King of France lost the Flower of his Army the greatest part of his Nobles and hardly escaped himself in Person But that little availed this unfortunate Prince who was so sensible of the Loss and as he thought dishonour received by so unequal a Match that he had not the Heart to survive it long but died of Grief and thereby gave an end to this War and left Duke William a calm and peaceable Reign till he disturbed his own and his Neighbours Quiet by new and greater Adventures But to discover their Causes and judge better of the Events we must have recourse to the Accidents of the former Reigns both in England and Normandy and the great Commerce and Intelligences that were thereby grown for many years past between these two Courts and Nations Edward for his Piety surnamed the Confessor the last King of the Saxon Race in England had by the Persecution of his Enemies under the Reign of Harde-Cnute the Dane been forced to leave England and seek shelter in Normandy where he was kindly received nobly entertained by the Duke lived long there with many English who adhered to his Right followed his Fortunes and shared in the Causes and Reliefs of his Banishment some found Imployments others Alliances All favour and kind reception in Normandy These mutual good Offices produced so much kindness between the Givers and Receivers that 't is by some Writers reported King Edward during his Residence in the Norman Court promised Duke Robert that in case he recovered the Kingdom of England and died without Issue He would leave him the Crown The first happening and Edward restored by the Power of Earl Godwin or rather the general Discontents of the English against the Danish Race and Government 'T is certain King Edward after his Restoration or rather first Accession to the Crown ever appeared more favourable and partial to the Normans than was well resented by his English Subjects in general but Earl Godwin and his Son Harold were so offended that they made it the Cause or Pretence of a dangerous Insurrection and were forced upon the ill Success thereof to leave the Kingdom and fly into Flanders though after restored and received by the King rather by Force than any free and willing Consent Duke William after the end of his Wars with France had turned his Thoughts to the common Arts and Entertainments of Peace regulating the Abuses of his State and the Disorders introduced by a long Course of Wars and Violence adorning his Palaces and Houses of Pleasure building Churches and Abbies and endowing them with great Bounty and Piety After which he made a Journy into England where he was received and entertained by King Edward with the same Kindness himself had found in the Norman Court for which like a good Prince he was much pleased to make this Return of Gratitude as well as Justice In this Visit 't is said by some Authors that the Duke gained so far upon the Esteem and Kindness of the King that he then renewed to the Son in England the promise he had formerly made the Father in Normandy of leaving him the Crown by Testament in case he died without Issue Some time after the Duke's return Harold Son to Earl Godwin and Heir of his great Possessions and Dependances in England was forced by a Storm as he at least pretended upon the Coasts of Normandy and to refresh himself after the Toils and Dangers of his Sea Voyage went first to the Norman Court and after some stay there to that of France and was in both entertained like a Person known to be of so great Consideration and Power in England But his last Visit at Paris was thought designed only to cover the true Intention of his first in Normandy Where he engaged to assist that Duke with all his Friends and Force in his Claim to the Crown of England upon King Edward's Death which happening not long after William claimed the Crown by virtue of a Testament from that King and of an Engagement from Harold But he on the contrary denied any such Testament from the deceased Prince alledged an Appointment made by him at his Death for Harold to succeed him disowned any Promise made in Favour of the Duke and making the best use of the Credit and Authority gained by his Father and himself in a crasie and diseased State during the soft Reign of a weak though pious King Harold set up bodly for himself without any respect of Right beyond the Peoples submission interpreted for their Consent and was Elected King by those Nobles and Commons of his Friends or indifferent Persons who assembled at his Coronation leaving to Edgar Atheling an undoubted but yet unregarded Right of Succession and to William a disputed Plea from the alledged Testament of the deceased King The Duke fond of those ambitious Hopes he had framed early and nourished long and spighted at the perfidious dealing of Harold towards him and his Insolence towards the English Nation in seising the Crown and Government against all Justice or so much as Pretence of Right which is commonly made use of to cover the most lawless Actions assembles his Estates of Normandy exposes to them his Claim to England the Wrong done