or agreement of Times or Actions by the few and mean Authors of those barbarous and illiterate Ages and perhaps the rough course of those lawless Times and Actions would have been too ignoble a Subject for a good Historian About the Year 8 o. after many various Events and Revolutions between the several Races of the Heptarchy Ecbert descended from the West-Saxon Kings having inherited most of the Successions from the Prowess and Exploits of his Ancestors and acquired others by his own became the first sole King or Monarch of England as it now was distinguished from the Principality of Wales possessed by the old Britains and from that part of the Island to the North of Tweed possessed by the Picts and Scots and by the Saxons stiled by one common Name of Scotland This famous Adventure of the Saxons in England was atchieved by the Force and Confluence of such Multitudes from the Coasts of Germany which lie between the Belgick and Baltick Shores that some Parts of their Native Countries were left almost dispeopled to fill again by new Swarms from the great Northern Hive and the Number of Saxons and Angles Iutes and other Nations that came over were not only sufficient to Conquer and Wast this whole Province but even to Plant and People it soon again with numerous and new Inhabitants So as by them succeeded in this Island not only a Change of Government as by the Roman Arms but a Change of the very People or Nation that inhabited or possessed the Lands of this whole Province This induced a Change likewise of Names of Language of Customs of Laws of Arms of Discipline of Possessions of Titles of Religion and even of the whole Face of Nature through this whole Kingdom So as we may justly date the Original of all these amongst us as well as our Nation it self from these our Saxon Ancestors Britain which was before a Roman Province was now grown a Saxon Kingdom and instead of its former Name was called England The Language which was either Latin or British was now grown wholly Saxon or English The Land that was before divided into Roman Colonies or Governments was so now into Shires with Names given to them by the Saxons as they first possessed or afterwards thought fit to distinguish them The Habits in Peace and Arms in War the Titles of Officers in both as well as of great Counsellors to their Kings or great Proprietors of Lands came to be all according to the Saxon Forms and Usage The Laws of this Country which before were Roman changed now into Old Saxon Customs or Constitutions Their Princes or Leaders of their several Nations became Konings or Kings of the Territories they had subdued They reserved part of the Lands to themselves for their Revenue and shared the rest among their chief Commanders by great Divisions and among their Soldiers by smaller shares The first who had the great Divisions were called Earls or Barons those of the smaller were Knights and the smallest of all were Freemen who possessed some Proportions of free Lands and were thereby distinguished from the Villens that held nothing but at the Will of the Landlord In this universal Transformation Religion it self had a share like all the rest and received new Forms and Orders with the new Inhabitants whilst all that was Roman or British expired together in this Country The Britains began early to receive the Christian Faith and as is reported from some of the Disciples themselves And this was so propagated among them that when the Romans left the Province they were generally Christians and had their Priests and Bishops from the ancient and Apostolick Institution The Saxons were a sort of Idolatrous Pagans that worshipped several Gods peculiar to themselves among whom Woden Thor and Frea were the chief which left their Memory still preserved by the common names of three days in the Week This Religious Worship they introduced with them and continued long in England till they subdued the Britains reduced it under their Heptarchy of Saxons Kings persecuted the British Christians and drove them with their Religion into Wales where they continued under their Primitive Priests and Bishops who with their Monks were all under the Surintendance of one Arch-Priest or Bishop of Carleon or Chester the Bound of the British Principality About the year 600. or soon after Pope Boniface sent Austin the Monk to Preach the Gospel in England to the Heathen Saxons who landing at Dover was received with Humanity by Ethelbert King of the South Saxons and being admitted with four or five of his Companions as well-meaning Men to teach and explain the Doctrin and Mysteries of Christianity among these ignorant and barbarous People they so well succeeded that they converted at first great numbers of the common sort and at length the King himself whose example gave easie way for introducing the Christian Faith into his whole Kingdom which from thence spread into all the Countries subject to the Saxon Heptarchy Thus Religion came to be Establish'd in England under the Rites and Forms and Authority of the Roman Church by which Austin