The History of England

(Nov. 12.) Death of Canute: Harold his Son succeeds
Ineffectual Attempts of Etheldred's Sons, Edward and
Alfred: treacherous Murder of the latter
Hardicanute, Son of Harold

Edward, Ethelred's Son, succeeds on the Death of Hardi-
canute, without Opposition, after Twenty-seven Years
of Exile

Influence of Godwin, Earl of Kent

His Influence afterwards eclipsed by that of the Normans,

Friends of Edward during his Exile

William, Duke of Normandy, visits Edward
(Jan. 4.) Death of Edward: his Character:
Anchorite "
Harold, Son of Godwin, crowned by the Saxon Chiefs :
he is opposed by his Brother Tostig

(Sept. 25.) The Army of Tostig defeated

(Sept. 28.) William, Duke of Normandy, lands in Sussex 71

View of the Saxon Institutions.

Antiquaries have adapted their Representations of our

ancient Constitution to their own particular Views; both

Parties agreeing in the fundamental Error of supposing

it a mature System

Governments are not framed by a Model: occasional Acts

harden into Usages, and Usages govern Men long before

they are embodied in written Laws

The Saxon Kings: the Wittenagemote

Prelates, Earls, Thanes

Shire-gemote, or Folk-mote

Inferior Classes; Freemen and Slaves, Ceorles, Villains:

Manumission

Numbers of the respective Classes: Doomsday-book

Pecuniary Punishment of Crimes: graduated Were for

the Murder of Persons of different Rank

Saxon Origin of our Titles of Rank, and of the English

Language

74

75

Close Connection of Language with Thought and Feel-

ing

Saxon Writers: Venerable Bede born, A. D. 663, died 735
To him we owe all English History from the Landing of
the Saxons till his own Time

The Saxon Chronicle

Asser's Life of Alfred

Lives of the Saints; Welsh Triads

Scottish Chronicles and Poetry; Macpherson's Ossian

Irish Chronicles

CHAP. III.

FROM THE NORMAN INVASION TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF A

PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUTION, AND THE FORMATION OF

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

A.D.

Page

William Duke of Normandy; the Establishment, by his

Ancestor Rollo, of a Scandinavian State in Neustria 89

Some expelled Norwegians founded a Republic in Iceland

in the ninth Century, where Literature and Liberty

converted these Barbarians for two Centuries into a

civilised People

.90

912.

Neustria ceded to Rollo, Son of the Earl of Orkney, by

William the Conqueror, fifth Duke of Normandy in lineal

Descent from him

-

Assertion of William that Edward had bequeathed the

Crown to him; no hereditary Right in either William

or Harold

Harold had sworn to support Willfam's Claim

Pope Hildebrand founds, on this Circumstance, a Bull in

favour of William and excommunicating Harold; and,

by thus assuming the Disposal of a Kingdom, completes

the Papal Usurpations

-

95

(28th of September) William lands at Pevensey in Sussex 97

(14th of October) Battle of Hastings; Death of Harold

(December) Coronation of William; his contemptuous

Compassion towards Edgar, who had been for some time

acknowledged as King

After re-establishing Peter's Pence as an Acknowledge-

ment for the Favour of the Pope, he returns to Nor-

mandy

(December) he returns to suppress an Insurrection

Doubtful Struggles in the North and West

. 101

- 102

1069.

- 103

Edgar Atheling acknowledged King in the North, aided
by a Danish Army; William defeats the Allies, and
commits atrocious Devastations

- 101

He distributes the Lands of the conquered to his Followers 105

Many Saxons fly from England; Hereward fortifies a

Camp in the Isle of Ely

- 106

During a blockade, the Monks of Ely betray him

The Saxon Primate deposed; Lanfranc Archbishop

William returns to Normandy; another ineffectual Effort

Review of the Causes which contributed to the Success of

William

William goes to Normandy to suppress the Revolt of his

1087.

Son Robert; personal Combat of the Father and Son,

unknown to each other

113

111

(9th of September) Death of William; his Character 111, 112

Two legal Revolutions completed in this Reign, the Separ-
ation of the Ecclesiastical from the Civil Judicature, and
the Consummation of the Feudal System

Without the former, it is probable that the Spiritual

Power would have been predominant over every other 114

With regard to the Feudal System, the most reasonable

Supposition is, that it was gradually prepared in Anglo-

Saxon Times, and finished by the Norman Invaders

Character of the Feudal System

WILLIAM IL

1087-1110.