him by Harold his Resolutions of prosecuting both with his utmost Power The Glory as well as Justice of the Enterprise The hopes of Success from his own Right and the hatred in England of the Usurper as well as the Friends and Intelligences he had in that Kingdom The greatness of Spoils and Possessions by the Conquest of his Enemies and the Share he intended his Friends and Followers according to each Man's Merit and Contribution towards the Advancement of his Designs Though the generality of the Normans in this Assembly were not at first very much moved by these Discourses as either doubting the Right or Success of so hazardous an Adventure yet they could not discourage what they were unwilling to promote since they found the Prince had it so much at Heart who prevailed with several of the greatest Bishops and Nobles of Normandy to make him a voluntary Offer of what Moneys Men and Ships they would each of them furnish towards this Enterprise as well as of their own Personal Attendance upon him in so noble and just a Design This free and magnanimous Offer of the greatest among them in some Degree spirited not only the rest of the Assembly but had much Influence upon the People in general who grew Confident of the Success from the Greatness and Boldness of the Undertakers so as they fell into Emulation who should Engage soonest and Contribute furthest upon this Occasion The Duke assisted to his Expectation by his Subjects began to practice upon the Hopes and Ambition of his Neighbours who weary of the long Quiet they had lived in at home since the Part they had taken in the French and Norman Wars begun to grow fond of some new Action and to look
English Nobles residing in Scotland and Intelligence with others discontented in England married the Lady Margaret eldest Sister of Edgar and thereby became newly engaged in the Interests and Family of this noble but unfortunate Prince The Fame of this Adventure was no sooner divulged in England than it raised a great though different Motion in the Minds of all Men there who were either well or ill affected to the new King filling one Party with new Hopes ' and the other with new Fears and reasonably enough in both from all common Appearances Many Persons of great Note and Authority in England repaired immediately upon it into Scotland some by easie Passages out of the Northern Counties and others out of the remoter Parts of the Realm by more difficult Escapes either by Sea or Land Among these were the Earls Edwin Morchar Hereward Seward Gospatrick Men of great Estates and Power as was believed in England with many other Nobles and Gentlemen But that which seemed yet of greater Influence and Authority was the Repair of Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury and Alred of York with divers other Bishops and Prelates who having been the chief Instruments in making Way for the easie Accession of Duke William to the Crown and for the general Submission of the English to his Reign were presumed now likely to prove of as great Moment and Importance for the Restoration and Support of a just English Title in Edgar as they had been for the Admission and Establishment of one disputed and forreign of the Norman Dukes Besides the Clergy being accounted the wise and learned Men of that Age were esteemed most likely to judge best of the Rights and best to foresee the Events in Disputes of the Crown and unlikely to embark themselves in a Bottom unsound upon either the Regards of Justice or Success Edgar exalted with such a Concourse of Nobles out of England and the Hopes they gave him of a greater from the People there when he should appear among them resolved to lay claim to that Crown and with stronger Arguments than those of a bare Title or Right of Succession how just soever For the Scotch King had now assisted him with a great Army being induced to engage openly in his Quarrel not only by the Charms of his Wife or Compassion of her Brothers hard Fortune but by Reasons of State as well as of Justice and Affection he feared the dangerous Neighbourhood of so powerful aspiring and fortunate a Prince and apprehended his Ambition would not cease with the Conquest of England but extend it to that of Scotland too and reducing the whole Island of Britain under one Dominion for which it seemed by Nature to have been framed he thought it both wise and necessary to give some Stop to this growing Power before it became too well setled at home and thereby prepared for new Enterprises abroad and that it was better carrying a War into England than expecting it in Scotland He was glad of so fair an Occasion to justifie his Quarrel and by advancing the Fortunes of Edgar to secure his own he had taken Measures with Swayn King of Denmark to enter the Humber with a powerful Navy whilst he with his Army entred the Northern Provinces by Land and with the Sons of Harold at the same Time to invade the West by the Assistance of Forces to be furnished by Drone King of Ireland to whom they had fled upon the Norman Victory He presumed upon great Insurrections among the