of a Norman father and an English mother, and chief his torian of the Anglo-Norman period. He had extensive materials, and he used them with an intelligence and discrim ination which raise him far above the level of the mere chron icler. "More information is perhaps to be gathered from him than from all the writers had been very various according to the times: for in the first years of their arrival, they were barbarians in their look and manners, warlike in their usages, heathens in their rites; but, after embracing the faith of Christ, by degrees, and in process of time, from the peace they enjoyed, regarding arms only in a secondary light, they gave their whole attenaccess to very tion to religion. . . . Nevertheless, in process of time, the desire after literature and religion had decayed, for several years before the arrival of the Normans. The clergy, contented with a very slight degree of learning, could scarcely stammer out the words of the sacraments; and a person who understood grammar was an object of wonder and astonishment. The monks mocked the rule of their order by fine vestments, and the use of every kind of food. The nobility, given up to luxury and wantonness, went not to church in the morning after the manner of Christians, but merely in a careless manner, heard matins and masses from a hurrying priest in their chambers. . . . The commonalty, left unprotected, became a prey to the most powerful, who amassed fortunes, by either seizing on their property, or by selling their persons into foreign countries; although it be an innate quality of this people, to be more inclined to revelling than to the accumulation of wealth. . . . Drinking in parties his treatment was a universal practice, in which occupation they passed of the AngloNorman entire nights as well as days. They consumed their whole substance in mean and despicable houses; unlike the Normans and French, who, in noble and splendid mansions, lived with frugality. The vices attendant on drunkenness, which enervate the human mind, followed; hence it arose that engaging William, more with rashness and precipitate fury than military skill, they doomed themselves and their country to slavery, by one, and that an easy, victory. "For nothing is less effective than rashness; and what begins with violence, quickly ceases, or is repelled." In fine, the English at that time wore short garments reaching to the mid-knee; who pre ceded him." with the con querors, but he tries to be impartial in period. The following extract is taken from William's most impor tant work, Gesta Regum Anglorum, extending from 449 to 1119. they had their hair cropped; their beards shaven; their arms laden with golden bracelets; their skin adorned with punctured designs. They were accustomed to eat till they became surfeited, and to drink till they were sick. These latter qualities they imparted to their conquerors; as to the rest they adopted their manners. I would not, however, have these bad propensities universally ascribed to the English. I know that many of the clergy, at that day, trod the path of sanctity by a blameless life; I know that many of the laity, of all ranks and conditions, in this nation, were well-pleasing to God. Be injustice far from this account; the accusation does not involve the whole indiscriminately. But, as in peace, the mercy of God often cherishes the bad and the good together; so, equally, does his severity sometimes include them both in captivity." 66 Moreover, the Normans, that I may speak of them also, were at that time, and are even now, proudly apparelled, delicate in their food, but not excessive. They are a race inured to war, and can hardly live without it; fierce in rushing against the enemy; and where strength fails of success, ready to use stratagem, or to corrupt by bribery. As I have related, they live in large edifices with economy; envy their equals, wish to excel their superiors; and plunder their subjects, though they defend them from others; they are faithful to their lords, though a slight offence renders them perfidious. They weigh treachery by its chance of success, and change their sentiments with money. They are, however, the kindest of nations, and they esteem strangers worthy of equal honour with themselves. They also intermarry with their vassals. They revived, by their arrival, the observances of religion, which were everywhere grown lifeless in England. You might see churches rise in every village, and monasteries in the towns and cities, built after a style unknown before; you might behold the country flourishing with renovated rites; so that each wealthy man accounted that day lost to him, which he had neglected to signalize by some William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum (translated by From the See No. II. to two of the tant events in was com 15. England under the Conqueror A. 1085.. After this the king had a great consultation, and spoke very deeply with his witan concerning this land, how it was held, and what were its tenantry. He then sent his men over all England, into every shire, and