342
ABRIDGMENT
OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
Edmund Burke
Pepin
passed the Alps, relieved the Pope, and invested him
with the dominion of a large country in the best part
of Italy.
Charlemagne pursued the course which was
marked out for him, and put an end to the Lombard kingdom, weakened by the policy of his father
and the enmity of the Popes, who never willingly saw
a strong power in Italy. Then he received from the
hand of the Pope the Imperial crown, sanctified by
the authority of the Holy See, and with it the title
of Emperor of the Romans, a name venerable from
the fame of the old Empire, and which was supposed to carry great and unknown prerogatives;
and thus the Empire rose again out of its ruins in
the West, and, what is remarkable, by means of one
of those nations which had helped to destroy it. If
we take in the conquests of Charlemagne, it was also
very near as extensive as formerly; though its constitution was altogether different, as being entirely on the Northern model of government. From Charlemagne the Pope received in return an enlargement
and a confirmation of his new territory. Thus the
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 331
Papal and Imperial powers mutually gave birth to
each other. They continued for some ages, and in
some measure still continue, closely connected, with
a variety of pretensions upon each other, and on the
rest of Europe.
Though the Imperial power had its origin in
France, it was soon divided into two branches, the
Gallic and the German. The latter alone supported
the title of Empire; but the power being weakened
by this division, the Papal pretensions had the greater
weight. The Pope, because he first revived the Imperial dignity, claimed a right of disposing of it, or at least of giving validity to the election of the Emperor.
The Emperor, on the other hand, remembering the
rights of those sovereigns whose title he bore, and
how lately the power which insulted him with such
demands had arisen from the bounty of his predecessors, claimed the same privileges in the election of a Pope. The claims of both were somewhat plausible;
and they were supported, the one by force of arms,
and the other by ecclesiastical influence, powers
which in those days were very nearly balanced.
Italy was the theatre upon which this prize was disputed. In every city the parties in favor of each of
the opponents were not far from an equality in. their
niumbers and strength. Whilst these parties disagreed in the choice of a master, by contending for
a choice in their subjection they grew imperceptibly
into freedom, and passed through the medium of
faction and anarchy into regular commonwealths.
Thus arose the republics of Venice, of Genoa, of
Florence, Sienna, and Pisa, and several others.
These cities, established in this freedom, turned the
frugal and ingenious spirit contracted in such commu
? ? ? ? 332 ABRIDGMENT'OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
nities to navigation and traffic; and pursuing them
with skill and vigor, whilst commerce was neglected and despised by the rustic gentry of the martial
governments, they grew to a considerable degree of
wealth, power, and civility.
The Danes, who in this latter time preserved the
spirit and the numbers of the ancient Gothic people,
had seated themselves in England, in the Low Countries, and in. Normandy. They passed from thence to
the southern part of Europe, and in this romantic age
gave rise in Sicily and Naples to a new kingdom and
a new line of. princes.
All the kingdoms on the continent of Europe were
governed nearly in the same. form; from whence
arose a great similitude in the manners of their inhabitants. The feodal discipline extended itself everywhere, and influenced the conduct of the courts and the manners of the people- with its own irregular
martial:spirit. . Subjects, under the complicated laws
of a various and rigorous servitude, exercised all the
prerogatives. of sovereign. power. They distributed
justice, they made war and peace at pleasure. The
sovereign, with great pretensions, had but little power; he: was only a greater lord among great lords,
who profited of the differences of his peers; therefore no steady plan could be well pursued, either in
war or. peace. This day a prince seemed irresistible
at the head of his numerous vassals, because their
duty obliged them to war, and they performed this
duty with pleasure. The next day saw this formidable power vanish like a dream, because this fierce
undisciplined people had no patience, and the time of
the feudal service was contained within very narrow
limits. , It. was therefore easy to. find a number of
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 333
persons at all times ready to follow any standard, but
it was hard to complete a considerable design which
required a regular and continued movement. This
enterprising disposition in the gentry was very general, because they had little occupation or pleasure
but in war, and the greatest rewards did then attend
personal valor and prowess. All that professed arms
became in some sort on an equality. A knight was
the peer of a king, and men had been used to see the
bravery of private persons opening a road to that dignity. The temerity of adventurers was much justified by the ill order of every state, which left it a prey to
almost any who should attack it with sufficient vigor.
Thus, little checked by any superior power, full of
fire, impetuosity, and ignorance, they longed to signalize themselves, wherever an honorable danger called them; and wherever that invited, they did not weigh
very deliberately the probability of success.
The knowledge of this general disposition in the
minds of men will naturally remove a great deal of
our wonder at seeing an attempt founded on such
slender appearances of -right, and supported by a
power so little proportioned to the undertaking as
that of William, so warmly embraced, and so generally followed, not only by his own subjects, but by
all the neighboring potentates. The Counts of Anjou, Bretagne, Ponthieu, Boulogne, and Poictou,
sovereign princes, - adventurers from every quarter
of France, the Netherlands, and the remotest parts
of Germany, laying aside their jealousies and enmities -to one another, as well as to William, ran with
an inconceivable ardor into this enterprise, captivated
with the splendor of the object, which obliterated all
thoughts of the uncertainty of the event. William
? ? ? ? 334 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
kept up this fervor by promises of large territories to
all his allies and associates in the country to be reduced by their united efforts. But after all it became
equally necessary to reconcile to his enterprise the
three great powers of whom we have just spoken,
whose disposition must have had the most influence
on his affairs.
His feudal lord, the King of France, was bound by
his most obvious interests to oppose the further aggrandizement of one already too potent for a vassal. But the King of France was then a minor; and
Baldwin, Earl of Flanders, whose daughter William
had married, was regent of the kingdom. This circumstance rendered the remonstrance of the French
Council against his design of no effect: indeed, the
opposition of the Council itself was faint; the idea of
having a king under vassalage to their crown might
have dazzled the more superficial courtiers; whilst
those who thought more deeply were unwilling to discourage an enterprise which they believed would probably end in the ruin of the undertaker. The Emperor was in his minority, as well as the King of France;
but by what arts the Duke prevailed upon the Imperial Council to declare in his favor, whether or no by
an idea of creating a balance to the power of France,
if we can imagine that any such idea then subsisted,
is altogether uncertain; but it is certain that he obtained leave for the vassals of the Empire to engage
in his service, and that he made use of this permission. The Pope's consent was obtained with still
less difficulty. William had shown himself in many
instances a friend to the Church and a favorer of the
clergy. On this occasion he promised to improve
those happy beginnings in proportion to the means
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 335
he should acquire by the favor of the Holy See. It
is said that he even proposed to hold his new kingdom as a fief from Rome. The Pope, therefore, entered heartily into his interests; he excommunicated all those that should oppose his enterprise, and sent
him, as a means of insuring success, a consecrated
banner.
CHAPTER II.
REIGN OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.
AFTER the Battle of Hastings, the taking I. . lo166.
of Dover, the surrender of London, and the
submission of the principal nobility, William had
nothing left but to order in the best manner the
kingdom he had so happily acquired. Soon after his
coronation, fearing the sudden and ungoverned motions of so great a city, new to subjection, he left
London until a strong citadel could be raised to overawe the people. This was built where the Tower of
London now stands. Not content with this, he built
three other strong castles in situations as advantageously chosen, at Norwich, at Winchester, and at
Hereford, securing not only the heart of affairs, but
binding down the extreme parts of the kingdom.
And as he observed from his own experience the
want of fortresses in England, he resolved fully to
supply that defect, and guard the kingdom both
against internal and foreign enemies. But he fortified his throne yet more strongly by the policy of
good government. To London he confirmed by
charter the liberties it had enjoyed under the Saxon
kings, and endeavored to fix the affections of the Eng
? ? ? ? 336 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
lish in general by governing them with equity according to their ancient laws, and by treating them on all
occasions with the most engaging deportment. He
set up no pretences which arose from absolute conquest. He confirmed their estates to all those who
had not appeared in arms against him, and seemed
not to aim at subjecting the English to the Normans,
but to unite the two nations under the wings of a
common parental care. If the Normans received estates and held lucrative offices and were raised by
wealthy matches in England, some of the English
were enriched with lands and dignities and taken
into considerable families in Normandy. But the
king's principal regards were showed to those by
whose bravery he had attained his greatness. To
some he bestowed the forfeited estates, which were
many and great, of Harold's adherents; others he
satisfied from the treasures his rival had amassed;
and the rest, quartered upon wealthy monasteries,
relied patiently on the promises of one whose performances had hitherto gone hand in hand with his
power. There was another circumstance which conduced much to the maintaining, as well as to the
making, his conquest. The posterity of the Danes,
who had finally reduced England under Canute the
Great, were still very numerous in that kingdom, and
in general not well liked by nor well affected to the
old Anglo-Saxon inhabitants. William wisely took
advantage of this enmity between the two sorts of iiihabitants, and the alliance of blood which was between them and his subjects. In the body of laws which he published he insists strongly on this kindred, and declares that the Normans and Danes
ought to be as sworn brothers against all men: a
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 837
policy which probably united these people to him, or
at least so confirmed the ancient jealousy which subsisted between them and the original English as to
hinder any cordial union against his interests.
