Rollo now embraced the Christian religion; and his power and reputation were so considerable, that the king bestowed on him his daughter in marriage. The territory relinquished in favour of this successful adventurer, shortly assumed the name of Normandy; and, at no distant date, became conspicuous for the good-order, as well as the energy and persevering spirit, of its inhabitants. Rollo, indeed, proved eminently worthy of his exaltation. He augmented the population of his infant state, by inviting foreigners to settle there; and enacted wise laws for their security, and for the encouragement of industry among every class of his subjects. Intent on founding a durable government over a civilized and improving people, he likewise rebuilt the cities and the churches which had been reduced to a state of ruin by the previous ravages of his idolatrous followers.

Influenced by so wise and benignant a genius, the inhabitants of Normandy gradually quitted their barbarous propensities and manners. In succeeding generations they emulated the polish of their paramount neighbours; and appear to have taken pride in being accounted Frenchmen, while they sedulously cultivated an affinity to that people in language and customs.

Rollo, the founder of this provincial government, died in the year 931; and, after four intermediate reigns, William, destined to conquer England, acceded to the ducal throne.

On the death of Edward the Confessor, William, Duke of Normandy, preferred a claim to the Anglo-Saxon sceptre, in opposition to Harold, the son of Godwin; who took advantage of his residence in England at the time of the king's decease, and ascended the throne. The families of both competitors were connubially allied to the late monarch; and both had been admitted by him to habits of familiarity. William, who had entertained him in Normandy, and had visited him in England on most friendly terms, asserted that he had received a direct nomination as his successor. But the sword,and not a claim founded on promise, or testamentary appointment, was calculated to advance his object; and to this decisive tribunal he promptly appealed.

The

The progressive circumstances, and the final event, of the battle of Hastings, are too well known for repetition. This memorable battle, unquestionably the most important that ever took place on British ground, was fought on the 14th of October, 1066; and was rendered so determinate in result, by the death of Harold, and by the subsequent inertion of the great majority of the English, that William was crowned, at Westminster, on the Christmas-day of the same year. Without entering into political calculations concerning causes and effects, it is, at any rate, pleasing to view a great revolution produced with so little bloodshed, in an age prodigal of human life when ambition was weighed against mercy.

It would be trite to expatiate largely on the importance of the events attendant on the triumphant accession of William to the crown of England. Every section in the history of Britain for many succeeding ages, whether civil, military, or religious; whether appertaining to arts, customs, or manners; is affected by this great era in our annals, either through immediate or re Jative operation; and, in most instances, assuredly in a benefi cial way. Contemplated in a general and national point of view, the Norman conquest introduced to this country a spirit of commerce, by facilitating the approach to continental markets, and by conducting foreign merchants to our exchange. To the upper classes it imparted a degree of politeness, befare unknown or disdained; and, amongst every division of the people, it renovated habits of piety, which had become dormant in the iron ages of civil commotion and sanguinary rapine. In the government of William we see an efficiency of ruling power, so wisely though severely knit together, that all parties are united by interest in the support of the throne.

The effects of the conquest on such circumstances as are presumed to be of leading interest with the reader of the present work, are numerous and truly important. The great accession to our stock of national architecture, will be noticed in the pages which present remarks on the most conspicuous ves

tiges of buildings constructed by the Anglo-Normans. In this place, some attention is required to the changes produced by the new government in the state of society.

The prevailing feature in the innovations effected by the Norman sway, will be found to consist in the introduction of the system of Feudal tenure. In regard to those laws which regulate the familiar occurrences of life, and are unconnected with the tenure of what may be termed natural property [the soil and its inartificial appurtenances] the conqueror usually suffered the enactments of Saxon legislation to remain in force. Some laws promulgated at this period are evidently of Norman origin, and were introduced to England by the invaders, in attention to their previous habits of life; while other novel enactments appear to have been purely the offspring of temporary conviction and expediency. But, independent of the system of feudal tenure, the principal changes effected in the morals and manners of the people were produced by example, rather than by the coercion or incitement of legal interference.*

