to the headship of the old abbey of Glastonbury. This man with his countrymen squandered the accumulated wealth of the monastery, while, not content with holding the monks to the strictest observance of the rule of their order, he even let them suffer privation. An arbitrary change of the old Gregorian chant, in place of which he strove to introduce one composed by John, abbot of Fécamp, gave occasion, together with his profane violences, to a disastrous conflict in the church, at the altar of which some of the monks were slain and many wounded. As a punishment, Thurstan merely forfeited his abbey, and was sent back to his Norman cloister. To archbishop Lanfranc even this penalty seemed too severe, and he counselled the abbot to offer a pecuniary atonement to the king, and not to be disheartened, even should it be rejected. The result was, that Thurstan immediately recovered the abbey of Glastonbury from William's successor, for five hundred pounds of silver1.

Occurrences of this kind frequently took place, although with their details but seldom recorded. One merit only is wont to be ascribed to the greater number of these prelates of Norman origin, that of having employed great exertions and much care in the erection and restoration of abbeys, churches, and other structures connected with them. This merit belongs unquestionably to the Normans, to whose love of architecture we are indebted for many grand and beautiful monuments, that will long bid defiance to the destroying hand of time, and continue to excite our admiration. Yet, in appreciating their founders, it must be borne in mind, that this, like other styles of architecture, rose out of given and imperative circumstances, and the wonder-exciting, castlelike abbey was no other than the fortress, in which the war

1 Sax. Chron. Flor. Wigorn. a. 1083, Lanfranci Epist. 53. 2 Lappenberg here is of course speaking of the massive Norman architecture, which is evidently a barbarous imitation of the Roman, and closely resembling the Anglo-Saxon, though somewhat less rude.-T.

like abbots were compelled to defend themselves against the violence of the neighbouring hostile laity. But here, as in the rest of Europe, not one of the larger and more splendid structures is wholly the work of its first founder, though the almost lightless, strong walls of hewn stone, with few and narrow entrances, may still be easily traced, and which, even without ditch and rampart, protected the spiritual castellain and his monks.

Nearly twenty years had now passed since the conquest of England, and the children of Harold had saved themselves by flight to the neighbouring kingdoms. William's tranquil possession of the country seemed no longer endangered by any commotion, when, on a sudden, intelligence was received that the Danish king, Cnut, afterwards distinguished as "the Saint," the second son of king Svend Estrithson, either to avenge his expelled kinsmen's or his own former failure, or to make good his pretensions to the crown, was preparing for an expedition against England (1085). He had, as we are informed, assembled a fleet of more than a thousand vessels in the Limfiord (a firth on the north-west of Jutland 2); and his father-in-law, Robert the Frisian, count of Flanders, was ready to support him with six hundred sail. The Norwegian king, too, Olaf Kyrre, who had to avenge on England the death of his father, Harald Hardrâda, at Stamford Bridge3, sent him sixty ships completely equipped+.

William, who had never placed any trust in the good disposition of the Anglo-Saxons, and much less than formerly in that of the Normans in England, assembled numerous bands of mercenaries from Normandy, Le Maine, and the rest of

1 See page 129.

2 Lingard forgets to make mention of the thousand or more Danish ships, merely saying that "he obtained a fleet of sixty ships from Olave, king of Norway, and a promise of another six hundred sail from his father-in-law, Robert, earl of Flanders."-T.

3 See Engl. under the A. S. kings, ii. p. 280.

4 W. Malm. Flor. Wigorn. a. 1084. Snorri, Olaf Kyrri's Saga, cap. 8.

France, and even from Spain. Many noble knights, too, and among them Hugh, the king of France's second brother, joined him, and accompanied him to England, where, dispersed over the country, they were a heavy burden to the inhabitants, who were charged with their maintenance1. Besides this, the old tax of Dane-gelt, at the rate of six shillings the hide, was re-imposed, to defray the expenses of the preparations, but which the Norman lords again extorted from their Anglo-Saxon vassals. All the land on the coast, where a landing might be expected, was laid waste, that nothing might be left to the enemy whereon to seize1. The inhabitants were even forbidden to wear their native garb, that their Danish friends might not so easily recognize them; and were, moreover, commanded to shave off their long beards; though few, it is said, complied with this mandate". It was probably the great and efficient measures adopted by William for the defence of the country, which inclined Cnut to deliberate before venturing further; and, in the following year, when a rebellious spirit had spread itself among his followers, and his army was tired of the long delay, induced him to abandon the enterprise. His brother, Olaf, who was the instigator of the rebellion, he caused to be arrested, ignominiously bound, and sent to his father-in-law, the count of Flanders. Here again, the golden missiles, which William never spared, together with those of steel, most probably fulfilled their mission; and of the Dane-gelt, no inconsiderable portion found its ultimate destination at king Cnut's court in Haithaby (Sleswig). The murder of the Danish king, which took place shortly after,