When the king had thus settled his acquisitions by
all the methods of force and policy, he thought it expedient to visit his patrimonial territory, which, with
regard to its internal state, and the jealousies which
his additional greatness revived in many of the bordering princes, was critically situated. He appointed
to the regency in his absence his brother Odo, an ecclesiastic, whom he had made Bishop of Bayeux, in
France, and Earl of Kent, with great power and preeminence, in England,- a man bold, fierce, ambitious,.
full of craft, imperious, and without faith, but welli
versed in all affairs, vigilant, and courageous. To him
he joined William Fitz-Osbern, his justiciary, a person
of consummate prudence and great integrity. But
not depending on this disposition, to secure his conquest, as well as to display its importance abroad, under a pretence of honor, he carried with him all the chiefs of the English nobility, the popular Earls Edwin and Morcar, and, what was of most importance,
Edgar Atheling,. the last branch of the royal stock of
the Anglo-Saxon kings, and infinitely dear to all the
people.
The king managed his affairs abroad with great
address, and covered all his negotiations for the security of his Norman dominions under the magnificence of continual feasting and unremitted diversion, which, without an appearance of design, displayed
his wealth and power, and by that means facilitated
his measures. But whilst he was thus employed,
his absence from England gave an opportunity to sevVOL. VII. 22
? ? ? ? 338 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
eral humors to break out, which the late change had
bred, but which the amazement likewise produced by
that violent change, and the presence of their conqueror, wise, vigilant, and severe, had hitherto repressed'. The ancient line of their kings displaced,
the only thread on which it hung carried out of the
kingdom and ready to be cut off by the jealousy of a
merciless usurper, their liberties none by being precarious, and the daily insolencies and rapine of the
Normans intolerable, -- these discontents were increased by the tyranny and rapaciousness of the regent, and they were fomented from abroad by Eustace, Count of Boulogne. But the people, though
ready to rise in all parts, were destitute of leaders,
and the insurrections actually made were not carried
on in concert, nor directed to any determinate obA. D. 1607. ject; so that the king, returning speedily,
and exerting himself everywhere with great
vigor, in a short time dissipated these ill-formed projects. However, so general a dislike to William's government had appeared on this occasion, that he became in his turn disgusted with his subjects, and began to change his maxims of rule to a rigor which was more conformable to his advanced age and the
sternness of his natural temper. He resolved, since he
could not gain the affections of his subjects, to find
such matter'for their hatred as might weaken them,
and fortify his own authority against the enterprises
which that hatred might occasion. He revived the
tribute of Danegelt, so odious from its original cause
and that of its revival, which he caused to be strictly
levied throughout the kingdom. He erected castles
at Nottingham, at Warwick, and at York, and filled
them with Norman garrisons. He entered into a
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 339
stricter inquisition for the discovery of the estates
forfeited on his coming in; paying no regard to the
privileges of the ecclesiastics, he seized upon the treasures which, as in an inviolable asylum, the unfortunate adherents to Harold had deposited in monasteries. At the same time he entered into a resolution of deposing all the English bishops, on none of whom
he could rely, and filling their places with Normans.
But he mitigated the rigor of these proceedings by
the wise choice he made in filling the places of those
whom he had deposed, and gave by that means these
violent changes the air rather of reformation than
oppression. He began with Stigand, Archbishop of
Canterbury. A synod was called, in which, for the
first time in England, the Pope's legate a latere is
said to have presided. In this council, Stigand, for
simony and for other crimes, of which it is easy to
convict those who are out of favor, was solemnly degraded from his dignity. The king filled his place
with Lanfranc, an Italian. By his whole conduct he
appeared resolved to reduce his subjects of all orders
to the most perfect obedience.
The people, loaded with new taxes, the nobility,
degraded and threatened, the clergy, deprived of
their immunities and influence, joined in one voice
of discontent, and stimulated each other to the most
desperate resolutions. The king was not unapprised
of these motions, nor negligent of them. It is thought
he meditated to free himself from much of his uneasiness by seizing those men on whom'the nation in its
distresses used to cast its eyes for relief. But whilst
he digested these measures, Edgar Atheling, Edwin
and Morcar, Waltheof, the son of Siward, and several others, eluded his vigilance, and escaped into Scot
? ? ? ? 340 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. . . 06. land, where they were received with open
arms by King Malcolm. The Scottish monarch on this occasion married the sister of Edgar;
and this match engaged him more closely to the accomplishment of what his gratitude to the Saxon
kings and the rules. of good policy had before inclined
him. He entered at last into the cause of his brother-in-law and the distressed English. He persuaded
the King of Denmark to enter into the same measures, who agreed to invade England with a fleet of a
thousand ships. Drone. , an Irish king, declared in
their favor, and supplied: the sons of Earl Godwin
with vessels and men, with which they held the English coast in continual alarms.
Whilst the forces of this powerful confederacy
were collecting on all sides, and prepared to enter
England, equal dangers threatened from within the
kingdom. Edric the Forester, a very brave and
popular Saxon, took up arms in the counties of
Hereford and Salop, the country of the ancient Silures, and inhabited by the same warlike and untamable race of men. The Welsh strengthened him with their forces, and Cheshire joined in the re1069 volt. H. ereward le Wake, one of the most'brave. and indefatigable soldiers of his time,
rushed with a numerous band of fugitives and outlaws from the fens of Lincoln and the Isle of Ely,
from. whence, protected by the situation of the place,
he had for some time carried on an irregular war
against the Normans. The sons of Godwin landed
with a strong body in the West; the fire of rebellion
ran through the kingdom; Cornwall, Devon, Dorset,
at once threw off the yoke. Daily skirmishes were
fought in every. part of the kingdom, with various
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 341
success and with great bloodshed. The Normans
retreated to their castles, which the English had
rarely skill or patience to master; out of these they
sallied from time to time, and asserted their dominion. The conquered English for a moment resumed
their spirit; the forests and morasses, with which
this island then abounded, served them for fortifications, and their hatred to the Normans stood in
the place of discipline; each man, exasperated by
his own wrongs, avenged them in his own manner.
Everything was full of blood and violence: murders,
burnings, rapine, and confusion overspread the' whole
kingdom. During these distractions, several of the
Normans quitted the country, and gave up their
possessions, which they thought not worth holding
in continual horror and danger.
In the midst of this scene of disorder, the king
alone was present to himself and to his affairs. He
first collected all the forces on whom he could depend within the kingdom, and called powerful succors from Normandy. Then he sent a strong body to repress the commotions in the West; but he reserved the greatest force and his own presence against
the greatest danger, which menaced from the North.
The Scots had penetrated as far as. Durham; they
had taken the castle, and put the garrison to the
sword. A like fate attended York from the Danes,
who had. entered the Humber with a formidable
fleet. They put this city inito the hands of the English'malcontents, and thereby influenced all the
northern counties in their favor. William,
A. D. 1070.
when he first perceived the gathering of the
storm, endeavored, and with some success, to break
the force of the principal blow by a correspondence at
? ? ? ?
342 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
the court of Denmark; and now he entirely blunted
the weapon by corrupting, with a considerable sum,
the Danish general. It was agreed, to gratify that
piratical nation, that they should plunder some part
of the coast, and depart without further disturbance.
By this negotiation the king was enabled to march
with an undissipated force against the Scots and the
principal body of the English. Everything yielded.
