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To procure the sanction of the Pope on his enterprise, William promised to extend the papal power, and to re-establish the payment of Peter's Pence, which for some time had been neglected.

Harold and his adherents were now excommunicated, and the pope sent William a consecrated banner and a ring, which was said to contain one of St. Peter's hairs.

Military adventurers were encouraged to range themselves under the Norman standard, and great promises were made them of spoils and rich rewards in England. At the same time Tostig was supplied by William with money to carry out his scheme of revenge. With this assistance he repaired to Norway, and induced the king of that country to join him in an invasion of England. A large army was collected, and they landed in Yorkshire. Harold met them, and gave them a decisive defeat at the battle of Stamford Bridge, Tostig and the king of Norway perishing in the conflict.

Before the battle, Harold offered peace to his brother, and promised to restore him to his former honours. Tostig then inquired what his ally was to have, and was answered "Seven feet of English ground, and a little more, for he is taller than most other men." Tostig then replied, "Tell my brother to prepare for battle; never shall it be said that the son of Godwin abandoned his friend."

Whilst Harold was in the North, William landed with 60,000 followers in the South, on the coast of Sussex. Harold hastened to meet him, and the two armies encountered at a place since called Battle, near Hastings. In the conflict which ensued, Harold was slain, and the Saxons were defeated. Of the latter 20,000 were slain, and of the Normans 15,000.

William erected an abbey on the site of this engagement, and called it Battle Abbey.

3. Eminent Men.-Alcuin, theologian and historian, died 800; Nennius, historian, died 858; Asser, biographer of Alfred, died 909; Odo; Godwin; Ælfric, Archbishop of Canterbury, a famous theologian, died 1006.

RELIGION, GOVERNMENT, INSTITUTIONS, CUSTOMS, &c., OF THE SAXONS.

1. Religion. The religion of the Saxons on their first coming to England was a barbarous system of idolatry. They represented their gods as delighting in the shrieks of the victims offered to them, and the happiness of heaven as a state of perpetual warfare.

The names of some of their deities are still retained in the designations of the days of the week. Sunday and Monday are so called from the Sun and Moon; Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are called, respectively, from the deities Tyr, Woden, Thor, Friga, and Sæter.

Christianity was introduced among the Saxons in the sixth century, and before the end of the seventh it is probable that the whole of England was Christianized. Monasteries soon sprang up, but the clergy were far less dependent on Rome than they were after the Conquest.

2. Government. The king did not always ascend the throne by the right of primogeniture. His power was very limited, and no taxes were levied for his support.

During the Heptarchy many of the Saxon kings assumed the name of Bretwalda. Among those who did so, may be mentioned Ethelbert, Ella, and Edwin.

The Witenagemote was an assembly of the greatest men of the nation. It met three times a year, and had the power of enacting laws, making alliances, levying taxes, raising troops, and acting as a supreme court of justice.

3. Social Grades.-The Saxons were divided into two great classes, viz., the Freemen and Slaves. The former were subdivided into Thanes and Ceorls. Of these, the Thanes were the Anglo-Saxon nobility, and were called Earls or Aldermen. The Ceorls were generally cultivators of the soil, artisans, or attendants on some lord. They were attached to the estates on which they lived, and were bought and sold with it.

They were permitted to have property of their own, and such as succeeded in getting an extensive estate, or in making three considerable voyages, were elevated to the rank of Thanes.

The Slaves or Thralls were subdivided into Born and Penal Slaves. The former consisted generally of the descendants of captives taken in war, and the latter of such as had been unable to pay their debts, or the fines imposed on them for criminal conduct.

No slave from these classes could be sold out of the country, and they were sometimes even permitted to purchase their liberty.

Territorial Divisions.-The township comprised the estate of its lord and the uninclosed land over which he had authority. The tithing was at first the district occupied by ten free families, but, like the hundred, which originally contained a hundred such families, it ultimately became a purely territorial division. The shire was the largest division, but its origin is unknown.

4. Courts, Trials, &c.-The principal courts of justice were the shire-mote for shires, the hundred-mote for hundreds, and the hall-mote for tithings. Trial by jury was established at a very early period, but not conducted as at present. The chief punishments inflicted at this time were fines, banishment, slavery, and death.

Occasionally the prisoner appealed to the ordeal, which was conducted in various ways. Sometimes the accused were obliged to catch hold of red-hot iron, or plunge their arms into boiling water, or walk blindfold and bare-footed over ground strewed with heated plough-shares. If they escaped unhurt, they were pronounced innocent, but if not, guilty. Another mode was to throw them into a pond, in which case their innocence was supposed to be proved if they sank, and their guilt if they swam.

5. Occupations, &c.-The principal occupations among the Saxons were farming, fishing, hunting, and the handicrafts of the weaver, dyer, carpenter, and smith.

The dwellings of this period were of wood, very inconvenient, and of only one story. The only stone buildings were the castles of the nobles, and the various ecclesiastical edifices. The attire of the Saxons consisted of a tunic which came down to the knees, a girdle, a cloak, hose, and leather boots.

The male portion of the people wore no covering for the head, except when engaged in warfare. Unlike the Normans, they wore the beard and moustache.

6. Education was in a very low state among the Anglo-Saxons, and several of the kings were unable to read and write.

Alfred did much towards educating the people, and, in a circular to his bishops, strongly recommended them to translate useful books into Saxon, "that the youth of England might be grounded in letters; for," says he, "they cannot profit in any pursuit until they are well able to read English."

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NORMAN LINE.

WILLIAM I., SURNAMED THE CONQUEROR. ◊

Born A.D. 1027; Reigned 21 Years (1066-1087).

1. Family.-William was the son of Robert duke of Normandy,* known in history as Robert the Devil. He married his cousin Matilda, daughter of Baldwin earl of Flanders, and had by her nine children, Robert, surnamed Curthose; William II.; Henry I.; Richard, killed whilst hunting in the New Forest; and five daughters, from one of whom descended Stephen of Blois.

William was remotely connected with the Saxon royal family, but he generally based his claim to the crown either on the alleged promise of Edward the Confessor, or on the right of conquest. The true heir to the throne, on Harold's death, was Edgar Atheling (see Geneal. Ch.), but his claims were set aside on account of his feeble character.

2. Chronicle.-After the battle of Hastings, William marched along the sea-coast to Dover, and thence, after some delays, to London. On the way he was met by Edgar Atheling and a deputation of the Saxon nobles, who offered him the crown and tendered him their allegiance. He was crowned soon after at Westminster, by Aldred archbishop of York, on Christmasday, 1066.

Previous to the ceremony, the Normans and English present were separately asked if they were willing that William should

*The Normans were descended from a powerful body of Norse pirates, who had settled, about A.D. 900, in that part of North France called Neustria. Previous to this they had, under a leader named Rollo, made numerous marauding expeditions on the west coast of Scotland and on the shores of the Irish Sea. But their attacks on the English coast, during the latter part of Alfred's reign, proved so unsuccessful, that they ultimately quitted it for an invasion of France, then governed by a weak king named Charles the Simple. This prince, whose kingdom was at the time rent by a civil war, was unable to check the invaders, and was obliged to surrender to Rollo the whole country between Cape Gris Nez and the Bay of Avranches. During the interval between this event and the year 1066 the Norsemen (or Normans as they were afterwards called) adopted the language and civilized arts of their neighbours, without sinking into southern effeminacy.

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