258 History of the English Landed Interest. 



" It is probablj' true to saj- in general terms, that from tlie Conquest to 

 the Great Charter, the crown, the clergy, and the commons were banded 

 together against the baronage ; the legal and national instincts and 

 interests against the feudal. From the date of Magna Charta to the 

 revolution of 1399, the barons and the commons were banded in resist- 

 ance to the aggressive policy of the crown, the action of the clergy being 

 greatly perturbed by the attraction and repulsion of the papacy. From 

 the accession of Henry VII. the baronage, the people, and the roj^al house 

 were divided each within itself, and that internal division was working 

 a sort of political suicide which the Tudor reigns arrested, and by arrest- 

 ing it they made possible the restoration of the national balance." ^ 



At the close of medisevalism the country was filled with 

 internecine struggles. During the civil wars, kingly aspirant 

 fought against kingly aspirant, baron against baron, and retainer 

 against retainer. The clergy were figuratively always at each 

 other's throats over the papal question, and, as we have just 

 seen, the law was constantly mutilating its own majesty by legis- 

 lating against itself. If it is allowed to make an addition to 

 Dr. Stubbs's brief summary, it might be said that from the 

 accession of Henry VII. to the death of Henry VIII. a great 

 middle class had grown into political power which even thus 

 early fixed a jealous eye on the land monopolisation. There 

 could have been but one avenue to political and social great- 

 ness for the trader of Tudor times, and that was the invest- 

 ment of his fortune in the purchase of real property. The 

 splendour of feudal homage and other dignities peculiar to 

 landed proprietors were as unattainable as they were desirable 

 so long as the influence of De Donis militated against a free 

 trade in land, and the two Henries found no doubt more political 

 assistance from the united vote of the burgess class in Parlia- 

 ment than from the uncertain views of a few great nobles who, 

 though smarting under grievances identical with their royal 

 master's, were disinclined to take action against their own 

 order. 



Throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the com- 

 mons were minding their own business, and prospering ; wisely 

 leaving politics alone until their increased wealth afforded them 

 a political standing. This apathy of the lower classes, combined 



' Stubbs, Constit. Ilist., ch. xxi. 