The Feudal System, by which term is to be understood a form of tenure that admits the idea of the sovereign being proprietor of all the lands in his dominions, and the holders under which are, accordingly, subject to the payment or performance of certain direct services to the crown; existed, as to effect, in the

time

• For proofs of the correctness of these remarks, see Turner's Hist. of England, Vol. I; and Bawdwen's Introduction to the translation of Domesday. But it will be observed, that if most of the laws remained the same, the form of judicial proceedings experienced considerable alteration.—As the judges and pleaders in the courts of England were now almost invariably Normans, the Norman, or French, language was both spoken and written in law-transactions.-As a circumstance of some curiosity, it may be recol lected that the confirmation of deeds and charters by seals of wax, impressed on the document, or appended to it, was now commonly substituted for the Anglo-Saxon mode of using the sign of the cross, as a confirmatory appendage to the subscription of a witness.-See some remarks on the modes of sub scribing to Anglo-Saxon charters, and other instruments, Archæol. Vol. X. p. 232.

time of the Anglo-Saxons; since most proprietors of land were then bound, as such, to attend the king in military expeditions, besides rendering other minor duties. When the wealth and power of the country were entirely vested in the land-holders, and the science of government was in its infancy, an exaction of military service, proportioned to the extent of landed property, was, perhaps, uecessary to the safety and well-being of the state. But even this groundwork and foundation of feudal customs, was, in some instances, relinquished by the Anglo-Saxon kings; and the minor burthens to which land was subjected under their sway, were chiefly such as were essential to public welfare; namely, assistance in the constructing and repairing of three kinds of buildings: bridges; fortresses; and defensive walls. The above three services have been termed by later writers the trinoda necessitas.-William the first increased the duties, and directed their effect more peculiarly to the support of the crown, through various descending ramifications; thus completing the system of feudal tenure, according to the mode of the duchy over which he had ruled from childhood.

Unhappily, this rigid establishment of feudal customs was a matter that, at the time of its imposition, required little discussion among the English. The numerous forfeitures consequent on the battle of Hastings, and various subsequent but partial revolts, placed a great proportion of the lands of England in the hands of the conqueror; and the possessions thus revolving to the crown were bestowed, with tyrannous munificence, on William's Norman followers.*

It

The conqueror appears to have bestowed on the Earl of Mortain 793 manors; on the Bishop of Baieux 439 manors; and on many other Normans, possessions almost equally extensive. Unless we suppose that these great lords possessed merely a paramount seigniory over many of the manors entered as theirs in the record of Domesday; and thence were entitled to no profits from such estates, except the military service of the under-tenant, when they accompanied the king in his wars, and the wardship of minor

It is observed by Blackstone, that the introduction of feudal tenures into England by King William "does not seem to have been effected immediately after the conquest, nor by the mere arbitrary will and power of the conqueror; but to have been gradually established by the Norman barons, and others, in such forfeited lands as they received from the gift of the conqueror, and afterwards universally consented to by the great council of the nation, long after his title was established."*

Whether

this statement be entirely correct or not, it is unquestionable that the institution of military feudal services, according to the Norman mode, promised, in the early simplicity of the design, to afford a strong mean of national defence, with little attendant penalty or inconvenience; aud it was, therefore, agreed to by a great council convened for that purpose.

But in after-ages, when property passed from the hands of those who willingly submitted to the feudal yoke, and when succeeding monarchs took an inordinate advantage of their preroga tive, the establishment of feudal tenure, with its various services and prestations, was found to be a grievance of incalculable magnitude. Nor were the calamities of this system confined to those who held directly of the crown. They extended to all classes which possessed landed property; for the baron exacted from his vassals the same duties in the limited sphere of his own estate, which himself rendered to royalty; and even the vassals of the baron sometimes granted subinfeudations, in strict attention to the same plan. Thus, in its involutions, the system of feudal tenure inflicted a degrading taint of slavery upon the landed proprietor of every rank, which, although lessened in the reign of John, was, perhaps, finally abolished only at the great revolution of 1688.

In this state of society, it was natural that many sighs should

be

beirs; their wealth and power must have been inordinate, beyond all comparison with disproportionate rank in any other age.

• Blackstone's Comment. Vol. II. p. 48.