion of Charles the Great, were +mingled together by this daring fabulist in a work +whose popularity became at once immense. Alfred +of Beverley transferred Geoffry's inventions into +the region of sober history, while two Norman + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-247"></a>1-247]</span> + +<i>trouveurs</i>, Gaimar and Wace, translated them into +French verse. So complete was the credence they +obtained that Arthur's tomb at Glastonbury was +visited by Henry the Second, while the child of +his son Geoffry and of Constance of Britanny +received the name of the Celtic hero. Out of +Geoffry's creation grew little by little the poem of +the Table Round. Britanny, which had mingled +with the story of Arthur the older and more +mysterious legend of the Enchanter Merlin, lent +that of Lancelot to the wandering minstrels of the +day, who moulded it as they wandered from hall +to hall into the familiar tale of knighthood wrested +from its loyalty by the love of woman. The +stories of Tristram and Gawayne, at first as independent +as that of Lancelot, were drawn with it +into the whirlpool of Arthurian romance; and +when the Church, jealous of the popularity of the +legends of chivalry, invented as a counteracting +influence the poem of the Sacred Dish, the San +Graal which held the blood of the Cross invisible +to all eyes but those of the pure in heart, the +genius of a Court poet, Walter de Map, wove the +rival legends together, sent Arthur and his knights +wandering over sea and land in quest of the San +Graal, and crowned the work by the figure of Sir +Galahad, the type of ideal knighthood, without +fear and without reproach. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Walter de Map</span> +</p> + +<p> +Walter stands before us as the representative +of a sudden outburst of literary, social, and religious + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-248"></a>1-248]</span> + +criticism which followed this growth of romance +and the appearance of a freer historical tone in the +court of the two Henries. Born on the Welsh +border, a student at Paris, a favourite with the +king, a royal chaplain, justiciary, and ambassador, +his genius was as various as it was prolific. He is +as much at his ease in sweeping together the chitchat +of the time in his "Courtly Trifles" as in +creating the character of Sir Galahad. But he +only rose to his fullest strength when he turned +from the fields of romance to that of Church reform +and embodied the ecclesiastical abuses of his day +in the figure of his "Bishop Goliath." The whole +spirit of Henry and his Court in their struggle +with Thomas is reflected and illustrated in the +apocalypse and confession of this imaginary prelate. +Picture after picture strips the veil from the corruption +of the mediæval Church, its indolence, its +thirst for gain, its secret immorality. The whole +body of the clergy from Pope to hedge-priest is +painted as busy in the chase for gain; what escapes +the bishop is snapped up by the archdeacon, what +escapes the archdeacon is nosed and hunted down +by the dean, while a host of minor officials prowl +hungrily around these greater marauders. Out of +the crowd of figures which fills the canvas of the +satirist, pluralist vicars, abbots "purple as their +wines," monks feeding and chattering together like +parrots in the refectory, rises the Philistine Bishop, +light of purpose, void of conscience, lost in sensuality, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-249"></a>1-249]</span> + +drunken, unchaste, the Goliath who sums up +the enormities of all, and against whose forehead +this new David slings his sharp pebble of the brook. +</p> + +<center><a href="images/v1-map-5.jpg"><img src="images/v1-map-5t.jpg" alt="Ireland just before the English Invasion"></a></center> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Invasion of Ireland</span> +</p> + +<p> +It would be in the highest degree unjust to +treat such invectives as sober history, or to judge +the Church of the twelfth century by the taunts +of Walter de Map. What writings such as his +bring home to us is the upgrowth of a new literary +class, not only standing apart from the Church +but regarding it with a hardly disguised ill-will, +and breaking down the unquestioning reverence +with which men had till now regarded it by their +sarcasm and abuse. The tone of intellectual contempt +which begins with Walter de Map goes +deepening on till it culminates in Chaucer and +passes into the open revolt of the Lollard. But +even in these early days we can hardly doubt +that it gave Henry strength in his contest with +the Church. So little indeed did he suffer from +the murder of Archbishop Thomas that the years +which follow it form the grandest portion of his +reign. While Rome was threatening excommunication +he added a new realm to his dominions. +Ireland had long since fallen from the civilization +and learning which its missionaries brought in +the seventh century to the shores of Northumbria. +Every element of improvement or progress which +had been introduced into the island disappeared +in the long and desperate struggle with the Danes. +The coast-towns which the invaders founded, such + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-250"></a>1-250]</span> + +as Dublin or Waterford, remained Danish, in blood +and manners and at feud with the Celtic tribes +around them, though sometimes forced by the +fortunes of war to pay tribute and to accept the +overlordship of the Irish kings. It was through +these towns however that the intercourse with +England which had ceased since the eighth century +was to some extent renewed in the eleventh. +Cut off from the Church of the island by national +antipathy, the Danish coast-cities applied to the +See of Canterbury for the ordination of their +bishops, and acknowledged a right of spiritual +supervision in Lanfranc and Anselm. The relations +thus formed were drawn closer by a slave-trade +between the two countries which the Conqueror +and Bishop Wulfstan succeeded for a time +in suppressing at Bristol but which appears to +have quickly revived. In the twelfth century +Ireland was full of Englishmen who had been +kidnapped and sold into slavery in spite of +royal prohibitions and the spiritual menaces +of the English Church. The slave-trade afforded +a legitimate pretext for war, had a pretext +been needed by the ambition of Henry the +Second; and within a few months of that king's +coronation John of Salisbury was despatched to +obtain the Papal sanction for an invasion of the +island. The enterprise, as it was laid before +Pope Hadrian IV., took the colour of a crusade. +The isolation of Ireland from the general body of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-251"></a>1-251]</span> + +Christendom, the absence of learning and civilization, +the scandalous vices of its people, were +alleged as the grounds of Henry's action. It was +the general belief of the time that all islands fell +under the jurisdiction of the Papal See, and it +was as a possession of the Roman Church that +Henry sought Hadrian's permission to enter Ireland. +His aim was "to enlarge the bounds of the +Church, to restrain the progress of vices, to correct +the manners of its people and to plant virtue +among them, and to increase the Christian religion." +He engaged to "subject the people to laws, to extirpate +vicious customs, to respect the rights of the +native Churches, and to enforce the payment of +Peter's pence" as a recognition of the overlordship +of the Roman See. Hadrian by his bull approved +the enterprise, as one prompted by "the ardour +of faith and love of religion," and declared his will +that the people of Ireland should receive Henry +with all honour, and revere him as their lord. +</p> + +<p> +The Papal bull was produced in a great council +of the English baronage, but the opposition was +strong enough to force on Henry a temporary +abandonment of his designs, and twelve years +passed before the scheme was brought to life +again by the flight of Dermod, King of Leinster, +to Henry's court. Dermod had been driven from +his dominions in one of the endless civil wars +which devastated the island; he now did homage +for his kingdom to Henry, and returned to Ireland + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-252"></a>1-252]</span> + +with promises of aid from the English knighthood. +He was followed in 1168 by Robert FitzStephen, +a son of the Constable of Cardigan, with a little +band of a hundred and forty knights, sixty men-at-arms, +and three or four hundred Welsh archers. +Small as was the number of the adventurers, +their horses and arms proved irresistible by the +Irish kernes; a sally of the men of Wexford was +avenged by the storm of their town; the Ossory +clans were defeated with a terrible slaughter, and +Dermod, seizing a head from the heap of trophies +which his men piled at his feet, tore off in savage +triumph its nose and lips with his teeth. The +arrival of fresh forces heralded the coming of +Richard of Clare, Earl of Pembroke and Striguil, +a ruined baron later known by the nickname of +Strongbow, and who in defiance of Henry's prohibition +landed near Waterford with a force of fifteen +hundred men as Dermod's mercenary. The city +was at once stormed, and the united forces of the +earl and king marched to the siege of Dublin. +In spite of a relief attempted by the King of +Connaught, who was recognized as overking of +the island by the rest of the tribes, Dublin was +taken by surprise; and the marriage of Richard +with Eva, Dermod's daughter, left the Earl on the +death of his father-in-law, which followed quickly +on these successes, master of his kingdom of +Leinster. The new lord had soon however to +hurry back to England and appease the jealousy + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-253"></a>1-253]</span> + +of Henry by the surrender of Dublin to the +Crown, by doing homage for Leinster as an +English lordship, and by accompanying the king +in 1171 on a voyage to the new dominion which +the adventurers had won. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Revolt of the younger Henry</span> +</p> + +<p> +Had fate suffered Henry to carry out his +purpose, the conquest of Ireland would now have +been accomplished. The King of Connaught +indeed and the chiefs of Ulster refused him +homage, but the rest of the Irish tribes owned +his suzerainty; the bishops in synod at Cashel +recognized him as their lord; and he was preparing +to penetrate to the north and west, and to +secure his conquest by a systematic erection of +castles throughout the country, when the need +of making terms with Rome, whose interdict +threatened to avenge the murder of Archbishop +Thomas, recalled him in the spring of 1172 to +Normandy. Henry averted the threatened sentence +by a show of submission. The judicial provisions +in the Constitutions of Clarendon were in +form annulled, and liberty of election was restored +in the case of bishopricks and abbacies. In +reality however the victory rested with the king. +Throughout his reign ecclesiastical appointments +remained practically in his hands, and the King's +Court asserted its power over the spiritual jurisdiction +of the bishops. But the strife with +Thomas had roused into active life every element +of danger which surrounded Henry, the envious + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-254"></a>1-254]</span> + +dread of his neighbours, the disaffection of his +own house, the disgust of the barons at the repeated +blows which he levelled at their military +and judicial power. The king's withdrawal of +the office of sheriff from the great nobles of the +shire to entrust it to the lawyers and courtiers +who already furnished the staff of the royal +judges quickened the resentment of the baronage +into revolt. His wife Eleanor, now parted from +Henry by a bitter hate, spurred her eldest son, +whose coronation had given him the title of king, +to demand possession of the English realm. On +his father's refusal the boy sought refuge with +Lewis of France, and his flight was the signal for +a vast rising. France, Flanders, and Scotland +joined in league against Henry; his younger sons, +Richard and Geoffry, took up arms in Aquitaine, +while the Earl of Leicester sailed from Flanders +with an army of mercenaries to stir up England +to revolt. The Earl's descent ended in a crushing +defeat near St. Edmundsbury at the hands of the +king's justiciars; but no sooner had the French +king entered Normandy and invested Rouen than +the revolt of the baronage burst into flame. The +Scots crossed the border, Roger Mowbray rose in +Yorkshire, Ferrars, Earl of Derby, in the midland +shires, Hugh Bigod in the eastern counties, while +a Flemish fleet prepared to support the insurrection +by a descent upon the coast. The murder of +Archbishop Thomas still hung round Henry's + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-255"></a>1-255]</span> + +neck, and his first act in hurrying to England to +meet these perils in 1174 was to prostrate himself +before the shrine of the new martyr and to submit +to a public scourging in expiation of his sin. But +the penance was hardly wrought when all danger +was dispelled by a series of triumphs. The King +of Scotland, William the Lion, surprised by the +English under cover of a mist, fell into the hands +of Henry's minister, Ranulf de Glanvill, and at the +retreat of the Scots the English rebels hastened to +lay down their arms. With the army of mercenaries +which he had brought over sea Henry was +able to return to Normandy, to raise the siege of +Rouen, and to reduce his sons to submission. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Later reforms</span> +</p> + +<p> +Through the next ten years Henry's power +was at its height. The French king was cowed. +The Scotch king bought his release in 1175 by +owning Henry's suzerainty. The Scotch barons +did homage, and English garrisons manned the +strongest of the Scotch castles. In England itself +church and baronage were alike at the king's +mercy. Eleanor was imprisoned; and the younger +Henry, though always troublesome, remained +powerless to do harm. The king availed himself +of this rest from outer foes to push forward his +judicial and administrative organization. At the +outset of his reign he had restored the King's +Court and the occasional circuits of its justices; +but the revolt was hardly over when in 1176 the +Assize of Northampton rendered this institution + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-256"></a>1-256]</span> + +permanent and regular by dividing the kingdom +into six districts, to each of which three itinerant +judges were assigned. The circuits thus marked +out correspond roughly with those that still exist. +The primary object of these circuits was financial; +but the rendering of the king's justice went on +side by side with the exaction of the king's dues, +and this carrying of justice to every corner of the +realm was made still more effective by the abolition +of all feudal exemptions from the royal +jurisdiction. The chief danger of the new system +lay in the opportunities it afforded to judicial +corruption; and so great were its abuses, that in +1178 Henry was forced to restrict for a while the +number of justices to five, and to reserve appeals +from their court to himself in council. The Court +of Appeal which was thus created, that of the +King in Council, gave birth as time went on to +tribunal after tribunal. It is from it that the +judicial powers now exercised by the Privy +Council are derived, as well as the equitable +jurisdiction of the Chancellor. In the next +century it became the Great Council of the realm, +and it is from this Great Council, in its two distinct +capacities, that the Privy Council drew its +legislative, and the House of Lords its judicial +character. The Court of Star Chamber and the +Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are later +offshoots of Henry's Court of Appeal. From the +judicial organization of the realm, he turned to its + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-257"></a>1-257]</span> + +military organization, and in 1181 an Assize of +Arms restored the national fyrd or militia to the +place which it had lost at the Conquest. The +substitution of scutage for military service had +freed the crown from its dependence on the +baronage and its feudal retainers; the Assize of +Arms replaced this feudal organization by the +older obligation of every freeman to serve in +defence of the realm. Every knight was now +bound to appear in coat of mail and with shield +and lance, every freeholder with lance and hauberk, +every burgess and poorer freeman with +lance and helmet, at the king's call. The levy +of an armed nation was thus placed wholly at the +disposal of the Crown for purposes of defence. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Henry's death</span> +</p> + +<p> +A fresh revolt of the younger Henry with his +brother Geoffry in 1183 hardly broke the current +of Henry's success. The revolt ended with the +young king's death, and in 1186 this was followed +by the death of Geoffry. Richard, now his +father's heir, remained busy in Aquitaine; and +Henry was himself occupied with plans for the +recovery of Jerusalem, which had been taken by +Saladin in 1187. The "Saladin tithe," a tax +levied on all goods and chattels, and memorable +as the first English instance of taxation on personal +property, was granted to the king at the +opening of 1188 to support his intended Crusade. +But the Crusade was hindered by strife which +broke out between Richard and the new French + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-258"></a>1-258]</span> + +king, Philip; and while Henry strove in vain to +bring about peace, a suspicion that he purposed +to make his youngest son, John, his heir drove +Richard to Philip's side. His father, broken in +health and spirits, negotiated fruitlessly through +the winter, but with the spring of 1189 Richard +and the French king suddenly appeared before +Le Mans. Henry was driven in headlong flight +from the town. Tradition tells how from a height +where he halted to look back on the burning city, +so dear to him as his birthplace, the king hurled +his curse against God: "Since Thou hast taken +from me the town I loved best, where I was born +and bred, and where my father lies buried, I will +have my revenge on Thee too--I will rob Thee of +that thing Thou lovest most in me." If the words +were uttered, they were the frenzied words of a +dying man. Death drew Henry to the home of +his race, but Tours fell as he lay at Saumur, and +the hunted king was driven to beg mercy from +his foes. They gave him the list of the conspirators +against him: at its head was the name of +one, his love for whom had brought with it the +ruin that was crushing him, his youngest son, +John. "Now," he said, as he turned his face to +the wall, "let things go as they will--I care no +more for myself or for the world." The end was +come at last. Henry was borne to Chinon by the +silvery waters of Vienne, and muttering, "Shame, +shame on a conquered king," passed sullenly away. +</p> + +</div> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-259"></a>1-259]</span> + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk2-Ch4"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4549427"></a>CHAPTER IV</li> +<li> +<a name="id4549433"></a>THE ANGEVIN KINGS</li> +<li> +<a name="id4549438"></a>1189-1204</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">John and Longchamp</span> +</p> + +<p> +The fall of Henry the Second only showed the +strength of the system he had built up on this +side the sea. In the hands of the Justiciar, +Ranulf de Glanvill, England remained peaceful +through the last stormy months of his reign, and +his successor Richard found it undisturbed when +he came for his crowning in the autumn of 1189. +Though born at Oxford, Richard had been bred +in Aquitaine; he was an utter stranger to his +realm, and his visit was simply for the purpose +of gathering money for a Crusade. Sheriffdoms, +bishopricks, were sold; even the supremacy over +Scotland was bought back again by William the +Lion; and it was with the wealth which these +measures won that Richard made his way in 1190 +to Marseilles and sailed thence to Messina. Here +he found his army and a host under King Philip +of France; and the winter was spent in quarrels + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-260"></a>1-260]</span> + +between the two kings and a strife between +Richard and Tancred of Sicily. In the spring of +1191 his mother Eleanor arrived with ill news +from England. Richard had left the realm under +the regency of two bishops, Hugh Puiset of +Durham and William Longchamp of Ely; but +before quitting France he had entrusted it wholly +to the latter, who stood at the head of Church +and State as at once Justiciar and Papal Legate. +Longchamp was loyal to the king, but his exactions +and scorn of Englishmen roused a fierce +hatred among the baronage, and this hatred found +a head in John. While richly gifting his brother +with earldoms and lands, Richard had taken oath +from him that he would quit England for three +years. But tidings that the Justiciar was striving +to secure the succession of Arthur, the child of +his elder brother Geoffry and of Constance of +Britanny, to the English crown at once recalled +John to the realm, and peace between him and +Longchamp was only preserved by the influence +of the queen-mother Eleanor. Richard met this +news by sending Walter of Coutances, the Archbishop +of Rouen, with full but secret powers to +England. On his landing in the summer of 1191 +Walter found the country already in arms. No +battle had been fought, but John had seized many +of the royal castles, and the indignation stirred +by Longchamp's arrest of Archbishop Geoffry of +York, a bastard son of Henry the Second, called + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-261"></a>1-261]</span> + +the whole baronage to the field. The nobles swore +fealty to John as Richard's successor, and Walter +of Coutances saw himself forced to show his commission +as Justiciar, and to assent to Longchamp's +exile from the realm. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Richard</span> +</p> + +<p> +The tidings of this revolution reached Richard +in the Holy Land. He had landed at Acre in the +summer and joined with the French king in its +siege. But on the surrender of the town Philip +at once sailed home, while Richard, marching +from Acre to Joppa, pushed inland to Jerusalem. +The city however was saved by false news of its +strength, and through the following winter and +the spring of 1192 the king limited his activity +to securing the fortresses of southern Palestine. +In June he again advanced on Jerusalem, but the +revolt of his army forced him a second time to +fall back, and news of Philip's intrigues with +John drove him to abandon further efforts. There +was need to hasten home. Sailing for speed's +sake in a merchant vessel, he was driven by a +storm on the Adriatic coast, and while journeying +in disguise overland arrested in December at +Vienna by his personal enemy, Duke Leopold of +Austria. Through the whole year John, in disgust +at his displacement by Walter of Coutances, had +been plotting fruitlessly with Philip. But the +news of this capture at once roused both to +activity. John secured his castles and seized +Windsor, giving out that the king would never + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-262"></a>1-262]</span> + +return; while Philip strove to induce the Emperor, +Henry the Sixth, to whom the Duke of Austria +had given Richard up, to retain his captive. But +a new influence now appeared on the scene. The +see of Canterbury was vacant, and Richard from +his prison bestowed it on Hubert Walter, the +Bishop of Salisbury, a nephew of Ranulf de +Glanvill, and who had acted as secretary to Bishop +Longchamp. Hubert's ability was seen in the +skill with which he held John at bay and raised +the enormous ransom which Henry demanded, +the whole people, clergy as well as lay, paying a +fourth of their moveable goods. To gain his +release however Richard was forced besides this +payment of ransom to do homage to the Emperor, +not only for the kingdom of Arles with which +Henry invested him but for England itself, whose +crown he resigned into the Emperor's hands and +received back as a fief. But John's open revolt +made even these terms welcome, and Richard +hurried to England in the spring of 1194. He +found the rising already quelled by the decision +with which the Primate led an army against +John's castles, and his landing was followed by +his brother's complete submission. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Richard and Philip</span> +</p> + +<p> +The firmness of Hubert Walter had secured +order in England, but oversea Richard found +himself face to face with dangers which he was +too clear-sighted to undervalue. Destitute of his +father's administrative genius, less ingenious in + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-263"></a>1-263]</span> + +his political conceptions than John, Richard was +far from being a mere soldier. A love of adventure, +a pride in sheer physical strength, here and there +a romantic generosity, jostled roughly with the +craft, the unscrupulousness, the violence of his +race; but he was at heart a statesman, cool and +patient in the execution of his plans as he was +bold in their conception. "The devil is loose; +take care of yourself," Philip had written to John +at the news of Richard's release. In the French +king's case a restless ambition was spurred to +action by insults which he had borne during the +Crusade. He had availed himself of Richard's +imprisonment to invade Normandy, while the +lords of Aquitaine rose in open revolt under the +troubadour Bertrand de Born. Jealousy of the +rule of strangers, weariness of the turbulence of +the mercenary soldiers of the Angevins or of the +greed and oppression of their financial administration, +combined with an impatience of their firm +government and vigorous justice to alienate the +nobles of their provinces on the Continent. +Loyalty among the people there was none; even +Anjou, the home of their race, drifted towards +Philip as steadily as Poitou. But in warlike +ability Richard was more than Philip's peer. He +held him in check on the Norman frontier and +surprised his treasure at Fréteval while he +reduced to submission the rebels of Aquitaine. +Hubert Walter gathered vast sums to support the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-264"></a>1-264]</span> + +army of mercenaries which Richard led against +his foes. The country groaned under its burdens, +but it owned the justice and firmness of the +Primate's rule, and the measures which he took +to procure money with as little oppression as +might be proved steps in the education of the +nation in its own self-government. The taxes +were assessed by a jury of sworn knights at each +circuit of the justices; the grand jury of the +county was based on the election of knights in the +hundred courts; and the keeping of pleas of the +crown was taken from the sheriff and given to +a newly-elected officer, the coroner. In these +elections were found at a later time precedents +for parliamentary representation; in Hubert's +mind they were doubtless intended to do little +more than reconcile the people to the crushing +taxation. His work poured a million into the +treasury, and enabled Richard during a short +truce to detach Flanders by his bribes from the +French alliance, and to unite the Counts of +Chartres, Champagne, and Boulogne with the +Bretons in a revolt against Philip. He won a yet +more valuable aid in the election of his nephew +Otto of Saxony, a son of Henry the Lion, to the +German throne, and his envoy William Longchamp +knitted an alliance which would bring the German +lances to bear on the King of Paris. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Château Gaillard</span> +</p> + +<p> +But the security of Normandy was requisite to +the success of these wider plans, and Richard saw + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-265"></a>1-265]</span> + +that its defence could no longer rest on the loyalty +of the Norman people. His father might trace +his descent through Matilda from the line of Hrolf, +but the Angevin ruler was in fact a stranger to +the Norman. It was impossible for a Norman to +recognize his Duke with any real sympathy in the +Angevin prince whom he saw moving along the +border at the head of Brabançon mercenaries, in +whose camp the old names of the Norman +baronage were missing and Merchade, a Provençal +ruffian, held supreme command. The purely +military site that Richard selected for a new +fortress with which he guarded the border showed +his realization of the fact that Normandy could +now only be held by force of arms. As a +monument of warlike skill his "Saucy Castle," +Château Gaillard, stands first among the fortresses +of the Middle Ages. Richard fixed its site where +the Seine bends suddenly at Gaillon in a great +semicircle to the north, and where the valley of +Les Andelys breaks the line of the chalk cliffs +along its banks. Blue masses of woodland crown +the distant hills; within the river curve lies a +dull reach of flat meadow, round which the Seine, +broken with green islets and dappled with the +grey and blue of the sky, flashes like a silver bow +on its way to Rouen. The castle formed part of +an entrenched camp which Richard designed to +cover his Norman capital. Approach by the river +was blocked by a stockade and a bridge of boats, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-266"></a>1-266]</span> + +by a fort on the islet in mid stream, and by a +fortified town which the king built in the valley of +the Gambon, then an impassable marsh. In the +angle between this valley and the Seine, on a spur +of the chalk hills which only a narrow neck of +land connects with the general plateau, rose at the +height of three hundred feet above the river the +crowning fortress of the whole. Its outworks and +the walls which connected it with the town and +stockade have for the most part gone, but time +and the hand of man have done little to destroy +the fortifications themselves--the fosse, hewn deep +into the solid rock, with casemates hollowed out +along its sides, the fluted walls of the citadel, the +huge donjon looking down on the brown roofs +and huddled gables of Les Andelys. Even now +in its ruin we can understand the triumphant +outburst of its royal builder as he saw it rising +against the sky: "How pretty a child is mine, +this child of but one year old!" +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Richard's death</span> +</p> + +<p> +The easy reduction of Normandy on the fall of +Château Gaillard at a later time proved Richard's +foresight; but foresight and sagacity were mingled +in him with a brutal violence and a callous +indifference to honour. "I would take it, were +its walls of iron," Philip exclaimed in wrath as he +saw the fortress rise. "I would hold it, were its +walls of butter," was the defiant answer of his foe. +It was Church land and the Archbishop of Rouen +laid Normandy under interdict at its seizure, but + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-267"></a>1-267]</span> + +the king met the interdict with mockery, and +intrigued with Rome till the censure was withdrawn. +He was just as defiant of a "rain of +blood," whose fall scared his courtiers. "Had an +angel from heaven bid him abandon his work," +says a cool observer, "he would have answered +with a curse." The twelve months' hard work, in +fact, by securing the Norman frontier set Richard +free to deal his long-planned blow at Philip. +Money only was wanting; for England had at +last struck against the continued exactions. In +1198 Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, brought nobles and +bishops to refuse a new demand for the maintenance +of foreign soldiers, and Hubert Walter +resigned in despair. A new justiciar, Geoffry +Fitz-Peter, Earl of Essex, extorted some money by +a harsh assize of the forests; but the exchequer +was soon drained, and Richard listened with more +than the greed of his race to rumours that a +treasure had been found in the fields of the +Limousin. Twelve knights of gold seated round +a golden table were the find, it was said, of the +Lord of Châlus. Treasure-trove at any rate there +was, and in the spring of 1199 Richard prowled +around the walls. But the castle held stubbornly +out till the king's greed passed into savage +menace. He would hang all, he swore--man, +woman, the very child at the breast. In the +midst of his threats an arrow from the walls +struck him down. He died as he had lived, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-268"></a>1-268]</span> + +owning the wild passion which for seven years +past had kept him from confession lest he should +be forced to pardon Philip, forgiving with kingly +generosity the archer who had shot him. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Loss of Normandy</span> +</p> + +<p> +The Angevin dominion broke to pieces at his +death. John was acknowledged as king in +England and Normandy, Aquitaine was secured +for him by its duchess, his mother Eleanor; but +Anjou, Maine, and Touraine did homage to +Arthur, the son of his elder brother Geoffry, the +late Duke of Britanny. The ambition of Philip, +who protected his cause, turned the day against +Arthur; the Angevins rose against the French +garrisons with which the French king practically +annexed the country, and in May 1200 a treaty +between the two kings left John master of the +whole dominion of his house. But fresh troubles +broke out in Poitou; Philip, on John's refusal to +answer the charges of the Poitevin barons at his +Court, declared in 1202 his fiefs forfeited; and +Arthur, now a boy of fifteen, strove to seize +Eleanor in the castle of Mirebeau. Surprised at +its siege by a rapid march of the king, the boy +was taken prisoner to Rouen, and murdered there +in the spring of 1203, as men believed, by his +uncle's hand. This brutal outrage at once roused +the French provinces in revolt, while Philip +sentenced John to forfeiture as a murderer, and +marched straight on Normandy. The ease with +which the conquest of the Duchy was effected + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-269"></a>1-269]</span> + +can only be explained by the utter absence of +any popular resistance on the part of the Normans +themselves. Half a century before the sight of +a Frenchman in the land would have roused +every peasant to arms from Avranches to Dieppe. +But town after town surrendered at the mere +summons of Philip, and the conquest was hardly +over before Normandy settled down into the most +loyal of the provinces of France. Much of this +was due to the wise liberality with which Philip +met the claims of the towns to independence and +self-government, as well as to the overpowering +force and military ability with which the conquest +was effected. But the utter absence of opposition +sprang from a deeper cause. To the Norman his +transfer from John to Philip was a mere passing +from one foreign master to another, and foreigner +for foreigner Philip was the less alien of the two. +Between France and Normandy there had been +as many years of friendship as of strife; between +Norman and Angevin lay a century of bitterest +hate. Moreover, the subjection to France was +the realization in fact of a dependence which had +always existed in theory; Philip entered Rouen +as the overlord of its dukes; while the submission +to the house of Anjou had been the most humiliating +of all submissions, the submission to an equal. +In 1204 Philip turned on the south with as +startling a success. Maine, Anjou, and Touraine +passed with little resistance into his hands, and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-270"></a>1-270]</span> + +the death of Eleanor was followed by the submission +of the bulk of Aquitaine. Little was +left save the country south of the Garonne; and +from the lordship of a vast empire that stretched +from the Tyne to the Pyrenees John saw himself +reduced at a blow to the realm of England. +</p> + +</div> +</div> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-271"></a>1-271]</span> + +<div class="book"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk3"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4550228"></a>BOOK III</li> +<li> +<a name="id4550234"></a>THE CHARTER</li> +<li> +<a name="id4550239"></a>1204-1307</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-273"></a>1-273]</span> + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk3-Auth"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4550306"></a> </li> +<li> +<a name="id4550311"></a>AUTHORITIES FOR BOOK III</li> +<li> +<a name="id4550317"></a>1204-1307</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + +<p> +A Chronicle drawn up at the monastery of Barnwell +near Cambridge, and which has been embodied in the +"Memoriale" of Walter of Coventry, gives us a contemporary +account of the period from 1201 to 1225. We +possess another contemporary annalist for the same period in +Roger of Wendover, the first of the published chroniclers +of St. Albans, whose work extends to 1235. Though full +of detail Roger is inaccurate, and he has strong royal and +ecclesiastical sympathies; but his chronicle was subsequently +revised in a more patriotic sense by another monk +of the same abbey, Matthew Paris, and continued in the +"Greater Chronicle" of the latter. +</p> + +<p> +Matthew has left a parallel but shorter account of the +time in his "Historia Anglorum" (from the Conquest to +1253). He is the last of the great chroniclers of his house; +for the chronicles of Rishanger, his successor at St. Albans, +and of the obscurer annalists who worked on at that Abbey +till the Wars of the Roses are little save scant and lifeless +jottings of events which become more and more local as +time goes on. The annals of the abbeys of Waverley, +Dunstable, and Burton, which have been published in the +"Annales Monastici" of the Rolls series, add important +details for the reigns of John and Henry III. Those of +Melrose, Osney, and Lanercost help us in the close of the +latter reign, where help is especially welcome. For the +Barons' war we have besides these the royalist chronicle of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-274"></a>1-274]</span> + +Wykes, Rishanger's fragment published by the Camden +Society, and a chronicle of Bartholomew de Cotton, which +is contemporary from 1264 to 1298. Where the chronicles +fail however the public documents of the realm become of +high importance. The "Royal Letters" (1216-1272) which +have been printed from the Patent Rolls by Professor +Shirley (Rolls Series) throw great light on Henry's politics. +</p> + +<p> +Our municipal history during this period is fully represented +by that of London. For the general history of the +capital the Rolls series has given us its "Liber Albus" +and "Liber Custumarum," while a vivid account of its +communal revolution is to be found in the "Liber de +Antiquis Legibus" published by the Camden Society. A +store of documents will be found in the Charter Rolls +published by the Record Commission, in Brady's work on +"English Boroughs," and in the "Ordinances of English +Gilds," published with a remarkable preface from the pen +of Dr. Brentano by the Early English Text Society. For +our religious and intellectual history materials now become +abundant. Grosseteste's Letters throw light on the state +of the Church and its relations with Rome; those of Adam +Marsh give us interesting details of Earl Simon's relation to +the religious movement of his day; and Eceleston's tract +on the arrival of the Friars is embodied in the "Monumenta +Franciscana." For the Universities we have the collection +of materials edited by Mr. Anstey under the name of +"Munimenta Academica." +</p> + +<p> +With the close of Henry's reign our directly historic +materials become scantier and scantier. The monastic +annals we have before mentioned are supplemented by the +jejune entries of Trivet and Murimuth, by the "Annales +Anglic et Scotias," by Rishanger's Chronicle, his "Gesta +Edwardi Primi," and three fragments of his annals (all +published in the Rolls Series). The portion of the so-called +"Walsingham's History" which relates to this period is +now attributed by Mr. Riley to Rishanger's hand. For the +wars in the north and in the west we have no records from +the side of the conquered. The social and physical state of +Wales indeed is illustrated by the "Itinerarium" which + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-275"></a>1-275]</span> + +Gerald de Barri drew up in the twelfth century, but +Scotland has no contemporary chronicles for this period; +the jingling rimes of Blind Harry are two hundred years +later than his hero, Wallace. We possess however a +copious collection of State papers in the "Rotuli Scotiæ," +the "Documents and Records illustrative of the History of +Scotland" which were edited by Sir F. Palgrave, as well as +in Rymer's Foedera. For the history of our Parliament the +most noteworthy materials have been collected by Professor +Stubbs in his Select Charters, and he has added to them a +short treatise called "Modus Tenendi Parliamentum," which +may be taken as a fair account of its actual state and +powers in the fourteenth century. +</p> + +</div> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-277"></a>1-277]</span> + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="Bk3-Ch1"></a><ul> + +<li> +<a name="id4550547"></a>CHAPTER I</li> +<li> +<a name="id4550553"></a>JOHN</li> +<li> +<a name="id4550558"></a>1204-1216</li> + +</ul> +</div> + + + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">England and the Conquest</span> +</p> + +<p> +The loss of Normandy did more than drive John +from the foreign dominions of his race; it set him +face to face with England itself. England was no +longer a distant treasure-house from which gold +could be drawn for wars along the Epte or the +Loire, no longer a possession to be kept in order +by wise ministers and by flying visits from its +foreign king. Henceforth it was his home. It +was to be ruled by his personal and continuous +rule. People and sovereign were to know each +other, to be brought into contact with each other +as they had never been brought since the conquest +of the Norman. The change in the attitude of +the king was the more momentous that it took +place at a time when the attitude of the country +itself was rapidly changing. The Norman +Conquest had given a new aspect to the land. A +foreign king ruled it through foreign ministers. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-278"></a>1-278]</span> + +Foreign nobles were quartered in every manor. +A military organization of the country changed +while it simplified the holding of every estate. +Huge castles of white stone bridled town and +country; huge stone minsters told how the +Norman had bridled even the Church. But the +change was in great measure an external one. +The real life of the nation was little affected by +the shock of the Conquest. English institutions, +the local, judicial, and administrative forms of the +country were the same as of old. Like the English +tongue they remained practically unaltered. For +a century after the Conquest only a few new +words crept in from the language of the conquerors, +and so entirely did the spoken tongue of the +nation at large remain unchanged that William +himself tried to learn it that he might administer +justice to his subjects. Even English literature, +banished as it was from the court of the stranger +and exposed to the fashionable rivalry of Latin +scholars, survived not only in religious works, in +poetic paraphrases of gospels and psalms, but in +the great monument of our prose, the English +Chronicle. It was not till the miserable reign of +Stephen that the Chronicle died out in the Abbey +of Peterborough. But the "Sayings of Ælfred" +show a native literature going on through the reign +of Henry the Second, and the appearance of a great +work of English verse coincides in point of time +with the return of John to his island realm. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-279"></a>1-279]</span> + +"There was a priest in the land whose name was +Layamon; he was the son of Leovenath; may the +Lord be gracious to him! He dwelt at Earnley, +a noble church on the bank of Severn (good it +seemed to him!) near Radstone, where he read +books. It came to mind to him and in his chiefest +thought that he would tell the noble deeds of +England, what the men were named and whence +they came who first had English land." Journeying +far and wide over the country, the priest of Earnley +found Bæda and Wace, the books too of St. Albin +and St. Austin. "Layamon laid down these books +and turned the leaves; he beheld them lovingly; +may the Lord be gracious to him! Pen he took +with finger and wrote a book-skin, and the true +words set together, and compressed the three +books into one." Layamon's church is now that of +Areley, near Bewdley in Worcestershire; his poem +was in fact an expansion of Wace's "Brut" with +insertions from Bæda. Historically it is worthless; +but as a monument of our language it is beyond +all price. In more than thirty thousand lines not +more than fifty Norman words are to be found. +Even the old poetic tradition remains the same. +The alliterative metre of the earlier verse is still +only slightly affected by riming terminations; the +similes are the few natural similes of Cædmon; +the battle-scenes are painted with the same rough, +simple joy. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">English Patriotism</span> +</p> + +<p> +Instead of crushing England, indeed, the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-280"></a>1-280]</span> + +Conquest did more than any event that had gone +before to build up an English people. All local +distinctions, the distinction of Saxon from Mercian, +of both from Northumbrian, died away beneath +the common pressure of the stranger. The +Conquest was hardly over when we see the rise of +a new national feeling, of a new patriotism. In +his quiet cell at Worcester the monk Florence +strives to palliate by excuses of treason or the +weakness of rulers the defeats of Englishmen by +the Danes. Ælfred, the great name of the +English past, gathers round him a legendary +worship, and the "Sayings of Ælfred" embody the +ideal of an English king. We see the new vigour +drawn from this deeper consciousness of national +unity in a national action which began as soon as +the Conquest had given place to strife among the +conquerors. A common hostility to the conquering +baronage gave the nation leaders in its foreign +sovereigns, and the sword which had been sheathed +at Senlac was drawn for triumphs which avenged +it. It was under William the Red that English +soldiers shouted scorn at the Norman barons who +surrendered at Rochester. It was under Henry +the First that an English army faced Duke Robert +and his foreign knighthood when they landed for +a fresh invasion, "not fearing the Normans." It +was under the same great king that Englishmen +conquered Normandy in turn on the field of +Tenchebray. This overthrow of the conquering + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-281"></a>1-281]</span> + +baronage, this union of the conquered with the +king, brought about the fusion of the conquerors +in the general body of the English people. As +early as the days of Henry the Second the +descendants of Norman and Englishman had +become indistinguishable. Both found a bond in +a common English feeling and English patriotism, +in a common hatred of the Angevin and Poitevin +"foreigners" who streamed into England in the +wake of Henry and his sons. Both had profited +by the stern discipline of the Norman rule. The +wretched reign of Stephen alone broke the long +peace, a peace without parallel elsewhere, which in +England stretched from the settlement of the +Conquest to the return of John. Of her kings' +forays along Norman or Aquitanian borders +England heard little; she cared less. Even +Eichard's crusade woke little interest in his island +realm. What England saw in her kings was +"the good peace they made in the land." And +with peace came a stern but equitable rule, judicial +and administrative reforms that carried order and +justice to every corner of the land, a wealth that +grew steadily in spite of heavy taxation, an +immense outburst of material and intellectual +activity. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Universities</span> +</p> + +<p> +It was with a new English people therefore +that John found himself face to face. The nation +which he fronted was a nation quickened with a +new life and throbbing with a new energy. Not + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-282"></a>1-282]</span> + +least among the signs of this energy was the +upgrowth of our Universities. The establishment +of the great schools which bore this name was +everywhere throughout Europe a special mark of +the impulse which Christendom gained from the +crusades. A new fervour of study sprang up in +the West from its contact with the more cultured +East. Travellers like Adelard of Bath brought +back the first rudiments of physical and mathematical +science from the schools of Cordova or +Bagdad. In the twelfth century a classical revival +restored Cæsar and Virgil to the list of monastic +studies, and left its stamp on the pedantic style, +the profuse classical quotations of writers like +William of Malmesbury or John of Salisbury. +The scholastic philosophy sprang up in the schools +of Paris. The Roman law was revived by the +imperialist doctors of Bologna. The long mental +inactivity of feudal Europe broke up like ice before +a summer's sun. Wandering teachers such as +Lanfranc or Anselm crossed sea and land to spread +the new power of knowledge. The same spirit of +restlessness, of enquiry, of impatience with the +older traditions of mankind either local or +intellectual that drove half Christendom to the +tomb of its Lord, crowded the roads with thousands +of young scholars hurrying to the chosen seats +where teachers were gathered together. A new +power sprang up in the midst of a world which +had till now recognized no power but that of sheer + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-283"></a>1-283]</span> + +brute force. Poor as they were, sometimes even of +servile race, the wandering scholars who lectured +in every cloister were hailed as "masters" by the +crowds at their feet. Abelard was a foe worthy +of the threats of councils, of the thunders of the +Church. The teaching of a single Lombard was +of note enough in England to draw down the +prohibition of a king. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Oxford</span> +</p> + +<p> +Vacarius was probably a guest in the court of +Archbishop Theobald where Thomas of London +and John of Salisbury were already busy with the +study of the Civil Law. But when he opened +lectures on it at Oxford he was at once silenced by +Stephen, who was at that moment at war with the +Church and jealous of the power which the wreck +of the royal authority was throwing into Theobald's +hands. At this time Oxford stood in the +first rank among English towns. Its town church +of St. Martin rose from the midst of a huddled +group of houses, girded in with massive walls, that +lay along the dry upper ground of a low peninsula +between the streams of Cherwell and the Thames. +The ground fell gently on either side, eastward and +westward, to these rivers; while on the south a +sharper descent led down across swampy meadows +to the ford from which the town drew its name +and to the bridge that succeeded it. Around lay +a wild forest country, moors such as Cowley and +Bullingdon fringing the course of Thames, great +woods of which Shotover and Bagley are the relics + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-284"></a>1-284]</span> + +closing the horizon to the south and east. Though +the two huge towers of its Norman castle marked +the strategic importance of Oxford as commanding +the river valley along which the commerce of +Southern England mainly flowed, its walls formed +the least element in the town's military strength, +for on every side but the north it was guarded by +the swampy meadows along Cherwell or by an +intricate network of streams into which the Thames +breaks among the meadows of Osney. From the +midst of these meadows rose a mitred abbey of +Austin Canons, which with the older priory of St. +Frideswide gave Oxford some ecclesiastical dignity. +The residence of the Norman house of the D'Oillis +within its castle, the frequent visits of English +kings to a palace without its walls, the presence +again and again of important Parliaments, marked +its political weight within the realm. The settlement +of one of the wealthiest among the English +Jewries in the very heart of the town indicated, +while it promoted, the activity of its trade. No +place better illustrates the transformation of the +land in the hands of its Norman masters, the +sudden outburst of industrial effort, the sudden +expansion of commerce and accumulation of wealth +which followed the Conquest. To the west of the +town rose one of the stateliest of English castles, +and in the meadows beneath the hardly less stately +abbey of Osney. In the fields to the north the +last of the Norman kings raised his palace of Beaumont. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-285"></a>1-285]</span> + +In the southern quarter of the city the +canons of St. Frideswide reared the church which +still exists as the diocesan cathedral, while the +piety of the Norman Castellans rebuilt almost +all its parish churches and founded within their +new castle walls the church of the Canons of St. +George. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Oxford Scholars</span> +</p> + +<p> +We know nothing of the causes which drew +students and teachers within the walls of Oxford. +It is possible that here as elsewhere a new teacher +quickened older educational foundations, and that +the cloisters of Osney and St. Frideswide already +possessed schools which burst into a larger life +under the impulse of Vacarius. As yet however +the fortunes of the University were obscured by +the glories of Paris. English scholars gathered in +thousands round the chairs of William of Champeaux +or Abelard. The English took their place +as one of the "nations" of the French University. +John of Salisbury became famous as one of the +Parisian teachers. Thomas of London wandered +to Paris from his school at Merton. But through +the peaceful reign of Henry the Second Oxford +quietly grew in numbers and repute, and forty +years after the visit of Vacarius its educational +position was fully established. When Gerald of +Wales read his amusing Topography of Ireland to +its students the most learned and famous of the +English clergy were to be found within its walls. +At the opening of the thirteenth century Oxford + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-286"></a>1-286]</span> + +stood without a rival in its own country, while in +European celebrity it took rank with the greatest +schools of the Western world. But to realize this +Oxford of the past we must dismiss from our +minds all recollections of the Oxford of the present. +In the outer look of the new University there was +nothing of the pomp that overawes the freshman +as he first paces the "High" or looks down from +the gallery of St. Mary's. In the stead of long +fronts of venerable colleges, of stately walks beneath +immemorial elms, history plunges us into the mean +and filthy lanes of a mediæval town. Thousands +of boys, huddled in bare lodging-houses, clustering +round teachers as poor as themselves in church +porch and house porch, drinking, quarrelling, +dicing, begging at the corners of the streets, take +the place of the brightly-coloured train of doctors +and Heads. Mayor and Chancellor struggled in +vain to enforce order or peace on this seething +mass of turbulent life. The retainers who followed +their young lords to the University fought out the +feuds of their houses in the streets. Scholars +from Kent and scholars from Scotland waged the +bitter struggle of North and South. At nightfall +roysterer and reveller roamed with torches through +the narrow lanes, defying bailiffs, and cutting +down burghers at their doors. Now a mob of +clerks plunged into the Jewry and wiped off the +memory of bills and bonds by sacking a Hebrew +house or two. Now a tavern squabble between + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-287"></a>1-287]</span> + +scholar and townsman widened into a general +broil, and the academical bell of St. Mary's vied +with the town bell of St. Martin's in clanging to +arms. Every phase of ecclesiastical controversy +or political strife was preluded by some fierce outbreak +in this turbulent, surging mob. When +England growled at the exactions of the Papacy +in the years that were to follow the students +besieged a legate in the abbot's house at Osney. +A murderous town and gown row preceded the +opening of the Barons' war. "When Oxford +draws knife," ran an old rime, "England's soon +at strife." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Edmund Rich</span> +</p> + +<p> +But the turbulence and stir was a stir and +turbulence of life. A keen thirst for knowledge, +a passionate poetry of devotion, gathered thousands +round the poorest scholar and welcomed the barefoot +friar. Edmund Rich--Archbishop of Canterbury +and saint in later days--came about the time +we have reached to Oxford, a boy of twelve years +old, from a little lane at Abingdon that still bears +his name. He found his school in an inn that +belonged to the abbey of Eynsham where his +father had taken refuge from the world. His +mother was a pious woman of the day, too poor to +give her boy much outfit besides the hair shirt that +he promised to wear every Wednesday; but +Edmund was no poorer than his neighbours. He +plunged at once into the nobler life of the place, +its ardour for knowledge, its mystical piety. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-288"></a>1-288]</span> + +"Secretly," perhaps at eventide when the shadows +were gathering in the church of St. Mary and the +crowd of teachers and students had left its aisles, +the boy stood before an image of the Virgin, and +placing a ring of gold upon its finger took Mary +for his bride. Years of study, broken by a fever +that raged among the crowded, noisome streets, +brought the time for completing his education at +Paris; and Edmund, hand in hand with a brother +Robert of his, begged his way as poor scholars +were wont to the great school of Western Christendom. +Here a damsel, heedless of his tonsure, +wooed him so pertinaciously that Edmund consented +at last to an assignation; but when he +appeared it was in company of grave academical +officials who, as the maiden declared in the hour +of penitence which followed, "straightway whipped +the offending Eve out of her." Still true to his +Virgin bridal, Edmund on his return from Paris +became the most popular of Oxford teachers. It +is to him that Oxford owes her first introduction +to the Logic of Aristotle. We see him in the +little room which he hired, with the Virgin's +chapel hard by, his grey gown reaching to his feet, +ascetic in his devotion, falling asleep in lecture +time after a sleepless night of prayer, but gifted +with a grace and cheerfulness of manner which +told of his French training and a chivalrous love +of knowledge that let his pupils pay what they +would. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," the young + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-289"></a>1-289]</span> + +tutor would say, a touch of scholarly pride perhaps +mingling with his contempt of worldly things, as +he threw down the fee on the dusty window-ledge +whence a thievish student would sometimes run +off with it. But even knowledge brought its +troubles; the Old Testament, which with a copy +of the Decretals long formed his sole library, +frowned down upon a love of secular learning from +which Edmund found it hard to wean himself. At +last, in some hour of dream, the form of his dead +mother floated into the room where the teacher +stood among his mathematical diagrams. "What +are these?" she seemed to say; and seizing +Edmund's right hand, she drew on the palm three +circles interlaced, each of which bore the name of +a Person of the Christian Trinity. "Be these," +she cried, as the figure faded away, "thy diagrams +henceforth, my son." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The University and Feudalism</span> +</p> + +<p> +The story admirably illustrates the real character +of the new training, and the latent opposition +between the spirit of the Universities and the +spirit of the Church. The feudal and ecclesiastical +order of the old mediæval world were both alike +threatened by this power that had so strangely +sprung up in the midst of them. Feudalism +rested on local isolation, on the severance of kingdom +from kingdom and barony from barony, on +the distinction of blood and race, on the supremacy +of material or brute force, on an allegiance determined +by accidents of place and social position. