452-506. Oman 150-165. Green 79.) The English army was posted on the highest point of the B. of Senlac, 1066. hill of Senlac. This was joined to the hills behind by a narrow (Freeman N.C. iii, ridge with steep descents on either hand. To guard against charges of the Norman horsemen and against the long shooting of the Norman bows, a fence of crossed woodwork was built and a slight ditch was dug in front: behind this stood the warriors with their terrible English battle-axes, and the more rudely armed men of the National Fyrd. William's front rank consisted of archers, his second of footsoldiers armed with pikes and swords. The third was the main strength of the army, the knights mounted. When the two former ranks had shaken the defence, the horsemen were to deliver the crushing blow. The stubborn defence of the English withstood all the attacks of the foot-soldiers, and the horsemen charged up the hill again and again in vain. They could not break into the English mass, and many a Norman knight fell dead at a single blow of the English axe, which crashed through shield and mail, often felling both horse and rider. At last William's left wing recoiled down the hill in wild disorder pursued by the peasants. These forgot that their sole chance of victory lay in keeping their ranks firm till their assailants were exhausted. William at once saw the mistake. Wheeling the cavalry of his centre into the tumultuous crowd, the rash peasants were ridden down in a moment, and orders were issued that other parts of his army should pretend to fly. Again the excited English broke their ranks and rushed after the fugitives. The stubborn front was broken in many places and the battle was practically won. 66 in But Harold himself, and his chosen bodyguard, still held their ground, and a long and bloody fight raged round the Standard of the Wessex Dragon and his own ensign of the Fighting Man. They could only stand firm and await the repeated charges of the Norman knights, for the supply of missiles had long since given out. The chronicler says the English ranks the only movement was the dropping of the dead the living stood motionless." Their slaughtered enemies were heaped before them, and when evening drew on they were still unconquered. William then bade his archers shoot high in the air so that the arrows fell downwards upon the English. One of these chance shafts pierced Harold in the eye and gave him a mortal wound. The English defence wavered, broke, and melted into the forests at the rear. In the pursuit many of the Norman knights lost their footway on the sides of the narrow ridge and were plunged to the bottom where English fugitives turned to cut them to pieces. On both sides the loss was enormous; the English army was practically killed to a man, in the battle and the pursuit. WILLIAM I. 1066—1087. i. Character and Title. ii. Completion of the Conquest 1, West; 2, North; 3, Welsh borders; 4, Hereward iii. Baronial Risings 1, Hereford and Norfolk; 2, Robert in Normandy; 3, Odo iv. Settlement of England 1. The English: 2. Normans: 3. General: (a) Confiscation; (b) afforesting; (c) Castles (a) William's Feudalism (compared with English Feudalism) (b) Reliance on English (c) Scattered estates (a) Control over local administration (b) Control over central administration (Witan) (e) Control over National levies (The Fyrd) v. Foreign affairs (b) Strengthening of Royal Supremacy (c) Separation of lay and ecclesiastical Courts 1, Scotland; 2, France. vi. William's Death and Work. 1. Character and II. Completion of The new King was hard, austere, exacting and oppressive. His heavy hand made the English comprehend their national unity through a common suffering. But between man and man he was just, and he made and kept good order. Moreover he did so by his own power. He was his own Minister. His claims to the throne were threefold: 1. The legal title which he asserted was that he had been nominated heir by Edward the Confessor. 2. He was also elected King by the Witan, which he collected as soon as possible in London. 3. His real title came, of course, from his own strong arm. The best title of the Norman King was the Norman Conquest. That Conquest was not yet completed. But there was no the Conquest real difficulty after the victory at Senlac. The resistance offered was merely local, and was easily crushed in detail. (Freeman ch. viii.) 1. Welsh. 2. North. Harold's sons stood out in the west of England, but they were quickly defeated at Exeter and Bristol. The north rose next year. The Normans in Durham were massacred and Waltheof, an English noble, seized York. William's prompt measures quickly crushed the rising, and in HVPL the hope of gaining the English to his side Waltheof was made Earl of Northumberland. Disaffection showed itself next in the Welsh borders, but its 3. Welsh borders. conquest was completed by the capture of Chester. The last stand of the English was led by Hereward the 4. Hereward. (Freeman 158.) Wake, and supported by Edwin and Morcar, in the Fenland. With the fall of Ely the conquest of the English was ended. 1071. Risings. To crush the English William had been obliged to give great III. Baronial powers to his Norman Barons. These had accompanied him mainly in the hope of plunder and power. They found however that the strong king would no more tolerate opposition from his friends than from his enemies, and disappointment led some of them to challenge his supremacy. and Waltheof. (Freeman 155, 165-170.) (Green 82.) mandy. In 1074 a dangerous rebellion broke out headed by the Earls 1. Hereford, Norfolk, of Hereford and Norfolk in conjunction with Waltheof. It was the first of a long series, extending through many reigns, of attempts by the Barons to assert their independence against royal power. It was crushed and Waltheof was executed. 2. Robert in NorThe Vale of York was ruthlessly laid waste. William's son Robert rose also in Normandy, but with no success (p. 8). In 1084 his half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of 3. Odo. Kent, rose, but William's strong hand was speedily upon him. William's own strengthening of the dignity of the Clergy (p. 7). made his own officers shrink from laying hands on a Bishop, but the king showed how he interpreted the arrangements he had made. "I arrest not the Bishop of Bayeux but the Earl of Kent" he said, and Odo remained a prisoner till the end of the reign. As the chronicler observes if a man would live and hold his lands, need it were that he followed the King's will." William's methods for the settlement of his conquered IV. Settlement o country explain both the risings of English and Normans, and their failure. England. (Freeman ch. ix.) (Freeman 171. The English lands were confiscated wholesale, on the plea of 1. English. treason to the legal king. Much of the land so forfeited was a, Confiscation. given to Norman