Scandmavian Influence in E^irope 255 



The relationship between England and the Scandi- 

 navian lands was shown again in another way : for 

 when Tostig desired to recover his lost earldom, he 

 naturally had recourse to the king of one of the brother 

 Scandinavian states. He went, as we have seen, over 

 to Norway and enlisted the help of Harald Hardradi, 

 with we know what results. The Norse Harald and 

 Tostig fell at Stamford Bridge. The English Harold had 

 no time to raise forces enough to resist the Norman Con- 

 quest, wherefore he too fell a few months later at Hast- 

 ings ; and by the Norman Conquest were confirmed the 

 Catholic and Continental influences in the history of this 

 country. That these influences should have been brought 

 in by another Scandinavian nation is curious ; but, as has 

 been just said, though the Normans were Scandinavians 

 by descent, they had utterly thrown off their Scandi- 

 navian character ; so much so that before the time of 

 William the Bastard the dukes found it difficult even 

 to learn the old language. This was the one Scandi- 

 navian nation which separated itself from the rest of 

 the Scandinavian group ; but it kept the strength of 

 the Scandivanian character, and when it adopted French 

 ideas and the Catholicism of Central Europe, it adopted 

 them in a more thorough fashion even than the Franks 

 did themselves, and it became the greatest ajjent in the 

 spreading of these ideas wherever its power extended. 



From the time of the Norman Conquest the Scandi- 

 navian influence was gradually pushed out of the British 

 Islands. The Norman Conquest, and all that it brought 

 with it, were symbolised by the building of castles and 

 cathedrals, and displayed in the establishment of a 

 stricter discipline in Church and State. All these 



