throne, and was not at first recognised by the Northumbrians: but he seems to have been generally regarded as the successor in the late reign. Harold II. was "a prince well worthy to have founded a new dynasty, if his eminent qualities had not yielded to those of a still more illustrious enemy" (Hallam). "In opposition to the slanders of his enemies, Harold appears in the national writers as the model of a Patriot King” (Freeman). "Harold is stated to have shown both prudence and courage in the government of the kingdom; and he has been praised for his just and due administration of justice" (Palgrave). A.D. 1066. HAROLD II., elected to the throne to the exclusion of the boy Edgar Atheling (son of Edward "the Outlaw," and grand-nephew of Edward the Confessor) by the Witan-gemote on the day of the burial of Edward the Confessor, Friday, 6 Jan. The English crown claimed by "William the Bastard," duke of Normandy, on the ground of an alleged will of his father's cousin, Edward the Confessor: his appeal to Harold's oath, 15 Jan. General alarm from the great Comet, 24-30 April: Harold's banished brother, Tostig, ravages the Isle of William, duke of Normandy, procures the approba- : Harold Hardrada, king of Norway, arrives with a great expedition to claim the throne of England: he is joined by Tostig and a Scottish force in the Tyne. The invaders ravage the Yorkshire coast and burn Scarborough: land at Riccal, in the Humber: march on York: defeat the brothers Edwin and Morcar at Fulford, 20 Sept.: take York, 24 Sept.: are totally defeated by Harold II., at Stamford Bridge (Battle Bridge), 25 Sept.: Harold Hardrada, Tostig, and other chiefs slain. "A victory as decisive as any to be found in the whole history of human warfare" (Freeman). William, duke of Normandy, sails with a force of 60,000, the flower of European chivalry, from St. Valery, 27 Sept., and lands at Pevensey in Sussex, Thursday, 28 Sept. Harold II. hurries from Stamford Bridge to Senlac, eight miles from Hastings in the desperate Battle of Hastings, Harold II. is slain, and the Anglo-Saxons are routed, 13 Oct. [Battle Abbey later built by the Conqueror on the field]: the AngloSaxon Monarchy terminated by THE NORMAN CONQUEST : Anglo-Saxon Institutions, Manners, &c. The Anglo-Saxon institutions " grew by degrees; and they grew also in a country which was an almost perpetual scene of war and tumult, and which was inhabited also by races of different origin; so that the local development of these institutions varied, besides their temporary fluctuations" (Creasy). The King, or Cyning, was originally elected from among the noble families but this custom ceased before the Immigration, and the king was selected by the Witan-gemote from the royal family, the direct line being often departed from, owing to the minority of the lineal heir or other sufficient reason. His power was limited by the Witan-gemote: he appointed many of the principal officers of government: and commanded and disposed the military forces of the kingdom. The title Ealdorman (alderman, senior) was originally applied to the eldest of the chief family in each tribe, the chieftain, and hence denoted the highest nobles, as Atheling (or Etheling) denoted a member of the royal family: it came to be applied to any one in a position of authority, especially to the governor of a shire or large district. In and after the AngloDanish period, the term Earl* (Danish jarl), originally meaning After the Norman Conquest, Baron was the general term for a nobleman, but of course only some of the barons were "earls": Count (from the Latin comes, "companion") was for a time substituted for earl, but soon fell into disuse. The title Duke (Roman dux), Anglo-Saxon Heretoga, properly denoted "military leader." After the Norman Conquest this title was first granted in a man of noble birth, as opposed to the ceorl, was used for a provincial governor: the term "Ealdorman," then ceased to imply good birth, and was in this meaning supplanted by "Thane." The people were divided into-(1.) Thanes (Thegns), or landowners, who were subdivided according to the extent of their estates, into KING'S THANES, possessing forty hides of land (4,800 acres), and LESSER THANES, who possessed not less than five hides (600 acres), and of whom there were several degrees: (2.) Ceorls (Churls), freemen, who chiefly were occupied in farming lands leased from the Thanes, and who might rise to the rank of Thanes by acquiring the requisite amount of land and a mansion: (3.) Villeins (Theowas, Esnes, or Thralls), who were serfs either by birth, or as prisoners of war, or as criminals unable to pay the fine imposed by the law-courts, and who formed two-thirds of the entire population. The country was divided into Shires, Hundreds (in the northern parts the districts were called Wapentakes), and Tithings.