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.
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.
Edmund Burke
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.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 355
and which wanted a new law to regulate them: in
other respects the Norman institutions were not very
different from the English. But to force, against
nature, a new language upon a conquered people,
to make them strangers in those courts of justice in
which they were still to retain a considerable share,
to be reminded, every time they had recourse to government for protection, of the slavery in which it held
them, - this is one of those acts, of superfluous tyranny from which very few conquering nations or
parties have forborne, though no- way necessary,
but often prejudicial to their safety.
These severities, and affronts more gall- A D. 1071.
ing than severities, drove the English to
another desperate attempt, which was the last convulsive effort of their expiring freedom. Several
nobles, prelates, and others, whose estates had been
confiscated, or who were in daily apprehension of
their confiscation, fled into the fens of Lincoln and
Ely, where iereward still maintained his ground.
This unadvised step completed the ruin of the little
English interest that remained. William hastened to
fill up the sees of the bishops and the estates of the
nobles with his Norman favorites. He pressed the
fugitives with equal vivacity; and at once to cut off
all the advantage they derived from their situation,
he penetrated into the Isle of Ely by a wooden bridge
two miles in length; and by the greatness of the design, and rapidity of the execution, as much as by the
vigor of his charge, compelled them to surrender at
discretion. Hereward alone escaped, who disdained
to surrender, and had cut his way through his enemies, carrying his virtue and his sword, as his passports, wheresoever fortune should conduct him. He
? ? ? ? 356 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
escaped happily into Scotland, where, as usual, the
king was making some slow movements for the relief
of the English. William lost no time to oppose him,
and had passed with infinite difficulty through a desert of his own making to the frontiers of Scotland. Here he found the enemy strongly intrenched. The
causes of the war being in a good measure spent by
William's late successes, and neither of the princes
choosing to risk a battle in a country where the
consequences of a defeat must be so dreadful, they
agreed to an accommodation, which included a pardon for Edgar Atheling on a renunciation of his title to the crown. William on this occasion showed, as
he did on all occasions, an honorable and disinterested sense of merit, by receiving Hereward to his friendship, and distinguishing him by particular favors and bounties. Malcolm, by his whole conduct, never seemed intent upon coming to extremities with
William: he was satisfied with keeping this great
warrior in some awe, without bringing things to a
decision, that might involve his kingdom in the same
calamitous fate that had oppressed England; whilst
his wisdom enabled him to reap advantages from the
fortunes of the conquered, in drawing so many useful people into his dominions, and from the policy of the Conqueror, in imitating those feudal regulations
which he saw his neighbor force upon the English,
and which appeared so well calculated for the defence of the kingdom. He compassed this the more easily, because the feudal policy, being the discipline
of all the considerable states in Europe, appeared the
masterpiece of government.
If men who have engaged in vast designs could ever
promise themselves repose, William, after so many
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 357
victories, and so many political regulations to secure
the fruit of them, might now flatter himself with some
hope of quiet. But disturbances were preparing for
his old age from a new quarter, from whence they
were less expected and less tolerable, -from the Normans, his companions in victory, and from his family, which he found not less difficulty in governing than
his kingdom. Nothing but his absence from England
was wanting to make the flame blaze out. The numberless petty pretensions which the petty lords his neighbors on the continent had on each other and
on William, together with their restless disposition
and the intrigues of the French court, kept alive a
constant dissension, which made the king's presence
on the continent frequently necessary. The Duke of
Anjou had at this time actually invaded his 1073
dominions. He was obliged to pass over into Normandy with an army of fifty thousand men.
William, who had conquered England by the assistance of the princes on the continent, now turned against them the arms of the English, who served him
with bravery and fidelity; and by their means he soon
silenced all opposition, and concluded the terms of an
advantageous peace. In the mean time his Norman
subjects in England, inconstant, warlike, independent, fierce by nature, fiercer by their conquest, could scarcely brook that subordination in which their safety consisted. Upon some frivolous pretences, chiefly personal disgusts,* a most dangerous conspiracy was
formed: the principal men among the Normans were
engaged in it; and foreign correspondence was not
wanting. Though this conspiracy was chiefly formed
* Upon occasion of a ward refused in marriage. Wright thinks
the feudal right of marriage not then introduced.
