124 Histoiy of the English Landed Interest, 



Scandinavia and Denmark had blended their blood with that 

 of Normandy as well as Britain, Nor were the earlier customs 

 and habits of the two peoples dissimilar. Whether Vv^e look 

 back on the methods of annually dividing their landed pro- 

 perty resorted to by Frankish as well as Frisian communities 

 amidst the woods and wilds of Grermany, and the reluctant 

 and circumscribed supremacy allowed to their chiefs, or study 

 the Teutonic idiosyncrasy which stamped itself into the fresh 

 polity both of the Frankish and Anglo-Saxon conquerors in 

 each of their new territories, we find a strong family resem- 

 blance in the two nations. 



There were, however, one or two distinguishing features, 

 results rather of accident than ethnic character, which may 

 account for much of the political, if not social, differences be- 

 tween these two branches of the Teutonic stem when once 

 more they re-unite on English soil. 



In the first place, as the individual's liability to molestation 

 on the Continent was greater than in England, so in proportion 

 was the process of converting allodial into feudal tenures 

 speedier there than here. 



In the second place, the insular position of the Anglo-Saxons 

 had kept them almost free from outside influences. Hitherto 

 the Teutonic element on English soil had only come into touch 

 with that of the Roman at second hand. Whatever of the 

 Latin polity had been imbibed had penetrated through two 

 channels, viz. the Britons and the Church. 



On the other hand, the Norman with his feudalism repre- 

 sented the results of direct contact. The customs of the old 

 Teutonic Mark had by now become fused with those of the 

 older Roman militarism. That the process, though started 

 about the same period, had progressed less rapidly in England, 

 was owing to the less intimate relationship between Saxon 

 and Roman which the presence of these intermediaries had 

 caused. 



Let us then turn once more to the Roman era, and pick up 

 those similarities for which, during an examination of the 

 Teutonic economy, we could have found no parallel. 



The Romans as conquerors had initiated that system of the 