was instituted chief Bishop in England and seated by the Saxon King at Canterbury But his Jurisdiction though admitted in all the Saxon Territories was not received by the British Priests or People in Wales though endeavoured by many missions from Austin and his Successors and even by Wars and Persecutions of the Saxons upon the Old British Christians at the instigation of the New Romish Priests in one of which near Carleon Twelve Hundred of the poor British Monks are said to have been slaughtered while they were apart in the Field at their Prayers for the success of the British Army With this Account of a new face and state of Persons and of Things both Natural Civil and Religious establish'd in England I return to the Period I left of the Saxon Heptarchy which being extinguish'd by long and various Revolutions among themselves made way for the Reign of Ecbert the first sole King or Monarch of England about the year 830. It might have been reasonably expected that a wise and fortunate Prince at the Head of so great a Dominion and so brave and numerous a People as the English after the Expulsion of the Picts and Scots out of his Country into the rough Northern Parts and of the Britains into the North-west Corners of the Island should not only have enjoyed the Fruits of Peace and Quiet but left much Felicity as well as greatness to many succeeding Generations both of Prince and People Yet such is the instability of Human Affairs and the weakness of their best Conjectures That Ecbert was hardly warm in his united Throne when both he and his Subjects began to be alarmed and perplexed at the approach of new and unknown Enemies and this Island exposed to New Invasions About this time a mighty Swarm of the Old Northern Hive who had possessed the Seats about the Baltick
almost deserted by such numbers of Goths Vandals and Saxons as had issued out of them some Centuries before began under the Names of Danes and Normans to infest at first the Sea and at length the Lands of the Belgick Gallick and British Shores filling all where they came with Slaughters Spoils and Devastations The Normans first over-run the Belgick Provinces upon the Mouth of the Rhine and gave them new Names of Holland and Zealand to those parts adjacent to the Sea Afterwards they sailed with mighty Numbers into the Mouth of the Sean and with great fierceness subdued that Northern part of France which from them first received and ever since retained the Name of Normandy and became the State of a great Norman Duke and his Successors for several Generations In the mean time the Danes began their Inroads and furious Invasions upon the Coasts of England with mighty numbers of Ships full of fierce and barbarous People sometimes entring the Thames sometimes the Humber other times Coasting as far as Exeter Landing where-ever they found the Shores unguarded filling all with Ravage Slaughter Spoil and Devastations of the Country where they found any strong Opposition retiring to their Ships sailing home laden with Spoil and by such encouragements giving Life to new Expeditions the next Season of the Year The bravest Blood of the English had been exhausted in their own Civil Wars during the Contentions of the Heptarchy since those ended the rest were grown slothful with Peace and with Luxury softned with new Devotions of their Priests and their Monks with Pennances and Pilgrimages and great numbers running into Cloysters and grown as unequal a Match now for the Danes as the British had been for the Saxons before Yet this Century passed not without many various Successes between the two Nations many Victories and many Defeats on both sides so that twelve Battels are said to have been Fought between them in one Year The Danes divided their Force into several Camps removed them from one part of the Country to another as they were forced by necessity of Provisions or invited by hopes of new Spoils or the weakness and divisions of the English At length fortified Posts and Passages built Castles for defence of Borders one against the other which gave the beginning to those numerous Forts and Castles that were scattered over the whole Country and lasted so long as to remain many of them to this very Age. The English sometimes repulsed these Invasions sometimes purchased the Safety of their Provinces by great Sums of Money which occasioned great Exactions of their Kings upon the People and that great Discontents While the Danes encreasing still by new Supplies of Numbers and Force began to mingle among the Inhabitants of those parts they had subdued made Truces and Treaties and thereupon grew to live more peaceably under the Laws and Government of the English Kings Alfred to prevent the danger of New Invasions began to Build Ships for the Defence of his Coasts and Edgar a Prince of great Wisdom and Felicity in his Reign applying all his thoughts to the encrease and greatness of his Naval Forces as the true strength and safety of his Kingdom raised them to that height both of Numbers and Force and disposed them with that