ENGLAND. ' 205 



who is commonly called the Confessor, mounted it, though Edgar 

 Atheling, by being descended from an elder branch, had the lineal 

 right, and was alive. Upon the death of the Confessor, in the year 

 1066, Harold, son to Goodwin earl of Kent, mounted the throne of 

 England. 



William duke of Normandy, though a bastard, was then in the unri- 

 vahed possession of that great duchy, and resolved to assert his right 

 to the crown of England. For that purpose he invked the neighbour- 

 ing princes, as well as his own vassals, to join him, and made liberal 

 promises to his followers, of lands and honours in England, to induce 

 them to assist him effectually. By these means he (.collected 40,000 

 of the bravest and most regular troops in Europe ; and while Harold 

 was embarrassed with fresh invasions by the Danes, William landed 

 in England without opposition. Harold, returning from the north, 

 encountered William at the place now called Battle, which took its 

 name from that event, near Hastings in Sussex, and a most bloody 

 battle was fought between the two armies ; but Harold being killed, 

 the crown of England devolved upon William, in the year 1066. 



The loss which both sides suffered at the battle of Hastings is un- 

 ;ertain, but William, with very little further difficulty, took posses- 

 sion of the throne, and made a considerable alteration in the constitu- 

 tion of England, by converting lands into knights fees, which are said 

 to have amounted to 62,000, and were held of the Norman and other 

 great persons who had assisted him in his conquest, and who were 

 bound to attend him with their knights and their followers in his 

 wars. He gave, for instance, to one of his barons the whole county of 

 Chester, which he erected into a palatinate, and rendered by his grant 

 almost independent of the crown ; and here, according to some histo- 

 rians, we have the rise of the feudal law in England. William found 

 it no easy matter to keep possession of his crown. Edgar Atheling, 

 and his sister, the next Anglo-Saxon heirs, were affectionately re- 

 ceived in Scotland, and many of the Saxon lords took arms, and form- 

 ed conspiracies in England. He, however, surmounted all difficul- 

 ties, especially after he had made a peace with Malcolm king of Scot- 

 land, who married Atheling's sister; but not without exercising hor- 

 rible cruelties upon the Anglo-Saxons. He introduced the Norman 

 laws and language. He built the stone square tower at London, 

 commonly called the White Tower ; bridled the country with forts, 

 and disarmed the old inhabitants ; in short, he attempted every thing 

 possible to obliterate every trace of the Anglo-Saxon constitution ; 

 though, at his coronation, he took the same oath that used to be ta- 

 ken by the ancient Saxon kings. 



He caused a general survey of all the lands in England to be made, 

 or rather to be completed (for it was begun in Edward the Confes- 

 sor's time) and an account to be taken of the villains or servile te- 

 nants, slaves, and live-stock, upon each estate ; all which were re- 

 corded in a book called Doomsclay-book, which is now kept in the 

 Exchequer. But the repose of this fortunate and victorious king was 

 disturbed, in his old age, by the rebellion of his eldest son Robert, 

 who had been appointed governor of Normandy, but assumed the go- 

 vernment as sovereign of that province, in which he was favoured by 

 the king of France. William, seeing a war inevitable, entered upon 

 it with his usual vigour; and with incredible celerity transporting a 

 brave English army, invaded France, where he was every where victo- 

 rious ; but died before he had finished the war, in the year 1087, the 