English in Favour of Edgar and by the Authority of the Nobles his Associates who had represented the common Discontents in England to be as great as their own These Hopes were not ill grounded nor the Designs ill laid for the Danish Fleet was ready to sail and the Sons of Harold with their Irish Forces landed and raised a Commotion in the West at the same Time that Edgar with those out of Scotland invaded the North where he found at first no Opposition but instead of Enemies met with many Friends prepared to receive him and increase his Strength He made himself Master of Northumberland Cumberland and the Bishoprick of Durham by the Defeat of Robert Count of Mortain who was there slain with seven hundred Normans From thence he marched without Resistance as far as York which was defended by a strong Garrison of Norman Soldiers He besieged this City the Capital and Defence of all the Northern Counties and assaulted it with that Fury that he carried the Town by Storm where all the Normans were put to the Sword by the Rage and Revenge of the English Nobles in his Army many in the Heat of the Assault and the rest after they were entred and found no more Resistance After this Success Edgar remained some time at York to refresh his Army after so long a March and so warm an Action which had cost him the Lives of many brave Men and the Wounds of many more Besides he expected here to see his Army soon increased by the Repair of many Friends and Discontents out of the Southern Provinces of England and by the Arrival of the Danish Fleet in the Humber according to the Concert before agreed and for which he knew all had been prepared King William thus surrounded with Dangers from the West and North and with Jealousies of his new Subjects of whose Affections he had yet made no Trial further than some few Years Submission to his Government was yet undaunted at the News of all these Attempts nor any ways distracted by such various either Dangers or Fears He applied himself to those which were nearest by sending the Forces he had ready immediately into the West under experienced Commanders and prepared a greater Army both of English and Normans to march himself into the North after the Commotions in the West should be appeased This happened to be easier and sooner than he expected for the Attempt of Harold's Sons with their Irish Forces proved weak and faint though successful in the first Encounter wherein Ednoth a brave Commander on the King's side was slain with several of his Followers but the Sons of Harold being defeated in a second Engagement and failing of any considerable Recourse or Insurrection of the English there upon which they had grounded their chief Hopes much disappointed and thereby discouraged were easily broken by the brave Norman Troops and forced to return with the Remainder of their Irish Forces into Ireland King William upon the happy End of this Adventure after the best Orders taken for the Security of the Southern Parts in his Absence marched at the Head of a brave Army in the North engaged the Forces of Edgar in a set Battel and by the Valour of his Troops the Discipline and Order of his Army and his own excellent Conduct defeated entirely the united Strength of his Enemies sieged and took again the City of York defended by Waltheof Son to the Earl Syward a young Gentleman of great Valour and
Prince the Dauphin fell into Passion called him Son of a Bastard and threw some of the Chessmen at his Head Upon which Prince Henry enraged took up the Chess-board and struck the Dauphin with such Fury on the Head that he laid him bleeding on the Ground and had killed him if his Brother Robert had not retained him and made him sensible how much more it concerned him to make his Escape than pursue his Revenge and thereupon they went down immediately took Horse and by the Help of their Speed or their own good Fortune got safe to Pontoise before they could be reached by the French that pursued them The King of France exasperated by this Accident and Indignity to his Son which revived an inveterate Malice or Envy he had against King William first demanded Satisfaction but at the same time prepared for Revenge both by raising an Army to invade Normandy and taking private Measures with Duke Robert to divest his Brother Henry of his Share in the Government and leave the Dominion of that Dutchy to the Duke according to his former Pretensions grounded upon his Father's Promise wherein the King of France as a Witness still pretended to be concerned The King of England seeing the War inevitable enters upon it with his usual Vigor and with incredible Celerity transporting a brave English Army invades France and takes several Towns in Poictou whilst the French took the City of Vernon by which Hostilities on both sides the first War began between England and France which seemed afterwards to have been entailed upon the Posterity and Successors of these two Princes for so many Generations to have drawn more noble Blood and been attended with more memorable Atchievements than any other National Quarrel