the Semi-Saxon, is commonly estimated to extend from the middle of the 12th to the middle of the 13th century. Saxon became English chiefly through the effects of time; and though the Norman conquest had undoubtedly some influence on the process, it was much less than has been commonly imagined. Many of the manuscripts of the 13th century are written in as pure Saxon as that which prevailed before the conquest. The admixture of Norman-French was not introduced to any great extent into our language, or at all events not adopted in our literature, before the latter half of the 14th century, when the genius and example of Chaucer recommended and sanctioned the example.

The Angles and the Saxons introduced two different Gothic dialects; that of the former approaching the High German, while that of the latter resembled the Low German or Netherlandish. Subsequently the Danes settled in the districts occupied by the Angles, and introduced many Scandinavian words. The boundaries between the Anglian and Saxon dialects may perhaps be roughly indicated by a line drawn from the north of Essex to the north of Worcestershire.

Elfric, the strenuous defenders of the English Church in the 11th century against the innovations of Rome.

C. AUTHORITIES.

The principal ancient historical sources for the Anglo-Saxon times are: Beda, Chronicon and Historia Ecclesiastica; the Saxon Chronicle; Asser, De Rebus Gestis Ælfredi ; Ethelweard, Chronicon; Florence of Worces ter, Chronicle; Simeon of Durham, Historia de Gestis Anglorum, continued by John of Hexham; Henry of Huntingdon, Hist. Anglorum. The preceeding works will be found in the Monumenta Historica Britannica, as well as in other collections and separate editions. In the collection just referred to are also contained the following anonymous pieces referring to the period in question: Annales Cambria; Brut y Tywysogion, or Chronicle of the Princes of Wales; Carmen de Bello Hastingensi.

The other principal collections in which these and other historical works relating to the Anglo-Saxon period are contained, are: Parker's Collections; Savile's Collection; Camden, Anglica, Normannica, Hibernica, The earlier specimens of Anglo-Saxon liter- Cambrica, a veteribus scripta; Fulman, ature are metrical, the metre being marked Quinque Scriptores; Gale, Historic Angliby accent and alliteration. The oldest ex- cance Scriptores Quinque, and Scriptores tant specimen of Anglo-Saxon poetry is the Quindecim; Hearne's Collections; Twysden, "Gleeman's Song," the author of which flour- Historia Anglicana Scriptores Decem; ished toward the end of the 4th and begin- Sparke, Hist. Anglicana Scriptores varii; ning of the 5th centuries, and consequently Wharton, Anglia Sacra. These collections before the invasion of England: the oldest contain the following authors, besides most MS. of the poem, however, is five centuries of those already enumerated as in the Monlater. Two other poems, also written before umenta Historica: Ailred of Rievaulx, Life the Anglo-Saxon migration, are the "Battle of Edward the Confessor, etc. [Twysden]; of Finsburgh" and the "Tale of Beowulf." John Brompton, Chronicles (ibid.]; Eadmer, The songs of Cadmon, a monk of Whitby, Historia Novorum, etc. [Wharton]; Roger who flourished a little before the time of Beda, Hoveden, Annales (Savile]; Ingulphus, Hist. are probably the oldest specimens extant of Croylandensis [ib. and Fulman]; William Anglo-Saxon poetry written in this country. of Malmesbury, De Gestis Regum Anglorum Cadmon remained six centuries the great and De Gestis Pontificum Angl. [Savile]; and inimitable poet, the Milton, of the Anglo- Hugo Candidus, Historia [Sparke]; Peter Saxons. Several other poems and songs are Langtoft, Metrical Chronicle [Hearne]; St. extant, reaching down to the 11th century. Neot, Chronicon [Gale]; the Flores HistoriOne of the noblest specimens of the last pe-anum, attributed to Matthew of Westminriod is the Anglo-Saxon version of the psalms. The most important Anglo-Saxon prose works are the chronicles, usually cited in the singular number as "the Saxon Chronicle." The earliest of these, supposed to have been compiled by order of Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was consecrated in 890 and died in 923, contains notices of the operations of Alfred and his immediate predecessors. The next is the MS. ascribed to St. Dunstan, which goes down to the year 977. Besides these there are four others of later date. Most of these chronicles begin with the invasion of Julius Cæsar. It seems to have been usual to keep such chronicles in the monasteries; but there were also, probably, public or national registers, in which the accession of the kings and other such events were recorded.

Of King Alfred's works, who must also be regarded as one of the Anglo-Saxon authors, we have already spoken. Other prose writers are St. Wulfstan, Archbishop Wulfstan, better known by his Latin name of Lupus, and

ster [Parker].