Order for the Guard of the Seas round the whole Island as proved not only sufficient to secure his own Coasts from any new Invasions but the Seas themselves from the Rovers and Spoilers of those Northern Nations who had so long infested them So that all Traders were glad to come under his Protection Which gave a rise to that Right so long claimed by the Crown of England to the Dominion of the Seas about the year 960. But these provisions for the safety of the Kingdom began to decline with the Life of Edgar and neglected in the succeeding Reigns made way for new Expeditions of the Danes who exacted new Tribute from the Kings and Spoils from the Subjects till Ethelred compounding with them for his own Safety and their peaceable living in England and fortifying himself by an Alliance with Richard Duke of Normandy laid a design for the general Massacre of the Danes spred abroad and living peaceably throughout the Realm which was carried on with that secrecy and concurrence of all the English that it was executed upon one day and the whole Nation of the Danes massacred in England about the year 1002. This cruel and perfidious Massacre of so many Thousands instead of ending the long miseries of this Kingdom from the Violences Invasions and Intrusions of the Danes made way for new and greater Calamities than before For Swane King of Denmark exasperated by the Slaughter of his Nation here and among them of his own Sister and animated by the Successes of so many private Expeditions soon after landed with great Forces formed several Camps of Danes in several parts of England filled all with Spoil and Slaughter forced Ethelred to fly for Relief into Normandy and though he returned again yet being a weak and cruel Prince and thereby ill beloved and ill obeyed by his Subjects he never recovered Strength enough to oppose the Forces and Numbers of the Danes to whom many of the English Nobles as well as Commoners had in his absence submitted Swane died before he could atchieve this Adventure but left his Son Canute in a Course of such prosperous Fortunes and the English so broken or divided that coming out of Denmark with new Forces in two hundred Ships he reduced Edmund Son of Ethelred first to a Division of the whole Kingdom between them and after his untimely Death was by the whole Nobility of the Realm acknowledged and received for King of England This fierce Prince cut off some of the Royal Line and forced others into Exile Reigned long and left the Crown for two Successions to his Danish Race who all swore to Govern the Realm by the Laws which had been established or rather digested by Edward the First and Edgar out of the Old Saxon Customs and Constitutions But Hardecaute last of the Danish Kings dying suddenly at a Feast in the year 1042. left the Race so hated by the Imposition and Exaction of several Tributes upon his People that Edward surnamed the Confessor and Grandson to Edgar coming out of Normandy where he had been long protected found an easie accession to the Crown by the general Concurrence both of Nobles and People and with great Applause restored the Saxon Race in the year 1043. Thus expired not only the Dominion but all Attempts or Invasions of the Danes in England which though continued and often renewed with mighty Numbers for above two hundred years yet left no change of Laws Customs Language or Religion nor other Traces of their Establishments here besides the many Castles they built and many Families they left behind them who after the Accession of Edward the Confessor to the Crown wholly submitting to his Government and
King of France lost the Flower of his Army the greatest part of his Nobles and hardly escaped himself in Person But that little availed this unfortunate Prince who was so sensible of the Loss and as he thought dishonour received by so unequal a Match that he had not the Heart to survive it long but died of Grief and thereby gave an end to this War and left Duke William a calm and peaceable Reign till he disturbed his own and his Neighbours Quiet by new and greater Adventures But to discover their Causes and judge better of the Events we must have recourse to the Accidents of the former Reigns both in England and Normandy and the great Commerce and Intelligences that were thereby grown for many years past between these two Courts and Nations Edward for his Piety surnamed the Confessor the last King of the Saxon Race in England had by the Persecution of his Enemies under the Reign of Harde-Cnute the Dane been forced to leave England and seek shelter in Normandy where he was kindly received nobly entertained by the Duke lived long there with many English who adhered to his Right followed his Fortunes and shared in the Causes and Reliefs of his Banishment some found Imployments others Alliances All favour and kind reception in Normandy These mutual good Offices produced so much kindness between the Givers and Receivers that 't is by some Writers reported King Edward during his Residence in the Norman Court promised Duke Robert that in case he