we read of in any ancient or modern Story King William after taking of several Towns and spoiling much Country in Poictou and Xantonge returned to Rouen where by the Benignity of his own Nature and Levity of his Son 's he was the third time reconciled to Duke Robert and thereby disappointed those Hopes the King of France had conceived from his Practises with that Prince and as some write with his Brother Henry too and defeated his Pretext of assisting his Right in the Dominion of Normandy But Philip bent upon this War by other Incentives than those which appeared from the Favour of Duke Robert's Pretensions or Revenge of the Dauphin's Injury and moved both with the Jealousie of the King's Greatness and the Envy of his Glory and Felicity resolved to prosecute obstinately the Quarrel he had rashly begun and not esteeming the sudden though violent Motions of a youthful Heat between the two Princes a Ground sufficient to bear the Weight of a formal and declared War upon the News and Spight of Duke Robert's Reconciliation with his Father he sent to the King to demand Homage of him both for Normandy and England King William answered that he was ready to do him the Homage accustomed for Normandy but would do him none for England which he held only of God and his Sword The French King hereupon declared open War against him which was begun and pursued with great Heats and Animosities on both sides with equal Forces but unequal Fortune which favoured either the Justice of the King's Cause the Valour of his Troops or the Conduct of their Leader upon all Encounters He marched into France took Nantes and burnt it with many Villages about it saying That to destroy the Wasps their Nests must be burnt In the Heat of this Action and by that of the Fires which he too near approached he fell into a Distemper which forced him to retire his Army and return to Rouen where he lay sick for some time with ill Symptoms that gave his Friends Apprehension and Hopes to his Enemies During the Expectation of this Event both sides were quiet by a sort of tacit and voluntary Truce between them The King of France talking of his Sickness and mocking at the Corpulency to which he was grown of late Years said King William was gone only to lay his great Belly at Rouen and that he doubted he must be at Charge to set up Lights at his uprising The King of England being told this Scoff sent King Philip Word That he was ready to sit up after his lying in and that when he was churched he would save him the Charge of setting up Lights and come himself and light a thousand Fires in France No Injuries are so sensible to Mankind in general as those of Scorn and no Quarrels pursued between Princes with so much Sharpness and Violence as those which arise from personal Animosities or private Passions to which they are subject like other Mortal Men. The King recovered gathers the greatest Forces he could raise both of English and Normans marches into the Isle of France with Fire and Spoil where-ever he came approaches within Sight of Paris where that King was retired There King William sent him word that he was up and abroad and would be glad to see him abroad too But the French King resolved to let this Fury pass and appeared not in the Field which was left to the Mercy and Ravage of his Enemies The King riding about to observe his Advantages and give his Orders and straining his Horse to leap a Ditch in his Way bruised the Bottom of his Belly against the Pommel of his Saddle with such a Weight and so much Pain as gave him a Relapse of his Illness so lately recovered forced him to march his Army back into Normandy and to go himself to Rouen Here his Bruise turned to a Rupture and his Sickness encreasing with the Anguish of his Wound gave too soon and true Apprehensions of his Danger Yet he languished for some time which he made use of to do many Acts of great Charity and give other Testimonies of Piety and Resignation to the Will of God as well as to dispose the Succession and Affairs of his State leaving by his Testament the Dutchy of Normandy to his eldest Son Robert the Kingdom of England to William his second Son and all his Treasures which were very great to Henry his third After this he ended his Life in the full Career of Fortune and Victory which attended him to his Grave through the long Course of more than threescore Years Reign For he began that in Normandy about ten Years old and continued it above fourty Years before his English Expedition after which he reigned above twenty Years in England and died in or about the seventy second Year of his Age and the Year of our Lord 1087. Several Writers show their ill Talent to this Prince in making particular Remarks how his Corps was immediately forsaken by all his Friends and Followers as soon as he expired how the Monks of an Abbey he had founded were thereby induced to come of Charity and take the care of his Body and his Burial which he had ordered to be at Caen