The following authors are published in the foreign collection of Duchesne: Gervase of Tilbury; Emma Angliæ Reginæ Encomium.

The English Historical Society has published the following works: a Collection of Saxon Charters, edited by the late Mr. J. M. Kemble, under the title of Codex Diplomaticus Evi Saxonici; also, the Chronica of Roger of Wendover.

The best modern works on the Anglo-Saxon period are, Turner's History of the AngloSaxons, 3 vols., 8vo; Palgrave's Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth during the Anglo-Saxon Period, 2 vols., 4to; and, History of England, Anglo-Saxon Period [Family Library, vol. xxi.]; Kemble, Saxons in England, 2 vols., 8vo; Lappenberg, England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings, translated from the German, with additions, by Thorpe, 2 vols., 8vo. On the influence of the Danes in England, the best work is Worsaee, An Account of the Danes and Norwe gians in England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Silver Penny of William the Conqueror, struck at Chester-unique.

Obverse: PILLELM REX; bust, front face, crowned, with sceptre in right hand. Reverse: + VNNVLF ON CESTRE; cross potent, in each angle a circle, containing respectively PAXS.

§ 1. History of Normandy. Rolf the Ganger. William I. Longue-épée. Richard I. Sans-peur. § 2. Richard II. Le Bon. Richard III. Robert the Devil. William II. of Normandy and I. of England. § 3. Norman Manners. § 4. Consequences of the Battle of Hastings. Submission of the English. § 5. Settlement of the Government. § 6. William's Return to Normandy. Revolts of the English, suppressed upon William's Return to England. § 7. New Insurrections in 1068. § 8. Insurrections in 1069. Landing of the Danes. § 9 Deposition of Stigand and the Anglo-Saxon Prelates. § 10. Last Struggle of the English. Conquest of Hereward. § 11. Insurrection of the Norman Barons. § 12. Revolt of Prince Robert. § 13. Projected Invasion of Canute. Domesday Book. War with France and Death of William. § 14. Character of William. His Administration. Forest Laws. Curfew-bell. Population.

§ 1. THE Norman conquest produced a complete revolution in the manners as well as in the government of the English and we must, therefore, here pause a while in order to take a brief view of the conquerors in their native homes. For the next century English history consists of a graft of the history of Normandy upon that of England; and the latter, therefore, will be better understood from some knowledge of the Normans themselves.

For a long period the coasts of France, like those of England, were ravaged by the incursions of the Northmen; and for the greater part of a century the monks made the Neustrian churches re-echo with the dismal chant of the litany, "A furore Normannorum libera nos, Domine." Thus the way was prepared for the final subjugation of the country by Rolf, or Rollo, son of the Nor

wegian jarl Rögnwald. Rollo is said to have been so large of limb that no horse could be found to carry him, whence his name of "Rolf the Ganger," or walker; though another, and perhaps more probable, derivation of his surname is from the restlessness of his expeditions. It was in November, 876, that Rollo first landed in Neustria; but he made no settlement there on that occasion, and he had to fight and struggle long before he could obtain possession of his future dominions. In 912 the French king, Charles the Simple, conciliated him by the cession of a considerable part of Neustria. On this occasion Rollo, abjuring his pagan. gods, became a Christian; the Archbishop of Rouen baptized him; and Robert, Duke of France, his sponsor at the font, gave him his daughter Gisele in marriage. After the completion of the treaty Rollo was required to do homage to Charles for his newly-acquired domains. Feebleness has a natural hankering after the semblance of power. In their declining days the Greek emperors retained and exaggerated the ceremony of adoration introduced by Diocletian from the forms of eastern servitude: the last feeble monarchs of the Carlovingian race adopted the example of the court of Byzantium, and their vassals were expected to fall and kiss their feet, a humiliating ceremony retained by the pride of the Roman pontiff after it has been banished from the courts of temporal princes. When the bold Northman heard the condition of his tenure he started back with indignation, exclaiming Ne si by Gott! But the ceremony being insisted on, Rollo deputed one of his soldiers to perform it; who, raising Charles's foot instead of lowering his own mouth, threw the monarch on his back!

Homage performed in such a fashion did not promise a very obedient vassal; and in the course of a few years Rollo's risings and rebellions extorted new cessions of territory. But toward the close of his life he found it expedient to connect himself more closely with the court of France, and allowed his son William to receive investiture from King Charles at Eu. Rollo died in 931. In 933 we find his son and successor, Guillaume Longue-épée, or William Long-sword, doing homage to King Raoul, and receiving Cornouaille, subsequently known as the Cotentin, from that monarch, whereby the western boundary of Normandy was extended to the sea. The name of "Normandy," however, does not appear till the 11th century; and in the earlier times the county and the count, for it was not at first a dukedom, appear to have been called after the capital, Rouen. Already in the time of William, though only the second sovereign, the court had become entirely French in language and manners; though a pure Norwegian population still occupied the parts near the coast. Hence

A.D. 876-1035.