The Scots retired into their own country. Some
of the most obnoxious of the English fled along
with them. One desperate party, under the brave
Waltheof, threw themselves into York, and ventured alone to resist his victorious army. Williain
pressed the siege with vigor, and, notwithstanding
the prudeirt dispositions of Waltheof, and the prodigies of valor he displayed in its defence, standing alone in the breach, and maintaining his ground gallantly and successfully, the place was at last reduced by famine. The king left his enemies no time to
recover this disaster; he followed his blow, and drove
all who adhered to Edgar Atheling out of all the
countries northward of the Humber. This tract he
resolved entirely to depopulate, influenced by revenge, and by distrust of the inhabitants, and partly with a view of opposing an hideous desert of sixty
miles in extent as an impregnable barrier against
all attempts of the Scots in favor of his disaffected
subjects. The execution of this barbarous project
was. attended with all the havoc and desolation that
it seemed to threaten. One hundred thousand are
said to have perished by cold, penury, and disease.
The ground lay untilled throughout that whole space
for upwards of nine years. Many of the inhabitants
both of this and all other parts of England fled into
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 343
Scotland; but they were so received by King Malcolmhn as to forget that they had lost their country.
This wise monarch gladly seized so fair an opportunity, by the exertion of a benevolent policy, to people his dominions, and to improve his native subjects. He received the English nobility according to their
rank, he promoted them to offices according to their
merit, and enriched them by considerable estates from
his own demesne. From these noble refugees several
considerable families in Scotland are descended.
William, on the other hand, amidst all the excesses
which the insolence of victory and the cruel precautions of usurped authority could make him commit,
gave many striking examples of moderation and greatness of mind. ; He pardoned Waltheof, whose bravery he did not the less admire because it was exerted against himself. He restored him to his ancient honors and estates; and thinking his family strengthened
by the acquisition of a gallant man, he bestowed upon him his niece Judith in marriage. On Edric the
Forester, who lay under his sword, in the same generous manner he not only bestowed his life, but honored it with an addition of dignity.
The king, having thus, by the most politic and the
most courageous measures, by art, by force, by severity, and by clemency, dispelled those clouds which
had gathered from every quarter to overwhelm him,
returned triumphant to Winchester, where, as if he
had newly acquired the kingdom, he was crowned
with great solemnity. After this he proceeded to execute the plan he had long proposed of modelling the
state according to his own pleasure, and of fixing his
authority upon an immovable foundation.
There were few of the Elglish who in the late dis
? ? ? ? 344 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
turbances had not either been active against the Normans or shown great disinclination to them. Upon
some right, or some pretence, the greatest part of
their lands were adjudged to be forfeited. William
gave these lands to Normans, to be held by the tenure of knight-service, according to the law which
modified- that service in all parts of Europe. These
people he chose because he judged they must be faithful to the interest on which they depended; and this
tenure he chose because it raised an army without
expense, called it forth at the least warning, and
seemed to secure the fidelity of the vassal by the
multiplied ties of those services which were inseparably annexed to it. In the establishment of these
tenures, William only copied the practice which was
now become very general. One fault, however, he
seems to have committed in this distribution: the
immediate vassals of the crown were too few; the
tenants in capite at the end of this reign did not exceed seven hundred; the eyes of the subject met too
many great objects in the state besides the state
itself; and the dependence of the inferior people
was weakened by the interposal of another authority
between them and the crown, and this without being
at all serviceable to liberty. The ill consequence of
this was not so obvious whilst the dread of the English made a good correspondence between the sovereign and the great vassals absolutely necessary; but it afterwards appeared, and in a light very offensive
to the power of our kings.
As there is nothing of more consequence in a state
than the ecclesiastical establishment, there was nothing to which this vigilant prince gave more of his attention. If he owed his own power to the influence
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 845
of the clergy, it convinced him how necessary it was
to prevent that engine from being employed in its
turn against himself. He observed, that, besides the
influence they derived from their character, they had
a vast portion of that power which always attends
property. Of about sixty thousand knights' fees,
which England was then judged to contain, twentyeight thousand were in the hands of the clergy; and
these they held discharged of all taxes, and free
from every burden of civil or military service: a constitution undoubtedly no less prejudicial to the authority of the state than detrimental to the strength,
of the nation, deprived of so much revenue, so many
soldiers, and of numberless exertions of art and industry, which were stifled by holding a third of the
soil in dead hands out of all possibility of circulation.
William in a good measure remedied these evils, but
with the great offence of all the ecclesiastic orders. At
the same time that he subjected the Church lands to
military service, he obliged each monastery and bishopric to the support of soldiers, in proportion to the
number of knights' fees that they possessed. No less
jealous was he of the Papal pretensions, which, having favored so long as they served him as the instruments of his ambition, he afterwards kept within very narrow bounds. He suffered no communication with
Rome but by his knowledge and approbation. He
had a bold and ambitious Pope to deal with, who yet
never proceeded to extremities with nor gained one
advantage over William during his whole reign, - although he had by an express law reserved to himself
a sort of right in approving the Pope chosen, by forbidding his subjects to yield obedience to any whose
right the king had not acknowledged.
? ? ? ? 346 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
To form a just idea of the power and greatness of
this king, it will be convenient to take a view of his
revenue. And I the rather choose to dwell a little
upon this article, as nothing extends to so many objects as the public finances, and consequently nothing
puts in a clearer or more decisive light the manners
of the people, and the form, as well as the powers, of
government at any period.
The first part of this consisted of the demesne.
The lands of the crown were, even before the Conquest, very extensive. The-forfeitures consequent to
that great change had considerably increased them.
It appears from the record of Domesday, that the
king retained in his own hands no fewer than fourteen hundred manors. This alone was a royal revenue. However, great as it really was, it has been exaggerated beyond all reason. Ordericus Vitalis, a
writer almost contemporary, asserts that this branch
alone produced a thousand pounds a day, -- which,
valuing the pound, as it was then estimated, at a real
pound of silver, and then allowing for the difference in
value since that time, will make near twelve millions
of our money. This account, coming from such an
authority, has been copied without examination by
all the succeeding historians. If we were to admit
the truth of it, we must entirely change our ideas
concerning tile quantity of money which then circulated in Europe. And it is a matter altogether monstrous and incredible in an age when there was little traffic in this nation, and the traffic of all nations circulated but little real coin, when the tenants paid the
* I have known, myself, great mistakes in calculation by computing, as the produce of every day in the year, that of one extraordinary day.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLTSH HISTORY. 347
greatest part of their rents in kind, and when it may
be greatly doubted whether there was so much current money in the nation as is said to have come into
the king's coffers from this one branch of his revenue
only. For it amounts to a twelfth part of all the
circulating species which a trade infinitely more
extensive has derived from sources infinitely more
exuberant, to this wealthy nation, in this improved
age. Neither must we think that the whole revenue
of this prince ever rose to such a sum. The great
fountain which fed his treasury must have been
Danegelt, which, upon any reasonable calculation,
could not possibly exceed 120,0001. of our money,
if it ever reached that sum. William was Observed
to be a great hoarder, and very avaricious; his army
was maintained without any expense to him, his demesne supported his household; neither his necessary
nor his voluntary expenses were considerable. Yet
the effects of many years' scraping and hoarding left
at his death but 60,0001. , --not the sixth part of
one year's income, according to this account, of one
branch of his revenue; and this was then esteemed a
vast treasure. Edgar Atheling, on being reconciled
to the king, was allowed a mark a day for his expenses, and he was thought to be allowed sufficiently,
though he received it in some sort as an equivalent
for his right to the crown. I venture on this digression, because writers in an ignorant age, making
guesses at random, impose on more enlightened
times, and affect by their mistakes many of our reasonings on affairs of consequence; and it is the error of all ignorant people to rate unknown times, distances, and sums very far beyond their real extent. There is even something childish and whimsical in
? ? ? ? 348 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH~ HISTORY.
computing this revenue, as the original author has
done, at so much a day. For my part, I do not imagine it so difficult to come at a pretty accurate decision of the truth or falsehood of this story. The above-mentioned manors are charged with
rents from five to an hundred pounds each. The
greatest number of those I have seen in print are
under fifty; so that we may safely take that number
as a just medium; and then the whole amount of
the demesne rents will be 70,000l. ,, or 210,0001. of
our money. This, though almost a fourth less than
the sum stated by Vitalis, still seems a great deal too
high, if we should suppose the whole sum, as that
author does, to be paid in money, and that money to
be reckoned by real pounds of silver. But we must
observe, that, when sums of money are set down
in old laws and records, the interpretation of those
words, pounds and shillings, is for the most part
oxen, sheep, corn, and provision. When real coin
money was to be paid, it was called white money, or
argentuim album, and was only in a certain stipulated
proportion to what was rendered in kind, and that
proportion generally very low. This method of paying rent, though it entirely overturns the prodigious
idea of that monarch's pecuniary wealth, was far
from being less conducive to his greatness. It enabled him to feed a multitude of people, -one of the
surest and largest sources of influence, and which
always outbuys money in the traffic of affections.