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-290"></a>1-290]</span> + +The University on the other hand was a protest +against this isolation of man from man. The +smallest school was European and not local. Not +merely every province of France, but every people +of Christendom had its place among the "nations" +of Paris or Padua. A common language, the Latin +tongue, superseded within academical bounds the +warring tongues of Europe. A common intellectual +kinship and rivalry took the place of the +petty strifes which parted province from province +or realm from realm. What Church and Empire +had both aimed at and both failed in, the knitting +of Christian nations together into a vast commonwealth, +the Universities for a time actually did. +Dante felt himself as little a stranger in the +"Latin" quarter round Mont St. Genevieve as +under the arches of Bologna. Wandering Oxford +scholars carried the writings of Wyclif to the +libraries of Prague. In England the work of +provincial fusion was less difficult or important +than elsewhere, but even in England work had to +be done. The feuds of Northerner and Southerner +which so long disturbed the discipline of Oxford +witnessed at any rate to the fact that Northerner +and Southerner had at last been brought face to +face in its streets. And here as elsewhere the +spirit of national isolation was held in check by +the larger comprehensiveness of the University. +After the dissensions that threatened the prosperity +of Paris in the thirteenth century, Norman + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-291"></a>1-291]</span> + +and Gascon mingled with Englishmen in Oxford +lecture-halls. Irish scholars were foremost in the +fray with the legate. At a later time the rising +of Owen Glyndwr found hundreds of Welshmen +gathered round its teachers. And within this +strangely mingled mass society and government +rested on a purely democratic basis. Among +Oxford scholars the son of the noble stood on precisely +the same footing with the poorest mendicant. +Wealth, physical strength, skill in arms, pride of +ancestry and blood, the very grounds on which +feudal society rested, went for nothing in the +lecture-room. The University was a state absolutely +self-governed, and whose citizens were +admitted by a purely intellectual franchise. +Knowledge made the "master." To know more +than one's fellows was a man's sole claim to be a +regent or "ruler" in the schools. And within +this intellectual aristocracy all were equal. When +the free commonwealth of the masters gathered in +the aisles of St. Mary's all had an equal right to +counsel, all had an equal vote in the final decision. +Treasury and library were at their complete disposal. +It was their voice that named every officer, +that proposed and sanctioned every statute. Even +the Chancellor, their head, who had at first been +an officer of the Bishop, became an elected officer +of their own. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Universities and the Church</span> +</p> + +<p> +If the democratic spirit of the Universities' +threatened feudalism, their spirit of intellectual + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-292"></a>1-292]</span> + +enquiry threatened the Church. To all outer +seeming they were purely ecclesiastical bodies. +The wide extension which mediæval usage gave +to the word "orders" gathered the whole educated +world within the pale of the clergy. Whatever +might be their age or proficiency, scholar and +teacher alike ranked as clerks, free from lay +responsibilities or the control of civil tribunals, +and amenable only to the rule of the Bishop and +the sentence of his spiritual courts. This ecclesiastical +character of the University appeared in +that of its head. The Chancellor, as we have seen, +was at first no officer of the University itself, but +of the ecclesiastical body under whose shadow it +had sprung into life. At Oxford he was simply +the local officer of the Bishop of Lincoln, within +whose immense diocese the University was then +situated. But this identification in outer form +with the Church only rendered more conspicuous +the difference of spirit between them. The sudden +expansion of the field of education diminished the +importance of those purely ecclesiastical and theological +studies which had hitherto absorbed the +whole intellectual energies of mankind. The revival +of classical literature, the rediscovery as it +were of an older and a greater world, the contact +with a larger, freer life whether in mind, in +society, or in politics introduced a spirit of +scepticism, of doubt, of denial into the realms of +unquestioning belief. Abelard claimed for reason + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-293"></a>1-293]</span> + +a supremacy over faith. Florentine poets discussed +with a smile the immortality of the soul. Even +to Dante, while he censures these, Virgil is as +sacred as Jeremiah. The imperial ruler in whom +the new culture took its most notable form, +Frederick the Second, the "World's Wonder" of +his time, was regarded by half Europe as no +better than an infidel. A faint revival of physical +science, so long crushed as magic by the dominant +ecclesiasticism, brought Christians into perilous +contact with the Moslem and the Jew. The books +of the Rabbis were no longer an accursed thing to +Roger Bacon. The scholars of Cordova were no +mere Paynim swine to Adelard of Bath. How +slowly indeed and against what obstacles science +won its way we know from the witness of Roger +Bacon. "Slowly," he tells us, "has any portion +of the philosophy of Aristotle come into use +among the Latins. His Natural Philosophy and +his Metaphysics, with the Commentaries of +Averroes and others, were translated in my time, +and interdicted at Paris up to the year of grace +1237 because of their assertion of the eternity of +the world and of time and because of the book of +the divinations by dreams (which is the third +book, De Somniis et Vigiliis) and because of many +passages erroneously translated. Even his logic +was slowly received and lectured on. For St. +Edmund, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was the +first in my time who read the Elements at Oxford. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-294"></a>1-294]</span> + +And I have seen Master Hugo, who first read the +book of Posterior Analytics, and I have seen his +writing. So there were but few, considering the +multitude of the Latins, who were of any account +in the philosophy of Aristotle; nay, very few +indeed, and scarcely any up to this year of grace +1292." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Town</span> +</p> + +<p> +If we pass from the English University to the +English Town we see a progress as important +and hardly less interesting. In their origin our +boroughs were utterly unlike those of the rest of +the western world. The cities of Italy and Provence +had preserved the municipal institutions of +their Roman past; the German towns had been +founded by Henry the Fowler with the purpose of +sheltering industry from the feudal oppression +around them; the communes of Northern France +sprang into existence in revolt against feudal outrage +within their walls. But in England the +tradition of Rome passed utterly away, while +feudal oppression was held fairly in check by +the Crown. The English town therefore was in +its beginning simply a piece of the general country, +organized and governed precisely in the same +manner as the townships around it. Its existence +witnessed indeed to the need which men felt in +those earlier times of mutual help and protection. +The burh or borough was probably a more defensible +place than the common village; it may have +had a ditch or mound about it instead of the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-295"></a>1-295]</span> + +quickset-hedge or "tun" from which the township +took its name. But in itself it was simply a +township or group of townships where men +clustered whether for trade or defence more +thickly than elsewhere. The towns were different +in the circumstances and date of their rise. Some +grew up in the fortified camps of the English +invaders. Some dated from a later occupation of +the sacked and desolate Roman towns. Some +clustered round the country houses of king and +ealdorman or the walls of church and monastery. +Towns like Bristol were the direct result of trade. +There was the same variety in the mode in which +the various town communities were formed. While +the bulk of them grew by simple increase of population +from township to town, larger boroughs +such as York with its "six shires" or London +with its wards and sokes and franchises show how +families and groups of settlers settled down side +by side, and claimed as they coalesced, each for +itself, its shire or share of the town-ground while +jealously preserving its individual life within the +town-community. But strange as these aggregations +might be, the constitution of the borough +which resulted from them was simply that of the +people at large. Whether we regard it as a township, +or rather from its size as a hundred or +collection of townships, the obligations of the +dwellers within its bounds were those of the +townships round, to keep fence and trench in + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-296"></a>1-296]</span> + +good repair, to send a contingent to the fyrd, +and a reeve and four men to the hundred court +and shire court. As in other townships, land was +a necessary accompaniment of freedom. The +landless man who dwelled in a borough had no +share in its corporate life; for purposes of government +or property the town consisted simply of the +landed proprietors within its bounds. The common +lands which are still attached to many of our +boroughs take us back to a time when each township +lay within a ring or mark of open ground +which served at once as boundary and pasture +land. Each of the four wards of York had its +common pasture; Oxford has still its own "Port-meadow." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Towns and their lords</span> +</p> + +<p> +The inner rule of the borough lay as in the +townships about it in the hands of its own freemen, +gathered in "borough-moot" or "portmanni-mote." +But the social change brought about by +the Danish wars, the legal requirement that each +man should have a lord, affected the towns as it +affected the rest of the country. Some passed +into the hands of great thegns near to them; the +bulk became known as in the demesne of the king. +A new officer, the lord's or king's reeve, was a +sign of this revolution. It was the reeve who +now summoned the borough-moot and administered +justice in it; it was he who collected the lord's +dues or annual rent of the town, and who exacted +the services it owed to its lord. To modern eyes + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-297"></a>1-297]</span> + +these services would imply almost complete subjection. +When Leicester, for instance, passed +from the hands of the Conqueror into those of its +Earls, its townsmen were bound to reap their +lord's corn-crops, to grind at his mill, to redeem +their strayed cattle from his pound. The great +forest around was the Earl's, and it was only out +of his grace that the little borough could drive +its swine into the woods or pasture its cattle in +the glades. The justice and government of a +town lay wholly in its master's hands; he appointed +its bailiffs, received the fines and forfeitures +of his tenants, and the fees and tolls of +their markets and fairs. But in fact when once +these dues were paid and these services rendered +the English townsman was practically free. His +rights were as rigidly defined by custom as those +of his lord. Property and person alike were +secured against arbitrary seizure. He could demand +a fair trial on any charge, and even if justice +was administered by his master's reeve it was +administered in the presence and with the assent +of his fellow-townsmen. The bell which swung +out from the town tower gathered the burgesses +to a common meeting, where they could exercise +rights of free speech and free deliberation on +their own affairs. Their merchant-gild over its +ale-feast regulated trade, distributed the sums due +from the town among the different burgesses, +looked to the due repairs of gate and wall, and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-298"></a>1-298]</span> + +acted in fact pretty much the same part as a town-council +of to-day. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Merchant Gild</span> +</p> + +<p> +The merchant-gild was the outcome of a tendency +to closer association which found support in those +principles of mutual aid and mutual restraint that +lay at the base of our old institutions. Gilds or +clubs for religious, charitable, or social purposes +were common throughout the country, and especially +common in boroughs, where men clustered more +thickly together. Each formed a sort of artificial +family. An oath of mutual fidelity among its +members was substituted for the tie of blood, +while the gild-feast, held once a month in the +common hall, replaced the gathering of the kinsfolk +round their family hearth. But within this +new family the aim of the gild was to establish a +mutual responsibility as close as that of the old. +"Let all share the same lot," ran its law; "if any +misdo, let all bear it." A member could look for +aid from his gild-brothers in atoning for guilt +incurred by mishap. He could call on them for +assistance in case of violence or wrong. If falsely +accused they appeared in court as his compurgators, +if poor they supported, and when dead they buried +him. On the other hand he was responsible to +them, as they were to the State, for order and +obedience to the laws. A wrong of brother against +brother was also a wrong against the general body +of the gild and was punished by fine or in the last +resort by an expulsion which left the offender a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-299"></a>1-299]</span> + +"lawless" man and an outcast. The one difference +between these gilds in country and town was +this, that in the latter case from their close local +neighbourhood they tended inevitably to coalesce. +Under Æthelstan the London gilds united into +one for the purpose of carrying out more effectually +their common aims, and at a later time we find the +gilds of Berwick enacting "that where many +bodies are found side by side in one place they +may become one, and have one will, and in the +dealings of one with another have a strong and +hearty love." The process was probably a long +and difficult one, for the brotherhoods naturally +differed much in social rank, and even after the +union was effected we see traces of the separate +existence to a certain extent of some one or more +of the wealthier or more aristocratic gilds. In +London for instance the Cnighten-gild which seems +to have stood at the head of its fellows retained +for a long time its separate property, while its +Alderman--as the chief officer of each gild was +called--became the Alderman of the united gild of +the whole city. In Canterbury we find a similar +gild of Thanes from which the chief officers of the +town seem commonly to have been selected. +Imperfect however as the union might be, when +once it was effected the town passed from a mere +collection of brotherhoods into a powerful community, +far more effectually organized than in the +loose organization of the township, and whose + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-300"></a>1-300]</span> + +character was inevitably determined by the circumstances +of its origin. In their beginnings our +boroughs seem to have been mainly gatherings of +persons engaged in agricultural pursuits; the first +Dooms of London provide especially for the +recovery of cattle belonging to the citizens. But +as the increasing security of the country invited +the farmer or the landowner to settle apart in his +own fields, and the growth of estate and trade told +on the towns themselves, the difference between +town and country became more sharply defined. +London of course took the lead in this new developement +of civic life. Even in Æthelstan's day +every London merchant who had made three long +voyages on his own account ranked as a Thegn. +Its "lithsmen," or shipmen's-gild, were of sufficient +importance under Harthacnut to figure in the +election of a king, and its principal street still tells +of the rapid growth of trade in its name of +"Cheap-side" or the bargaining place. But at the +Norman Conquest the commercial tendency had +become universal. The name given to the united +brotherhood in a borough is in almost every case +no longer that of the "town-gild," but of the +"merchant-gild." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Emancipation of Towns</span> +</p> + +<p> +This social change in the character of the +townsmen produced important results in the +character of their municipal institutions. In becoming +a merchant-gild the body of citizens who +formed the "town" enlarged their powers of civic + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-301"></a>1-301]</span> + +legislation by applying them to the control of their +internal trade. It became their special business +to obtain from the crown or from their lords wider +commercial privileges, rights of coinage, grants of +fairs, and exemption from tolls, while within the +town itself they framed regulations as to the sale +and quality of goods, the control of markets, and +the recovery of debts. It was only by slow and +difficult advances that each step in this securing +of privilege was won. Still it went steadily on. +Whenever we get a glimpse of the inner history of +an English town we find the same peaceful revolution +in progress, services disappearing through +disuse or omission, while privileges and immunities +are being purchased in hard cash. The lord of the +town, whether he were king, baron, or abbot, was +commonly thriftless or poor, and the capture of a +noble, or the campaign of a sovereign, or the +building of some new minster by a prior, brought +about an appeal to the thrifty burghers, who were +ready to fill again their master's treasury at the +price of the strip of parchment which gave them +freedom of trade, of justice, and of government. +In the silent growth and elevation of the English +people the boroughs thus led the way. Unnoticed +and despised by prelate and noble they preserved +or won back again the full tradition of Teutonic +liberty. The right of self-government, the right +of free speech in free meeting, the right to equal +justice at the hands of one's equals, were brought + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-302"></a>1-302]</span> + +safely across ages of tyranny by the burghers and +shopkeepers of the towns. In the quiet quaintly-named +streets, in town-mead and market-place, in +the lord's mill beside the stream, in the bell that +swung out its summons to the crowded borough-mote, +in merchant-gild, and church-gild and craft-gild, +lay the life of Englishmen who were doing +more than knight and baron to make England +what she is, the life of their home and their trade, +of their sturdy battle with oppression, their steady, +ceaseless struggle for right and freedom. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">London</span> +</p> + +<p> +London stood first among English towns, and +the privileges which its citizens won became +precedents for the burghers of meaner boroughs. +Even at the Conquest its power and wealth secured +it a full recognition of all its ancient privileges +from the Conqueror. In one way indeed it profited +by the revolution which laid England at the +feet of the stranger. One immediate result of +William's success was an immigration into England +from the Continent. A peaceful invasion of the +Norman traders followed quick on the invasion of +the Norman soldiery. Every Norman noble as he +quartered himself upon English lands, every +Norman abbot as he entered his English cloister, +gathered French artists, French shopkeepers, +French domestics about him. Round the Abbey +of Battle which William founded on the site of his +great victory "Gilbert the Foreigner, Gilbert the +Weaver, Benet the Steward, Hugh the Secretary, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-303"></a>1-303]</span> + +Baldwin the Tailor," dwelt mixed with the English +tenantry. But nowhere did these immigrants +play so notable a part as in London. The Normans +had had mercantile establishments in London as +early as the reign of Æthelred, if not of Eadgar. +Such settlements however naturally formed nothing +more than a trading colony like the colony +of the "Emperor's Men," or Easterlings. But with +the Conquest their number greatly increased. +"Many of the citizens of Rouen and Caen passed +over thither, preferring to be dwellers in this city, +inasmuch as it was fitter for their trading and +better stored with the merchandise in which they +were wont to traffic." The status of these traders +indeed had wholly changed. They could no +longer be looked upon as strangers in cities which +had passed under the Norman rule. In some +cases, as at Norwich, the French colony isolated +itself in a separate French town, side by side with +the English borough. But in London it seems to +have taken at once the position of a governing class. +Gilbert Beket, the father of the famous Archbishop, +was believed in later days to have been +one of the portreeves of London, the predecessors +of its mayors; he held in Stephen's time a large +property in houses within the walls, and a proof +of his civic importance was preserved in the annual +visit of each newly-elected chief magistrate to his +tomb in a little chapel which he had founded in +the churchyard of St. Paul's. Yet Gilbert was + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-304"></a>1-304]</span> + +one of the Norman strangers who followed in the +wake of the Conqueror; he was by birth a burgher +of Rouen, as his wife was of a burgher family from +Caen. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Freedom of London</span> +</p> + +<p> +It was partly to this infusion of foreign blood, +partly no doubt to the long internal peace and +order secured by the Norman rule, that London +owed the wealth and importance to which it +attained during the reign of Henry the First. The +charter which Henry granted it became a model +for lesser boroughs. The king yielded its citizens +the right of justice; each townsman could claim +to be tried by his fellow-townsmen in the town-court +or hustings whose sessions took place every +week. They were subject only to the old English +trial by oath, and exempt from the trial by battle +which the Normans introduced. Their trade was +protected from toll or exaction over the length +and breadth of the land. The king however +still nominated in London as elsewhere the +portreeve, or magistrate of the town, nor were the +citizens as yet united together in a commune or +corporation. But an imperfect civic organization +existed in the "wards" or quarters of the town, +each governed by its own alderman, and in the +"gilds" or voluntary associations of merchants +or traders which ensured order and mutual protection +for their members. Loose too as these +bonds may seem, they were drawn firmly together +by the older English traditions of freedom which + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-305"></a>1-305]</span> + +the towns preserved. The London burgesses +gathered in their town-mote when the bell swung +out from the bell-tower of St. Paul's to deliberate +freely on their own affairs under the presidency of +their alderman. Here, too, they mustered in +arms if danger threatened the city, and delivered +the town-banner to their captain, the Norman +baron Fitz-Walter, to lead them against the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Early Oxford</span> +</p> + +<p> +Few boroughs had as yet attained to such +power as this, but the instance of Oxford shows +how the freedom of London told on the general +advance of English towns. In spite of antiquarian +fancies it is certain that no town had arisen on the +site of Oxford for centuries after the withdrawal +of the Roman legions from the isle of Britain. +Though the monastery of St. Frideswide rose in +the turmoil of the eighth century on the slope +which led down to a ford across the Thames, it is +long before we get a glimpse of the borough that +must have grown up under its walls. The first +definite evidence for its existence lies in a brief +entry of the English Chronicle which recalls its +seizure by Eadward the Elder, but the form of +this entry shows that the town was already a +considerable one, and in the last wrestle of England +with the Dane its position on the borders of +Mercia and Wessex combined with its command +of the upper valley of the Thames to give it +military and political importance. Of the life of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-306"></a>1-306]</span> + +its burgesses however we still know little or +nothing. The names of its parishes, St. Aldate, +St. Ebbe, St. Mildred, St. Edmund, show how +early church after church gathered round the +earlier town-church of St. Martin. But the men +of the little town remain dim to us. Their +town-mote, or the "Portmannimote" as it was called, +which was held in the churchyard of St. Martin, +still lives in a shadow of its older self as the +Freeman's Common Hall--their town-mead is still +the Port-meadow. But it is only by later charters +or the record of Domesday that we see them +going on pilgrimage to the shrines of Winchester, +or chaffering in their market-place, or judging and +law-making in their hustings, their merchant-gild +regulating trade, their reeve gathering his king's +dues of tax or money or marshalling his troop of +burghers for the king's wars, their boats paying +toll of a hundred herrings in Lent-tide to the +Abbot of Abingdon, as they floated down the +Thames towards London. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Oxford and the Normans</span> +</p> + +<p> +The number of houses marked waste in the +survey marks the terrible suffering of Oxford in +the Norman Conquest: but the ruin was soon +repaired, and the erection of its castle, the +rebuilding of its churches, the planting of a Jewry +in the heart of the town, showed in what various +ways the energy of its new masters was giving an +impulse to its life. It is a proof of the superiority +of the Hebrew dwellings to the Christian houses + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-307"></a>1-307]</span> + +about them that each of the later town-halls of the +borough had, before their expulsion, been houses +of Jews. Nearly all the larger dwelling houses in +fact which were subsequently converted into +academic halls bore traces of the same origin in +names such as Moysey's Hall, Lombard's Hall, or +Jacob's Hall. The Jewish houses were abundant, +for besides the greater Jewry in the heart of it, +there was a lesser Jewry scattered over its +southern quarter, and we can hardly doubt that +this abundance of substantial buildings in the +town was at least one of the causes which drew +teachers and scholars within its walls. The Jewry, +a town within a town, lay here as elsewhere +isolated and exempt from the common justice, +the common life and self-government of the +borough. On all but its eastern side too the +town was hemmed in by jurisdictions independent +of its own. The precincts of the Abbey of Osney, +the wide "bailey" of the Castle, bounded it +narrowly on the west. To the north, stretching +away beyond the little church of St. Giles, lay +the fields of the royal manor of Beaumont. The +Abbot of Abingdon, whose woods of Cumnor and +Bagley closed the southern horizon, held his +leet-court in the hamlet of Grampound beyond the +bridge. Nor was the whole space within the walls +subject to the self-government of the citizens. +The Jewry had a rule and law of its own. Scores +of householders, dotted over street and lane, were + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-308"></a>1-308]</span> + +tenants of castle or abbey and paid no suit or +service at the borough court. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Oxford and London</span> +</p> + +<p> +But within these narrow bounds and amidst +these various obstacles the spirit of municipal +liberty lived a life the more intense that it was so +closely cabined and confined. Nowhere indeed +was the impulse which London was giving likely +to tell with greater force. The "bargemen" of +Oxford were connected even before the Conquest +with the "boatmen," or shippers, of the capital. +In both cases it is probable that the bodies bearing +these names represented what is known as the +merchant-gild of the town. Royal recognition +enables us to trace the merchant-gild of Oxford +from the time of Henry the First. Even then +lands, islands, pastures belonged to it, and amongst +them the same Port-meadow which is familiar to +Oxford men pulling lazily on a summer's noon to +Godstow. The connexion between the two gilds +was primarily one of trade. "In the time of King +Eadward and Abbot Ordric" the channel of the +Thames beneath the walls of the Abbey of +Abingdon became so blocked up that boats could +scarce pass as far as Oxford, and it was at the +joint prayer of the burgesses of London and +Oxford that the abbot dug a new channel through +the meadow to the south of his church. But by +the time of Henry the Second closer bonds than +this linked the two cities together. In case of any +doubt or contest about judgements in their own + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-309"></a>1-309]</span> + +court the burgesses of Oxford were empowered to +refer the matter to the decision of London, "and +whatsoever the citizens of London shall adjudge +in such cases shall be deemed right." The judicial +usages, the municipal rights of each city were +assimilated by Henry's charter. "Of whatsoever +matter the men of Oxford be put in plea, they +shall deraign themselves according to the law and +custom of the city of London and not otherwise, +because they and the citizens of London are of one +and the same custom, law, and liberty." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Life of the Town</span> +</p> + +<p> +A legal connexion such as this could hardly +fail to bring with it an identity of municipal +rights. Oxford had already passed through the +earlier steps of her advance towards municipal +freedom before the conquest of the Norman. Her +burghers assembled in their own Portmannimote, +and their dues to the crown were assessed at a fixed +sum of honey or coin. But the formal definition +of their rights dates, as in the case of London, +from the time of Henry the First. The customs +and exemptions of its townsmen were confirmed +by Henry the Second "as ever they enjoyed them +in the time of Henry my grandfather, and in like +manner as my citizens of London hold them." +By this date the town had attained entire judicial +and commercial freedom, and liberty of external +commerce was secured by the exemption of its +citizens from toll on the king's lands. Complete +independence was reached when a charter of John + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-310"></a>1-310]</span> + +substituted a mayor of the town's own choosing +for the reeve or bailiff of the crown. But dry +details such as these tell little of the quick pulse +of popular life that beat in the thirteenth century +through such a community as that of Oxford. +The church of St. Martin in the very heart of it, +at the "Quatrevoix" or Carfax where its four +streets met, was the centre of the city life. The +town-mote was held in its churchyard. Justice +was administered ere yet a townhall housed the +infant magistracy by mayor or bailiff sitting +beneath a low pent-house, the "penniless bench" +of later days, outside its eastern wall. Its bell +summoned the burghers to council or arms. +Around the church the trade-gilds were ranged as +in some vast encampment. To the south of it +lay Spicery and Vintnery, the quarter of the +richer burgesses. Fish-street fell noisily down to +the bridge and the ford. The Corn-market +occupied then as now the street which led to +Northgate. The stalls of the butchers stretched +along the "Butcher-row," which formed the road +to the bailey and the castle. Close beneath the +church lay a nest of huddled lanes, broken by a +stately synagogue, and traversed from time to +time by the yellow gaberdine of the Jew. Soldiers +from the castle rode clashing through the narrow +streets; the bells of Osney clanged from the +swampy meadows; processions of pilgrims wound +through gates and lane to the shrine of St. Frideswide. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-311"></a>1-311]</span> + +Frays were common enough; now the +sack of a Jew's house; now burgher drawing +knife on burgher; now an outbreak of the young +student lads who were growing every day in +numbers and audacity. But as yet the town was +well in hand. The clang of the city bell called +every citizen to his door; the call of the mayor +brought trade after trade with bow in hand and +banners flying to enforce the king's peace. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">St. Edmundsbury</span> +</p> + +<p> +The advance of towns which had grown up not +on the royal domain but around abbey or castle +was slower and more difficult. The story of St. +Edmundsbury shows how gradual was the transition +from pure serfage to an imperfect freedom. +Much that had been plough-land here in the Confessor's +time was covered with houses by the time +of Henry the Second. The building of the great +abbey-church drew its craftsmen and masons to +mingle with the ploughmen and reapers of the +Abbot's domain. The troubles of the time helped +here as elsewhere the progress of the town; serfs, +fugitives from justice or their lord, the trader, the +Jew, naturally sought shelter under the strong +hand of St. Edmund. But the settlers were +wholly at the Abbot's mercy. Not a settler but +was bound to pay his pence to the Abbot's treasury, +to plough a rood of his land, to reap in his +harvest-field, to fold his sheep in the Abbey folds, +to help bring the annual catch of eels from the +Abbey waters. Within the four crosses that + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-312"></a>1-312]</span> + +bounded the Abbot's domain land and water were +his; the cattle of the townsmen paid for their +pasture on the common; if the fullers refused the +loan of their cloth the cellarer would refuse the +use of the stream and seize their cloths wherever +he found them. No toll might be levied from +tenants of the Abbey farms, and customers had to +wait before shop and stall till the buyers of the +Abbot had had the pick of the market. There +was little chance of redress, for if burghers complained +in folk-mote it was before the Abbot's +officers that its meeting was held; if they appealed +to the alderman he was the Abbot's nominee and +received the horn, the symbol of his office, at the +Abbot's hands. Like all the greater revolutions +of society, the advance from this mere serfage +was a silent one; indeed its more galling instances +of oppression seem to have slipped unconsciously +away. Some, like the eel-fishing, were commuted +for an easy rent; others, like the slavery of the +fullers and the toll of flax, simply disappeared. +By usage, by omission, by downright forgetfulness, +here by a little struggle, there by a present to a +needy abbot, the town won freedom. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Towns and Justice</span> +</p> + +<p> +But progress was not always unconscious, and +one incident in the history of St. Edmundsbury +is remarkable, not merely as indicating the advance +of law, but yet more as marking the part +which a new moral sense of man's right to equal +justice was to play in the general advance of the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-313"></a>1-313]</span> + +realm. Rude as the borough was, it possessed +the right of meeting in full assembly of the +townsmen for government and law. Justice was +administered in presence of the burgesses, and +the accused acquitted or condemned by the oath +of his neighbours. Without the borough bounds +however the system of Norman judicature prevailed; +and the rural tenants who did suit and +service at the Cellarer's court were subjected to +the trial by battle. The execution of a farmer +named Ketel who came under this feudal jurisdiction +brought the two systems into vivid contrast. +Ketel seems to have been guiltless of the +crime laid to his charge; but the duel went +against him and he was hung just without the +gates. The taunts of the townsmen woke his +fellow farmers to a sense of wrong. "Had Ketel +been a dweller within the borough," said the +burgesses, "he would have got his acquittal from +the oaths of his neighbours, as our liberty is"; +and even the monks were moved to a decision +that their tenants should enjoy equal freedom and +justice with the townsmen. The franchise of +the town was extended to the rural possessions of +the Abbey without it; the farmers "came to the +toll-house, were written in the alderman's roll, +and paid the town-penny." A chance story preserved +in a charter of later date shows the same +struggle for justice going on in a greater town. +At Leicester the trial by compurgation, the rough + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-314"></a>1-314]</span> + +predecessor of trial by jury, had been abolished +by the Earls in favour of trial by battle. The +aim of the burgesses was to regain their old +justice, and in this a touching incident at last +made them successful. "It chanced that two +kinsmen, Nicholas the son of Acon and Geoffrey +the son of Nicholas, waged a duel about a certain +piece of land concerning which a dispute had +arisen between them; and they fought from the +first to the ninth hour, each conquering by turns. +Then one of them fleeing from the other till he +came to a certain little pit, as he stood on the +brink of the pit and was about to fall therein, his +kinsman said to him 'Take care of the pit, turn +back, lest thou shouldest fall into it.' Thereat so +much clamour and noise was made by the bystanders +and those who were sitting around that +the Earl heard these clamours as far off as the +castle, and he enquired of some how it was there +was such a clamour, and answer was made to him +that two kinsmen were fighting about a certain +piece of ground, and that one had fled till he +reached a certain little pit, and that as he stood +over the pit and was about to fall into it the other +warned him. Then the townsmen being moved +with pity, made a covenant with the Earl that +they should give him threepence yearly for each +house in the High Street that had a gable, on +condition that he should grant to them that the +twenty-four jurors who were in Leicester from + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-315"></a>1-315]</span> + +ancient times should from that time forward +discuss and decide all pleas they might have +among themselves." +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Division of Labour</span> +</p> + +<p> +At the time we have reached this struggle +for emancipation was nearly over. The larger +towns had secured the privilege of self-government, +the administration of justice, and the control +of their own trade. The reigns of Richard and +John mark the date in our municipal history at +which towns began to acquire the right of electing +their own chief magistrate, the Portreeve or +Mayor, who had till then been a nominee of the +crown. But with the close of this outer struggle +opened an inner struggle between the various +classes of the townsmen themselves. The growth +of wealth and industry was bringing with it a +vast increase of population. The mass of the new +settlers, composed as they were of escaped serfs, +of traders without landed holdings, of families +who had lost their original lot in the borough, +and generally of the artizans and the poor, had no +part in the actual life of the town. The right of +trade and of the regulation of trade in common +with all other forms of jurisdiction lay wholly in +the hands of the landed burghers whom we have +described. By a natural process too their superiority +in wealth produced a fresh division between +the "burghers" of the merchant-gild and the +unenfranchised mass around them. The same +change which severed at Florence the seven + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-316"></a>1-316]</span> + +Greater Arts or trades from the fourteen Lesser +Arts, and which raised the three occupations of +banking, the manufacture and the dyeing of cloth, +to a position of superiority even within the +privileged circle of the seven, told though with +less force on the English boroughs. The burghers +of the merchant-gild gradually concentrated themselves +on the greater operations of commerce, on +trades which required a larger capital, while the +meaner employments of general traffic were abandoned +to their poorer neighbours. This advance +in the division of labour is marked by such severances +as we note in the thirteenth century of the +cloth merchant from the tailor or the leather +merchant from the butcher. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Trade-Gilds</span> +</p> + +<p> +But the result of this severance was all-important +in its influence on the constitution of our +towns. The members of the trades thus abandoned +by the wealthier burghers formed themselves into +Craft-gilds which soon rose into dangerous rivalry +with the original Merchant-gild of the town. A +seven years' apprenticeship formed the necessary +prelude to full membership of these trade-gilds. +Their regulations were of the minutest character; +the quality and value of work were rigidly prescribed, +the hours of toil fixed "from day-break to +curfew," and strict provision made against competition +in labour. At each meeting of these gilds +their members gathered round the Craft-box which +contained the rules of their Society, and stood with + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-317"></a>1-317]</span> + +bared heads as it was opened. The warden and a +quorum of gild-brothers formed a court which +enforced the ordinances of the gild, inspected all +work done by its members, confiscated unlawful +tools or unworthy goods; and disobedience to +their orders was punished by fines or in the last +resort by expulsion, which involved the loss of a +right to trade. A common fund was raised by contributions +among the members, which not only +provided for the trade objects of the gild but +sufficed to found chantries and masses and set up +painted windows in the church of their patron +saint. Even at the present day the arms of a craft-gild +may often be seen blazoned in cathedrals side +by side with those of prelates and of kings. But it +was only by slow degrees that they rose to such a +height as this. The first steps in their existence +were the most difficult, for to enable a trade-gild +to carry out its objects with any success it was first +necessary that the whole body of craftsmen +belonging to the trade should be compelled to join +the gild, and secondly that a legal control over the +trade itself should be secured to it. A royal +charter was indispensable for these purposes, and +over the grant of these charters took place the +first struggle with the merchant-gilds which had +till then solely exercised jurisdiction over trade +within the boroughs. The weavers, who were the +first trade-gild to secure royal sanction in the reign +of Henry the First, were still engaged in a contest + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-318"></a>1-318]</span> + +for existence as late as the reign of John when +the citizens of London bought for a time the +suppression of their gild. Even under the House +of Lancaster Exeter was engaged in resisting the +establishment of a tailors' gild. From the eleventh +century however the spread of these societies went +steadily on, and the control of trade passed more +and more from the merchant-gilds to the craft-gilds. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Greater and Lesser Folk</span> +</p> + +<p> +It is this struggle, to use the technical terms of +the time, of the "greater folk" against the "lesser +folk," or of the "commune," the general mass of +the inhabitants, against the "prudhommes," or +"wiser" few, which brought about, as it passed +from the regulation of trade to the general government +of the town, the great civic revolution of the +thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. On the +Continent, and especially along the Rhine, the +struggle was as fierce as the supremacy of the +older burghers had been complete. In Köln the +craftsmen had been reduced to all but serfage, and +the merchant of Brussels might box at his will the +ears of "the man without heart or honour who +lives by his toil." Such social tyranny of class +over class brought a century of bloodshed to the +cities of Germany; but in England the tyranny of +class over class was restrained by the general tenor +of the law, and the revolution took for the most +part a milder form. The longest and bitterest +strife of all was naturally at London. Nowhere + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-319"></a>1-319]</span> + +had the territorial constitution struck root so +deeply, and nowhere had the landed oligarchy +risen to such a height of wealth and influence. +The city was divided into wards, each of which +was governed by an alderman drawn from the +ruling class. In some indeed the office seems to +have become hereditary. The "magnates," or +"barons," of the merchant-gild advised alone on +all matters of civic government or trade regulation, +and distributed or assessed at their will the +revenues or burthens of the town. Such a position +afforded an opening for corruption and oppression +of the most galling kind; and it seems to have +been a general impression of the unfair assessment +of the dues levied on the poor and the undue +burthens which were thrown on the unenfranchised +classes which provoked the first serious discontent. +In the reign of Richard the First William of the +Long Beard, though one of the governing body, +placed himself at the head of a conspiracy which in +the panic-stricken fancy of the burghers numbered +fifty thousand of the craftsmen. His eloquence, +his bold defiance of the aldermen in the town-mote, +gained him at any rate a wide popularity, and the +crowds who surrounded him hailed him as "the +saviour of the poor." One of his addresses is +luckily preserved to us by a hearer of the time. +In mediæval fashion he began with a text from the +Vulgate, "Ye shall draw water with joy from the +fountain of the Saviour." "I," he began, "am the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-320"></a>1-320]</span> + +saviour of the poor. Ye poor men who have felt +the weight of rich men's hands, draw from my +fountain waters of wholesome instruction and that +with joy, for the time of your visitation is at hand. +For I will divide the waters from the waters. It +is the people who are the waters, and I will divide +the lowly and faithful folk from the proud and +faithless folk; I will part the chosen from the +reprobate as light from darkness." But it was in +vain that he strove to win royal favour for the +popular cause. The support of the moneyed +classes was essential to Richard in the costly wars +with Philip of France; and the Justiciar, Archbishop +Hubert, after a moment of hesitation issued +orders for William Longbeard's arrest. William +felled with an axe the first soldier who advanced +to seize him, and taking refuge with a few +adherents in the tower of St. Mary-le-Bow +summoned his adherents to rise. Hubert however, +who had already flooded the city with troops, +with bold contempt of the right of sanctuary set +fire to the tower. William was forced to surrender, +and a burgher's son, whose father he had +slain, stabbed him as he came forth. With his +death the quarrel slumbered for more than fifty +years. But the movement towards equality went +steadily on. Under pretext of preserving the +peace the unenfranchised townsmen united in +secret frith-gilds of their own, and mobs rose from +time to time to sack the houses of foreigners and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-321"></a>1-321]</span> + +the wealthier burgesses. Nor did London +stand alone in this movement. In all the larger +towns the same discontent prevailed, the same +social growth called for new institutions, and in +their silent revolt against the oppression of the +Merchant-gild the Craft-gilds were training themselves +to stand forward as champions of a wider +liberty in the Barons' War. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Villein</span> +</p> + +<p> +Without the towns progress was far slower and +more fitful. It would seem indeed that the conquest +of the Norman bore harder on the rural +population than on any other class of Englishmen. +Under the later kings of the house of Ælfred the +number of absolute slaves and the number of freemen +had alike diminished. The pure slave class +had never been numerous, and it had been reduced +by the efforts of the Church, perhaps by the +general convulsion of the Danish wars. But these +wars had often driven the ceorl or freeman of the +township to "commend" himself to a thegn who +pledged him his protection in consideration of payment +in a rendering of labour. It is probable that +these dependent ceorls are the "villeins" of +the Norman epoch, the most numerous class of the +Domesday Survey, men sunk indeed from pure +freedom and bound both to soil and lord, but as +yet preserving much of their older rights, retaining +their land, free as against all men but their lord, +and still sending representatives to hundred-moot +and shire-moot. They stood therefore far above + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-322"></a>1-322]</span> + +the "landless man," the man who had never +possessed even under the old constitution political +rights, whom the legislation of the English kings +had forced to attach himself to a lord on pain of +outlawry, and who served as household servant or +as hired labourer or at the best as rent-paying +tenant of land which was not his own. The +Norman knight or lawyer however saw little distinction +between these classes; and the tendency of +legislation under the Angevins was to blend all in +a single class of serfs. While the pure "theow" or +absolute slave disappeared therefore the ceorl or +villein sank lower in the social scale. But though +the rural population was undoubtedly thrown more +together and fused into a more homogeneous class, +its actual position corresponded very imperfectly +with the view of the lawyers. All indeed were +dependents on a lord. The manor-house became +the centre of every English village. The manor-court +was held in its hall; it was here that the +lord or his steward received homage, recovered +fines, held the view of frank-pledge, or enrolled the +villagers in their tithing. Here too, if the lord +possessed criminal jurisdiction, was held his justice +court, and without its doors stood his gallows. +Around it lay the lord's demesne or home-farm, +and the cultivation of this rested wholly with the +"villeins" of the manor. It was by them that the +great barn was filled with sheaves, the sheep shorn, +the grain malted, the wood hewn for the manor-hall + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-323"></a>1-323]</span> + +fire. These services were the labour-rent by +which they held their lands, and it was the nature +and extent of this labour-rent which parted one +class of the population from another. The +"villein," in the strict sense of the word, was bound +only to gather in his lord's harvest and to aid in +the ploughing and sowing of autumn and Lent. +The cottar, the bordar, and the labourer were +bound to help in the work of the home-farm +throughout the year. +</p> + +<p> +But these services and the time of rendering +them were strictly limited by custom, not only in +the case of the ceorl or villein but in that of the +originally meaner "landless man." The possession +of his little homestead with the ground around it, +the privilege of turning out his cattle on the waste +of the manor, passed quietly and insensibly from +mere indulgences that could be granted or withdrawn +at a lord's caprice into rights that could be +pleaded at law. The number of teams, the fines, +the reliefs, the services that a lord could claim, at +first mere matter of oral tradition, came to be +entered on the court-roll of the manor, a copy of +which became the title-deed of the villein. It was +to this that he owed the name of "copy-holder" +which at a later time superseded his older title. +Disputes were settled by a reference to this roll or +on oral evidence of the custom at issue, but a social +arrangement which was eminently characteristic of +the English spirit of compromise generally secured + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-324"></a>1-324]</span> + +a fair adjustment of the claims of villein and lord. +It was the duty of the lord's bailiff to exact their +due services from the villeins, but his coadjutor in +this office, the reeve or foreman of the manor, was +chosen by the tenants themselves and acted as representative +of their interests and rights. A fresh +step towards freedom was made by the growing +tendency to commute labour-services for money-payments. +The population was slowly increasing, +and as the law of gavel-kind which was applicable +to all landed estates not held by military tenure +divided the inheritance of the tenantry equally +among their sons, the holding of each tenant and +the services due from it became divided in a corresponding +degree. A labour-rent thus became more +difficult to enforce, while the increase of wealth +among the tenantry and the rise of a new spirit of +independence made it more burthensome to those +who rendered it. It was probably from this cause +that the commutation of the arrears of labour for +a money payment, which had long prevailed on +every estate, gradually developed into a general +commutation of services. We have already witnessed +the silent progress of this remarkable change +in the case of St. Edmundsbury, but the practice +soon became universal, and "malt-silver," "wood-silver," +and "larder-silver" gradually took the +place of the older personal services on the court-rolls. +The process of commutation was hastened +by the necessities of the lords themselves. The + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-325"></a>1-325]</span> + +luxury of the castle-hall, the splendour and pomp +of chivalry, the cost of campaigns drained the +purses of knight and baron, and the sale of freedom +to a serf or exemption from services to a villein +afforded an easy and tempting mode of refilling +them. In this process even kings took part. At +a later time, under Edward the Third, commissioners +were sent to royal estates for the especial +purpose of selling manumissions to the king's serfs; +and we still possess the names of those who were +enfranchised with their families by a payment of +hard cash in aid of the exhausted exchequer. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">England</span> +</p> + +<p> +Such was the people which had been growing +into a national unity and a national vigour while +English king and English baronage battled for +rule. But king and baronage themselves had +changed like townsman and ceorl. The loss of +Normandy, entailing as it did the loss of their +Norman lands, was the last of many influences +which had been giving through a century and a +half a national temper to the baronage. Not only +the "new men," the ministers out of whom the two +Henries had raised a nobility, were bound to the +Crown, but the older feudal houses now owned +themselves as Englishmen and set aside their aims +after personal independence for a love of the general +freedom of the land. They stood out as the natural +leaders of a people bound together by the stern +government which had crushed all local division, +which had accustomed men to the enjoyment of a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-326"></a>1-326]</span> + +peace and justice that imperfect as it seems to +modern eyes was almost unexampled elsewhere +in Europe, and which had trained them to something +of their old free government again by the +very machinery of election it used to facilitate its +heavy taxation. On the other hand the loss of +Normandy brought home the king. The growth +which had been going on had easily escaped the +eyes of rulers who were commonly absent from +the realm and busy with the affairs of countries +beyond the sea. Henry the Second had been +absent for years from England: Richard had only +visited it twice for a few months: John had as yet +been almost wholly occupied with his foreign dominions. +To him as to his brother England had +as yet been nothing but a land whose gold paid the +mercenaries that followed him, and whose people +bowed obediently to his will. It was easy to see +that between such a ruler and such a nation once +brought together strife must come: but that the +strife came as it did and ended as it did was due +above all to the character of the king. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">John</span> +</p> + +<p> +"Foul as it is, hell itself is defiled by the fouler +presence of John." The terrible verdict of his +contemporaries has passed into the sober judgement +of history. Externally John possessed all the +quickness, the vivacity, the cleverness, the good-humour, +the social charm which distinguished his +house. His worst enemies owned that he toiled +steadily and closely at the work of administration. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-327"></a>1-327]</span> + +He was fond of learned men like Gerald of Wales. +He had a strange gift of attracting friends and of +winning the love of women. But in his inner soul +John was the worst outcome of the Angevins. He +united into one mass of wickedness their insolence, +their selfishness, their unbridled lust, their cruelty +and tyranny, their shamelessness, their superstition, +their cynical indifference to honour or truth. In +mere boyhood he tore with brutal levity the beards +of the Irish chieftains who came to own him as +their lord. His ingratitude and perfidy brought +his father with sorrow to the grave. To his brother +he was the worst of traitors. All Christendom +believed him to be the murderer of his nephew, +Arthur of Britanny. He abandoned one wife and +was faithless to another. His punishments were +refinements of cruelty, the starvation of children, +the crushing old men under copes of lead. His +court was a brothel where no woman was safe from +the royal lust, and where his cynicism loved to +publish the news of his victims' shame. He was +as craven in his superstition as he was daring in +his impiety. Though he scoffed at priests and +turned his back on the mass even amidst the +solemnities of his coronation, he never stirred on a +journey without hanging relics round his neck. +But with the wickedness of his race he inherited +its profound ability. His plan for the relief of +Château Gaillard, the rapid march by which he +shattered Arthur's hopes at Mirebeau, showed an + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-328"></a>1-328]</span> + +inborn genius for war. In the rapidity and breadth +of his political combinations he far surpassed the +statesmen of his time. Throughout his reign we +see him quick to discern the difficulties of his +position, and inexhaustible in the resources with +which he met them. The overthrow of his continental +power only spurred him to the formation +of a league which all but brought Philip to the +ground; and the sudden revolt of England was +parried by a shameless alliance with the Papacy. +The closer study of John's history clears away the +charges of sloth and incapacity with which men +tried to explain the greatness of his fall. The +awful lesson of his life rests on the fact that the +king who lost Normandy, became the vassal of the +Pope, and perished in a struggle of despair against +English freedom, was no weak and indolent voluptuary +but the ablest and most ruthless of the +Angevins. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Innocent the Third</span> +</p> + +<p> +From the moment of his return to England in +1204 John's whole energies were bent to the recovery +of his dominions on the Continent. He +impatiently collected money and men for the +support of those adherents of the House of Anjou +who were still struggling against the arms of France +in Poitou and Guienne, and in the summer of 1205 +he gathered an army at Portsmouth and prepared +to cross the Channel. But his project was suddenly +thwarted by the resolute opposition of the Primate, +Hubert Walter, and the Earl of Pembroke, William + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-329"></a>1-329]</span> + +Marshal. So completely had both the baronage +and the Church been humbled by his father that +the attitude of their representatives revealed to +the king a new spirit of national freedom which +was rising around him, and John at once braced +himself to a struggle with it. The death of Hubert +Walter in July, only a few weeks after his protest, +removed his most formidable opponent, and the +king resolved to neutralize the opposition of the +Church by placing a creature of his own at its +head. John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, was +elected by the monks of Canterbury at his bidding, +and enthroned as Primate. But in a previous +though informal gathering the convent had already +chosen its sub-prior, Reginald, as Archbishop. +The rival claimants hastened to appeal to Rome, +and their appeal reached the Papal Court before +Christmas. The result of the contest was a startling +one both for themselves and for the king. +After a year's careful examination Innocent the +Third, who now occupied the Papal throne, quashed +at the close of 1206 both the contested elections. +The decision was probably a just one, but Innocent +was far from stopping there. The monks who +appeared before him brought powers from the +convent to choose a new Primate should their +earlier nomination be set aside; and John, secretly +assured of their choice of Grey, had promised to +confirm their election. But the bribes which the +king lavished at Rome failed to win the Pope + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-330"></a>1-330]</span> + +over to this plan; and whether from mere love of +power, for he was pushing the Papal claims of +supremacy over Christendom further than any of +his predecessors, or as may fairly be supposed in +despair of a free election within English bounds, +Innocent commanded the monks to elect in his +presence Stephen Langton to the archiepiscopal +see. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Interdict</span> +</p> + +<p> +Personally a better choice could not have been +made, for Stephen was a man who by sheer weight +of learning and holiness of life had risen to the +dignity of Cardinal, and whose after career placed +him in the front rank of English patriots. But in +itself the step was an usurpation of the rights +both of the Church and of the Crown. The king +at once met it with resistance. When Innocent +consecrated the new Primate in June 1207, and +threatened the realm with interdict if Langton +were any longer excluded from his see, John +replied by a counter-threat that the interdict +should be followed by the banishment of the +clergy and the mutilation of every Italian he +could seize in the realm. How little he feared +the priesthood he showed when the clergy refused +his demand of a thirteenth of movables from the +whole country and Archbishop Geoffry of York +resisted the tax before the Council. John banished +the Archbishop and extorted the money. Innocent +however was not a man to draw back from his +purpose, and in March 1208 the interdict he had + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-331"></a>1-331]</span> + +threatened fell upon the land. All worship save +that of a few privileged orders, all administration +of Sacraments save that of private baptism, ceased +over the length and breadth of the country: the +church-bells were silent, the dead lay unburied on +the ground. Many of the bishops fled from the +country. The Church in fact, so long the main +support of the royal power against the baronage, +was now driven into opposition. Its change of +attitude was to be of vast moment in the struggle +which was impending; but John recked little of +the future; he replied to the interdict by confiscating +the lands of the clergy who observed it, +by subjecting them in spite of their privileges to +the royal courts, and by leaving outrages on them +unpunished. "Let him go," said John, when a +Welshman was brought before him for the murder +of a priest, "he has killed my enemy." In 1209 +the Pope proceeded to the further sentence of +excommunication, and the king was formally cut +off from the pale of the Church. But the new +sentence was met with the same defiance as the +old. Five of the bishops fled over sea, and secret +disaffection was spreading widely, but there was +no public avoidance of the excommunicated king. +An Archdeacon of Norwich who withdrew from +his service was crushed to death under a cope of +lead, and the hint was sufficient to prevent either +prelate or noble from following his example. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Deposition</span> +</p> + +<p> +The attitude of John showed the power which + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-332"></a>1-332]</span> + +the administrative reforms of his father had given +to the Crown. He stood alone, with nobles +estranged from him and the Church against him, +but his strength seemed utterly unbroken. From +the first moment of his rule John had defied the +baronage. The promise to satisfy their demand +for redress of wrongs in the past reign, a promise +made at his election, remained unfulfilled; when +the demand was repeated he answered it by +seizing their castles and taking their children as +hostages for their loyalty. The cost of his fruitless +threats of war had been met by heavy and +repeated taxation, by increased land tax and increased +scutage. The quarrel with the Church +and fear of their revolt only deepened his oppression +of the nobles. He drove De Braose, one of +the most powerful of the Lords Marchers, to die +in exile, while his wife and grandchildren were +believed to have been starved to death in the +royal prisons. On the nobles who still clung +panic-stricken to the court of the excommunicate +king John heaped outrages worse than death. +Illegal exactions, the seizure of their castles, the +preference shown to foreigners, were small provocations +compared with his attacks on the honour +of their wives and daughters. But the baronage +still submitted. The financial exactions indeed +became light as John filled his treasury with the +goods of the Church; the king's vigour was seen +in the rapidity with which he crushed a rising of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-333"></a>1-333]</span> + +the nobles in Ireland, and foiled an outbreak of +the Welsh; while the triumphs of his father had +taught the baronage its weakness in any single-handed +struggle against the Crown. Hated +therefore as he was the land remained still. +Only one weapon was now left in Innocent's +hands. Men held then that a king, once excommunicate, +ceased to be a Christian or to +have any claims on the obedience of Christian subjects. +As spiritual heads of Christendom, the +Popes had ere now asserted their right to remove +such a ruler from his throne and to give +it to a worthier than he; and it was this right +which Innocent at last felt himself driven to exercise. +After useless threats he issued in 1212 a +bull of deposition against John, absolved his +subjects from their allegiance, proclaimed a +crusade against him as an enemy to Christianity +and the Church, and committed the execution of +the sentence to the king of the French. John +met the announcement of this step with the same +scorn as before. His insolent disdain suffered the +Roman legate, Cardinal Pandulf, to proclaim his +deposition to his face at Northampton. When +Philip collected an army for an attack on England +an enormous host gathered at the king's call on +Barham Down; and the English fleet dispelled all +danger of invasion by crossing the Channel, by capturing +a number of French ships, and by burning +Dieppe. +</p> + + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-334"></a>1-334]</span> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">John's Submission</span> +</p> + +<p> +But it was not in England only that the king +showed his strength and activity. Vile as he +was, John possessed in a high degree the political +ability of his race, and in the diplomatic efforts +with which he met the danger from France he +showed himself his father's equal. The barons of +Poitou were roused to attack Philip from the +south. John bought the aid of the Count of +Flanders on his northern border. The German +king, Otto, pledged himself to bring the knighthood +of Germany to support an invasion of France. +But at the moment of his success in diplomacy +John suddenly gave way. It was in fact the +revelation of a danger at home which shook him +from his attitude of contemptuous defiance. The +bull of deposition gave fresh energy to every +enemy. The Scotch king was in correspondence +with Innocent. The Welsh princes who had just +been forced to submission broke out again in war. +John hanged their hostages, and called his host +to muster for a fresh inroad into Wales, but the +army met only to become a fresh source of danger. +Powerless to oppose the king openly, the baronage +had plunged almost to a man into secret conspiracies. +The hostility of Philip had dispelled +their dread of isolated action; many indeed had +even promised aid to the French king on his +landing. John found himself in the midst of +hidden enemies; and nothing could have saved +him but the haste--whether of panic or quick + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-335"></a>1-335]</span> + +decision--with which he disbanded his army and +took refuge in Nottingham Castle. The arrest of +some of the barons showed how true were his +fears, for the heads of the French conspiracy, +Robert Fitzwalter and Eustace de Vesci, at once +fled over sea to Philip. His daring self-confidence, +the skill of his diplomacy, could no longer hide +from John the utter loneliness of his position. At +war with Rome, with France, with Scotland, Ireland, +and Wales, at war with the Church, he saw +himself disarmed by this sudden revelation of +treason in the one force left at his disposal. With +characteristic suddenness he gave way. He endeavoured +by remission of fines to win back his +people. He negotiated eagerly with the Pope, +consented to receive the Archbishop, and promised +to repay the money he had extorted from +the Church. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">John becomes vassal of Rome</span> +</p> + +<p> +But the shameless ingenuity of the king's +temper was seen in his resolve to find in his +very humiliation a new source of strength. If +he yielded to the Church he had no mind to yield +to the rest of his foes; it was indeed in the Pope +who had defeated him that he saw the means of +baffling their efforts. It was Rome that formed +the link between the varied elements of hostility +which combined against him. It was Rome that +gave its sanction to Philip's ambition and roused +the hopes of Scotch and Welsh, Rome that called +the clergy to independence, and nerved the barons + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-336"></a>1-336]</span> + +to resistance. To detach Innocent by submission +from the league which hemmed him in on every +side was the least part of John's purpose. He +resolved to make Rome his ally, to turn its +spiritual thunders on his foes, to use it in +breaking up the confederacy it had formed, in +crushing the baronage, in oppressing the clergy, +in paralyzing--as Rome only could paralyze--the +energy of the Primate. That greater issues even +than these were involved in John's rapid change +of policy time was to show; but there is no need +to credit the king with the foresight that would +have discerned them. His quick versatile temper +saw no doubt little save the momentary gain. +But that gain was immense. Nor was the price +as hard to pay as it seems to modern eyes. The +Pope stood too high above earthly monarchs, his +claims, at least as Innocent conceived and expressed +them, were too spiritual, too remote from the immediate +business and interests of the day, to make +the owning of his suzerainty any very practical +burthen. John could recall a time when his father +was willing to own the same subjection as that +which he was about to take on himself. He could +recall the parallel allegiance which his brother +had pledged to the Emperor. Shame indeed there +must be in any loss of independence, but in this +less than any, and with Rome the shame of submission +had already been incurred. But whatever +were the king's thoughts his act was decisive. On + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-337"></a>1-337]</span> + +the 15th of May 1213 he knelt before the legate +Pandulf, surrendered his kingdom to the Roman +See, took it back again as a tributary vassal, swore +fealty and did liege homage to the Pope. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Its Results</span> +</p> + +<p> +In after times men believed that England +thrilled at the news with a sense of national +shame such as she had never felt before. "He +has become the Pope's man" the whole country +was said to have murmured; "he has forfeited +the very name of king; from a free man he has +degraded himself into a serf." But this was the +belief of a time still to come when the rapid +growth of national feeling which this step and its +issues did more than anything to foster made men +look back on the scene between John and Pandulf +as a national dishonour. We see little trace of +such a feeling in the contemporary accounts of +the time. All seem rather to have regarded it +as a complete settlement of the difficulties in +which king and kingdom were involved. As a +political measure its success was immediate and +complete. The French army at once broke up in +impotent rage, and when Philip turned on the +enemy John had raised up for him in Flanders, +five hundred English ships under the Earl of Salisbury +fell upon the fleet which accompanied the +French army along the coast and utterly destroyed +it. The league which John had so long matured +at once disclosed itself. Otto, reinforcing his +German army by the knighthood of Flanders and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-338"></a>1-338]</span> + +Boulogne as well as by a body of mercenaries in +the pay of the English king, invaded France from +the north. John called on his baronage to follow +him over sea for an attack on Philip from the +south. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Geoffry Fitz-Peter</span> +</p> + +<p> +Their plea that he remained excommunicate +was set aside by the arrival of Langton and his +formal absolution of the king on a renewal of his +coronation oath and a pledge to put away all evil +customs. But the barons still stood aloof. They +would serve at home, they said, but they refused +to cross the sea. Those of the north took a more +decided attitude of opposition. From this point +indeed the northern barons begin to play their +part in our constitutional history. Lacies, Vescies, +Percies, Stutevilles, Bruces, houses such as those +of de Ros or de Vaux, all had sprung to greatness +on the ruins of the Mowbrays and the great +houses of the Conquest, and had done service to +the Crown in its strife with the older feudatories. +But loyal as was their tradition they were English +to the core; they had neither lands nor interest +over sea, and they now declared themselves bound +by no tenure to follow the king in foreign wars. +Furious at this check to his plans John marched +in arms northwards to bring these barons to submission. +But he had now to reckon with a new +antagonist in the Justiciar, Geoffry Fitz-Peter. +Geoffry had hitherto bent to the king's will; but +the political sagacity which he drew from the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-339"></a>1-339]</span> + +school of Henry the Second in which he had been +trained showed him the need of concession, and +his wealth, his wide kinship, and his experience +of affairs gave his interposition a decisive weight. +He seized on the political opportunity which was +offered by the gathering of a Council at St. Albans +at the opening of August with the purpose of +assessing the damages done to the Church. +Besides the bishops and barons, a reeve and his +four men were summoned to this Council from +each royal demesne, no doubt simply as witnesses +of the sums due to the plundered clergy. Their +presence however was of great import. It is the +first instance which our history presents of the +summons of such representatives to a national +Council, and the instance took fresh weight from +the great matters which came to be discussed. +In the king's name the Justiciar promised good +government for the time to come, and forbade all +royal officers to practise extortion as they prized +life and limb. The king's peace was pledged to +those who had opposed him in the past; and +observance of the laws of Henry the First was +enjoined upon all within the realm. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Stephen Langton</span> +</p> + +<p> +But it was not in Geoffry Fitz-Peter that +English freedom was to find its champion and the +baronage their leader. From the moment of his +landing in England Stephen Langton had taken +up the constitutional position of the Primate in +upholding the old customs and rights of the realm + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-340"></a>1-340]</span> + +against the personal despotism of the kings. As +Anselm had withstood William the Red, as Theobald +had withstood Stephen, so Langton prepared +to withstand and rescue his country from the +tyranny of John. He had already forced him +to swear to observe the laws of Edward the Confessor, +in other words the traditional liberties of +the realm. When the baronage refused to sail for +Poitou he compelled the king to deal with them +not by arms but by process of law. But the work +which he now undertook was far greater and +weightier than this. The pledges of Henry the +First had long been forgotten when the Justiciar +brought them to light, but Langton saw the vast +importance of such a precedent. At the close of +the month he produced Henry's charter in a fresh +gathering of barons at St. Paul's, and it was at +once welcomed as a base for the needed reforms. +From London Langton hastened to the king, +whom he reached at Northampton on his way to +attack the nobles of the north, and wrested from +him a promise to bring his strife with them to +legal judgement before assailing them in arms. +With his allies gathering abroad John had doubtless +no wish to be entangled in a long quarrel at +home, and the Archbishop's mediation allowed him +to withdraw with seeming dignity. After a demonstration +therefore at Durham John marched +hastily south again, and reached London in October. +His Justiciar at once laid before him the claims of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-341"></a>1-341]</span> + +the Councils of St. Alban's and St. Paul's; but +the death of Geoffry at this juncture freed him +from the pressure which his minister was putting +upon him. "Now, by God's feet," cried John, +"I am for the first time King and Lord of +England," and he entrusted the vacant justiciarship +to a Poitevin, Peter des Roches, the Bishop +of Winchester, whose temper was in harmony +with his own. But the death of Geoffry only +called the Archbishop to the front, and Langton +at once demanded the king's assent to the charter +of Henry the First. In seizing on this charter +as a basis for national action Langton showed +a political ability of the highest order. The +enthusiasm with which its recital was welcomed +showed the sagacity with which the Archbishop +had chosen his ground. From that moment the +baronage was no longer drawn together in secret +conspiracies by a sense of common wrong or a +vague longing for common deliverance: they were +openly united in a definite claim of national freedom +and national law. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Bouvines</span> +</p> + +<p> +John could as yet only meet the claim by +delay. His policy had still to wait for its fruits +at Rome, his diplomacy to reap its harvest in +Flanders, ere he could deal with England. From +the hour of his submission to the Papacy his one +thought had been that of vengeance on the barons +who, as he held, had betrayed him; but vengeance +was impossible till he should return a conqueror + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-342"></a>1-342]</span> + +from the fields of France. It was a sense of this +danger which nerved the baronage to their obstinate +refusal to follow him over sea: but furious +as he was at their resistance, the Archbishop's +interposition condemned John still to wait for the +hour of his revenge. In the spring of 1214 he +crossed with what forces he could gather to +Poitou, rallied its nobles round him, passed the +Loire in triumph, and won back again Angers, +the home of his race. At the same time Otto +and the Count of Flanders, their German and +Flemish knighthood strengthened by reinforcements +from Boulogne as well as by a body of +English troops under the Earl of Salisbury, +threatened France from the north. For the +moment Philip seemed lost: and yet on the +fortunes of Philip hung the fortunes of English +freedom. But in this crisis of her fate, France +was true to herself and her king. From every +borough of Northern France the townsmen marched +to his rescue, and the village priests led their +flocks to battle with the Church-banners flying +at their head. The two armies met at the close +of July near the bridge of Bouvines, between +Lille and Tournay, and from the first the day +went against the allies. The Flemish knights +were the first to fly; then the Germans in the +centre of the host were crushed by the overwhelming +numbers of the French; last of all the English +on the right of it were broken by a fierce onset + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-343"></a>1-343]</span> + +of the Bishop of Beauvais who charged mace in +hand and struck the Earl of Salisbury to the +ground. The news of this complete overthrow +reached John in the midst of his triumphs in the +South, and scattered his hopes to the winds. He +was at once deserted by the Poitevin nobles; and +a hasty retreat alone enabled him to return in +October, baffled and humiliated, to his island +kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Rising of the Baronage</span> +</p> + +<p> +His return forced on the crisis to which events +had so long been drifting. The victory at Bouvines +gave strength to his opponents. The open resistance +of the northern barons nerved the rest of +their order to action. The great houses who had +cast away their older feudal traditions for a more +national policy were drawn by the crisis into +close union with the families which had sprung +from the ministers and councillors of the two +Henries. To the first group belonged such men +as Saher de Quinci, the Earl of Winchester, +Geoffrey of Mandeville, Earl of Essex, the Earl +of Clare, Fulk Fitz-Warin, William Mallet, the +houses of Fitz-Alan and Gant. Among the second +group were Henry Bohun and Roger Bigod, the +Earls of Hereford and Norfolk, the younger +William Marshal, and Robert de Vere. Robert +Fitz-Walter, who took the command of their +united force, represented both parties equally, +for he was sprung from the Norman house of +Brionne, while the Justiciar of Henry the Second, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-344"></a>1-344]</span> + +Richard de Lucy, had been his grandfather. +Secretly, and on the pretext of pilgrimage, these +nobles met at St. Edmundsbury, resolute to bear +no longer with John's delays. If he refused to +restore their liberties they swore to make war on +him till he confirmed them by Charter under the +king's seal, and they parted to raise forces with +the purpose of presenting their demands at +Christmas. John, knowing nothing of the coming +storm, pursued his policy of winning over +the Church by granting it freedom of election, +while he embittered still more the strife with his +nobles by demanding scutage from the northern +nobles who had refused to follow him to Poitou. +But the barons were now ready to act, and early +in January in the memorable year 1215 they +appeared in arms to lay, as they had planned, +their demands before the king. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">John deserted</span> +</p> + +<p> +John was taken by surprise. He asked for a +truce till Easter-tide, and spent the interval in +fevered efforts to avoid the blow. Again he +offered freedom to the Church, and took vows as +a Crusader against whom war was a sacrilege, +while he called for a general oath of allegiance +and fealty from the whole body of his subjects. +But month after month only showed the king +the uselessness of further resistance. Though +Pandulf was with him, his vassalage had as yet +brought little fruit in the way of aid from Rome; +the commissioners whom he sent to plead his + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-345"></a>1-345]</span> + +cause at the shire-courts brought back news that +no man would help him against the charter that +the barons claimed: and his efforts to detach +the clergy from the league of his opponents utterly +failed. The nation was against the king. He +was far indeed from being utterly deserted. His +ministers still clung to him, men such as Geoffrey +de Lucy, Geoffrey de Furnival, Thomas Basset, +and William Briwere, statesmen trained in the +administrative school of his father and who, +dissent as they might from John's mere oppression, +still looked on the power of the Crown as +the one barrier against feudal anarchy: and beside +them stood some of the great nobles of royal +blood, his father's bastard Earl William of Salisbury, +his cousin Earl William of Warenne, and +Henry Earl of Cornwall, a grandson of Henry +the First. With him too remained Ranulf, Earl +of Chester, and the wisest and noblest of the +barons, William Marshal the elder, Earl of +Pembroke. William Marshal had shared in the +rising of the younger Henry against Henry the +Second, and stood by him as he died; he had +shared in the overthrow of William Longchamp +and in the outlawry of John. He was now an +old man, firm, as we shall see in his after-course, +to recall the government to the path of freedom +and law, but shrinking from a strife which might +bring back the anarchy of Stephen's day, and +looking for reforms rather in the bringing constitutional + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-346"></a>1-346]</span> + +pressure to bear upon the king than +in forcing them from him by arms. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">John yields</span> +</p> + +<p> +But cling as such men might to John, they +clung to him rather as mediators than adherents. +Their sympathies went with the demands of the +barons when the delay which had been granted +was over and the nobles again gathered in arms at +Brackley in Northamptonshire to lay their claims +before the King. Nothing marks more strongly +the absolutely despotic idea of his sovereignty +which John had formed than the passionate +surprise which breaks out in his reply. "Why +do they not ask for my kingdom?" he cried. +"I will never grant such liberties as will make +me a slave!" The imperialist theories of the +lawyers of his father's court had done their work. +Held at bay by the practical sense of Henry, +they had told on the more headstrong nature of +his sons. Richard and John both held with +Glanvill that the will of the prince was the law +of the land; and to fetter that will by the +customs and franchises which were embodied in +the barons' claims seemed to John a monstrous +usurpation of his rights. But no imperialist +theories had touched the minds of his people. +The country rose as one man at his refusal. At +the close of May London threw open her gates +to the forces of the barons, now arrayed under +Robert Fitz-Walter as "Marshal of the Army of +God and Holy Church." Exeter and Lincoln + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-347"></a>1-347]</span> + +followed the example of the capital; promises of +aid came from Scotland and Wales; the northern +barons marched hastily under Eustace de Vesci +to join their comrades in London. Even the +nobles who had as yet clung to the king, but +whose hopes of conciliation were blasted by his +obstinacy, yielded at last to the summons of the +"Army of God." Pandulf indeed and Archbishop +Langton still remained with John, but +they counselled, as Earl Ranulf and William +Marshal counselled, his acceptance of the Charter. +None in fact counselled its rejection save his new +Justiciar, the Poitevin Peter des Roches, and +other foreigners who knew the barons purposed +driving them from the land. But even the +number of these was small; there was a moment +when John found himself with but seven knights +at his back and before him a nation in arms. +Quick as he was, he had been taken utterly by +surprise. It was in vain that in the short respite +he had gained from Christmas to Easter he had +summoned mercenaries to his aid and appealed +to his new suzerain, the Pope. Summons and +appeal were alike too late. Nursing wrath in +his heart, John bowed to necessity and called +the barons to a conference on an island in the +Thames, between Windsor and Staines, near a +marshy meadow by the river side, the meadow +of Runnymede. The king encamped on one +bank of the river, the barons covered the flat of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-348"></a>1-348]</span> + +Runnymede on the other. Their delegates met +on the 15th of June in the island between +them, but the negotiations were a mere cloak to +cover John's purpose of unconditional submission. +The Great Charter was discussed and agreed to +in a single day. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">The Great Charter</span> +</p> + +<p> +Copies of it were made and sent for preservation +to the cathedrals and churches, and one +copy may still be seen in the British Museum, +injured by age and fire, but with the royal seal +still hanging from the brown, shrivelled parchment. +It is impossible to gaze without reverence on the +earliest monument of English freedom which we +can see with our own eyes and touch with our +own hands, the great Charter to which from age +to age men have looked back as the groundwork +of English liberty. But in itself the Charter was +no novelty, nor did it claim to establish any new +constitutional principles. The Charter of Henry +the First formed the basis of the whole, and the +additions to it are for the most part formal +recognitions of the judicial and administrative +changes introduced by Henry the Second. What +was new in it was its origin. In form, like the +Charter on which it was based, it was nothing but +a royal grant. In actual fact it was a treaty +between the whole English people and its king. +In it England found itself for the first time since +the Conquest a nation bound together by common +national interests, by a common national sympathy. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-349"></a>1-349]</span> + +In words which almost close the Charter, the +"community of the whole land" is recognized +as the great body from which the restraining +power of the baronage takes its validity. There +is no distinction of blood or class, of Norman +or not Norman, of noble or not noble. All are +recognized as Englishmen, the rights of all are +owned as English rights. Bishops and nobles +claimed and secured at Runnymede the rights not +of baron and churchman only but those of freeholder +and merchant, of townsman and villein. +The provisions against wrong and extortion which +the barons drew up as against the king for themselves +they drew up as against themselves for +their tenants. Based too as it professed to be on +Henry's Charter it was far from being a mere +copy of what had gone before. The vague expressions +of the old Charter were now exchanged +for precise and elaborate provisions. The bonds +of unwritten custom which the older grant did +little more than recognize had proved too weak to +hold the Angevins; and the baronage set them +aside for the restraints of written and defined law. +It is in this way that the Great Charter marks the +transition from the age of traditional rights, +preserved in the nation's memory and officially +declared by the Primate, to the age of written +legislation, of Parliaments and Statutes, which +was to come. +</p> + +<p> +Its opening indeed is in general terms. The + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-350"></a>1-350]</span> + +Church had shown its power of self-defence in the +struggle over the interdict, and the clause which +recognized its rights alone retained the older and +general form. But all vagueness ceases when the +Charter passes on to deal with the rights of +Englishmen at large, their right to justice, to +security of person and property, to good government. +"No freeman," ran a memorable article +that lies at the base of our whole judicial system, +"shall be seized or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or +outlawed, or in any way brought to ruin: we will +not go against any man nor send against him, +save by legal judgement of his peers or by the law +of the land." "To no man will we sell," runs +another, "or deny, or delay, right or justice." +The great reforms of the past reigns were now +formally recognized; judges of assize were to hold +their circuits four times in the year, and the +King's Court was no longer to follow the king in +his wanderings over the realm but to sit in a fixed +place. But the denial of justice under John was +a small danger compared with the lawless exactions +both of himself and his predecessor. +Richard had increased the amount of the scutage +which Henry the Second had introduced, and +applied it to raise funds for his ransom. He had +restored the Danegeld, or land-tax, so often +abolished, under the new name of "carucage," had +seized the wool of the Cistercians and the plate of +the churches, and rated movables as well as land. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-351"></a>1-351]</span> + +John had again raised the rate of scutage, and +imposed aids, fines, and ransoms at his pleasure +without counsel of the baronage. The Great +Charter met this abuse by a provision on which +our constitutional system rests. "No scutage or +aid [other than the three customary feudal aids] +shall be imposed in our realm save by the common +council of the realm"; and to this Great Council +it was provided that prelates and the greater +barons should be summoned by special writ, and +all tenants in chief through the sheriffs and +bailiffs, at least forty days before. The provision +defined what had probably been the common +usage of the realm; but the definition turned it +into a national right, a right so momentous that +on it rests our whole Parliamentary life. Even +the baronage seem to have been startled when +they realized the extent of their claim; and the +provision was dropped from the later issue of the +Charter at the outset of the next reign. But the +clause brought home to the nation at large their +possession of a right which became dearer as years +went by. More and more clearly the nation +discovered that in these simple words lay the +secret of political power. It was the right of +self-taxation that England fought for under Earl +Simon as she fought for it under Hampden. It +was the establishment of this right which established +English freedom. +</p> + +<p> +The rights which the barons claimed for themselves + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-352"></a>1-352]</span> + +they claimed for the nation at large. The +boon of free and unbought justice was a boon for +all, but a special provision protected the poor. +The forfeiture of the freeman on conviction of +felony was never to include his tenement, or that +of the merchant his wares, or that of the countryman, +as Henry the Second had long since ordered, +his wain. The means of actual livelihood were to +be left even to the worst. The seizure of provisions, +the exaction of forced labour, by royal +officers was forbidden; and the abuses of the +forest system were checked by a clause which +disafforested all forests made in John's reign. +The under-tenants were protected against all +lawless exactions of their lords in precisely the +same terms as these were protected against the +lawless exactions of the Crown. The towns were +secured in the enjoyment of their municipal +privileges, their freedom from arbitrary taxation, +their rights of justice, of common deliberation, of +regulation of trade. "Let the city of London +have all its old liberties and its free customs, as +well by land as by water. Besides this, we will +and grant that all other cities, and boroughs, and +towns, and ports, have all their liberties and free +customs." The influence of the trading class is seen +in two other enactments by which freedom of journeying +and trade was secured to foreign merchants, +and an uniformity of weights and measures was +ordered to be enforced throughout the realm. +</p> + + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-353"></a>1-353]</span> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Innocent annuls the Charter</span> +</p> + +<p> +There remained only one question, and that +the most difficult of all; the question how to +secure this order which the Charter established in +the actual government of the realm. It was easy +to sweep away the immediate abuses; the hostages +were restored to their homes, the foreigners +banished by a clause in the Charter from the +country. But it was less easy to provide means +for the control of a king whom no man could trust. +By the treaty as settled at Runnymede a council +of twenty-five barons were to be chosen from the +general body of their order to enforce on John +the observance of the Charter, with the right of +declaring war on the king should its provisions +be infringed, and it was provided that the Charter +should not only be published throughout the +whole country but sworn to at every hundred-mote +and town-mote by order from the king. "They +have given me five-and-twenty over-kings," cried +John in a burst of fury, flinging himself on the +floor and gnawing sticks and straw in his impotent +rage. But the rage soon passed into the subtle +policy of which he was a master. After a few +days he left Windsor; and lingered for months +along the southern shore, waiting for news of the +aid he had solicited from Rome and from the +Continent. It was not without definite purpose +that he had become the vassal of the Papacy. +While Innocent was dreaming of a vast Christian +Empire with the Pope at its head to enforce + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-354"></a>1-354]</span> + +justice and religion on his under-kings, John +believed that the Papal protection would enable +him to rule as tyrannically as he would. The +thunders of the Papacy were to be ever at hand +for his protection, as the armies of England are at +hand to protect the vileness and oppression of a +Turkish Sultan or a Nizam of Hyderabad. His +envoys were already at Rome, pleading for a +condemnation of the Charter. The after action +of the Papacy shows that Innocent was moved by +no hostility to English freedom. But he was indignant +that a matter which might have been brought +before his court of appeal as overlord should have +been dealt with by armed revolt, and in this crisis +both his imperious pride and the legal tendency +of his mind swayed him to the side of the king +who submitted to his justice. He annulled the +Great Charter by a bull in August, and at the +close of the year excommunicated the barons. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sidenote">Landing of Lewis</span> +</p> + +<p> +His suspension of Stephen Langton from the +exercise of his office as Primate was a more fatal +blow. Langton hurried to Rome, and his absence +left the barons without a head at a moment when +the very success of their efforts was dividing them. +Their forces were already disorganized when +autumn brought a host of foreign soldiers from +over sea to the king's standard. After starving +Rochester into submission John found himself +strong enough to march ravaging through the +Midland and Northern counties, while his mercenaries + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-355"></a>1-355]</span> + +spread like locusts over the whole face of +the land. From Berwick the king turned back +triumphant to coop up his enemies in London +while fresh Papal excommunications fell on the +barons and the city. But the burghers set +Innocent at defiance. "The ordering of secular +matters appertaineth not to the Pope," they said, +in words that seem like mutterings of the coming +Lollardism; and at the advice of Simon Langton, +the Archbishop's brother, bells swung out and +mass was celebrated as before. Success however +was impossible for the undisciplined militia of the +country and the towns against the trained forces +of the king, and despair drove the barons to listen +to Fitz-Walter and the French party in their ranks, +and to seek aid from over sea. Philip had long +been waiting the opportunity for his revenge upon +John. In the April of 1216 his son Lewis accepted +the crown in spite of Innocent's excommunications, +and landed soon after in Kent with a considerable +force. As the barons had foreseen, the French +mercenaries who constituted John's host refused +to fight against the French sovereign and the whole +aspect of affairs was suddenly reversed. Deserted +by the bulk of his troops, the king was forced to +fall rapidly back on the Welsh Marches, while his +rival entered London and received the submission +of the larger part of England. Only Dover held +out obstinately against Lewis. By a series of +rapid marches John succeeded in distracting the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Vol1-Page-1-356"></a>1-356]</span> + +plans of the barons and in relieving Lincoln; then +after a short stay at Lynn he crossed the Wash +in a fresh movement to the north. In crossing +however his army was surprised by the tide, and +his baggage with the royal treasures washed away. +Fever seized the baffled tyrant as he reached the +Abbey of Swineshead, his sickness was inflamed +by a gluttonous debauch, and on the 19th of +October John breathed his last at Newark. +</p> + +</div> +</div> +<div class="teidiv"> +<div class="head"> +<hr> +<a name="index-div-id4555868"></a> +END OF VOL. I. +</div> + +</div> + </div> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="pg" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE, VOLUME I (OF 8)***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 17037-h.txt or 17037-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/0/3/17037">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/0/3/17037</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution.</p> + + + +<pre> +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +<a href="https://gutenberg.org/license">https://gutenberg.org/license)</a>. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">https://www.gutenberg.org</a> + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a> + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/17037-h/images/v1-map-1.png b/17037-h/images/v1-map-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2de1d13 --- /dev/null +++ b/17037-h/images/v1-map-1.png diff --git a/17037-h/images/v1-map-1t.png b/17037-h/images/v1-map-1t.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6bae9d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/17037-h/images/v1-map-1t.png diff --git a/17037-h/images/v1-map-2.jpg b/17037-h/images/v1-map-2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d58ab3d --- /dev/null +++ b/17037-h/images/v1-map-2.jpg diff --git a/17037-h/images/v1-map-2t.jpg b/17037-h/images/v1-map-2t.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f003e79 --- /dev/null +++ b/17037-h/images/v1-map-2t.jpg diff --git a/17037-h/images/v1-map-3.jpg b/17037-h/images/v1-map-3.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..65df28b --- /dev/null +++ b/17037-h/images/v1-map-3.jpg diff --git a/17037-h/images/v1-map-3t.jpg b/17037-h/images/v1-map-3t.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b6e6ee4 --- /dev/null +++ b/17037-h/images/v1-map-3t.jpg diff --git a/17037-h/images/v1-map-4.jpg b/17037-h/images/v1-map-4.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..44cdaec --- /dev/null +++ b/17037-h/images/v1-map-4.jpg diff --git a/17037-h/images/v1-map-4t.jpg b/17037-h/images/v1-map-4t.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d5a0859 --- /dev/null +++ b/17037-h/images/v1-map-4t.jpg diff --git a/17037-h/images/v1-map-5.jpg b/17037-h/images/v1-map-5.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..854ae23 --- /dev/null +++ b/17037-h/images/v1-map-5.jpg diff --git a/17037-h/images/v1-map-5t.jpg b/17037-h/images/v1-map-5t.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..241cce1 --- /dev/null +++ b/17037-h/images/v1-map-5t.jpg |
