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CHAPTER VI.

WILLIAM (THE CONQUEROR).

From A.D. 1066 to A.D. 1087. Born at Falaise. Buried at Caen. Reigned 21 years.

Archbishops of Canterbury.

Stigand, A.D. 1054-1070. | Lanfranc, A.D. 1070-1089. IN choosing Harold as their king, and overlooking the rightful claims of Edgar Atheling, the English nobles had broken that rule of hereditary succession, for the arbitrary violation of which no personal qualities in the sovereign can make up. When Harold, therefore, was slain, they had no great principle of loyalty to bind them together; and though an attempt was made to proclaim Edgar, it was then too late to rally men round that sacredness of ancient right, which had been so blindly set aside. This may greatly account for the fact that one victory gave William possession of the English crown. It should also be said that he was naturally much favoured by all the Norman churchmen who had been brought over by Edward the Confessor, and the more so, inasmuch as his enterprise had been (as men then imagined) blessed and hallowed by the Pope. On his approach to London he was met by many nobles, including Edgar himself, and Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury, who at once tendered their submission, and he was soon solemnly crowned at Westminster.

It seems to have been William's purpose at first to govern the nation which he had conquered with strict justice. The English, however, soon found that all real power was in the hands of Normans; and as they were unable to brook the insults and oppression with which they were continually galled, the history of William's reign is chiefly a record of repeated revolts, which he punished with the most unrelenting cruelty, laying waste on one occasion the entire country for a distance of sixty miles between the Humber and the Tees. These revolts seem to have steeled his heart against his English subjects. He seized every pretence for confiscating their estates, which he bestowed

on his Norman followers; he built castles on commanding points at all the principal cities, and removed most of the Saxon prelates. Among others he deposed Stigand, and appointed Lanfranc to that see, a prelate of great learning and piety. The expulsion of Wolfstan, afterwards canonized as a saint, from the see of Worcester, seems to have been prevented by a most affecting speech of that aged bishop, when required to give up his crosier. One badge of servitude which was felt greatly by the English, was a law directing that all fires should be put out at the tolling of a bell at eight o'clock. This bell, which is still rung at ancient places, is called the curfew, from two words which signify that fires should be covered or put out. It was William's purpose to abolish the very language of the Saxons, and he therefore desired that all laws should be written, and all pleadings conducted in Norman-French; and of these vain attempts to destroy our noble language, some traces still exist in the ancient forms of our public courts. To subdue, however, the spirit of the Saxons, the Conqueror relied mainly on the complete establishment in England of a system called the feudal law', at that time prevailing in most parts of Europe. By this system the whole kingdom was parcelled out into so many chief baronies, which were held of the crown on condition of military service, and these were in like manner divided into knight's fees, which were held of the superior barons on the same tenure of service or vassalage. The vassal did homage to his lord for the lands which he held, and was bound to serve him in war, and contribute to his ransom if taken prisoner. This system was not fruitless of generous protection on the one side, and honourable

8 "To canonize a person." This phrase is derived from the fact, that after a person's excellences were found to be such as to entitle him to be called a saint, his name was put into the canon or rule for observing festivals.

9 The word feud, derived from a barbarous Latin word, feudum, or the classical word foedus, a covenant, meant an allotment of land under condition of serving a superior lord in war. Feudal tenure of land, is holding land under such condition. The feudal law, or system, is the state of things thus brought about; e. g. when Wales was conquered by England, its princes were no longer independent, but feudal holders of their territory under the English king.

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Drawn & Engraved by WHughes. Aldine Chambers. Paternoster Row.

London

Published by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge

1849.

loyalty on the other; but it was capable of being dreadfully abused, from the power which the lord possessed, especially when his vassal was under age. He had then the custody of the minor's lands and person, and had the power even of disposing of his vassal in marriage.

This reign was unfavourable to the independence of the English Church. William indeed was himself, little inclined to part with any of his power to Pope Gregory VII. (or Hildebrand), who was then putting forward the most extravagant claims of supremacy; and his answer to the Pope's demand that he would take an oath of fealty to him and his successors was, "Homage to thee I have not chosen -I do not choose to do. I owe it not on my own account; nor do I find that it has been performed by those before me." But with all this, having invaded England under the pretended sanction of a papal grant, and relying so much as he did on the clergy for support, he doubtless in the main increased the influence of Rome; and the Norman Bishops whom he brought in were considerably more infected with Romish errors than the Saxon clergy.

One point William certainly conceded to Rome on Gregory's importunity—the continuance of the payment called Peter-pence. But this was in its origin a voluntary payment or offering made by Ina, king of Wessex, being in pilgrimage to Rome, in the year of our Lord 720; it was a penny for every house. The like was given by Offa, king of Mercia, A.D. 794; not as a tribute to the Pope, but to sustain the English school or college at Rome; and it derived its name from being collected on the day of St. Peter ad Vincula. From these local payments for a particular object and from private feelings, the payment had become general. William could probably scarce trace its origin, and acquiesced in it. The practice was first prohibited by Edward III., and abrogated by Henry VIII. After being revived by Queen Mary, it was ́ at length wholly abrogated by Queen Elizabeth.

Church architecture began to be more studied in William's reign than it had been before. Either to his encouragement, or to the piety of individuals, we owe the commencement of the crypt or under-church of Canterbury cathedral; part of St. Alban's abbey, and of the cathedrals of Winchester and Rochester are attributable to his era. [H. s. 1.]

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