is over That the King having passed some Months here in the Cares and for the Settlement of his new Dominions in England made a Journy to visit his old in Normandy about the beginning of the Summer having been crowned at Westminster on Christmas-Day Whether this was undertaken upon any Necessity of his Affairs on that side or to settle them so as not to interrupt him here where he intended to reside is not known or whether he took a Pleasure and a Pride to show both his Subjects and his Neighbours Princes how secure he esteemed himself in his new acquired Dominions but it looks like a Strain of his usual Boldness and fearless Temper and succeeded well like the rest of his Counsels and Resolutions yet was not this Journy undertaken without Prudence and Caution in the Choice of those Hands with whom he left the Government in his Absence and of those Persons he engaged to accompany him in the Voyage He committed the Rule of the Kingdom to his Brother Odon Bishop of Bayeux and to Fitz Aubar his near Kinsman whom he had lately made Earl of Hereford He took with him into Normandy Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury who though a great Instrument in his easie and peaceable Admission to the Crown yet had been discontented at his Coronation which had been perfomed by the Archbishop of York upon Pretence of some Fault or Question about the other's Investiture with him he took several other Bishops the Earls Edwin and Morchar two Persons of great Power and Dependances with many other English Noblemen of whose Faith or Affections he was the least confident and besides these he took with him a greater and much more considerable Hostage for the Quiet of England though under Color of honouring him or being honoured by his Company This was Edgar surnamed Atheling Nephew to Edward the Confessor and designed by him for Successor as was divulged among those of his Subjects that neither favoured the Right or Pretensions of Harold or the Norman Duke He had many Disadvantages to ballance and weigh down his Right which was undisputed as his foreign Birth and Breeding which was in Hungary during his Father's Exile under the Reign of Hardy-Cnute The Persecution and Hatred of his Grandmother Emma a Woman celebrated in her Time for the Suspicion and clearing of her Chastity by the Saxon Trial of Fire Ordeal but who having married Hardy-Cnute after the Death of her first Husband had ever after more Inclination to the Danish than the Saxon Race Bedsies Edgar though of so good and virtuous Dispositions as made him be stiled England's Darling yet they were such as seemed to become an excellent private Person rather than a Prince or at least to have adorned an easie and peaceful Possession of a Crown rather than to force his Way to a legal Right through the Difficulties and Opposition of two powerful Pretenders However an undisputed Right which they say never dies had left him so many Friends in the Kingdom that the King thought it not safe to leave him behind upon his going into Normandy nor wise to tempt either him or his new English Subjects with such an Opportunity of raising any Commotions upon so fair a Pretence Besides these Cautions he took with him most of his French Adventurers into Normandy finding they were not very agreeable here either to the English or to the Normans and pretending he was not able to clear his Accounts with all that assisted him out of the Revenues or Forfeitures here and that he would find out Ways of satisfying them either in Normandy or by his Credit and Recommendations to other Princes where his own Bounty or Abilities could not reach During his Stay in Normandy which was no less than the whole Summer his new Government in England continued quiet and peaceable though one Erick called the Forester endeavoured to disturb it by calling in some loose Forces of the Welsh his Neighbours into Herefordshire but he was soon suppressed and they easily forced back into their own Mountains by the Vigilance of the Governours and the Vigour of those Forces he had left here disposed with such Order into the several Countries as to give Way or Time to no growing Dangers that should arise in any one Corner or from any single Discontent while the general Humour of the People was calm and either satisfied with the Change or at a Gaze how this new World was like to end So that the King after having settled his Affairs in Normandy to his Mind returned before Winter to enjoy the Fruits of so many Dangers and Toils as his Life had been engaged in resolving to spend the remainder of it in England as the nobler Scene and greater Dominion and to cultivate with Care an Acquisition he had gained himself with much Hazard and Pains and with greater Glory The King at his Return into England finding his new Dominion had continued calm and peaceable under the Authority of his Brother and Council had Reason to believe it would be easily preserved so under his own For as the Absence of an ill Prince seldom fails of raising Disquiets and Commotions among the People in a Government which is obeyed only from Fear so nothing contributes more to the Satisfaction and Obedience of Subjects than the Presence of a good