CHRONICLE

OF THE

KINGS OF ENGLAND.

I.-WILLIAM the Conqueror.

Now it came to pass, in the year one thousand sixty and six, in the month of September, on the eighth day of the month, that William of Normandy, surnamed the Bastard, landed in England, and pitched his tent in a field near the town of Hastings.

Then Harold the king, attended by all his nobles, came forth to meet him with a numerous army, and gave him battle.

Now it came to pass in the year one thousand sixty and six.] The historian carefully fixes the time of this memorable epoch in English history. The news of William's immense preparations had spread throughout Europe: his fame as a warrior, the great talents he had displayed in subduing the rebellious spirit of his own subjects, and in his war with the king of France, attracted to his standard adventurers from all parts, who were ambitious to seek renown under such a distinguished leader. From the prodigious numbers who flocked from all quarters, William selected an army of 60,000 brave and experienced veterans. Among the bold chieftains who engaged under his banner, and to whom he held up the spoils of England as the reward of their valour, we find the celebrated names of Eustace Count of Boulogne, Hugh d'Estaples, William d'Evereux, Roger de Montgomery, Charles Martel, and Geoffrey Giffard. The preparations being completed, William embarked his troops on 3000 vessels, assembled in the small river Dive, and set sail; having first received from the Pope his benediction, a consecrated banner, and a ring with one of St. Peter's hairs in it, to protect him in his undertaking.

Then Harold the king.] The rightful heir to the throne, in the Saxon line, was Edgar Atheling; but the pretensions of this weak and incapable prince were set aside to make way for Harold, the son of Earl Godwin, whose great talents, his bravery, affable and generous disposition, had gained the hearts of both the nobles and the people. Harold was stigmatized by William as a perjured usurper; but the truth is, his title was as valid as the title of many of his predecessors: for under the Saxons the succession to the crown was by no means hereditary; it was sometimes conferred by the suffrages of the people in their Wittenagemot; sometimes it was a testamentary grant from the preceding king; and not unfrequently, as was partly the case in the present instance, the reward of the personal qualities and successful intrigues of adventurers.

William the Conqueror.

And it was fought from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same.

But the Lord gave up Harold into the hands of his enemies, and he was pierced with an arrow, and his army was routed with exceeding great slaughter.

Then William the Bastard took on him the royal robes, and the sceptre and the diadem, and was made king of England, and was called the conqueror.

And he seized the coffers of king Harold; and the gold, and the silver, and the precious stones, and all the treasures he distributed to his followers.

And it was fought from the rising of the sun.] The Normans commenced the onset with great fury, singing the song of Roland, a famous peer of Charlemagne. The conflict long remained undecided; till, at length, by William feigning to retreat, and then suddenly turning upon his pursuers, it was decided in his favour. The slaughter was prodigious on both sides; William had three horses killed under him. Hume says 15,000 Normans were slain on the spot, and the loss of the vanquished was still more considerable.

But the Lord gave up Harold.] The conquered monarch acted like a brave and skilful general, and merited victory rather than defeat. His two brothers, Gurth and Leofwin, were slain, fighting bravely by his side. According to Rapin, his body was so disfigured by wounds, that it was hard to distinguish among the dead; but at length one of his mistresses discovered it, by certain private marks only known to herself. Giraldus, a stupid Monk, relates a stupid story, that the king was not slain; but fled to a cell near St. John's church, Chester, where he led for many years the life of a recluse. His body was given to his mother without ransom; and on the spot where he fell a monastery was erected, dedicated to St. Martin, called Battle-Abbey. In this abbey a list was kept of the noble families who came over with the Duke of Normandy; it was called Battle-Abbey-Roll, copies of which have been preserved by Stowe and Hollinshed.

Then William the Bastard.] The Conqueror was natural son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, by Harlotta, daughter of a tauner, in Falaise, with whom the Duke fell in love while she was dancing. The first night he slept with her, she dreamt that her bowels were extended all over England and Normandy? This was considered a good omen at the time; but, as Rapin shrewdly remarks, like many other omens, it was most probably forged after the event It is curious to observe, that both the Royalty, and no inconsiderable part of the Aristocracy of this country, may shake hands, and boast the same noble origin.

And he seized the coffers of King Harold.] This plunder he distributed liberally among the clergy, both at home and abroad, who had forwarded so much his undertaking, and to whom he did not fail to show his gratitude and devotion, in a way most acceptable to them. The standard of the vanquished monarch he sent to the Pope, with many valuable presents; and all the considerable monasteries and churches of France, where prayers had been put up for his success, tasted of his bounty. The estates of Harold, as well as the estates of all those who fought on his side at the battle of Hastings, were confiscated. But, upon the whole, he conducted himself at the commencement of his reign with a moderation and forbearance which little accorded with his subsequent harshness and barbarity. He made a tour through the country, and by various acts of clemency and kindness endeavoured to conciliate the minds of his new subjects.

