THE NORMAN ERA.

E have seen from the Saxon Chronicle that the Northmen frequently extended

their destructive inroads to France, and they appear to have had several permanent settlements in that country at least as early as the year 850; but it was not until they were headed by Rolf the Gangera, that they obtained possession of the district around the mouth of the Seine, since called, from them, Normandy. Rolf, who had been banished from Norway about 875, for defiance of the orders of Harold Harfagar, having embraced Christianity, and married Gisele, daughter of Charles the Simple, governed his province with vigour and wisdom, and formed it into a barrier for the rest of France against the incursions of his former associates. He died in 920, and left his state to his son William, the third in descent from whom was William the Bastard,-whose victory at Hastings commenced, but

Also called Rollo. He is said to have been too tall and too heavy for any horse to carry, and so was obliged to journey or foot; whence his name, Rolf the Walker.

From this term occurring in some of William's charters, it has been asserted that it conveyed no reproach; but the following anecdote from a cotemporary MS. chronicle, while it exhibits the brutality of the man, shews that he regarded it, on one occasion at least, in a different light:

"William sent to Count Baldwin of Flanders, and requested his daughter in marriage. The matter pleased the count, and he spoke

by no means completed, the last great change from abroad to which our island has been subjected. Its effects, however, have been greatly overrated, being in truth far inferior to those produced by former invaders. Although the most violent measures were used, the establishment of the Norman authority was slow, and its hold on the country was ever precarious, until with the fourth generation it may be regarded as virtually abolished, and the ancient Saxon royal race again called to the throne.

There can be no doubt that England has profited in some respects from each of its invaders, but it is equally certain that its obligations are least to the Normans, their whole career being one of iron rule and merciless confiscation. The private possessions of Harold and his kindred, and of most of those who had fought at Hastings, were seized, at the very beginning of William's reign, and the rest of the people "bought their land" at a heavy price. Unsuccessful attempts to shake off the yoke gave occasion for fresh seizures, and when the Domesday survey was made, the whole landed property of the country (exclusive of that of the Church) appeared vested in the conqueror, and about 600 tenants in

of it to his daughter, but she answered that she would never have a bastard for her husband. Then the count sent to the duke, and declined the marriage as courteously as he could. Shortly after, the duke learnt how the lady had answered, at which he was very angry. Taking some of his friends with him, he went to Lille, and entering the count's hall, passed through to the chamber of the countess. He found her with her father, when he seized her by her hair, dragged her about the chamber, and 'defiled her with his feet.' Then he went out, mounted his palfrey, and returned to his own country. At this thing the count Baldwin was greatly enraged, but by the advice of his councillors he accorded his wish to the duke, and they were good friends."

chief, among whom a name shewing a Saxon or Danish origin is rarely to be met with. The churches generally had retained their property, and some had even received additions, while with the spoil some were founded". Many foreign religious houses were also established or augmented from the same source, and, under the name of alien priories, their rights and duties formed frequent subjects of dispute in subsequent times.

To the confiscations and ravages, which Norman writers do not deny, and which the Domesday Book indisputably establishes, were added many other grievances, well fitted to "make oppression bitter." "The king and the head men," says the Saxon Chronicler, "loved much, and overmuch, gold and silver, and recked not how sinfully it was got, provided it came to them. The king let his land at as high a rate as he possibly could; then came some other person and bade more than the former one gave, and the king let it to the man that bade him more. Then came the third and bade yet more, and the king let it to hand to the men who bade him most of all; and he recked not how very sinfully the stewards got it of wretched men, nor how many unlawful deeds they did. They erected unjust tolls, and

The abbey of Battle, which William founded to commemorate his victory, was endowed with possessions in Essex, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Berks, Oxford, and Devon. Many important privileges were granted to it, and the duty was imposed of preserving a list of the leaders on the Norman side at the battle of Hastings; several copies of this list, called the Battle Abbey Roll, exist; but they vary so much, and bear such evident marks of interpolation, that they have little historical value.

d Most of these foundations were of the Cistercian order, which was a branch of the Benedictines, and had been devised not long before.

many other unjust things they did, that are hard to reckon."

Though the Normans founded or endowed monasteries (chiefly, however, abroad), they mercilessly destroyed the minster at York, and many other churches, and more than one Saxon bishop died in prison, whilst others were driven from their sees, for attempting to shield their people from the exactions and encroachments of the "mixed multitude" of soldiers of fortune, who, having conquered at Hastings, were prevented neither by mercy nor discretion from pushing their triumph to the uttermost.

It is true that William, in the fourth year of his reign, granted certain laws and customs to the people of England, being, he says, the same as his cousin King Edward held before him, "but the more men spake about right law, the more unlawfully they acted," and soon, as far as the Saxons at least were concerned, the open and avowed law was the king's pleasure, and the sword the only instrument of government.

The germ of the feudal system is probably almost coeval with government itself, and it had unquestionably been acted on, not only in the arrangements made in the latter days of the Roman empire for the protection of its frontiers by military colonies, but also by the Anglo-Saxon kings, but it was not until the time of William that it received its full development in England, and was applied to the whole property of the country.

d These laws embody the main features of Anglo-Saxon legislation, already described (pp. 154-173); as they do not appear to have been observed, they require no further notice.

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The land was divided into portions, varying from about 600 to 800 acres, termed knights' fees, which were obliged to furnish 40 days' service of a fully equipped horseman each year; these fees were more than 60,000 in number. The land was first granted in large districts to the tenants in chief, and by them subdivided; homage, service, and various money payments were the considerations due for each grant, and were as fully owing from the under to the chief tenants, as from the last to the king. No land could be alienated without a fine; on the death of a tenant, some valuable chattel was given to the lord, as a heriot; and the successor paid a sum to be put in possession, called a relief. If the heir was under age, the profits of the estates belonged to the lord, as also did the control of the marriage of the ward. Under the name of aids, the lord claimed stipulated sums from his tenants on the occasion of the knighting of his eldest son, the marriage of his eldest daughter, or his own capture in war. These were all legal and established burdens, and perhaps did not amount to more than the rent of land and the ordinary taxation of modern times: but the superiors did not confine themselves to them: on the contrary, new exactions were perpetually attempted, and the revenues of both lords and kings were increased by the most various and often discreditable means.

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The forests had been in the hands of the kings in Anglo-Saxon times, and the laws of Canute shew that the game was 'preserved" in his time; but the Norman kings carried their passion for the chase to a pitch which perhaps no other monarchs have equalled, and