- 114

115-117

(26th of September) proclaimed and crowned at West-
minster

In resisting his Brother Robert, he is obliged to seek the

Aid of the English, which opens the Way for Concessions

to them

117

- 118

His Government an Union of Rapacity with Prodigality - 119

(August) his Death in the New Forest, by an Arrow shot

by Sir Walter Tyrrell glancing against a Tree

Commencement of the Crusades during his Reign; Peter

the Hermit

Strange Union of religious with other Motives apparently

discordant, which prompted them

Miseries endured by the Crusaders

(14th of July) Jerusalem taken by Assault
Were the Crusades just? It was a Defence of an Exercise
of Religion older than the Mahometan Power
It is no valid Objection to a just Motive, that Ambition
may easily convert it into a Pretext

Wars to impose Religion are the most execrable Violation

of human Rights; Wars to defend it, their most sacred

(August) Crowned at Westminster, after a faint Resist-

ance from the Adherents of Robert, then on his Return

from Palestine

126

Attempts to conciliate the English by promising to restore
the Laws of Edward, and by marrying Maud, a Princess
of Saxon blood

Robert lands at Portsmouth; Normandy ceded to him by

Henry, on condition of retaining England; treacherous

Breach of this Treaty by Henry, who reconquers Nor-

mandy; and Robert lingers out a long Life in a cruel

Imprisonment

An Attempt made by Louis VI. on Behalf of William, Son
of Robert, defeated at the Battle of Brenneville

Another Revolt, with the same Object, defeated

Louis bestows Flanders and other Provinces on William ;

Henry's Cruelties and Exactions mingled with occasional

Generosity, the Offspring of Chivalry, but exercised only

towards the noble and beautiful; it stooped not to com-

mon-place Justice and good Faith

Marriage of Henry's Daughter, Maud, with Geoffrey Plan-

Henry causes a general Council to take an Oath of Fealty

to Maud and her Infant Son

Stephen, second Son of Stephen Earl of Blois, by Adela,
Daughter of William the Conqueror, pretends that
Henry declared him Successor

He issues a Charter promising Observance of the Laws of

Edward

Confused Alternation of Anarchy and Tyranny during his

Reign

- 135

1136.

Revolt of Baldwin, Earl of Exeter, and Irruption of David

of Scotland in favour of Maud

1138.

Another Attempt by David; Battle of the Standard, in

Maud comes to England, assisted by Robert of Gloucester 136

Maud defeats Stephen near Lincoln; Stephen sent in

Irons to Bristol; Maud offends the Citizens of London

by refusing Redress of Grievances, and is obliged to fly to

Oxford; her Army defeated and Robert made Prisoner,

but exchanged for Stephen

-

137

1149.

1153.

1142-1147. Incessant Warfare between the two Claimants; Maud at
length returns to Normandy, which her father has
wrested from Stephen; Death of Robert
Henry Fitz-Empress comes to England; his Marriage
with Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine

Treaty of Winchester, securing the Crown to Stephen for

Life, and the Succession to Henry

1154.

(25th of October) Death of Stephen

141

Issues a Charter confirmatory of his Grandfather's, passing
by in Silence the Acts of Stephen

He expels the Mercenaries of Stephen's Army

He does Homage to Louis VII. for Normandy and other

Continental Dominions

Extent, Nature, and Tenure of the English Dominions in

Henry asserts a Claim to the Earldom of Toulouse

Pope Alexander III. brings about a Peace between the

English and French Kings

Becket made Archbishop of Canterbury
England now takes a Share in the Struggle against Papal
Usurpations which had agitated Christendom for a Cen-
tury; Sketch of its Origin and Progress; Dispute con-
cerning Right of Investiture
- 146-148

Violent Character of similar Disputes in Italy during the

Reign of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa - 149-152

Romantic Story related of the Mother of Becket
Extraordinary Transition of Becket from the Manners of
a Courtier to those of a Devotee, on his Elevation to
the Primacy

The King attempts to render the Clergy amenable to the
Secular Tribunals; the Clergy oppose

(January) Council of Clarendon, where the Bishops
submit

Becket repents of his Acquiescence: He escapes to the

Abbey of Pontigny, in Burgundy

153

154

155

156, 157

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The Objects of both Parties were equally arbitrary:

it was a Contest between the Sceptre and the Crosier

for Dominion over the rest of Society

Henry seizes the Possessions of the Primacy, and suspends

Appeals to Rome

Becket proceeds with equal Violence, and Disputes con-

tinue between the English and French Courts on his

Account

Becket, by Authority of the Pope, excommunicates the

Bishop of London, and lays the Province of Canter-

bury under an Interdict: he afterwards returns to

England upon the Terms of a general Oblivion of the

Becket, however, refuses to remove the whole of the Ec-

clesiastical Censures, or to do Homage for his Ba

rony

- 165

The King's Ejaculations of Complaint at this Circum-
stance are interpreted by two Knights, as conveying a
Desire for the Murder of Becket, which they accom-
plish before the Altar of St. Bennet
- 161

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The History of England, Том 3