supporters to buy their allegiance. Much was, or became, Forest land, and this was made Royal Domain where the King's power was arbitrary and uncontrolled. It b, Afforesting. was reserved for the purposes of hunting (of which William like all the Normans was very fond), and revenue, and was regulated by special courts in which special Forest Laws were enforced with the utmost strictness. The towns were overawed and held in check by strong castles, of which many still c, Casties. remain besides the Tower of London which is a typical example. The Norman Barons hoped for feudal independence. They 2. received the lands of the conquered English on condition of military service, and hoped to be supreme in their own domains with unlimited rights of private jurisdiction and powers of subletting. This was the feudalism of the Continent. But (Oman 521-5.) Normans. a, William's feudalism. (Stubbs i, 278. (Green 83.) (Compared with English feudalism.) (Stubbs i, 294.) b, reliance on English. (Oman 357.) c, scattered Estates 3. General. a, Control over local administration. b, Witan. William was far too shrewd to allow anything like this in his new conquest. He had seen its evil results in his own country and was not minded to allow them to be repeated. Feudalism of a sort, had long existed in England. The personal tie between the lord and vassal was strong, and it had been an accepted principle that "every landless man must have a lord." The vassals too had had rights of private jurisdiction (termed "Sac and Soc ") within their domains. But the supreme authority of the central government had never been lost. The Witan was the highest court and to it the local courts were all subservient; and the military service which was done for land was not a rent payable to a personal owner, but a tax payable to the State. Thus although a vassal was allowed to sublet his land to another, the feudal service of this latter had to be rendered, not as on the Continent simply to the immediate superior, but to the power which was supreme over all, namely, the State. William extended these principles. The feudalism he allowed concerned the tenure of land only. Military service must be rendered to the King, but there must be no private jurisdictions outside the control of his own supreme authority. None were allowed to be hereditary, but all must come directly from the King. Private privileges and powers must be subordinated to national institutions and the central government. He was clever enough to make the English see that the tyranny of one was preferable to the tyranny of many, and the support of the English was one of his greatest sources of strength. Just as he had obtained recognition and election from the English Witan, so he maintained the old English local Courts alongside the Manor Courts of the Norman landholders. The National Army, the Fyrd, was retained, and organised alongside the Feudal Army. To prevent any Norman Baron from becoming too powerful he guarded against the accumulation of great single estates. The rewards of his followers were spread over different districts and separated by great distances. The only exceptions were the great Palatine Earldoms on the borders where defence was needed against external foes: Durham, Chester, Shrewsbury, and Kent. The supreme local official in each county was the sheriff, who was appointed by and answerable to, the King. The Witan was similarly dependent on the King, for, under the name of the Commune Concilium, it became much more distinctly than before a body of the King's advisers merely, with out any power of acting. Theoretically it was the assembly of all great and small, who held land directly from the King. Of course only those were likely to attend who had wealth or influence enough to make their opinions weighty, but even these knew they were the King's men," and that the King could always appeal to the greater number who were absent. The first place in England was held un mistakably by the King. Freeman 185.) (Jury system.) By 1085-6 Domesday Book was drawn up. It was a c, Domesday Book. general and minute survey of England, setting forth the holders (Select Charters 86. of all the lands, with minute details of value and the conditions of tenure. The information was collected by Commissions, who gathered the particulars from information given on oath by chosen bodies of men in the several localities. This shows how the system of juries began. (Sel. Chart, 25.) Green 85. a, strengthening of Papal power. Next year at Salisbury every landholder was required to d, The Oath of Salisbury. swear direct allegiance, not only to his immediate lord, but also to the King. Such an oath of course cut away the basis e, National Fyrd. of continental feudalism as a system of rule. The re-organisation of the National Fyrd has already been mentioned (p. 6). William's ecclesiastical changes were much greater than his 4. Ecclesiastical. political. As the champion of the Pope (p. 2) his victory brought a much closer connection with the Papacy than had hitherto been known in England. The Norman Lanfranc became Archbishop, and Norman clerics, supporters of the Papacy, were everywhere promoted. But the royal power was maintained. Lanfranc as Papal Legate might exercise powers over the Clergy and even over the laity, but not when the king disapproved. Canons, (i.e. ecclesiastical laws) could only be made with the King's approval. Tenants in chief could only be placed under Church discipline by the King's permission. b, strengthening of Stubbs i, 309.) and ecclesiastical Courts. (G. & M. 49.) The separation of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Courts which c, Separation of lay William brought about was caused by his desire to weaken as regards the king all powers within his dominions, as well as by (Select Charters 85.) his desire to strengthen the moral authority and dignity of the clerical office. He gave the Church, because she had the highest moral authority, a position independent of Norman baron and English freeholder, but in doing so of course he halved the power of each Court. The old English Courts had exercised both civil and ecclesiastical authority. There were now to be Courts with civil authority only and Courts with ecclesiastical authority only. There would be sure to be difficulties if the civil power and the ecclesiastical power quarrelled, as they soon did. But the immediate results of these ecclesiastical changes were excellent. It was a gain that the clergy, who were drawn by them to the side of the Conqueror, should be on the side of rule d, raised standard and order. The general standard of the Clergy was raised. Lanfranc himself was the greatest scholar in Europe, and learning and morality rapidly improved. Monasteries, the only places where culture was to be found, and where an and dignity of Clergy. Education. Monasteries. |