1 Ingulphus, p. 516.

2 We still have notices respecting the produce of these exactions in the Inquisitio Geldi, in the Exeter Domesday.

3 Sax. Chron. a. 1085. Flor. Wigorn. a. 1084.

4 Sax. Chron. a. 1085.

5 Ælnothi Vita Canuti, cap. 12 sq. apud Langebek, SS. Rer. Dan. iii. 6 Ælnoth. 1. c. Saxo Gram. edit. Müller. p. 585.

assured William against any future attempts on his kingdom from that quarter.

Of William's civil acts, after the conquest of England, the most prominent is the introduction of the Feudal System. This was the natural and necessary consequence of a revolution, by which all the landed property of the country was wrested from its native holders, and bestowed on those foreign chieftains, who had aided in the subjugation of the land, who naturally looked for a share of the spoil, and were to constitute its aristocracy; while these, in like manner, had to provide for their followers, by a subdivision of the estates conferred on them by the crown. Hence the distinctions of tenants in chief, (tenentes in capite), and under tenants; the former being those who held their lands immediately of the king; the latter those who held of the great immediate holders, or tenants in chief.

The lands thus bestowed by the king consisted at first either in the demesne lands of the crown, or of those native proprietors, who had fallen in battle, or had preferred voluntary exile to submission; but gradually, in consequence of forfeitures, (the penalty of resistance to a foreign yoke), and other causes, nearly the whole landed property of the kingdom passed into the hands of the Normans.

Although these landed possessions were bestowed for past services, they were, nevertheless, subject to certain obligations to the lord paramount, of whom they were held; to the king, in the case of tenants in chief; and to the tenant in chief, in that of an under tenant. Of these obligations, the most honourable was that of knight-service, or the obligation to furnish a certain number of cavaliers completely armed for the king's service, and to maintain them in the field for forty days. This service was extended to all tenants in chief, both lay and ecclesiastical, including monasteries and other religious foundations, with the sole exception of those who held by frankalmoign, or free alms.

Thus all the landed property of the kingdom was held either by the sovereign, or by a tenant in chief, holding immediately under him. In the distribution of lands, each of such feudal possessions was divided into two parts, one of which was doled out to the under-tenants, consisting of Norman officials and others, military and civil, or of such Anglo-Saxons as had been ousted from the possession of the estate, and were now reduced, from the degree of thane, to the condition of simple freeholders, or franklins. The other portion the Norman lord retained in his own hands, under the denomination of his demesne lands, which he either farmed out to the cultivators of the soil, or cultivated for his own benefit, by the hands of his villeins, or serfs.

Besides military service, the great tenants of the crown were required to attend the king's court at the three grand festivals, of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide; and at all other times when summoned. They constituted the great legislative body of the kingdom1.

On succeeding to a fief at the death of the possessor, the heir was required to pay a certain sum to the lord of whom he held. In the Norman times this was called a relief, and originally, like the heriot of the Anglo-Saxons, consisted of certain chattels, as horses, hauberks, helmets, lances, etc.; but which was afterwards commuted into a pecuniary fine2. In addition to the relief, payments (aids) were exacted from the tenant; 1. when the lord paid the relief of his fief to his superior lord; 2. when his eldest son was made a knight; 3. on the marriage of his eldest daughter; 4. when he was captured by an enemy 3.

A fief could not be devised by will, or otherwise alienated by its holder; but must descend to the legal heir, subject to the same burthens, on payment of the customary relief.

1 Lingard, ii. p. 46. edit. 1837.

2 Anc. Laws and Inst. p. 204, fol. edit. and (pp. 72, 73) Cnut's laws 'Be Hergeate,' of which William's is only a modification.

3 Hallam, Middle Ages, i. p. 178, edit. 1855.