? ? ? ? 358 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
and carried on by the Normans, they knew so well
the use which William on this occasion would not! ail
to make of his English subjects, that they endeavored,
as far as was consistent with secrecy, to engage several of that nation, and above all, the Earl Waltheof, as
the first in rank and reputation among his countrymen. Waltheof, thinking it base to engage in any
cause but that of his country against his benefactor,
unveils the whole design to Lanfranc, who immediately took measures for securing the chief conspirators.
He dispatched messengers to inform the king of his
danger, who returned without delay at the head of
his forces, and by his presence, and his usual bold activity, dispersed at once the vapors of this conspira-.
cy. The heads were punished. The rest, left under
the shade of a dubious mercy, were awed into obedience. His glory was, however, sullied by his putting
to death Waltheof, who had discovered the conspiracy; but he thought the desire the rebels had shown of
engaging him in their designs demonstrated sufficiently that Waltheof still retained a dangerous power.
For as the years, so the suspicions, of this politic
prince increased, --at whose time of life generosity
begins to appear no more than a splendid weakness. . . 109. - These troubles were hardly appeased,
when others began to break forth in his
own family, which neither his glory, nor the terror
which held a great nation in chains, could preserve
in obedience to him. -. To remove in some measure
the jealousy of the court of France with regard to his
invasion of England, he had promised upon his acquisition of that kingdom to invest his eldest son, Robert, with the Duchy of Normandy. But as his new acquisition did not seem so secure as it was great and
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 359
magnificent, he was far from any thoughts of resigning
his hereditary dominions, which he justly considered
as a great instrument in maintaining his conquests,
and a necessary retreat, if he should be deprived of
them by the fortune of war. So long as the state of
his affairs in England appeared unsettled, Robert acquiesced in the reasonableness of this conduct; but
when he saw his father established on his throne, and
found himself growing old in an inglorious subjection,
he began first to murmur at the injustice of the king,
soon after to cabal with the Norman barons and at
the court of France, and at last openly rose in rebellion, and compelled the vassals of the Duchy to do
him homage. The king was not inclined to give up
to force what he had refused to reason. Unbroken
with age, unwearied with so many expeditions, he
passed again into Normandy, and pressed his son
with the vigor of a young warrior.
This war, which was carried on without anything
decisive for some time, ended by a very extraordinary
and affecting incident. In one of those skirmishes
which were frequent according to the irregular mode
of warfare in those days, William and his son Robert,
alike in a forward and adventurous courage, plunged
into the thickest of the fight, and unknowingly encountered each other. But Robert, superior by fortune, or by the vigor of his youth, wounded and unhorsed the old monarch, and was just on the point of pursuing his unhappy advantage to the fatal extremity, when the well-known voice of his father at once
struck his ears and suspended his arm. Blushing for
his victory, and overwhelmed with the united emotions of grief, shame, and returning piety, he fell on
his knees, poured out a flood of tears, and, embracing
? ? ? ? 360 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
his father, besought him for pardon. The tide of nature returning strongly on both, the father in his turn
embraced his son, and bathed him with his tears;
whilst the combatants on either side, astonished at so
unusual a spectacle, suspended the fight, applauded
this striking act of filial piety and paternal tenderness,
and pressed that it might become the prelude to a lasting peace. Peace was made, but entirely to the advantage of the father, who carried his son into England, to secure Normandy from the dangers to which his ambition and popularity might expose that dukedom.
That William might have peace upon no part, the
Welsh and Scots took advantage of these troubles in
his family to break into England: but their expeditions were rather incursions than invasions: they
wasted the country, and then retired to secure their
plunder. But William, always troubled, always in
action, and always victorious, pursued them and com
pelled them to a peace, which was not concluded but
by compelling the King of Scotland and all the princes
of Wales to do him homage. How far this homage
extended with regard to Scotland I find it difficult to
determine.
Robert, who had no pleasure but in action, as soon
as this war was concluded, finding that he could not
regain his father's confidence, and that he had no
credit at the court of England, retired to that of
France.