caused them to ascertain how many hundred hides of land it contained, and what lands the king possessed therein, what cattle there were in the several counties, and how much revenue he ought to receive yearly from each. He also caused them to write down how much land belonged pleted in July, to his archbishops, to his bishops, his abbats, and his earls, and, that I may be brief, what property every inhabitant of all England possessed in land or in cattle, and how much money this was worth. So very narrowly did he cause the survey to be made, that there was not a single hide nor a rood of land, nor- it is shameful to relate that which he thought no shame to do was there an ox, or a cow, or a pig passed by, and that was not set down in the accounts, and then all these writings were brought to him. 1086. The Chronicle shows the popular feeling toward a measure which is now the common policy. The result of the inquiry was embodied in the Domesday Book, a record of unique character and extraordinary value to the historical stu A. 1086. This year the king wore his crown and held his court at Winchester at Easter, and he so journeyed forward that he was at Westminster during Pentecost, and there he dubbed his son Henry a knight. And afterwards he travdent. "The elled about, so that he came to Salisbury at Lammas; and Great Survey is in truth a his witan, and all the land-holders of substance in England, picture of the whose vassals soever they were, repaired to him there, and Freeman. they all submitted to him, and became his men, and swore nation." oaths of allegiance, that they would be faithful to him the The meeting at Salisbury followed upon the the Survey. completion of present is put by tradition William's policy of exacting the oath of fealty The number at 60,000. from all freemen shows and May truth king of the English people and our not merely feudal overEngland's lord. never A. 1087. The year 1087 after the birth of Christ Saviour, and the one and twentieth of king William's reign, during which he governed and disposed of the realm of England even as God permitted him, was a very grievous time William of scarcity in this land. There was also so much illness, that returned to almost every other man was afflicted with the worst of evils, England. that is, a fever; and this so severe, that many died of it. And afterwards, from the badness of the weather which we have mentioned before, there was so great a famine throughout England, that many hundreds died of hunger. Oh, how disastrous, how rueful were those times! when the wretched people were brought to the point of death by the fever, then the cruel famine came on and finished them. Who would not deplore such times, or who is so hard-hearted that he will not weep for so much misery? But such things are, on account of the sins of the people, and because they will not love God and righteousness. Even so was it in those days; there was little righteousness in this land amongst any, excepting the monks alone, who fared well. The king and the chief men loved much, and over much, to amass gold and silver, and cared not how sinfully it was gotten, so that it came into their hands. The king sold out his lands as dear as dearest he might, and then some other man came and bid more than the first had given, and the king granted them to him who offered the larger sum; then came a third and bid yet more, and the king made over the lands to him who offered most of all; and he cared not how iniquitously his sheriffs extorted money from the miserable people, nor how many unlawful things they did. And the more men Englishmen. spake of rightful laws, the more lawlessly did they act. They raised oppressive taxes, and so many were their unjust deeds, it were hard to number them. Many of William's sheriffs were The Saxon Chronicle (translated by J. A. Giles, London, 1847), 458-460. From the SAXON CHRONICLE. See No. II. The following estimate of the Con queror is of especial interest as one of the 16. William the Great (1087) Rueful deeds he did, and ruefully he suffered. Wherefore ruefully? He fell sick and became grievously ill. What can I say? The sharpness of death, that spareth neither rich nor poor, seized upon him. He died in Norcoming from mandy, the day after the nativity of St. Mary, and he was buried in Caen, at St. Stephen's monastery, which he had built and had richly endowed. Oh, how false, how unstable, is the good of this world! He, who had been a powerful king and the lord of many territories, possessed not then, of all his lands, more than seven feet of ground; and he, of the church. who was erewhile adorned with gold and with gems, lay then covered with mould. He left three sons: Robert, the eldest, was earl of Normandy after him; the second, named William, wore the crown of England after his father's death; and his third son was Henry, to whom he bequeathed immense treasures. was a generous supporter On Will iam, see Edward Freeman, William the Conqueror. If any would know what manner of man king William was, the glory that he obtained, and of how many lands he |