This revenue, which was the chief support of the
dignity of our Saxon kings, was considerably increased by the revival of Danegelt, of the imposition of which we have already spoken, and which is supposed to have produced an annual income
of 40,0001. of money, as tlleai valued.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 349
The next branch of the king's revenue were the
feudal duties, by him first introduced into England, - namely, ward, marriage, relief, and aids.
By the first, the heir of every tenant who held immediately from the crown, during: his minority, was
in ward for his body. and hlis land to the king; so
that he. had the formation of his mind at that early
and ductile age to mould to his own purposes, and
the entire profits of his estate either to augment his
demesne or to gratify his dependants: and as we
have already seen how many and how vast estates,
or rather, princely possessions, were then held immediately of the crown, we may comprehend how important an article this must have been. Though the heir had attained his age before the
death of his ancestor, yet the king intruded between
him and his inheritance, and obliged him to redeem,
or, as the term then was, to relieve it. The quantity
of this relief was generally pretty much at the king's
discretion, and often amounted to a very great sum.
But the king's demands on his rents in chief were
not yet satisfied. He had a right and interest in the
marriage of heirs, both males and females, virgins
and widows, - and either bestowed them at pleasure
on his favorites, or sold them to the best bidder. The
king received for the sale of one heiress the sum of
20,0001. , or 60,0001. of our present money, --and
this at a period when the chief estates were much
reduced. And from hence was derived a great
source of revenue, if this right were sold, --of influence and attachment, if bestowed.
Under the same head of feudal duties were the
casual aids to knight his eldest son and marry his
eldest daughter. These duties could be paid but
? ? ? ? . 50 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
once, and, though not considerable, eased him m
these articles of expenses.
After the feudal duties, rather in the order than in
point of value, was the profit which arose from the
sale of justice. No man could then sue in the king's
court by a common or public right, or without paying largely for it, - sometimes the third, and sometimes even half, the value of the estate or debt sued for. These presents were called oblations; and the
records preceding Magna Charta, and for some time
after, are full of them. And, as the king thought fit,
this must have added greatly to his power or wealth,
or indeed to both.
The fines and amercements were another branch;
and this, at a time when disorders abounded, and
almost every disorder was punished by a fine, was a
much greater article than at first could readily be
imagined, - especially when we consider that there.
were no limitations in this point but the king's mercy, particularly in all offences relating to the forest,
which were of various kinds, and very strictly inquired into. The sale of offices was not less considerable. It appears that all offices at that time were,
or might be, legally and publicly sold, - that the
king had many and very rich employments in his
gift, and, though it may appear strange, not inferior to, if they did not exceed, in number and consequence, those of our present establishment. At
one time the great seal was sold for three thousand
marks. The office of sheriff was then very lucrative:
this charge was almost always sold. Sometimes a
county paid a sum to the king, that he might appoint a sheriff whom they liked; sometimes they
paid as largely to prevent him from appointing a
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 351
person disagreeable to them; and thus the king
had often from the same office a double profit in
refusing one candidate and approving the other. If
some offices were. advantageous, others were burdensome; and the king had the right, or was at least in the unquestioned practice, of forcing his subjects to
accept these employments, or to pay for their immunity; by which means he could either punish his enemies or augment his wealth, as his avarice or
his resentments prevailed.
The greatest part of the cities and trading towns
were under his particular jurisdiction, and indeed in
a state not far removed from slavery. On these he
laid a sort of imposition,, at such a time and in such
a proportion as he thought fit. This was called a
tallage. If. the towns did not forthwith pay the sum
at which they were rated, it was not unusual, for
their punishment, to double the exaction, and to
proceed in levying it by nearly the same methods
and in the same manner now used to raise a contribution in an enemy's country.
But the Jews were a fund almost inexhaustible.
They were slaves to the king in the strictest sense;
insomuch that, besides the various tallages and fines
extorted from them, none succeeded to the inheritance of his father without the king's license and an heavy composition. He sometimes even made over
a wealthy Jew as a provision to some of his favorites
for life. They were almost the only persons who exercised usury, and thus drew to themselves the odium and wealth of the whole kingdom; but they were
only a canal, through which it passed to the royal
treasury. And nothing could be more pleasing and
popular than such exactions: the people rejoiced,
? ? ? ? 352 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
when they saw the Jews plundered, -not considering
that they were a sort of agents for the crown, who,
in proportion to the heavy taxes they paid, were
obliged to advance the terms and enforce with greater severity the execution of their usurious contracts.
Through them almost the whole body of the nobility
were in debt to the king; and when he thought
proper to confiscate the effects of the Jews, the securities passed into his hands; and by this means he
must have possessed one of the strongest and most
terrible instruments of authority that could possibly
be devised, and the best calculated to keep the people in an abject and slavish dependence.
The last general head of his revenue were the
customs, prisages, and other impositions upon trade.
Though the revenue arising from traffic in this rude
period was much limited by the then smallness of its
object, this was compensated by the weight and variety of the exactions levied by an occasional exertion
of arbitrary power, or the more uniform system of
hereditary tyranny. Trade was restrained, or the
privilege granted, on the payment of tolls, passages,
paages, pontages, and innumerable other vexatious
imposts, of which only the barbarous and almost unintelligible names subsist at this day.
These were the most constant and regular branches
of the revenue. But there were other ways innumerable by which money, or an equivalent in cattle, poultry, horses, hawks, and dogs, accrued to the exchequer. The king's interposition in marriages,
even where there was no pretence from tenure, was
frequently bought, as well as in other negotiations
of less moment, for composing of quarrels, and the
like; and, indeed, some appear on the records, of so
? ? ? ? tBRTDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 353
strange and even ludicrous a nature, that it would
not be excusable to mention them, if they did not
help to show from how many minute sources this
revenue was fed, and how the king's power descended to the most inconsiderable actions of private life. * It is not easy to penetrate into the true meaning of
all these particulars, but they equally suffice to show
the character of government in those times. A prince
furnished with so many means of distressing enemies
and gratifying friends, and possessed of so ample a
revenue entirely independent of the affections of his
subjects, must have been very absolute in substance
and effect, whatever might have been the external
forms of government.
For the regulation of all these revenues, and for
determining all questions which concerned them, a
court was appointed, upon the model of a court of
the same nature, said to be of ancient use in Normandy, and called the Exchequer.
There was nothing in the government of William
conceived in a greater manner, or more to be commended, than the general survey he took of his conquest. An inquisition was made throughout
the kingdom concerning the quantity of land which
was contained in each county,- the name of the
deprived and the present proprietor, -- the stock
of slaves, and cattle of every kind, which it contained. All these were registered in a book, each
* The Bishop of Winchester fined for not putting the king in
mind to give a girdle to the Countess of Albemarle. - Robertus de
Vallibus debet quinque optimos palafredos, ut rex taceret de uxore
Henrici Pinel. -The wife of Hugh de Nevil fined in two hundred:
hens, that she might lie with her husband for one night; another'
that he might rise from his infirmity; a third, that he might eat.
VOL. VII. 23
? ? ? ? 354 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
article beginning with the king's property, aind proceeding downward, according to the rank of the proprietors, in all excellent order, by which might be known at one glance the true state of the royal revenues, the wealth, consequence, and natural connections of every person in the kingdom, - in ordei to ascertain the taxes that might be imposed, and, to
serve purposes in the state as well as in civil causes,
to be general and uncontrollable evidence of property. This book is called Domesday or the Judgment Book, and still remains a grand monument
of the wisdom of the Conqueror, -a work in all
respects useful and worthy of a better age.
The Conqueror knew very well how much discontent must have arisen from the great revolutions
which his conquest produced in all men's property,
and in the general tenor of the government. He,
therefore, as much as possible to guard against every
sudden attempt, forbade any light or fire to continue
in any house after a certain bell, called curfew, had
sounded. This bell rung at about eight in the evening. There was policy in- this; and it served to prevent the numberless disorders which arose from the late civil commotions.
For the same purpose of strengthening his authOrity, he introduced the Norman law, not only in its
substance, but in all its forms, and ordered that all
proceedings should be had according to that law
in the French language. * The change wrought by
the former part of this regulation could not have
been very grievous; and it was partly the necessary
consequence of the establishment of the new tenures,
* For some particulars of the condition of the English of this time,
vide Eadmer, p. 110.