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.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 355
and which wanted a new law to regulate them: in
other respects the Norman institutions were not very
different from the English. But to force, against
nature, a new language upon a conquered people,
to make them strangers in those courts of justice in
which they were still to retain a considerable share,
to be reminded, every time they had recourse to government for protection, of the slavery in which it held
them, - this is one of those acts, of superfluous tyranny from which very few conquering nations or
parties have forborne, though no- way necessary,
but often prejudicial to their safety.
These severities, and affronts more gall- A D. 1071.
ing than severities, drove the English to
another desperate attempt, which was the last convulsive effort of their expiring freedom. Several
nobles, prelates, and others, whose estates had been
confiscated, or who were in daily apprehension of
their confiscation, fled into the fens of Lincoln and
Ely, where iereward still maintained his ground.
This unadvised step completed the ruin of the little
English interest that remained. William hastened to
fill up the sees of the bishops and the estates of the
nobles with his Norman favorites. He pressed the
fugitives with equal vivacity; and at once to cut off
all the advantage they derived from their situation,
he penetrated into the Isle of Ely by a wooden bridge
two miles in length; and by the greatness of the design, and rapidity of the execution, as much as by the
vigor of his charge, compelled them to surrender at
discretion. Hereward alone escaped, who disdained
to surrender, and had cut his way through his enemies, carrying his virtue and his sword, as his passports, wheresoever fortune should conduct him. He
? ? ? ? 356 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
escaped happily into Scotland, where, as usual, the
king was making some slow movements for the relief
of the English. William lost no time to oppose him,
and had passed with infinite difficulty through a desert of his own making to the frontiers of Scotland. Here he found the enemy strongly intrenched. The
causes of the war being in a good measure spent by
William's late successes, and neither of the princes
choosing to risk a battle in a country where the
consequences of a defeat must be so dreadful, they
agreed to an accommodation, which included a pardon for Edgar Atheling on a renunciation of his title to the crown. William on this occasion showed, as
he did on all occasions, an honorable and disinterested sense of merit, by receiving Hereward to his friendship, and distinguishing him by particular favors and bounties. Malcolm, by his whole conduct, never seemed intent upon coming to extremities with
William: he was satisfied with keeping this great
warrior in some awe, without bringing things to a
decision, that might involve his kingdom in the same
calamitous fate that had oppressed England; whilst
his wisdom enabled him to reap advantages from the
fortunes of the conquered, in drawing so many useful people into his dominions, and from the policy of the Conqueror, in imitating those feudal regulations
which he saw his neighbor force upon the English,
and which appeared so well calculated for the defence of the kingdom. He compassed this the more easily, because the feudal policy, being the discipline
of all the considerable states in Europe, appeared the
masterpiece of government.
If men who have engaged in vast designs could ever
promise themselves repose, William, after so many
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 357
victories, and so many political regulations to secure
the fruit of them, might now flatter himself with some
hope of quiet. But disturbances were preparing for
his old age from a new quarter, from whence they
were less expected and less tolerable, -from the Normans, his companions in victory, and from his family, which he found not less difficulty in governing than
his kingdom. Nothing but his absence from England
was wanting to make the flame blaze out. The numberless petty pretensions which the petty lords his neighbors on the continent had on each other and
on William, together with their restless disposition
and the intrigues of the French court, kept alive a
constant dissension, which made the king's presence
on the continent frequently necessary. The Duke of
Anjou had at this time actually invaded his 1073
dominions. He was obliged to pass over into Normandy with an army of fifty thousand men.
William, who had conquered England by the assistance of the princes on the continent, now turned against them the arms of the English, who served him
with bravery and fidelity; and by their means he soon
silenced all opposition, and concluded the terms of an
advantageous peace. In the mean time his Norman
subjects in England, inconstant, warlike, independent, fierce by nature, fiercer by their conquest, could scarcely brook that subordination in which their safety consisted. Upon some frivolous pretences, chiefly personal disgusts,* a most dangerous conspiracy was
formed: the principal men among the Normans were
engaged in it; and foreign correspondence was not
wanting. Though this conspiracy was chiefly formed
* Upon occasion of a ward refused in marriage. Wright thinks
the feudal right of marriage not then introduced.