HISTORY OF NORMANDY.

79

William, who wished that his son and heir, Richard, should be able to speak to his Norse subjects in their own tongue, sent him to Bayeux to be educated. William was murdered by some Flemings in 942. He had, however, previously engaged his subjects to acknowledge his youthful son, Richard, afterward known by the surname of "Sans Peur.” This prince married Emma, daughter of Hugh le Grand, and was one of the chief partisans who established his son Hugh Capet on the throne of France. Richard was engaged in a war with England, the causes of which remain unexplained. It was terminated through the mediation of Pope John XV., by a treaty of peace signed at Rouen on the 1st March 991; the first treaty ever made between France and England.

§ 2. By the sister of Hugh Capet Richard Sans Peur had no children; but by Gunnor, his second wife, he left five sons and three daughters, among whom, besides his successor, Richard II., or le Bon, was Emma, wife of Ethelred II. of England, and subsequently of Canute. Richard II., like his father, was a minor at his accession in 996, of which circumstance the oppressed peasantry took advantage and rose in rebellion; but the insurrection was soon put down. Richard's reign is peculiarly interesting to us in consequence of his intimate connections with England, which, continuing under his successor Robert, contributed much to introduce Norman civilization and influence into this country, and to effect its moral subjugation before the actual conquest. Richard le Bon died in 1026. His eldest son and successor, Richard III., was poisoned after a short reign by his brother Robert, surnamed the Devil, an appellation conferred out of no playful allusion, but from the feelings which he really inspired. Robert assumed the reins of government in 1028, not without a struggle. His short reign was marked by a fresh acquisition of territory; but a few years after his accession, struck probably with remorse for the murder of his brother, he resolved to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and died on his return-it is said by poison-at Nice in Bithynia, in the summer of 1035. Before his departure to the Holy Land he had induced the Norman barons to acknowledge as his successor his natural son William, to’whom he was much attached, and whom a concubine at Falaise had borne to him in 1027. But upon the death of Robert many of the barons refused to acknowledge the bastard; and during his minority the country was torn asunder by the feuds of the nobility. As soon, however, as he arrived at manhood, William asserted his rights by force of arms; he triumphed over all his adversaries, and success and energy caused him to be feared and courted by the other princes of Europe. Baldwin of Flanders

had bestowed upon him his daughter Matilda in marriage. His ambitious, designing, and unserupulous temper shrunk from no crimes serviceable to his interests: but he expiated his offenses by his devotion and munificence toward the Romish Church; and, therefore, the Pope blessed and hallowed his expedition against England in 1066.*

§3. The Normans, when they invaded England, had lost all trace of their northern origin in language and manners; and though no good will existed between them and their French neighbors, yet they were become in these respects completely French. It has been already remarked that, under the second Norman prince, the Danish language had become obsolete in the Norman capital. It was in Normandy, indeed, as Sir F. Palgrave observes, "that the langue d'oil acquired its greatest polish and regularity. The earliest specimens of the French language, in the proper sense of the term, are now surrendered by the French philologists to the Normans." They were thus completely estranged from their Norwegian brethren, who would willingly have rescued England from their grasp; yet the more essential attributes of body and mind are not so easily shaken off as language and conventional manners; and the Normans were still distinguished from the other natives of France by their large limbs and fair complexions as well as by their moral qualities. William the Conqueror himself is made to represent them as proud, hard to govern, and litigious. The imputation of craft and vindictiveness made against them by Malaterra is confirmed by several French proverbs.

We now resume the thread of the narrative.

§ 4. Nothing could exceed the consternation which seized the English when they received intelligence of the unfortunate battle of Hastings, the death of their king, the slaughter of their princi

• GENEALOGY OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR,

FROM ROLLO, FIRST DUKE OF NORMANDY.

Rollo the Ganger, d. 931.

William Longue-épée, d. 942.

Richard I. Sans Peur, d. 996.

Richard II, le Bon, d. 1026.

Emma, m. Ethelred.

Richard III., d. 1028.

Robert the Devil, d. 1035.

WILLIAM

VILLI

(by Harlotta).

† Normandy and England, vol. i., p. 703.

As Reponse Normande, for an ambiguous answer; Un fin Normand, a sly fellow, not much to be relied on; and Reconciliation Normande, for a pretended reconciliation, which does not banish all projects of vengeance.