?
passed the Alps, relieved the Pope, and invested him
with the dominion of a large country in the best part
of Italy.
Charlemagne pursued the course which was
marked out for him, and put an end to the Lombard kingdom, weakened by the policy of his father
and the enmity of the Popes, who never willingly saw
a strong power in Italy. Then he received from the
hand of the Pope the Imperial crown, sanctified by
the authority of the Holy See, and with it the title
of Emperor of the Romans, a name venerable from
the fame of the old Empire, and which was supposed to carry great and unknown prerogatives;
and thus the Empire rose again out of its ruins in
the West, and, what is remarkable, by means of one
of those nations which had helped to destroy it. If
we take in the conquests of Charlemagne, it was also
very near as extensive as formerly; though its constitution was altogether different, as being entirely on the Northern model of government. From Charlemagne the Pope received in return an enlargement
and a confirmation of his new territory. Thus the
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 331
Papal and Imperial powers mutually gave birth to
each other. They continued for some ages, and in
some measure still continue, closely connected, with
a variety of pretensions upon each other, and on the
rest of Europe.
Though the Imperial power had its origin in
France, it was soon divided into two branches, the
Gallic and the German. The latter alone supported
the title of Empire; but the power being weakened
by this division, the Papal pretensions had the greater
weight. The Pope, because he first revived the Imperial dignity, claimed a right of disposing of it, or at least of giving validity to the election of the Emperor.
The Emperor, on the other hand, remembering the
rights of those sovereigns whose title he bore, and
how lately the power which insulted him with such
demands had arisen from the bounty of his predecessors, claimed the same privileges in the election of a Pope. The claims of both were somewhat plausible;
and they were supported, the one by force of arms,
and the other by ecclesiastical influence, powers
which in those days were very nearly balanced.
Italy was the theatre upon which this prize was disputed. In every city the parties in favor of each of
the opponents were not far from an equality in. their
niumbers and strength. Whilst these parties disagreed in the choice of a master, by contending for
a choice in their subjection they grew imperceptibly
into freedom, and passed through the medium of
faction and anarchy into regular commonwealths.
Thus arose the republics of Venice, of Genoa, of
Florence, Sienna, and Pisa, and several others.
These cities, established in this freedom, turned the
frugal and ingenious spirit contracted in such commu
? ? ? ? 332 ABRIDGMENT'OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
nities to navigation and traffic; and pursuing them
with skill and vigor, whilst commerce was neglected and despised by the rustic gentry of the martial
governments, they grew to a considerable degree of
wealth, power, and civility.
The Danes, who in this latter time preserved the
spirit and the numbers of the ancient Gothic people,
had seated themselves in England, in the Low Countries, and in. Normandy. They passed from thence to
the southern part of Europe, and in this romantic age
gave rise in Sicily and Naples to a new kingdom and
a new line of. princes.
All the kingdoms on the continent of Europe were
governed nearly in the same. form; from whence
arose a great similitude in the manners of their inhabitants. The feodal discipline extended itself everywhere, and influenced the conduct of the courts and the manners of the people- with its own irregular
martial:spirit. . Subjects, under the complicated laws
of a various and rigorous servitude, exercised all the
prerogatives. of sovereign. power. They distributed
justice, they made war and peace at pleasure. The
sovereign, with great pretensions, had but little power; he: was only a greater lord among great lords,
who profited of the differences of his peers; therefore no steady plan could be well pursued, either in
war or. peace. This day a prince seemed irresistible
at the head of his numerous vassals, because their
duty obliged them to war, and they performed this
duty with pleasure. The next day saw this formidable power vanish like a dream, because this fierce
undisciplined people had no patience, and the time of
the feudal service was contained within very narrow
limits. , It. was therefore easy to. find a number of
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 333
persons at all times ready to follow any standard, but
it was hard to complete a considerable design which
required a regular and continued movement. This
enterprising disposition in the gentry was very general, because they had little occupation or pleasure
but in war, and the greatest rewards did then attend
personal valor and prowess. All that professed arms
became in some sort on an equality. A knight was
the peer of a king, and men had been used to see the
bravery of private persons opening a road to that dignity. The temerity of adventurers was much justified by the ill order of every state, which left it a prey to
almost any who should attack it with sufficient vigor.
Thus, little checked by any superior power, full of
fire, impetuosity, and ignorance, they longed to signalize themselves, wherever an honorable danger called them; and wherever that invited, they did not weigh
very deliberately the probability of success.
The knowledge of this general disposition in the
minds of men will naturally remove a great deal of
our wonder at seeing an attempt founded on such
slender appearances of -right, and supported by a
power so little proportioned to the undertaking as
that of William, so warmly embraced, and so generally followed, not only by his own subjects, but by
all the neighboring potentates. The Counts of Anjou, Bretagne, Ponthieu, Boulogne, and Poictou,
sovereign princes, - adventurers from every quarter
of France, the Netherlands, and the remotest parts
of Germany, laying aside their jealousies and enmities -to one another, as well as to William, ran with
an inconceivable ardor into this enterprise, captivated
with the splendor of the object, which obliterated all
thoughts of the uncertainty of the event. William
? ? ? ? 334 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
kept up this fervor by promises of large territories to
all his allies and associates in the country to be reduced by their united efforts. But after all it became
equally necessary to reconcile to his enterprise the
three great powers of whom we have just spoken,
whose disposition must have had the most influence
on his affairs.
His feudal lord, the King of France, was bound by
his most obvious interests to oppose the further aggrandizement of one already too potent for a vassal. But the King of France was then a minor; and
Baldwin, Earl of Flanders, whose daughter William
had married, was regent of the kingdom. This circumstance rendered the remonstrance of the French
Council against his design of no effect: indeed, the
opposition of the Council itself was faint; the idea of
having a king under vassalage to their crown might
have dazzled the more superficial courtiers; whilst
those who thought more deeply were unwilling to discourage an enterprise which they believed would probably end in the ruin of the undertaker. The Emperor was in his minority, as well as the King of France;
but by what arts the Duke prevailed upon the Imperial Council to declare in his favor, whether or no by
an idea of creating a balance to the power of France,
if we can imagine that any such idea then subsisted,
is altogether uncertain; but it is certain that he obtained leave for the vassals of the Empire to engage
in his service, and that he made use of this permission. The Pope's consent was obtained with still
less difficulty. William had shown himself in many
instances a friend to the Church and a favorer of the
clergy. On this occasion he promised to improve
those happy beginnings in proportion to the means
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 335
he should acquire by the favor of the Holy See. It
is said that he even proposed to hold his new kingdom as a fief from Rome. The Pope, therefore, entered heartily into his interests; he excommunicated all those that should oppose his enterprise, and sent
him, as a means of insuring success, a consecrated
banner.
CHAPTER II.
REIGN OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.
AFTER the Battle of Hastings, the taking I. . lo166.
of Dover, the surrender of London, and the
submission of the principal nobility, William had
nothing left but to order in the best manner the
kingdom he had so happily acquired. Soon after his
coronation, fearing the sudden and ungoverned motions of so great a city, new to subjection, he left
London until a strong citadel could be raised to overawe the people. This was built where the Tower of
London now stands. Not content with this, he built
three other strong castles in situations as advantageously chosen, at Norwich, at Winchester, and at
Hereford, securing not only the heart of affairs, but
binding down the extreme parts of the kingdom.
And as he observed from his own experience the
want of fortresses in England, he resolved fully to
supply that defect, and guard the kingdom both
against internal and foreign enemies. But he fortified his throne yet more strongly by the policy of
good government. To London he confirmed by
charter the liberties it had enjoyed under the Saxon
kings, and endeavored to fix the affections of the Eng
? ? ? ? 336 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
lish in general by governing them with equity according to their ancient laws, and by treating them on all
occasions with the most engaging deportment. He
set up no pretences which arose from absolute conquest. He confirmed their estates to all those who
had not appeared in arms against him, and seemed
not to aim at subjecting the English to the Normans,
but to unite the two nations under the wings of a
common parental care. If the Normans received estates and held lucrative offices and were raised by
wealthy matches in England, some of the English
were enriched with lands and dignities and taken
into considerable families in Normandy. But the
king's principal regards were showed to those by
whose bravery he had attained his greatness. To
some he bestowed the forfeited estates, which were
many and great, of Harold's adherents; others he
satisfied from the treasures his rival had amassed;
and the rest, quartered upon wealthy monasteries,
relied patiently on the promises of one whose performances had hitherto gone hand in hand with his
power. There was another circumstance which conduced much to the maintaining, as well as to the
making, his conquest. The posterity of the Danes,
who had finally reduced England under Canute the
Great, were still very numerous in that kingdom, and
in general not well liked by nor well affected to the
old Anglo-Saxon inhabitants. William wisely took
advantage of this enmity between the two sorts of iiihabitants, and the alliance of blood which was between them and his subjects. In the body of laws which he published he insists strongly on this kindred, and declares that the Normans and Danes
ought to be as sworn brothers against all men: a
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 837
policy which probably united these people to him, or
at least so confirmed the ancient jealousy which subsisted between them and the original English as to
hinder any cordial union against his interests.