King and this is the Reason why all distant Provinces governed by Commissions or subordinate Authorities are so subject to frequent Seditions and Revolts how lawfully soever they are inherited or how well soever they are established after any new Conquest or Acquisition the Force and Influence of Authority growing still weaker by the Change of Hands and Distance of Place This disposed the new King to the Resolution he took at this time of making England the Seat of his Person as well as Empire and governing Normandy by his Lieutenants thereby forcing the common Affections of Birth or Education and Custom to yield and comply with Reasons of State and preferring a foreign to his natural Soil though perhaps seated in a better Climate and at that time more adorned and civilized by the Commerce of France and other Countries upon the Continent With this Resolution and in this Security he applied himself at his Return to the Arts of Peace and the Orders of his State wherein he as well excelled as in those of War and was framed not only for a great Prince but for a good to which he was inclined by the Bounty and Clemency of his natural Dispositions by the Strength and Soundness of his Judgment and by the Experience of his Age His first Care was to provide for the due Administration and Execution of Laws and Justice throughout his Realm and the next was to introduce Order into the common Course of his Revenue and manage it with so great Proportion of his Expence to his Receipts as might neither leave the Crown in Necessities nor the Subjects in Fears of new or lawless Exactions and Oppressions
excepting the Possessions of such as had opposed his Claim to the Crown which he pretended to be a lawful Right as derived from the Testament of Edward the Confessor and thereby was made a Pretence of legal Forfeiture in all that resisted him But this Blow to so many Estates and Families was given at once and no more renewed On the contrary Justice was administred equally to the English Men upon the Injuries of the Normans who presume upon the King's Favour in Prejudice of Right and of those Laws he had confirmed or established Whereof one memorable Instance remains upon Record even in those Writers who were most severe upon the Actions and Memory of this Prince It was an Action between Warren a Norman and Sherburn an English Man The first by Virtue of a Grant from the King had entered upon the Lands of the other who came into Court and pleaded That he had never bore Arms against the King nor opposed his Title or Accession to the Crown but had lived always peaceably upon his own Lands and so was liable to no Forfeiture by the common Law but was further secured by the King's Declaration immediately after his coming to the Crown Upon which Plea a just Sentence was given in favour of Sherburn his Lands restored and Warren the Norman cast and condemned to the Costs of the Suit He appointed Justices to preserve the Peace and administer Justice in every County pursuant to that which was used in the Saxon Reigns For the Pleas of the Crown and those of greater Moment between the Subjects he created Judges of the most learned and able he could find and ordained four Terms each Year consisting of a certain Number of Days wherein Justice should be duly administred and all Suits heard in such Places as the King should appoint and find most convenient Besides these Orders he instituted the Courts of Chancery and Exchequer the first for tempering the Rigor of Laws according to the Dictates of Conscience and Equity and the other for determining all Actions concerning the Revenues of the Crown and punishing Exactions or irregular Proceedings in the Officers who levied or received them as well as Defaults or Delays in those from whom it was due For Taxes or Impositions unusual it does not appear that he levied any excepting one of Six Shillings upon each Plow-land throughout the Kingdom nor is it well agreed at what Time or upon what Occasion this was raised whether by consent of a general Assembly or by his own Regal Authority By this indeed he imposed Danegelt upon the Invasion of the Danes which happened once or twice in this Reign though with little Progress or Success This Tax was first raised by Ethelreld upon the first Enterprise of the Danes upon England and afterwards used by several of his Successors upon the like Danger sometimes to repulse them by Force and Arms sometimes to evade them by Bargains and Money wherewith they compounded for the present Dangers but invited others to come by such mean Defences This Tax grew odious to the People whenever it was raised upon any other Pretence than a Danish Invasion and though it was sometimes levied yet very seldom and cautiously by some few of the Saxon Kings and but once or twice by this Norman Prince and then most probably upon the true natural Occasions which had given it the first Original Thus I suppose it is confounded with the Tax before mentioned and without applying it to the Danish Invasions by some Writers who seem to take all Occasions of defaming the