? ? ? ? 358 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
and carried on by the Normans, they knew so well
the use which William on this occasion would not! ail
to make of his English subjects, that they endeavored,
as far as was consistent with secrecy, to engage several of that nation, and above all, the Earl Waltheof, as
the first in rank and reputation among his countrymen. Waltheof, thinking it base to engage in any
cause but that of his country against his benefactor,
unveils the whole design to Lanfranc, who immediately took measures for securing the chief conspirators.
He dispatched messengers to inform the king of his
danger, who returned without delay at the head of
his forces, and by his presence, and his usual bold activity, dispersed at once the vapors of this conspira-.
cy. The heads were punished. The rest, left under
the shade of a dubious mercy, were awed into obedience. His glory was, however, sullied by his putting
to death Waltheof, who had discovered the conspiracy; but he thought the desire the rebels had shown of
engaging him in their designs demonstrated sufficiently that Waltheof still retained a dangerous power.
For as the years, so the suspicions, of this politic
prince increased, --at whose time of life generosity
begins to appear no more than a splendid weakness. . . 109. - These troubles were hardly appeased,
when others began to break forth in his
own family, which neither his glory, nor the terror
which held a great nation in chains, could preserve
in obedience to him. -. To remove in some measure
the jealousy of the court of France with regard to his
invasion of England, he had promised upon his acquisition of that kingdom to invest his eldest son, Robert, with the Duchy of Normandy. But as his new acquisition did not seem so secure as it was great and
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 359
magnificent, he was far from any thoughts of resigning
his hereditary dominions, which he justly considered
as a great instrument in maintaining his conquests,
and a necessary retreat, if he should be deprived of
them by the fortune of war. So long as the state of
his affairs in England appeared unsettled, Robert acquiesced in the reasonableness of this conduct; but
when he saw his father established on his throne, and
found himself growing old in an inglorious subjection,
he began first to murmur at the injustice of the king,
soon after to cabal with the Norman barons and at
the court of France, and at last openly rose in rebellion, and compelled the vassals of the Duchy to do
him homage. The king was not inclined to give up
to force what he had refused to reason. Unbroken
with age, unwearied with so many expeditions, he
passed again into Normandy, and pressed his son
with the vigor of a young warrior.
This war, which was carried on without anything
decisive for some time, ended by a very extraordinary
and affecting incident. In one of those skirmishes
which were frequent according to the irregular mode
of warfare in those days, William and his son Robert,
alike in a forward and adventurous courage, plunged
into the thickest of the fight, and unknowingly encountered each other. But Robert, superior by fortune, or by the vigor of his youth, wounded and unhorsed the old monarch, and was just on the point of pursuing his unhappy advantage to the fatal extremity, when the well-known voice of his father at once
struck his ears and suspended his arm. Blushing for
his victory, and overwhelmed with the united emotions of grief, shame, and returning piety, he fell on
his knees, poured out a flood of tears, and, embracing
? ? ? ? 360 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
his father, besought him for pardon. The tide of nature returning strongly on both, the father in his turn
embraced his son, and bathed him with his tears;
whilst the combatants on either side, astonished at so
unusual a spectacle, suspended the fight, applauded
this striking act of filial piety and paternal tenderness,
and pressed that it might become the prelude to a lasting peace. Peace was made, but entirely to the advantage of the father, who carried his son into England, to secure Normandy from the dangers to which his ambition and popularity might expose that dukedom.
That William might have peace upon no part, the
Welsh and Scots took advantage of these troubles in
his family to break into England: but their expeditions were rather incursions than invasions: they
wasted the country, and then retired to secure their
plunder. But William, always troubled, always in
action, and always victorious, pursued them and com
pelled them to a peace, which was not concluded but
by compelling the King of Scotland and all the princes
of Wales to do him homage. How far this homage
extended with regard to Scotland I find it difficult to
determine.
Robert, who had no pleasure but in action, as soon
as this war was concluded, finding that he could not
regain his father's confidence, and that he had no
credit at the court of England, retired to that of
France.
