Page images
PDF
EPUB

466

PRACTICAL AND IDEAL THEORIES OF LIFE.

its circumstances. The public press and the power of association may sometimes be misused to create a dead level of opinion; but in general they are helps to the weak, who can side with a section, where they could not stand alone. A man of original thought, or deep convictions, must be prepared to pay the penalty of strength, to confront opposition and live it down. The true cause of weakness in modern society is rather its weariness of all idealism, and its veneration for practical ability and success. Compromises in statesmanship, unreasoning conformity in religion, a position and a fortune in private life, are the recognized maxims of society, and of many men whose lives are nobler than their theories. Yet if history teaches one truth more certainly than another, it is that the real greatness of life must be measured by the intensity of its ideas. The national existence of Holland begins from the time when she ventured it in the cause of religious freedom against the foremost nation of earth. The struggle for European liberty under Elizabeth, and for a visionary theocracy under Charles I., produced statesmen, soldiers, and thinkers such as England has never rivalled since. All the horrors of the French revolution are as nothing compared with the great principles it established and the great men it called out. It was the singular fortune of the middle ages that the monotonous order which they strove to establish was shattered by the dualism of the ideas on which they founded it. Freedom and thought were developed in the long struggle of state and church, that sought to enslave both. But the golden age of society lies rather before us than behind. It rests with our

selves, or our sons, to shake off at any moment the vulgarities and conventions of a world that is false to its first principles. Mere knowledge cannot combat enthusiasm: St. Simon will carry the world against Malthus, if the relations of classes are unsound, but St. Simon is powerless against poor-laws and charity. So long as practical life and idealism are divorced, so long will the better men among us take refuge from stagnation of faith in twelfth or sixteenth century systems, inconsistent as these may be with modern thought. The attempt to reduce

FAITH AND THOUGHT.

467

religion to the rank of a positive science, is as hopeless as the old endeavour to make the sciences theological. But if their paths are distinct, they ought not to be divergent. It will fare ill with society, if the world comes to believe that the philosopher and the preacher have different Gods.

Elfeg, his martyrdom, 149; question of
his canonization, 276, 321.

Elfric, works of, 219; his homilies quoted,
206, note 1, 229, 235.
Ella of Sussex, 55.
Alla of Northumbria, 107.
Ethalbald of Wessex, 100.
Æthelbert of Kent, 77, 81.
Ethelred of Wessex, 110, 111.
Ethelwulf, 99, 100.
Agricola, 16, 18.
Albans, St., 96.

Alcuin, mediates between Charlemagne
and Offa, 96; his life, 215; and works,
216, 218; his tolerance, 215, 227.
Alexander III., pope, absolves Becket,
360; supports him against the king,
363, 365, 367.

Alfred, king, early life, 109, 110; reign,
111, 115; character of his government,
115, 118; zeal for learning, 118, 120;
personal character, 120, 122.
Alfred Etheling, 159, 161.
Andredes-Ceaster, 55.

Angles, origin of, 64; their settlements,
58, 59, 65; struggle with the Saxons for
supremacy, 88, 90; easy fusion with the
Danes, 107; assist them against the
Saxons, 129, 149; their literary supre-
macy, 67, 218; their resolute resistance
to the Normans, 254, 257.
Anlaf, dispossessed by Athelstane, 125;
defeated at Brunan-beorh, 126.
Anselm, early life, 320, 321; made primate,
322; quarrels with William II., 322,
326; supports Henry I., 327; wins the
question of investitures, 328, 331;
eminent as a metaphysician, 321; char-
acter of his philosophy, 439-442.
Antoninus, wall of, 18.

Arthur, his historical existence, 57, 58;
legends concerning, Neo-Druidic, 47,
48; historico-political, 445-448; chival-
rous, 448-450.
Assize, Grand, 417, 418.
ythelstane, 124, 129.

Augustine, St., the Father, 43, 227, 439.
Augustine, St., the missionary, 78, 81.

Battle Abbey, and the Bishop of Chiches-
ter, 351, 352; and Gilbert de Balliol,
418, 420.

Becket, Thomas, early life of, 345, 348,

349; as chancellor, 353, 354; as pri-
mate, 354, 366; murdered, 367; his
character, 369, 370.

Bede, life of, 212; historical and scientific
works of, 213, 215.

Bishops, aristocratic character of, 87, 221;
duties and powers of, 222, 223.
Boadicea, 15, 16.
Boc-land, 186, 187.
Bread, 460, 461.
Bretwalda, 77.
Brihtric of Wessex, 97.
Brihtric of Gloucester, 269.
Britany, how peopled, 34, 93; mercen-
aries from, 241, 263, 314, 333.
Britons, their tribes, 1,6; manners, 6, 8;
mythology, 8, 10; how far Romanized,
27, 29; how far Christianized, 45, 49;
how far exterminated, 60, 63; refuse to
co-operate with Augustine, 80, 81.
Bruce, Robert de, 337.
Brunan-beorh, battle of, 126.

[blocks in formation]

INDEX.

136; how enforced, 137-139, 142, 143, | Drunkenness, 141, 244, 324.

