NOTES p. 34. Duke Robert of Normandy. Though the eldest son of the Conqueror, Robert did not succeed to the kingdom of England, but to the dukedom of Normandy. This he sold to his brother William, in order to provide money for a crusade. p. 34. cummer, goodwife, gossip. The corresponding French word commère is still current in France, though cummer is no longer in use in England. p. 35. Casquets, the rocks off the Channel Islands, notable for the wreck of the Stella recently. p. 37. Assizes, sittings' or courts held in different central towns at stated times during the year. p. 42. done homage, declared on bended knee that he was the king's 'man', .e. acknowledged the king as his superior, who had certain rights over him. p. 58. Scottish Estates, the ancient parliament of Scotland, consisting of the higher clergy, the barons, and the burgh commissioners. p. 72. the rifle, &c. The barrel of a rifle is grooved on the inside by a long spiral, so that the bullet is given a rotatory motion in the barrel before coming out at the muzzle. Formerly muskets were loaded at the muzzle-end, the charge being rammed down: now the cartridge is put in at the other end, the breech. A magazine rifle has a compartment containing a number of cartridges which can be fired off in very rapid succession by means of special mechanism. The Maxim gun (so called from its inventor, Hiram Maxim) is a piece of machine artillery capable of firing a number of shots in rapid succession. p. 77. poll-tax, i.e. a tax levied at so much a head: any particular household would have to pay in proportion to the number of its members. p. 82. annates, the income of a church living for the first year. p. 107. Hydra, a fabulous monster which dwelt in a swamp, and ravaged the surrounding country. It had nine heads. The destruction of this monster was one of the twelve labours set the mythical Greek hero Hercules. As fast as he struck off one head, two grew in its place. p. 110. blackmail. The bands of robbers had allies who extorted money from people as payment for protecting them from being robbed. This was known as blackmail. p. 112. French galleys, large boats driven by oars, which were worked by slaves or prisoners chained to them. The life of a galley-slave was one of terrible toil and torture. p. 148. conventicles, meetings for worship held by dissenters, not in consecrated churches, and very often in the open air. p. 170. Dundee, i.e. Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, see page 153. p. 202. warp. Weaving is done by passing a thread called the woof backwards and forwards across the warp, a number of threads stretched longways on a frame. p. 211. household suffrage, i.e. the right to vote is enjoyed by everyone who lives for a certain time in the same place and pays the rates. p. 234. spheres of influence, portions of territory in regard to which we have a controlling power, to the exclusion of any other European nation. p. 234. trekked, migrated, travelled. To trek is the Dutch term for travelling from place to place with their wagons, flocks, and herds, household goods, &c. p. 236. suzerain, overlord. their internal affairs. The Boers have independence as regards p. 242. cut the painter. The painter is a rope used for fastening one boat to another. To cut the painter' is to set the rearmost boat adrift. SYNOPSIS. I. THE RACES OF BRITAIN. i. The Early Peoples of Britain. The earliest races that lived in Britain were savages; their bones and tools are sometimes found in caves. They were followed by The Celts, of whom there were two main branches: 1. The Gaels, from whom are descended the Irish and the Scottish Highlanders. 2. The Britons, from whom the Welsh are descended. ii. The Roman Occupation of Britain, 43 A.D.-410. 1. The Celts of Britain aided their kinsmen in Gaul in their resistance to Rome, and Julius Cæsar crossed the Channel to show the power of Roman arms. Curiosity about an almost unknown land, and desire to share in the wealth of its tin mines, also drew the Romans to Britain. 2. But the Romans determined to annex Britain only in 43 A.D. 3. The northern limits of the Roman Province in Britain were fixed by Hadrian's Wall from the Solway to the Tyne, separating the province from the Picts of North Britain. 4. The most serious revolt of the Britons against Roman power was that of Queen Boadicea, who destroyed Colchester, St. Albans, and London. 5. Results of the Roman Occupation: (1) Country divided into provinces, and the country pacified. (2) Marshes drained, forests cleared, (3) Copper and tin mines worked. (5) Numerous public buildings theatres, baths, temples, and villas for private individuals. (6) Great roads constructed for military and commercial purposes. (7) Roman dress, manners, and language adopted by upper classes. (8) Christianity introduced. 6. Traces of Roman occupation still found in Britain: (1) Remains of camps, roads, temples, baths, pottery, &c. (2) Latin words in place-names like Doncaster, Winchester, Gloucester (Lat. castra, Lincoln a camp), (Lat. colonia, a settlement), Portsmouth (Lat. portus, a harbour). iii. The English Invasion of Britain, 449-547. 1. The new invaders, who came from the northern shores of Germany, included: (1) Jutes, from Jutland or Denmark. (2 Angles, or English, from Schleswig-Holstein. (3) Saxons, from the basin of the Lower Elbe. The Britons called them all Saxons; they are often called Anglo-Saxons; but the best common name for all is English. 2. The Britons were forced to retire to the high lands of: (1) West Wales Cornwall and Devonshire. (2) North Wales-modern Wales. (3) Strathclyde, or Cumbria-between the Ribble and the Clyde, and west of the Pennine Range. 3. In North Britain there still remained outside the Roman Province: (1) The kingdom of the Picts, north of the Forth and east of the Grampians, (2) The kingdom of the Scots, immigrants from Ireland in the Highlands and Western Islands. 