Actions and Memory of this King and to avoid all just Excuses of any that were ill resented And this proceeded from the ill Talent of the Monkish Writers who measured the Virtues and Vices of Princes by the Opinion of their Favour or Disaffection to the Clergy whom they accounted or stiled the Church though this general Appellation is known to comprehend not only such Persons as were anciently chosen to administer the Offices of divine Worship but also all believing Christians that composed such Assemblies to whom those Offices were administred Of this the King seemed to be sensible for though he was a Prince of known and great Piety and so approved by the several Popes during his Reign yet he appeared very little favourable if not something hard to the Ecclesiasticks of this Kingdom and perhaps something bold with their Privileges so long enjoy'd under the devout Saxon Kings For the rest he contented himself with the usual Revenues of the Crown and by his great Order and Management as well as Moderation in his constant Expence gained much Ease to the Crown and Satisfaction to his People The chief and ancient Branches of the Crown Revenue consisted of First the Lands of old reserved as a Provision for the King's Houshold and so reckoned as Crown-Lands These at first yielded only certain Quantities of Provisions as Beefs Sheep Wheat Hay Oates according to the Nature of the Lands the Tenures by which they held and the Quantity of Provisions found necessary for the King's Houshold What Overplus remained was compounded for and paid in Money according to Rates usual and agreed The next was a Duty reserved anciently out of every Knight's Fee which at first was constantly paid as a Quit-rent but being small came in time to be neglected by the Kings that contented themselves with the Military Attendance of the Knights in their Wars and with levying sometimes a greater Duty upon great or urgent Occasions under the Name of Escuage which was burthensom and odious till the Proportions and Occasions came to be ascertained Those Authors who will make the Conquerour to have broken or changed the Laws of England and introduced those of Normandy pretend this Duty of Escuage with the Tenures of Knights Service and Baronage to have come over in this Reign as well as the Trial by Juries But as enough has been said to clear the last so it needs no Proof that these with the other Feudal Laws were all brought into Europe by the ancient Goths and by them settled in all the Provinces which they conquered of the Roman Empire and among the rest by the Saxons in England as well as by the Franks in Gaul and the Normans in Normandy where the use of their States or general Assemblies were likewise of the same Original The last common Branch of the King's Revenue consisted of Forfeitures both of Lands and Goods in Cases of Treason and Fines or some known mulctuary Punishments upon other Crimes which were distinctly prescribed in the Saxon Laws even for Manslaughter and Murther it self the Rigour of those Times not extending to Blood except in those Cases where the common Safety of the Kingdom was concerned by the danger of the King By all these Orders and Institutions and the Clemency as well as Justice wherewith they were administred the King how new soever his Reign how disputed his Title and how disagreeable his Person by a
Justice being the very Foundation of Government as Treasure is said to be the Sinew of War For the first As he had sworn at his Coronation to govern by the Laws of the Realm so he continued the ancient Customs and Liberties of the People that were called the common Law of the Kingdom which he caused to be in Substance observed both in what concerned the Crown and the Subject though he introduced several new Forms in the Administration or Execution of them Besides the ancient Laws or Customs that concerned the Descent of private Inheritances or the Penalties upon several Crimes There were two fundamental Laws of the Saxon or English Kingdom The Trial by Juries of twelve Men wherein consisted the chief Safety of Mens Properties and Lives And the Burrough Law which was the greatest Security that had been invented by the Wisdom of our Saxon Ancestors for the Peace and Order of the Realm The first I know is by some Authors mentioned as having been introduced by this Norman King out of the Laws of that Country But I think it evident to have been an Institution very ancient among the Saxons and to have been derived and observed during the whole Succession of the English Kings and even in the Danish Reigns without any Interruption Nor does there want some Traces or Appearance of it from the very Institutions of Odin the first great Leader of the Asiatick Goths or Getae into Europe and the Founder of that mighty Kingdom round the Baltick Sea from whence all the Gothick Governments in these Northwest Parts of the World were derived by the spreading Conquests of those Northern Races 'T is recorded that upon the beginning of his Expedition he ordained a Council of twelve Men who should judge and decide all