275; with what results, 145, 146, 227-

229, 324.
Cerdic, 56.

Chancellor, office of, 350.
Charlemagne, relations with England, 95,
96, 98, 126, 127; character of his go-
vernment, 105, 106.
Chivalry, beginnings of, 227; Anglo-Nor-
man, 430-436.
Christianity, British, chap. v.; preached
to the Anglo-Saxons, chap. viii.; its in-
fluence on public events, 91, 92, 101,
102, 156, 157, 226, 227; on literature,
213, 214, 231; on society, 227-229, 234.
Church, early British, chap. v.; early
English, 82-87; Anglo-Saxon, chap.
xx.; and state, 121, 122, 181, 182, 277-
279, 327-329, 352-354.

Clarendon, Constitutions of, 357-359.
Claudius, 13; puts down Druidism, 14.
Cleanliness, Anglo-Saxon, 207; Anglo-
Norman, 460.

Clergy, their social position, 87, 221-223;
their morals, 135, 145, 227-229, 324,
356, 357.

Clifford, Rosamond, 388.
Coiners, 315.

Coloniæ, 21, 184.

Compurgation, 178.

Constans, 35.

Constantine the Emperor, 33, 39.
Constantine the Tyrant, 35.
Constantius, 32.

Council Royal, or Curia, 414.
Courts of law county, tithing, and hun-
dred, 173-175, 188, 189; of the nobles,
175, 176; separation of secular and eccle-
siastical, 278, 279, 316, 356, 357; Anglo-
Norman, 281, 315, 316, chap. xxxiii.
Crusades, 300, 301, 345, 388, 392; Richard
Cœur de Lion, 396, 399; their effects on
chivalry, 430, 431; on literature, 446-
450.

Cyprus, 398.

Dane-gelt, 146, 168, 203.

Danes, their first appearance, 99, 100, 106-
108; their character and religion, 100-
105; nature of their war, 106; wars
with Alfred, 110-115; their civilization,
140, 207; fresh wars, 146, 147; their
massacre, 148; they conquer England,
148-154: extent of their settlement,
112, 163; assist the Northumbrians,
255, 256; threaten invasion, 265.
Decuriones, 22-24, 31.

Dermot Mac-Morogh, 375-379.
Domesday Book, 265-272; attempt to re-
vise it, 296.

Dover, and Eustace of Boulogne, 165, 166;
stormed, 248; restored, 252.

Dress, Anglo-Saxon, 206, 207.

Duel, 68; reasons for, 416, 418

469

Dunstan, chap. xiii., 145, 146, 218, 226.
Durham, revolt of, 264.

Eadburga, 97.
Eadgifa, 137, 138.

Eadmund or Edmund, St., 107, 108; ap-
pears to Sweyn, 150.
Eadric Streona, 149, 154.
Easter, celebration of, 38; differences of,
80, 81, 85; importance attached to, 225.
Ecclesiastical courts, 178-182, 224, 226,
278, 279, 356, 357, 420, 422.
Edgar, 138, 142.

Edgar Etheling, 236, 249, 253, 299.
Edith, queen, 163, 166, 168, 251.
Edith, wife of Harold, 239, 252.
Edith of the Swan-Neck, 246.
Edmund Ironsides, 151.

Edmund's, Bury St., abbey of, 396, 452;
privileges of the burghers, 417.
Edred, 130, 134.

Edward I., 123, 124.

Edward the Confessor, 159, 161; his
reign, 162-168; and character, 168, 169.
Edwi, 136, 139.

Edwin, king, 82-85, 90.

Edwin, earl, 239, 249, 263, 264.

Emma, queen, 147, 152, 159, 161-163.
Essex, settlement of, 58.

Ethelred, his education, 144, 146; and
reign, 146-151.

Eudes of Bayeux, 253, 273, 285, 287, 288,
289, 294, 295.

Evidence, British and Saxon, 57; character
of early, 177, 178; written and oral, 187,
329, 401.

Exeter, siege of, 253, 254; supports Wil-
liam I., 256.

Famines, 85, 205.

Fealty, nature of, 424, 425.
Feudalism, Anglo-Saxon, 175, 176, 199,
200; Anglo-Norman, 422-429; its in-
fluences, 327-329, 429, 430.
Fines, 413, 414.
Fires, 271, note 2.
Fitz-Arthur, Asselin, 289.
Fitz-Osbern, William, 241, 253, 259, 262.
Fitz-Osbert, William, 407-409.
Flambard, Ranulf, 285, 296, 308.
Flanders, traces of connection with, 127,
137, 161, 166, 240, 313, 314, 391.
Fleet, under Alfred, 118; under Richard I.,
398.

Folc-land, 185.

France, traces of connection with, 126-
128, 165; hatred of, in England, 313,
318; connection of, with the crusades,
300, 301; rising power of, 388.
Frank-pledge or Frith-guild system, 67,
174, 177, 190, 280, 412, 415, 416.

Druidism, 8, 9; put down, 14, 15; par- Frisian origin of the Saxons, 65.

tially revived, 46, 49.

Frith-guild: see Frank-pledge.

470

Gafol-land, 185.

