a crime worthy of death, should be held to the bishop's doom, or judgment.

Fasting and penance are the ordinary modes of correction for offences, and these are often extended to very lengthened periods; so long, indeed, as to be impracticable; therefore means are devised by which they may be lightened. A sick man may redeem a day's fast with a penny, or with the repetition of 220 psalms; a twelve-months' fast may be redeemed by 30 masses; and a seven years' fast may be atoned for in twelve months, "if he every day sing the psalter of psalms, and a second at night, and a fifty at even ;" but in all cases the value of the food that should have been eaten was to be given to God's poor; otherwise it was declared to be no fast.

Penance was too much redeemed by alms; and in the case of the "powerful man and rich in friends," a seven years' infliction is atoned for in three days thus; "Let him [after confession of his sins] lay aside his weapons and his vain ornaments, and take a staff in his hand, and go barefoot zealously, and put on his body woollen or hair-cloth, and not come unto a bed, but lie on a pallet:-let him take to him 12 men, and let them fast 3 days on bread, and on green herbs, and on water; and get, in addition thereto, in whatsoever manner he can, seven times 120 men, who shall also fast for him 3 days; then will be fasted as many fasts as there are days in 7 years."... "He who has the ability, let him raise a church to the glory of God; and he who has less means, let him do diligently, according to his condition, that which he can do "."

The following passage from Edgar's canons, however, demands quotation to shew what penance uncompounded

" Among the good deeds to which penitents are incited, beside the more ordinary requirements of Christian charity, are the furnishing of bridges and roads, redeeming of slaves, help to foreigners and "; poor plundered men," and burying the dead for the love of God.

for really was; and we know that to this, in all its humiliating details, some at least of the highest and mightiest of the earth have submitted "for their soul's health."

x

"It is a deep penitence that a layman lay aside his weapons and travel far barefoot, and nowhere pass a second night, and fast and watch much, and pray fervently, and voluntarily suffer fatigue, and be so squalid, that iron come not on hair nor on nail. Nor that he come into a warm bath, nor into a soft bed, nor taste flesh, nor anything from which drunkenness may come, nor that he come within a church; but yet diligently seek holy places, and declare his sins, and implore intercession, and kiss no one, but be ever fervently repenting his sins. Roughly he fares who thus constantly criminates himself, and yet is he happy if he never relax till he make full 'bote;' because no man in the world is so very criminal that he may not make atonement to God, let him undertake it fervently."

The Turks begin their conquests in Asia.

545

568

622

633

697

711

742

800

Alboin founds the Lombard kingdom in Italy.

Flight of Mohammed from Mecca, which gives rise to the

era of the Hejira

The Saracens commence their career of conquest

Foundation of the republic of Venice

The Saracens establish themselves in Spain

Charles Martel defeats the Saracens at Tours

Charlemagne crowned as Emperor of the West

* Sweyn, the brother of Harold, died on his return from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem made in this manner in expiation of the murder of his kinsman, Beorn. See A.D. 1049.

Ruric founds the empire of Russia

The Northmen settle in Neustria, which is henceforth

called Normandy

Otho the Great crowned as Emperor of the West
The Capetian race become Kings of France

A.D.

862

912

962

THE NORMAN ERA.

WE 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 Ganger, 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 fourth in descent from whom was William the Bastard,-whose victory at Hastings commenced the last great change from abroad to which our

• 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 on foot; whence his name, Rolf the Walker.

b From this term occurring in some of William's charters, it has been asserted that it conveyed no reproach; but the following anecdote, 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 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 palfry, 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."

island has been subjected. Its effects, however, have been greatly overrated in many social and constitutional points. There can be no doubt that Norman influence, although based on conquest and working ruthlessly at first, produced on the English nation, with which in a very few generations the Normans had amalgamated, effects which no other discipline could have ensured; it consolidated the people under a strong government and fitted them for organization and defence.

Iron rule and merciless confiscation were the great features of William's policy. 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 the new king'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 chief, among whom a name shewing a Saxon or Danish origin is but 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 d.

To the confiscations and ravages, which Norman writers do not deny, and which the Domesday Book

• 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.