recovered the Kingdom of England and died without Issue He would leave him the Crown The first happening and Edward restored by the Power of Earl Godwin or rather the general Discontents of the English against the Danish Race and Government 'T is certain King Edward after his Restoration or rather first Accession to the Crown ever appeared more favourable and partial to the Normans than was well resented by his English Subjects in general but Earl Godwin and his Son Harold were so offended that they made it the Cause or Pretence of a dangerous Insurrection and were forced upon the ill Success thereof to leave the Kingdom and fly into Flanders though after restored and received by the King rather by Force than any free and willing Consent Duke William after the end of his Wars with France had turned his Thoughts to the common Arts and Entertainments of Peace regulating the Abuses of his State and the Disorders introduced by a long Course of Wars and Violence adorning his Palaces and Houses of Pleasure building Churches and Abbies and endowing them with great Bounty and Piety After which he made a Journy into England where he was received and entertained by King Edward with the same Kindness himself had found in the Norman Court for which like a good Prince he was much pleased to make this Return of Gratitude as well as Justice In this Visit 't is said by some Authors that the Duke gained so far upon the Esteem and Kindness of the King that he then renewed to the Son in England the promise he had formerly made the Father in Normandy of leaving him the Crown by Testament in case he died without Issue Some time after the Duke's return Harold Son to Earl Godwin and Heir of his great Possessions and Dependances in England was forced by a Storm as he at least pretended upon the Coasts of Normandy and to refresh himself after the Toils and Dangers of his Sea Voyage went first to the Norman Court and after some stay there to that of France and was in both entertained like a Person known to be of so great Consideration and Power in England But his last Visit at Paris was thought designed only to cover the true Intention of his first in Normandy Where he engaged to assist that Duke with all his Friends and Force in his Claim to the Crown of England upon King Edward's Death which happening not long after William claimed the Crown by virtue of a Testament from that King and of an Engagement from Harold But he on the contrary denied any such Testament from the deceased Prince alledged an Appointment made by him at his Death for Harold to succeed him disowned any Promise made in Favour of the Duke and making the best use of the Credit and Authority gained by his Father and himself in a crasie and diseased State during the soft Reign of a weak though pious King Harold set up bodly for himself without any respect of Right beyond the Peoples submission interpreted for their Consent and was Elected King by those Nobles and Commons of his Friends or indifferent Persons who assembled at his Coronation leaving to Edgar Atheling an undoubted but yet unregarded Right of Succession and to William a disputed Plea from the alledged Testament of the deceased King The Duke fond of those ambitious Hopes he had framed early and nourished long and spighted at the perfidious dealing of Harold towards him and his Insolence towards the English Nation in seising the Crown and Government against all Justice or so much as Pretence of Right which is commonly made use of to cover the most lawless Actions assembles his Estates of Normandy exposes to them his Claim to England the Wrong done him by Harold his Resolutions of prosecuting both with his utmost Power The Glory as well as Justice of the Enterprise The hopes of Success from his own Right and the hatred in England of the Usurper as well as the Friends and Intelligences he had in that Kingdom The greatness of Spoils and Possessions by the Conquest of his Enemies and the Share he intended his Friends and Followers according to each Man's Merit and Contribution towards the Advancement of his Designs Though the generality of the Normans in this Assembly were not at first very much moved by these Discourses as either doubting the Right or Success of so hazardous an Adventure yet they could not discourage what they were unwilling to promote since they found the Prince had it so much at Heart who prevailed with several of the greatest Bishops and Nobles of Normandy to make him a voluntary Offer of what Moneys Men and Ships they would each of them furnish towards this Enterprise as well as of their own Personal Attendance upon him in so noble and just a Design This free and magnanimous Offer of the greatest among them in some Degree spirited not only the rest of the Assembly but had much Influence upon the People in general who grew Confident of the Success from the Greatness and Boldness of the Undertakers so as they fell into Emulation who should Engage soonest and Contribute furthest upon this Occasion The Duke assisted to his Expectation by his Subjects began to practice upon the Hopes and Ambition of his Neighbours who weary of the long Quiet they had lived in at home since the Part they had taken in the French and Norman Wars begun to grow fond of some new Action and to look