Gavelkind, 187, note 1.
Geoffrey of Anjou, 313, 318, 340.
Geoffrey of Monmouth, 445-448.
Geoffrey, earl, 389-391.
Geoffrey Plantagenet, 400, 401.
Gemot: see Courts, Witan.
Gesith, 72.

INDEX.

Giraldus Cambrensis, 438, 444, 451, 452.
Glanville, Ranulf de, 394, 397.
Glastonbury, 57; abbey of, 133, 134, 372.
Gloucester, 27, note 3.

Gloucester, Robert of, 338, 340-344.
Godwin, earl, 152, 153; his, conduct to
Alfred Etheling, 159-161; under Ed-
ward the Confessor, 162-167.
Gregory the Great, 77, 79, 235.
Guilds, private, 191, 192, 413.
Guitmund, 277.
Guthrum, 110, 114.

Gytha, wife of Godwin, 152, 252, 260.

Hadrian, visits England, 14; wall of, when
constructed, 33, 34.
Harald Hardrada, 242.
Hardicanute, 161, 162.
Harold Harefoot, 158-161.
Harold, earl, 167, 168; his compact with
William, 236-238; his reign, 238-246;
and character, 247.

Hastings, the sea-rover, 114, 115.
Hastings, battle of, 243-246.
Henry I., as prince, 286, note 1, 288-290,
303; his reign, chap. xxvi.; and rela-
tions with Anselm, 327-330.
Henry II., as prince, 318, 344-346; as
king, 346-348; his relations with
Becket, 348-367; and the church, 368,
369; with Ireland, 375-383; last years
of his life, chap. xxxi.; introduces the
grand assize, 417.

Hereford, customs of, 187, 259.
Hereward, 261.

Heriots, Danish, 158; Anglo-Norman,
426, 427.

Hubert, archbishop, 408.

Ine, 93.

Justiciary, Grand, 315, 316, 414.
Kent, conquered by Hengist, 54, 55;
peopled by Jutes, 64; title of its kings,
99, note 3; its militia, 123; submits to
William I., 248, 249.

King, Anglo-Saxon, 71; his coronation,
194; his rights and limitations, 195-
199; Anglo-Norman, position of, towards
the law, 410, 414.

Knight, his consecration, 429, 431.
Knight's tenure, 426.

Lacy, Hugh de, 382.

Land, Anglo-Saxon tenures of, 185, 186;
Anglo-Norman, 425, 426.

Lanfranc, as viceroy, 262, 263; as primate,
274, 279; under William II., 293, 295,

296.

Laws, conflict of, 411, 412, 422; English,
retained by William I., 258, 280.
Learning, Anglo-Saxon, 220; under Alfred,
118, 119; Anglo-Norman, 450, 451.
Leofric, case of, 176, 177.

Leopold of Austria, 398; imprisons Ri-
chard I., 403, 404.

Libraries, Anglo-Saxon, 219, 220; Anglo-
Norman, 451, 452.

Literature, Romano-British, 28; Anglo-
Saxon, chap. xix.; Anglo-Norman,
chap. xxxv.

Lincoln, Battle of, 342.

Lodbroc, Ragnar, Saga of, 107.
Lonchamp, 368; chancellor and justiciary,
399-402.

London, burned, 15; under the Romans,
20, 24, 25; Britons of Kent fly to it,
55; Alfred reduces it, 115; resists
Sweyn, 150; under Canute, 151, 157;
Godwin enters it, 166; William I. re-
duces it, 249; its importance, 267; it
sides with Stephen, 242, 243; and
against Lonchamp, 401; troubles in,
407-409; description of, 459, 460.
Louis VIII., 348; supports Becket, 363-
365; and prince Heury, 386, 387.
Lucy, Richard de, justiciary, 353, 363,
418, 419.

Inheritance, Anglo-Saxon laws of, 186, Malcolm Canmore, 255, 257, 298, 299.

187.

Interdict, 358.

Investitures, nature of, 327, 329; struggle
concerning, 329, 330.
Ireland, 17, 140, 166, 251; civilization
and conquest of, chap. xxx.

Jerusalem, offered to Duke Robert, 301;
taken by the Saracens, 392; attempt to
recover it, 399.

Jews, their condition and massacre, 396,
397; argue with Christians, 297, 437.
Jurats, Anglo-Saxon, 188; Anglo-Norman,
316, 415, 418.

Jury, not introduced by Alfred, 117, 118.
Justices in Eyre, 347, 415, 418.

Matilda, queen of William I., 241, 243,
287, 314.

Matilda, queen of Henry I., 305, 306,
310, 330.

Matilda, the empress, 313, 318, 335; in-
vades England, 340; her government,
342-344, 411, note 1.
Mendicity, 458, 459.
Mercia, as a separate kingdom, 89-96;
conquered by the Danes, 112; under
Wessex, 98, 114; incorporated, 124;
under Eadric Streona, 149, 151, 153.
Mona, 14, 300.

Monasticism, revived by Dunstan, 134-136;
its effect on morality, 227-229; on pub-
lic wealth, 458, 459.

« PreviousContinue »