4. The nature of the English Conquest: (1) The English Conquest-a national migration, establishing a new language and new institutions. Thus very different from the Roman Conquest, which was a military occupation. (2) Christianity disappeared with the settlement of the heathen new comers. (3) English kingdoms were founded as the country was wrested from the Celts. 5. The old English kingdoms consisted socially of: (1) A King (A.S. cyning), elected at first by the folk-moot or assembly of freemen, and later by the witan or assembly of wise men. (2) The Eorlas, or nobles. (3) The Ceorls, or simple freemen, land-owners. (4) The Theowas, or slaves, some of whom were Britons. 6. The system of self-government established by the English involved: (1) The town-moot, presided over by the town-reeve or governor, for each township or village. (2) The hundred-moot, presided over by the hundredes-ealdor (elder), and composed of members from groups of townships. (3) The folk-moot, or assembly of the whole folk or people. (4) The Witan, or council of wise men, a sort of inner council of the folk-moot, and somewhat resembling our House of Lords. II. THE COMING OF The chief points to be noted are: (1) The English settlers were heathens, worshipping Woden and Thor. (2) The Mission of St. Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory the Great, 597. (3) Kent was the first, and Sussex the last kingdom to become Christian. (4) St. Aidan from Iona, to which Christianity was brought by Columba from Ireland, established a monastery at Lindisfarne. (5) The Synod of Whitby, held to consider the differences between the Roman and the Celtic Christian churches, decided in favour of the Roman practice. 2. Results of the Conversion of the English to Christianity and of a united church: (1) The Archbishop of CanterburyPrimate of all England - divided the country into dioceses or sees, supervised by bishops; later on, parish boundaries were fixed. (2) A united church helped to a (3) The new religion offered an ex- ii. Bede "the venerable Bede". iii. Dunstan, scholar and statesman, became Archbishop of Canterbury. III.-THE UNION OF ENGLAND. i. The Rise of Wessex: 1. Three of the old English kingdoms -Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex -became in turn more powerful than all the others. 2. The title of Bretwalda, or overlord, was taken by seven of the kings before Egbert. 3. Egbert, king of Wessex, as overlord, was crowned king of the English. ii. The Danish Invasions: The English kingdoms were forced to unite to repel a new enemy- the Danes. The Danes, also known as Norsemen, Northmen (Normans in France), and Vikings, began to make inroads on England in 787. 3. The Danish Invasions passed through two stages: (1) The stage of plunder. They became masters of all England except Wessex. iii. The Hero-King of Wessex: 1. Alfred was great not only as a king, but as (1) A Warrior: he helped to win the battle of Ashdown; won Ethandune; forced the Danes to surrender at Chippenham. (2) A Statesman: he concluded the Treaty of Wedmore, giving to the Danes England east of Watling Street; he laid the foundation of England's naval power; he reformed the laws. (3) A Teacher: he was a famous scholar; established schools; translated books into English; ordered the making of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 2. His sons and grandsons gradually restored Saxon sway over the Danelaw. IV. THE FALL OF THE SAXONS. i. The Golden Age of Saxon England. 1. From 800 to 978 was a period of great kings, and one great statesman -Dunstan. 2. The period of disunion and weakness that followed was marked by: (1) The institution of the Danegeld. (2) The Massacre of St. Brice's Day. (3) The reign of three Danish kings over England, 1017-1042. ii. The Norman Invasion. 1. The causes that led up to the Norman invasion: (1) The favour shown to Normans by (2) His making Normans earls, (3) His giving a promise to leave the crown to William, duke of Normandy. (4) The oath sworn by Harold when a prisoner in Normandy. 2. Leading events: (1) Harold defeated Tostig and the Northmen at Stamford Bridge, 1066. (2) William landed at Pevensey. (3) Harold was defeated and slain at Senlac, near Hastings, 1066. V.-NORMANS AND ENGLISH: 1. William the Conqueror was King of England: (1) By right of conquest. (2) By right afterwards of election by the Witan. 2. William's policy was: (1) To subdue the English thoroughly. (2) To keep the Normans from revolting. (3) To establish Feudalism in England. 3. The change in the system of land tenure was effected: (1) By confiscating the lands of all the English who fought for Harold. (2) By making the other English land-owners do homage. Thus the king became, in name, owner of all the land. 4. The Feudal System. (1) The king was sole owner of all land. (2) The king granted estates to his nobles and barons-tenants-inchief. (3) The tenants-in-chief granted smaller estates to sub-tenants. (4) Below the free tenants were the serfs or villeins. (5) Each lord had jurisdiction over his own vassals. (6) Vassals could be called on to fight for their lords. 5. To maintain strong rule over his kingdom, William (1) Gave the barons large estates, but broken up into scattered portions. (2) Made all tenants swear obedience at Salisbury, to the king first and to the lords after. (3) Caused the Domesday Survey of England to be made. 6. William I.'s dangers came from: (1) The English, who rebelled against him. (2) The dissatisfied Norman barons, who rebelled also. (3) His own sons, who were allied with France against him. VI. THE WORST EVILS OF The chief points to be noted in this chapter are: 1. The people feared the barons more than they feared the king. 2. The civil war between the followers of Stephen and Matilda. 3. The cruelties of the barons -"nineteen long winters". |