* By the system called Frank-pledge, each Tithing was responsible as a permanent bail, for the appearance of any one of its members accused of crime, and also for the fines imposed on him in the event of his fleeing from justice, and his estates proving insufficient to meet the penalty. Every freeman above twelve years of age had to be enrolled in a Tithing: and each man had besides to be in dependence on some man of wealth as his lord (as under the developed FEUDAL SYSTEM). ... "As society advanced and its different relations became more firmly established, there was a strong tendency to render this kind of obligation hereditary. The two elements of feudality-viz., the donation of land as the prize of military service, and the tie of vassalage-appear to have grown up with the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and we may consider them as Co-eval with the kingdoms themselves" (Palgrave). "The effect of these regulations was almost to limit every man to the place and neighbourhood England to Edward "the Black Prince" of Wales, who was created Duke of Cornwall. The title Marquis (or Marquess), or "Lord of the Marches" (from the German Marche, frontier), did not become a title of nobility in England till the reign of Richard II. The title Viscount (vice-comes) or "vice-earl" was first introduced by Henry VI. from France. The various degrees of nobility now existing are-dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons,--"Lord," like the Norman "baron," being the general term for a nobleman. * Ecclesiastically the country was divided into parishes (prcost-scyres), each being the district of a single priest. of his nativity; for it was difficult, and almost impossible, to get enrolled in a Tithing or to find a Lord in a place where a man was not known" (Creasy). Each burg or town was under an elective chief officer, the "Gerefa," or "Reeve," or "Borough-reeve," or "Port-reeve," who, with four representatives (elected by the burrwhar or burgesses) represented it in the courts of the Hundred and Shire: it regulated its own police. "A township was the domain belonging to a powerful Saxon, to an opulent Thane, who dwelt there in his homestead and was lord of the township.. Frequently the district of a township was the same as the district of a Tithing" (Creasy). The land was divided into Folk-land,— "occupied by the common people, yielding rent or other service, and perhaps without any estate in the land but at the pleasure of the owner" (Hallam); and Boc-land (or Book-land), "held in full propriety and might be conveyed by boc or written grant. Bocland was divisible by will; it was equally shared among the children; it was capable of being entailed by the person under whose grant it was originally taken; and in case of a treacherous or cowardly desertion froin the army, it was then forfeited to the Crown" (Hallam). By Gavelkind (still in force in a few manors in Kent and elsewhere), the land of intestate persons was divided among the surviving male children. The Witan-gemote (or Witena-gemote), the aristocratic COUNCIL OF WISE MEN (Witans), existed from the earliest times in each of the kingdoms: and, after Egbert's time, the Witangemote of West Saxony was gradually extended till it became the Witan-gemote of the whole Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It consisted of the King, Prelates, Ealdormen, and the Thanes, and met at least at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide. There were no representatives of Ceorls, but town-magistrates were often present to watch over affairs interesting them. The Witangemote made laws and voted taxes, and heard appeals from the lower courts. Each shire had its own county-court or Shire(ge)mote, meeting at least twice a year, and presided over by the bishop and Ealdorman (Earl), or, in the absence of the latter, the Shire-reeve (sheriff, who executed the decrees of the court): it was composed probably of only the Thanes, though the PortReeve of each town and four representatives attended. Each Hundred had its monthly court, the Folk-(ge)mote, composed of the Thanes of the Hundred and the Port-Reeve and four representatives from each town. Trials might be conducted-(1.) By Compurgation, a certain number (according to the offence) of witnesses to innocence being produced by the accused. (2.) By Ordeal, such as the Judicial Combat (the origin of duelling), walking over red-hot ploughshares, &c. Trial by jury apparently unknown. The penalties were fines only, even for murder, the fine varying according to the rank of the person injured, the life of a King's Thane being valued at sixty times that of a Ceorl. Churches and Social Life.-Mode of living and food coarse. houses chiefly of wood. The population mostly agricultural, but the towns of considerable importance. Greater part of the country covered by forests and morasses. AUTHORS OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD.-Caedmon, the Whitby monk, d. 680; the Venerable Bede, a Jarrow monk, d. 735; Alcuin, d. 804; King Alfred, d. 901; the court chronicler, John Asser, d. 909. William I., the Conqueror, of England, and duke (William II.) of Normandy, was son of Robert "the Magnificent" (or "the Devil") 6th duke of Normandy, by a concubine, Harlotta, and great-great-great-grandson of the 1st duke Rollo "the Ganger." He was born in 1027. He had no hereditary right, nor by bequest (a king of the English not being able to bequeath his kingdom like a private estate), nor by election, Harold II. having been elected in full Witan-gemote (Freeman). He alleged as reasons for his expedition-(1) the bequest of the crown to him by his father's cousin, Edward the Confessor: (2) the perjury of Harold II., who is said to have sworn to support him: (3) the need |