William the Conqueror.

And he built a strong castle, and he fortified it with a wall and a ditch; and it is called the Tower of London unto this day.

And he subdued the land, and subjected it unto him; and that they might not rebel against him, he despoiled his subjects of all manner of instruments of war.

And he caused a survey to be taken of all the lands in the kingdom, and how much appertained to each person, which he wrote in a book called Doomsday-book.

And he built a strong castle.] The intolerable tyranny of William drove the people into continual rebellion; to retain them in subjection, he built castles at Lincoln, Cambridge, Huntingdon, York, Nottingham, and in various other parts of the country.

And he caused a survey to be taken. This was the origin of the famous Domesday or Doomsday-book, the most valuable record in the kingdom. The following description of this celebrated antiquity is taken from the Sixth volume of the Encyclopædia Britannica :-" It consists of two volumes, a greater and a less. The first is a large "folio, written in 382 double pages of vellum, in a small but plain character; each page having a double column. Some of the capital letters and principal passages " are touched with red ink, and some have strokes of red ink run across, as if scratched "out. This volume contains the description of 31 counties. The other volume is a " quarto, written upon 450 double pages of vellum, but in a single column, and on a large and in a fair character. It contains the counties of Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, part of the county of Rutland, included in that of Northampton, and part of Lin"colnshire, in the counties of York and Chester."

Besides the above, there are a third and fourth volumes, kept in the Exchequer : but they are only abridgements of the two former. Until lately, all four have been kept under three different locks and keys; one in the custody of the Treasurer, and the others in the custody of the two Chamberlains of the Exchequer. They are now deposited in the Chapter-house, Westminster, where they may be consulted on paying a fee of 6s. 8d. for a search, and 4d. a line for a transcript. Only extracts from this ancient monument have ever been published; they contain many curious particulars of the ancient state of the country. But after all the survey, though carried on with great rigour for six years, was very incomplete. The monks of Croyland, in Lincolnshire, evaded giving any accurate account; many towns and cities then in existence were altogether omitted; and there was a general reluctance on the part of the people to give information, considering the inquiry only preparatory to some new mpost.

Different reasons have been assigned by historians for this undertaking, which was more inquisitorial in its operation than the Income Tax. The most probable is, that it was to make the king acquainted with the exact income of every individual, that he might know the utmost burden he could bear. The survey was begun in the year 1080, and finished in 1086. It was conducted by Commissioners, consisting of Earls and Bishops, who summoned Juries in every hundred, out of all orders of freemen, from the Baron down to the lowest farmer. These Commissioners were to be informed, upon oath, of the name of each manor and its owner: by whom it was held in the time of Edward the Confessor; the number of hides; the quantity of wood, and pasture, and meadow; how many ploughs and fish ponds, whether it was capable of improvement; the value of the whole, and whether the owner was in debt, or had money owing him, &c.

The great Alfred, in his time, had finished a like survey of the kingdom, which was long kept at Winchester, and which probably served as a model for the Norman. The

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William the Conqueror.

And he raised a tribute from every one, according to his substance, and oppressed them greatly.

Moreover he made a law, and caused it to be observed throughout the whole kingdom, that at the ringing of a bell, all his subjects, from the greatest even unto the least, should extinguish their fires, and suffer no light to appear in their houses upon pain of death.

So it was called the curfew-bell; and at the sound thereof the lights were extinguished, and our fathers slept in the dark.

These are the acts of William the Bastard; who, after he had reigned twenty and one years, died, and was buried in his own tomb at Rouen, in Normandy, and Rufus, his son, reigned in his stead.

name of the book, Doomsday, was most probably given, from its containing such a minute account of every person as is generally expected to be given at the day of judgement and resurrection. Stowe assigns another reason-but enough of Doomsday-book.

And he raised a tribute from every one.] His avarice was insatiable. He held as crown lands 1422 manors, besides abundance of farms and lands in Middlesex, Shropshire, and Rutlandshire. His fixed annual income, exclusive of fines, escheats, reliefs, and other casual profits, was computed at £400,000; a sum which will appear, as Hume says, incredible, if the circumstances of the times are considered. A pound in that age contained three times the weight of silver that it does now, and the same weight of silver would purchase near ten times more of the necessaries of life. The revenue, therefore, of William would be equal, at least, to nine or ten millions at present; and as he had neither fleet nor army to support, (the former being only an occasional expense, and the latter being maintained, without any charge to him, by his military vassals,) we must thence conclude, that no emperor or prince, in any age or nation, can be compared to the Conqueror for riches and opulence. Vide Hume's Hist. vol. i. p. 277.