When the king had thus settled his acquisitions by
all the methods of force and policy, he thought it expedient to visit his patrimonial territory, which, with
regard to its internal state, and the jealousies which
his additional greatness revived in many of the bordering princes, was critically situated. He appointed
to the regency in his absence his brother Odo, an ecclesiastic, whom he had made Bishop of Bayeux, in
France, and Earl of Kent, with great power and preeminence, in England,- a man bold, fierce, ambitious,.
full of craft, imperious, and without faith, but welli
versed in all affairs, vigilant, and courageous. To him
he joined William Fitz-Osbern, his justiciary, a person
of consummate prudence and great integrity. But
not depending on this disposition, to secure his conquest, as well as to display its importance abroad, under a pretence of honor, he carried with him all the chiefs of the English nobility, the popular Earls Edwin and Morcar, and, what was of most importance,
Edgar Atheling,. the last branch of the royal stock of
the Anglo-Saxon kings, and infinitely dear to all the
people.
The king managed his affairs abroad with great
address, and covered all his negotiations for the security of his Norman dominions under the magnificence of continual feasting and unremitted diversion, which, without an appearance of design, displayed
his wealth and power, and by that means facilitated
his measures. But whilst he was thus employed,
his absence from England gave an opportunity to sevVOL. VII. 22
? ? ? ? 338 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
eral humors to break out, which the late change had
bred, but which the amazement likewise produced by
that violent change, and the presence of their conqueror, wise, vigilant, and severe, had hitherto repressed'. The ancient line of their kings displaced,
the only thread on which it hung carried out of the
kingdom and ready to be cut off by the jealousy of a
merciless usurper, their liberties none by being precarious, and the daily insolencies and rapine of the
Normans intolerable, -- these discontents were increased by the tyranny and rapaciousness of the regent, and they were fomented from abroad by Eustace, Count of Boulogne. But the people, though
ready to rise in all parts, were destitute of leaders,
and the insurrections actually made were not carried
on in concert, nor directed to any determinate obA. D. 1607. ject; so that the king, returning speedily,
and exerting himself everywhere with great
vigor, in a short time dissipated these ill-formed projects. However, so general a dislike to William's government had appeared on this occasion, that he became in his turn disgusted with his subjects, and began to change his maxims of rule to a rigor which was more conformable to his advanced age and the
sternness of his natural temper. He resolved, since he
could not gain the affections of his subjects, to find
such matter'for their hatred as might weaken them,
and fortify his own authority against the enterprises
which that hatred might occasion. He revived the
tribute of Danegelt, so odious from its original cause
and that of its revival, which he caused to be strictly
levied throughout the kingdom. He erected castles
at Nottingham, at Warwick, and at York, and filled
them with Norman garrisons. He entered into a
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 339
stricter inquisition for the discovery of the estates
forfeited on his coming in; paying no regard to the
privileges of the ecclesiastics, he seized upon the treasures which, as in an inviolable asylum, the unfortunate adherents to Harold had deposited in monasteries. At the same time he entered into a resolution of deposing all the English bishops, on none of whom
he could rely, and filling their places with Normans.
But he mitigated the rigor of these proceedings by
the wise choice he made in filling the places of those
whom he had deposed, and gave by that means these
violent changes the air rather of reformation than
oppression. He began with Stigand, Archbishop of
Canterbury. A synod was called, in which, for the
first time in England, the Pope's legate a latere is
said to have presided. In this council, Stigand, for
simony and for other crimes, of which it is easy to
convict those who are out of favor, was solemnly degraded from his dignity. The king filled his place
with Lanfranc, an Italian. By his whole conduct he
appeared resolved to reduce his subjects of all orders
to the most perfect obedience.
The people, loaded with new taxes, the nobility,
degraded and threatened, the clergy, deprived of
their immunities and influence, joined in one voice
of discontent, and stimulated each other to the most
desperate resolutions. The king was not unapprised
of these motions, nor negligent of them. It is thought
he meditated to free himself from much of his uneasiness by seizing those men on whom'the nation in its
distresses used to cast its eyes for relief. But whilst
he digested these measures, Edgar Atheling, Edwin
and Morcar, Waltheof, the son of Siward, and several others, eluded his vigilance, and escaped into Scot
? ? ? ? 340 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. . . 06. land, where they were received with open
arms by King Malcolm. The Scottish monarch on this occasion married the sister of Edgar;
and this match engaged him more closely to the accomplishment of what his gratitude to the Saxon
kings and the rules. of good policy had before inclined
him. He entered at last into the cause of his brother-in-law and the distressed English. He persuaded
the King of Denmark to enter into the same measures, who agreed to invade England with a fleet of a
thousand ships. Drone. , an Irish king, declared in
their favor, and supplied: the sons of Earl Godwin
with vessels and men, with which they held the English coast in continual alarms.
Whilst the forces of this powerful confederacy
were collecting on all sides, and prepared to enter
England, equal dangers threatened from within the
kingdom. Edric the Forester, a very brave and
popular Saxon, took up arms in the counties of
Hereford and Salop, the country of the ancient Silures, and inhabited by the same warlike and untamable race of men. The Welsh strengthened him with their forces, and Cheshire joined in the re1069 volt. H. ereward le Wake, one of the most'brave. and indefatigable soldiers of his time,
rushed with a numerous band of fugitives and outlaws from the fens of Lincoln and the Isle of Ely,
from. whence, protected by the situation of the place,
he had for some time carried on an irregular war
against the Normans. The sons of Godwin landed
with a strong body in the West; the fire of rebellion
ran through the kingdom; Cornwall, Devon, Dorset,
at once threw off the yoke. Daily skirmishes were
fought in every. part of the kingdom, with various
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 341
success and with great bloodshed. The Normans
retreated to their castles, which the English had
rarely skill or patience to master; out of these they
sallied from time to time, and asserted their dominion. The conquered English for a moment resumed
their spirit; the forests and morasses, with which
this island then abounded, served them for fortifications, and their hatred to the Normans stood in
the place of discipline; each man, exasperated by
his own wrongs, avenged them in his own manner.
Everything was full of blood and violence: murders,
burnings, rapine, and confusion overspread the' whole
kingdom. During these distractions, several of the
Normans quitted the country, and gave up their
possessions, which they thought not worth holding
in continual horror and danger.
In the midst of this scene of disorder, the king
alone was present to himself and to his affairs. He
first collected all the forces on whom he could depend within the kingdom, and called powerful succors from Normandy. Then he sent a strong body to repress the commotions in the West; but he reserved the greatest force and his own presence against
the greatest danger, which menaced from the North.
The Scots had penetrated as far as. Durham; they
had taken the castle, and put the garrison to the
sword. A like fate attended York from the Danes,
who had. entered the Humber with a formidable
fleet. They put this city inito the hands of the English'malcontents, and thereby influenced all the
northern counties in their favor. William,
A. D. 1070.
when he first perceived the gathering of the
storm, endeavored, and with some success, to break
the force of the principal blow by a correspondence at
? ? ? ?
342 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
the court of Denmark; and now he entirely blunted
the weapon by corrupting, with a considerable sum,
the Danish general. It was agreed, to gratify that
piratical nation, that they should plunder some part
of the coast, and depart without further disturbance.
By this negotiation the king was enabled to march
with an undissipated force against the Scots and the
principal body of the English. Everything yielded.
