CHAPTER II 

 THE DEGRADING OF THE PEOPLE 



THE Anglo-Saxons created a village life of their own, 

 and this life, as time went on, gradually changed from 

 its simple ways until at last in the Xlth 



centur y * was forced into a new frame 

 the people. the manor of the Norman times. As this 



change came the workers on the land were 

 gradually pressed down, until at last the greater number 

 of them were reduced to a condition of bondage. It 

 should, however, be understood that this degradation 

 was not merely the outcome of the Norman Conquest. 

 In many places it must have begun at least two 

 centuries before that event. 



In Anglo-Saxon times the degrading of the people 

 arose from three main causes: (i) the distribution of 



the rulers' rights, (2) the growth of the 

 Causes of ... 



degradation military class and (3) the increase of the 



ui Anglo- burden of taxation on the peasants. 

 Saxon times. LJ- 



The transfer to religious bodies or to 



private individuals of the kings' rights over the land 

 was the first step in the degradation of the country 

 people. Men of a distant village, provided with ample 

 surplus land to feed their stock and to extend their 

 arable or meadows whenever needed, rendering some 



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