So it was called the curfew-bell.] Voltaire, in his Letters on the English Nation, remarks, that on the establishment of the Curfew, or cover-fire bell, William appeared wishful to make an experiment how far the caprice of power might be extended over a suffering and conquered people. The dreadful measures resorted to by the Norman may be gathered from his treatment of the brave Northumbrians. The country which lies between the Humber and the Tees, owing to the restless disposition of the inhabitants, he gave orders for laying entirely waste. The houses were reduced to ashes by the merciless Normans; the cattle seized and driven away; the instruments of husbandry destroyed; and for the miserable inhabitants, many of them were compelled either to seek refuge in Scotland, or they perished in the woods from cold and hunger. The lives of a hundred thousand persons are computed to have been sacrificed in this massacre and desolation.

These are the acts of William the Bastard.] William was so little ashamed of his birth, that he assumed the appellation of Bastard in some of his letters and charters. Hume gives the following account of his last acts, and the origin of his war with Philip, King of France." His displeasure," says he, "was increased by some account of the railleries which that monarch had thrown out against him. William, who was become corpulent, had been detained in bed some time by sickness; upon which Philip expressed his surprise that he should be so long in being delivered of his big belly. The king sent him word, that as soon as he was up he would present so many lights at Notre-Dame, as would, perhaps, give little pleasure to the king of France;

William the Conqueror.

alluding to the usual practice at that time of women after child-birth. Immediately on his recovery, he led his army into L'Isle de France, and laid every thing waste with fire and sword. He took the town of Mantes, which he reduced to ashes. But the progress of these hostilities were stopped by an accident which soon after put an ,end to William's life. His horse starting aside of a sudden, he bruised his belly against the pommel of the saddle; and being in a bad habit of body, as well as somewhat advanced in years, he began to apprehend the consequences, and ordered himself to be carried in a litter to the monastery of St. Gervas. Finding his illness increase, and being sensible of the approach of death, he discovered, at last, the vanity of all human grandeur, and was struck with remorse for those horrible cruelties and acts of violence, which, in the attainment and defence of it, he had committed during the course of his reign over England."-Vol. i. p. 280.

APPLICATION.

William expired in the sixty-third year of his age, in the twenty-first year of his reign over England, and in the fifty-fourth of that over Normandy. In his younger years he was handsome and well proportioned. He had rather a stern and majestic, than a mild and taking countenance; however, we are told, he could sometimes put on such gentleness and sweetness in his looks, as were hardly to be resisted. We may guess his strength and vigour, from historians assuring us, none but himself could bend his bow. The same writers are much divided concerning his chastity. Some say he was very much addicted to women in his youth; others tell us, that his little inclination that way gave occasion to call his manhood in question. Few princes have been more fortunate or were better entitled to grandeur and prosperity, from the abilities and vigour he displayed in all his conduct. His spirit was bold and enterprising, yet guided by prudence. His ambition, which was exorbitant, and lay little under the restraints of justice, still less under those of humanity, ever submitted to the dictates of sound policy. Born in an age when the minds of men were untractable and unacquainted with submission, he was yet able to direct them to his purposes; and partly from the ascendant of his vehement character, partly from art and dissimulation, to establish an unlimited authority. The maxims of his administration were auster and ill calculated for softening the rigours, which, under the most gentle management, are inseparable from conquest. Except the former conquest of England by the Saxous, who, from peculiar circumstances, proceeded to exterminate the natives, it would be difficult to find in all history a revolution more destructive. or attended with a more complete subjection of the ancient inhabitants. Contumely was wantonly added to oppression; and the unfortunate natives were universally reduced to such a state of meanness and poverty, that for ages the English name became a term of reproach; and several generations elapsed before one single family of Saxon pedigree was raised to any considerable honours, or could so much as attain the rank of baron of the realm. An attempt was even made to abolish the English language; and for that purpose William ordered that in all schools throughout the kingdom the youth should be instructed in the French tongue; a practice continued from custom till the reign of Edward III. and which has never indeed been totally discontinued. The pleadings in the supreme courts of judicature were in French: the deeds were often drawn in the same language: the laws were composed in that idiom: no other tongue was used at court: it became the language of all fashionable company: and the English themselves, ashamed of their own country, affected to excel in this foreign dialect.

The entire subjugation of the people, however, was still more shockingly evinced by the formation of the New Forest, in Hampshire, in violation of every principle of justice and humanity. The Normans, as well as ancient Saxons, were passionately fond of the chase, and none more so than the Conqueror. Not content with those large forests which former kings possessed in all parts of England, he resolved to make a new forest near Winchester, the usual place of his residence. For that purpose he laid waste the country for an extent of thirty miles, expelled the inhabitants from their houses, seized their property, demolished thirty-six churches, besides convents, and