The Scots retired into their own country. Some
of the most obnoxious of the English fled along
with them. One desperate party, under the brave
Waltheof, threw themselves into York, and ventured alone to resist his victorious army. Williain
pressed the siege with vigor, and, notwithstanding
the prudeirt dispositions of Waltheof, and the prodigies of valor he displayed in its defence, standing alone in the breach, and maintaining his ground gallantly and successfully, the place was at last reduced by famine. The king left his enemies no time to
recover this disaster; he followed his blow, and drove
all who adhered to Edgar Atheling out of all the
countries northward of the Humber. This tract he
resolved entirely to depopulate, influenced by revenge, and by distrust of the inhabitants, and partly with a view of opposing an hideous desert of sixty
miles in extent as an impregnable barrier against
all attempts of the Scots in favor of his disaffected
subjects. The execution of this barbarous project
was. attended with all the havoc and desolation that
it seemed to threaten. One hundred thousand are
said to have perished by cold, penury, and disease.
The ground lay untilled throughout that whole space
for upwards of nine years. Many of the inhabitants
both of this and all other parts of England fled into
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 343
Scotland; but they were so received by King Malcolmhn as to forget that they had lost their country.
This wise monarch gladly seized so fair an opportunity, by the exertion of a benevolent policy, to people his dominions, and to improve his native subjects. He received the English nobility according to their
rank, he promoted them to offices according to their
merit, and enriched them by considerable estates from
his own demesne. From these noble refugees several
considerable families in Scotland are descended.
William, on the other hand, amidst all the excesses
which the insolence of victory and the cruel precautions of usurped authority could make him commit,
gave many striking examples of moderation and greatness of mind. ; He pardoned Waltheof, whose bravery he did not the less admire because it was exerted against himself. He restored him to his ancient honors and estates; and thinking his family strengthened
by the acquisition of a gallant man, he bestowed upon him his niece Judith in marriage. On Edric the
Forester, who lay under his sword, in the same generous manner he not only bestowed his life, but honored it with an addition of dignity.
The king, having thus, by the most politic and the
most courageous measures, by art, by force, by severity, and by clemency, dispelled those clouds which
had gathered from every quarter to overwhelm him,
returned triumphant to Winchester, where, as if he
had newly acquired the kingdom, he was crowned
with great solemnity. After this he proceeded to execute the plan he had long proposed of modelling the
state according to his own pleasure, and of fixing his
authority upon an immovable foundation.
There were few of the Elglish who in the late dis
? ? ? ? 344 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
turbances had not either been active against the Normans or shown great disinclination to them. Upon
some right, or some pretence, the greatest part of
their lands were adjudged to be forfeited. William
gave these lands to Normans, to be held by the tenure of knight-service, according to the law which
modified- that service in all parts of Europe. These
people he chose because he judged they must be faithful to the interest on which they depended; and this
tenure he chose because it raised an army without
expense, called it forth at the least warning, and
seemed to secure the fidelity of the vassal by the
multiplied ties of those services which were inseparably annexed to it. In the establishment of these
tenures, William only copied the practice which was
now become very general. One fault, however, he
seems to have committed in this distribution: the
immediate vassals of the crown were too few; the
tenants in capite at the end of this reign did not exceed seven hundred; the eyes of the subject met too
many great objects in the state besides the state
itself; and the dependence of the inferior people
was weakened by the interposal of another authority
between them and the crown, and this without being
at all serviceable to liberty. The ill consequence of
this was not so obvious whilst the dread of the English made a good correspondence between the sovereign and the great vassals absolutely necessary; but it afterwards appeared, and in a light very offensive
to the power of our kings.
As there is nothing of more consequence in a state
than the ecclesiastical establishment, there was nothing to which this vigilant prince gave more of his attention. If he owed his own power to the influence
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 845
of the clergy, it convinced him how necessary it was
to prevent that engine from being employed in its
turn against himself. He observed, that, besides the
influence they derived from their character, they had
a vast portion of that power which always attends
property. Of about sixty thousand knights' fees,
which England was then judged to contain, twentyeight thousand were in the hands of the clergy; and
these they held discharged of all taxes, and free
from every burden of civil or military service: a constitution undoubtedly no less prejudicial to the authority of the state than detrimental to the strength,
of the nation, deprived of so much revenue, so many
soldiers, and of numberless exertions of art and industry, which were stifled by holding a third of the
soil in dead hands out of all possibility of circulation.
William in a good measure remedied these evils, but
with the great offence of all the ecclesiastic orders. At
the same time that he subjected the Church lands to
military service, he obliged each monastery and bishopric to the support of soldiers, in proportion to the
number of knights' fees that they possessed. No less
jealous was he of the Papal pretensions, which, having favored so long as they served him as the instruments of his ambition, he afterwards kept within very narrow bounds. He suffered no communication with
Rome but by his knowledge and approbation. He
had a bold and ambitious Pope to deal with, who yet
never proceeded to extremities with nor gained one
advantage over William during his whole reign, - although he had by an express law reserved to himself
a sort of right in approving the Pope chosen, by forbidding his subjects to yield obedience to any whose
right the king had not acknowledged.
? ? ? ? 346 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
To form a just idea of the power and greatness of
this king, it will be convenient to take a view of his
revenue. And I the rather choose to dwell a little
upon this article, as nothing extends to so many objects as the public finances, and consequently nothing
puts in a clearer or more decisive light the manners
of the people, and the form, as well as the powers, of
government at any period.
The first part of this consisted of the demesne.
The lands of the crown were, even before the Conquest, very extensive. The-forfeitures consequent to
that great change had considerably increased them.
It appears from the record of Domesday, that the
king retained in his own hands no fewer than fourteen hundred manors. This alone was a royal revenue. However, great as it really was, it has been exaggerated beyond all reason. Ordericus Vitalis, a
writer almost contemporary, asserts that this branch
alone produced a thousand pounds a day, -- which,
valuing the pound, as it was then estimated, at a real
pound of silver, and then allowing for the difference in
value since that time, will make near twelve millions
of our money. This account, coming from such an
authority, has been copied without examination by
all the succeeding historians. If we were to admit
the truth of it, we must entirely change our ideas
concerning tile quantity of money which then circulated in Europe. And it is a matter altogether monstrous and incredible in an age when there was little traffic in this nation, and the traffic of all nations circulated but little real coin, when the tenants paid the
* I have known, myself, great mistakes in calculation by computing, as the produce of every day in the year, that of one extraordinary day.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLTSH HISTORY. 347
greatest part of their rents in kind, and when it may
be greatly doubted whether there was so much current money in the nation as is said to have come into
the king's coffers from this one branch of his revenue
only. For it amounts to a twelfth part of all the
circulating species which a trade infinitely more
extensive has derived from sources infinitely more
exuberant, to this wealthy nation, in this improved
age. Neither must we think that the whole revenue
of this prince ever rose to such a sum. The great
fountain which fed his treasury must have been
Danegelt, which, upon any reasonable calculation,
could not possibly exceed 120,0001. of our money,
if it ever reached that sum. William was Observed
to be a great hoarder, and very avaricious; his army
was maintained without any expense to him, his demesne supported his household; neither his necessary
nor his voluntary expenses were considerable. Yet
the effects of many years' scraping and hoarding left
at his death but 60,0001. , --not the sixth part of
one year's income, according to this account, of one
branch of his revenue; and this was then esteemed a
vast treasure. Edgar Atheling, on being reconciled
to the king, was allowed a mark a day for his expenses, and he was thought to be allowed sufficiently,
though he received it in some sort as an equivalent
for his right to the crown. I venture on this digression, because writers in an ignorant age, making
guesses at random, impose on more enlightened
times, and affect by their mistakes many of our reasonings on affairs of consequence; and it is the error of all ignorant people to rate unknown times, distances, and sums very far beyond their real extent. There is even something childish and whimsical in
? ? ? ? 348 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH~ HISTORY.
computing this revenue, as the original author has
done, at so much a day. For my part, I do not imagine it so difficult to come at a pretty accurate decision of the truth or falsehood of this story. The above-mentioned manors are charged with
rents from five to an hundred pounds each. The
greatest number of those I have seen in print are
under fifty; so that we may safely take that number
as a just medium; and then the whole amount of
the demesne rents will be 70,000l. ,, or 210,0001. of
our money. This, though almost a fourth less than
the sum stated by Vitalis, still seems a great deal too
high, if we should suppose the whole sum, as that
author does, to be paid in money, and that money to
be reckoned by real pounds of silver. But we must
observe, that, when sums of money are set down
in old laws and records, the interpretation of those
words, pounds and shillings, is for the most part
oxen, sheep, corn, and provision. When real coin
money was to be paid, it was called white money, or
argentuim album, and was only in a certain stipulated
proportion to what was rendered in kind, and that
proportion generally very low. This method of paying rent, though it entirely overturns the prodigious
idea of that monarch's pecuniary wealth, was far
from being less conducive to his greatness. It enabled him to feed a multitude of people, -one of the
surest and largest sources of influence, and which
always outbuys money in the traffic of affections.