and so much Power to punish and revenge them which serves to make up that Character of Clemency of Nature that is allowed this Prince among his other Virtues even by those Writers who are severest upon his Memory Both the Danes and the Irish Fleets were upon the English Coasts when they first received the News of their Cenfederates Discovery and Disasters upon which they returned to Denmark and to Ireland and after this Time the Danes never again attempted any Invasion upon England nor was this Conqueror any more infested or disturbed by any of his English Subjects during the rest of his Reign finding the Conspiracy wholly suppressed and the Kingdom in perfect Tranquility upon his Return which he had yet hastened out of Normandy upon the Intelligence of his Danger in England and Ignorance how deep it was rooted or where it might end Nor was it easie to conjecture since it was believed by wise Men in that Age that the Weakness and ill Success of this Conspiracy proceeded chiefly from the Want of some popular Pretension that might have raised a Commotion of the People in Favour of the Lords and that if this had been designed in Defence of Edgar's known Rights to the Crown and spirited by that Prince at the Head of so many English and Norman Lords as were engaged in it the Throne had been endangered by this last Shake. But the unfortunate Prince Edgar had made his first Pretensions too late and his last Submissions too soon and the Danish Title was hated by the Commons of England though favoured by many of the Nobles and thereby wanted the Foundation proper and necessary to raise any firm Building Thus the Infelicity of some Princes may be occasioned only by ill timing their Councils when to attempt and when to desist in the justest Endeavours and the Greatness of others may be raised and preserved by unforeseen Accidents where the greatest Reach of Foresight and Conduct might have failed For had Edgar been at Liberty to pursue his Rights upon this Conjunction of the English and Norman Nobility he might probably have gained the Crown and had not some of the chief Complices discovered the Conspiracy the Conqueror might as probably have lost it However these Fortunes came to attend him thus far of his Reign yet here the Curtain may be drawn over the happy Scenes of this Prince's Life for the next that must open will represent him in the Decline of his Age imbroiled in Domestick Quarrels which could neither end in Glory nor in Gains assaulted by his own Children opposed by his Native Subjects forced to use Strangers to reduce them to Duty and Obedience after two dangerous Revolts and when these Troubles were appeased after much Anguish of Mind and many Dangers engaged by a trivial Accident and without any Design in a foreign War with a powerful Prince which though pursued with his usual Vigor and Fortune it first cost him his Health and at last his Life William the Conqueror had by his Wife Matild Daugter to Baldwin Count of Flanders four Sons Robert Richard William and Henry besides several Daughters Richard was a Prince of the greatest Hopes but unfortunately killed by a Stag while he was hunting in the new Forrest his untimely Fall was much lamented by the King but less by the People who interpreted it as a Judgment upon him for the mighty Wasts he had made to extend the Bounds of that Forrest and for the Rigor and Oppression of the Forrest Laws The other three survived their Father but with very different Fortunes as well as Merits and very unequally distributed The King before his Expedition into England had promised his eldest Son Robert the Dukedom of Normandy in case he conquered the Kingdom he then pretended this Promise was made before the King of France and challenged by Robert after the King 's first Establishment upon the English Throne But the King though he denied not the Promise he had made yet long delayed the Performance upon Pretence of his unsettled State in England from the Discontents of his Nobles and the Scotch Invasions which made it necessary for him to keep Normandy as a Retreat upon any great Misfortune or Revolution in England Duke Robert seemed content with these Reasons whilst they were justified by the Appearances of any Dangers in England but perceiving they were ceased and yet the Delays continued he grew at length impatient and about the fourteenth Year of the King's Reign assumed the Government of Normandy as sovereign and in his own Right caused the Barons to swear Fealty to him as to the Duke and not as his Father's Lieutenant and was received and obeyed by the Normans who grew weary of a subordinate Government and thought they deserved the Presence of their Prince among them which they had enjoyed since the first Establishment of their Possessions in France Besides Robert was generally beloved as a Prince