Matters that came in Question and there being then no other Laws establisht among those vast Numbers of rough People going to seek out new Conquests and thereby Seats to inhabit It is probable these twelve Men judged all Cases upon Evidence or matter of fact and then gave their Sentence and appointed Penalties according to what they esteemed most agreeable to Justice and Equity so as the twelve Men were at first both Jurors and Judges Their Judgments in Causes both real and criminal being generally approved as just and equitable grew into President to succeeding Judges and being received by general Submission introduced the Custom of certain Sentences being pronounced in certain Causes and certain Punishments being usually inflicted upon certain Crimes In Process of Time and Multiplicity of Business the matter of Fact continued to be tried by twelve Men but the Adjudgment of the Punishment and the Sentence thereupon came to be given by one or two or more Persons chosen out of such as were best versed in the Knowledge of what had been usual in former Judgments upon like Cases and as the first Part was left to the Equals or Neighbours of the Persons accused as most likely to do Justice to one of their own Rank or Acquaintance so the other was committed to Persons of Learning or Knowledge in the ancient Customs Records or Traditions of what had long passed in the Course of Justice among that Nation Thus we find it evident that in the Saxon Reigns in England Causes were adjudged by the Aldermen and Bishop of the several Shires with the Assistance of twelve Men of the same County who are 〈◊〉 said to have been Judges or Assistants to the two first by such as affirm or pretend this manner of Trial to have been drawn by the Conqueror himself out of Normandy who is thereby said to have introduced in this as well as some other Forms the Norman Laws into the common Law of England 'T is true that the same Custom or Trial was used in Normandy before the Conquest and it is most probable that neither the English received it from the Normans nor these from the English but that both Nation deriving their Original from those ancient Goths agreed in several Customs or Institutions deduced from their common Ancestors which made this Trial by Juries continue uninterrupted in England not only by the Normans but by the Danes also who were but another Swarm of that great Northern Hive 'T is true the Terms of Jury and Verdict were introduced by the Normans with many others in the Stile and Practice of our Laws but the Trials by twelve Men with that essential Circumstance of their unanimous Agreement was not only used among the Saxons and Normans but is known to have been as ancient in Sweden as any Records or Traditions of that Kingdom which was the first Seat of the Gothick Dominions in the Northwest Parts of Europe and it still remains in some Provinces of that Country However King William caused this to be observed as the common Law of the Kingdom and thereby gave great and universal Satisfaction to the Body of the People both English and Normans The Burrough Law had been likewise anciently establish'd among the Saxons whereby every Shire was divided into so many Hundreds or Burroughs consisting at first of one hundred Families therein usually inhabiting every Hundred into so many Tithings consisting of ten Families If any Person committed or were accused of any Crime the Tithing to which he belonged was bound to produce him to Justice before the Court of the Hundred or County If he fled they were to swear they were not Complices of the Fact and that they would procure the Criminal whenever they could find him if this failed in a certain time they would discover all the Goods he was possess'd of within their Tithing to satisfie the Damage done to a Subject or a Fine to the King upon such an Offence If neither Person nor Estate appeared then the Tithing was answerable to a certain Proportion and if that were not sufficient then it was laid upon the Hundred By this means it became every Man's Interest as well as Duty to prevent all Crimes and Misdemeanors among their Neighbours and to discover the Criminals since they were otherwise to share in the Penalty and as the rest of the Tithing was bound for the Behavior of every Freeman among them so every Lord or Master was bound to answer in the same manner for their Servants I know not whether any Constitution of Government either ancient or modern ever invented and instituted any Law or Order of greater Wisdom or of greater Force to preserve the Peace and Safety of any State and of equal Utility to the Prince and People making Virtue and Innocence of Life so necessary by the easie Apprehension or Discovery and certain Punishment of Offenders This Law the King caused likewise to be severely observed during his Reign finding therein his own Interest as well as his Peoples and the great Security of his new settled Government He confirmed all Mens Properties Inheritances and Successions invading none either for his own Benefit or Reward of his Norman Forces or Friends