This revenue, which was the chief support of the
dignity of our Saxon kings, was considerably increased by the revival of Danegelt, of the imposition of which we have already spoken, and which is supposed to have produced an annual income
of 40,0001. of money, as tlleai valued.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 349
The next branch of the king's revenue were the
feudal duties, by him first introduced into England, - namely, ward, marriage, relief, and aids.
By the first, the heir of every tenant who held immediately from the crown, during: his minority, was
in ward for his body. and hlis land to the king; so
that he. had the formation of his mind at that early
and ductile age to mould to his own purposes, and
the entire profits of his estate either to augment his
demesne or to gratify his dependants: and as we
have already seen how many and how vast estates,
or rather, princely possessions, were then held immediately of the crown, we may comprehend how important an article this must have been. Though the heir had attained his age before the
death of his ancestor, yet the king intruded between
him and his inheritance, and obliged him to redeem,
or, as the term then was, to relieve it. The quantity
of this relief was generally pretty much at the king's
discretion, and often amounted to a very great sum.
But the king's demands on his rents in chief were
not yet satisfied. He had a right and interest in the
marriage of heirs, both males and females, virgins
and widows, - and either bestowed them at pleasure
on his favorites, or sold them to the best bidder. The
king received for the sale of one heiress the sum of
20,0001. , or 60,0001. of our present money, --and
this at a period when the chief estates were much
reduced. And from hence was derived a great
source of revenue, if this right were sold, --of influence and attachment, if bestowed.
Under the same head of feudal duties were the
casual aids to knight his eldest son and marry his
eldest daughter. These duties could be paid but
? ? ? ? . 50 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
once, and, though not considerable, eased him m
these articles of expenses.
After the feudal duties, rather in the order than in
point of value, was the profit which arose from the
sale of justice. No man could then sue in the king's
court by a common or public right, or without paying largely for it, - sometimes the third, and sometimes even half, the value of the estate or debt sued for. These presents were called oblations; and the
records preceding Magna Charta, and for some time
after, are full of them. And, as the king thought fit,
this must have added greatly to his power or wealth,
or indeed to both.
The fines and amercements were another branch;
and this, at a time when disorders abounded, and
almost every disorder was punished by a fine, was a
much greater article than at first could readily be
imagined, - especially when we consider that there.
were no limitations in this point but the king's mercy, particularly in all offences relating to the forest,
which were of various kinds, and very strictly inquired into. The sale of offices was not less considerable. It appears that all offices at that time were,
or might be, legally and publicly sold, - that the
king had many and very rich employments in his
gift, and, though it may appear strange, not inferior to, if they did not exceed, in number and consequence, those of our present establishment. At
one time the great seal was sold for three thousand
marks. The office of sheriff was then very lucrative:
this charge was almost always sold. Sometimes a
county paid a sum to the king, that he might appoint a sheriff whom they liked; sometimes they
paid as largely to prevent him from appointing a
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 351
person disagreeable to them; and thus the king
had often from the same office a double profit in
refusing one candidate and approving the other. If
some offices were. advantageous, others were burdensome; and the king had the right, or was at least in the unquestioned practice, of forcing his subjects to
accept these employments, or to pay for their immunity; by which means he could either punish his enemies or augment his wealth, as his avarice or
his resentments prevailed.
The greatest part of the cities and trading towns
were under his particular jurisdiction, and indeed in
a state not far removed from slavery. On these he
laid a sort of imposition,, at such a time and in such
a proportion as he thought fit. This was called a
tallage. If. the towns did not forthwith pay the sum
at which they were rated, it was not unusual, for
their punishment, to double the exaction, and to
proceed in levying it by nearly the same methods
and in the same manner now used to raise a contribution in an enemy's country.
But the Jews were a fund almost inexhaustible.
They were slaves to the king in the strictest sense;
insomuch that, besides the various tallages and fines
extorted from them, none succeeded to the inheritance of his father without the king's license and an heavy composition. He sometimes even made over
a wealthy Jew as a provision to some of his favorites
for life. They were almost the only persons who exercised usury, and thus drew to themselves the odium and wealth of the whole kingdom; but they were
only a canal, through which it passed to the royal
treasury. And nothing could be more pleasing and
popular than such exactions: the people rejoiced,
? ? ? ? 352 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
when they saw the Jews plundered, -not considering
that they were a sort of agents for the crown, who,
in proportion to the heavy taxes they paid, were
obliged to advance the terms and enforce with greater severity the execution of their usurious contracts.
Through them almost the whole body of the nobility
were in debt to the king; and when he thought
proper to confiscate the effects of the Jews, the securities passed into his hands; and by this means he
must have possessed one of the strongest and most
terrible instruments of authority that could possibly
be devised, and the best calculated to keep the people in an abject and slavish dependence.
The last general head of his revenue were the
customs, prisages, and other impositions upon trade.
Though the revenue arising from traffic in this rude
period was much limited by the then smallness of its
object, this was compensated by the weight and variety of the exactions levied by an occasional exertion
of arbitrary power, or the more uniform system of
hereditary tyranny. Trade was restrained, or the
privilege granted, on the payment of tolls, passages,
paages, pontages, and innumerable other vexatious
imposts, of which only the barbarous and almost unintelligible names subsist at this day.
These were the most constant and regular branches
of the revenue. But there were other ways innumerable by which money, or an equivalent in cattle, poultry, horses, hawks, and dogs, accrued to the exchequer. The king's interposition in marriages,
even where there was no pretence from tenure, was
frequently bought, as well as in other negotiations
of less moment, for composing of quarrels, and the
like; and, indeed, some appear on the records, of so
? ? ? ? tBRTDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 353
strange and even ludicrous a nature, that it would
not be excusable to mention them, if they did not
help to show from how many minute sources this
revenue was fed, and how the king's power descended to the most inconsiderable actions of private life. * It is not easy to penetrate into the true meaning of
all these particulars, but they equally suffice to show
the character of government in those times. A prince
furnished with so many means of distressing enemies
and gratifying friends, and possessed of so ample a
revenue entirely independent of the affections of his
subjects, must have been very absolute in substance
and effect, whatever might have been the external
forms of government.
For the regulation of all these revenues, and for
determining all questions which concerned them, a
court was appointed, upon the model of a court of
the same nature, said to be of ancient use in Normandy, and called the Exchequer.
There was nothing in the government of William
conceived in a greater manner, or more to be commended, than the general survey he took of his conquest. An inquisition was made throughout
the kingdom concerning the quantity of land which
was contained in each county,- the name of the
deprived and the present proprietor, -- the stock
of slaves, and cattle of every kind, which it contained. All these were registered in a book, each
* The Bishop of Winchester fined for not putting the king in
mind to give a girdle to the Countess of Albemarle. - Robertus de
Vallibus debet quinque optimos palafredos, ut rex taceret de uxore
Henrici Pinel. -The wife of Hugh de Nevil fined in two hundred:
hens, that she might lie with her husband for one night; another'
that he might rise from his infirmity; a third, that he might eat.
VOL. VII. 23
? ? ? ? 354 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
article beginning with the king's property, aind proceeding downward, according to the rank of the proprietors, in all excellent order, by which might be known at one glance the true state of the royal revenues, the wealth, consequence, and natural connections of every person in the kingdom, - in ordei to ascertain the taxes that might be imposed, and, to
serve purposes in the state as well as in civil causes,
to be general and uncontrollable evidence of property. This book is called Domesday or the Judgment Book, and still remains a grand monument
of the wisdom of the Conqueror, -a work in all
respects useful and worthy of a better age.
The Conqueror knew very well how much discontent must have arisen from the great revolutions
which his conquest produced in all men's property,
and in the general tenor of the government. He,
therefore, as much as possible to guard against every
sudden attempt, forbade any light or fire to continue
in any house after a certain bell, called curfew, had
sounded. This bell rung at about eight in the evening. There was policy in- this; and it served to prevent the numberless disorders which arose from the late civil commotions.
For the same purpose of strengthening his authOrity, he introduced the Norman law, not only in its
substance, but in all its forms, and ordered that all
proceedings should be had according to that law
in the French language. * The change wrought by
the former part of this regulation could not have
been very grievous; and it was partly the necessary
consequence of the establishment of the new tenures,
* For some particulars of the condition of the English of this time,
vide Eadmer, p. 110.
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