courteous generous and brave though withal ambitious unquiet and uncertain yet these Dispositions both of Prince and People had not alone induced him to engage in so bold a Resolution with such a Breach of his Duty and his Trust without the Practises and Instigations of the King of France who grown jealous of King William's Greatness and envious of his Felicity found no better way of lessening both than to kindle this Fire in his own House and thereby the most sensibly to disquiet his Mind as well as to disjoynt his State and divide his Power He therefore not only encouraged Robert but combined with him in this Attempt and engaged to support him with his Forces if his Father disputed longer the Justice of his Claim The King though at first discomposed at the News of this Insolence in his Son yet believing it had no deeper Root but what would soon wither or be cut off by his Presence in Normandy gathered immediately what Forces he could raise and with an Army of his English Subjects sailed over now to invade Normandy as he had done before to invade England with his Normans A strange Revolution to befal one Prince in so short a Period of Time and which made as great a Change in his Dispositions as his Fortunes for the great Alacrity and Faithfulness which the English expressed towards him in this Expedition gained so far upon his Affections and Confidence that in the rest of his Reign and his succeeding Wars he seemed to place his chief Trust in the Courage and Loyalty of his English Subjects Duke Robert informed of his Father's Preparations neglected not his own and though surprised at the Suddenness of his Arrival to which the Winds had conspired he could not oppose his Landing yet soon after he was in the Field at the Head of a brave Norman Army and of two thousand Men at Arms which the King of France had sent to his Assistance With these Forces he marched against the King fell upon his Vanguard and by the Success of an Ambush
between the Years 460 and 500. But this whole Story is left so uncertain or obscure by those poor Writers who have pretended to leave the Tales rather than the History of those times behind them that it remains in doubt whether to consider them as a part of the Story of that or the Fables of succeeding Ages Whatever there was of plain Stuff the Embroidery of it with the Knights of the Round Table their Orders and their Chivalry and the rest of that kind seems to have been introduced by that Vein of the Spanish Romances which many Ages after filled the World with so much of that idle Trash and chose for the Subject of them the Adventures and Successes of the first Christian pretended Heroes who renowned such fictitious Names by extravagant Actions or Adventures against the Pagans or the Saracens either in Spain or other parts of Europe and Asia And among these 't is probable those Writers found room for the many Legends of the British Arthur and his Romantick Adventures against the Heathen Saxons After the Year 500 for one Century or thereabouts the Saxon Forces were employed in subduing the midland Parts of Britain interjacent between their two first Establish'd Colonies or Kingdoms in the South or Kent and in the North or about Northumberland and to furnish Men for such Atchievments and the new Plantation of so great Tracts of Country after the Conquest and Devastation of the Old mighty numbers of the Saxon Race came over into Britain in several Expeditions and Landing at several Places That which is recorded to have made sudden and easie way for their final Conquests was a Treaty they entered into with the Britains where upon a Parley mediated between them Three Hundred of the Chief on each side agreed to meet and conclude the Treaty in a great Plain In the midst of Talk and Drink which had part in this Commerce the Saxons provoking maliciously and the Britains innocently resenting fell to quarrel first in Words and at last to Blows When the Saxons upon a Sign agreed between them drew out short Swords they had concealed under their upper Garments fell upon the unarmed Britains slew their whole number in the Field who being the best and bravest of their Nation left the rest exposed without Heart or Head to the Fury and Progress of the Saxon Arms. These heartned with Success and proud of so great Possessions and Territories invited and allured still greater Numbers of their own from abroad who being of several Branches and from several Coasts arrived here under several Names among whom the Angles from Schonen and Iutland swarmed over in such numbers that they gave a new Name at length to this Province which from them was called Angle-land and for easier sound England The Saxons pursued their Invasion with Courage and Fierceness equal to the Multitudes of their Nation that swarmed over into this Island and with such an uninterrupted Course of Fortune and Victories after the year 500. that by the end of the next Century they had subdued the whole Body of the Province and establish'd in it seven several Kingdoms which were by the Writers of those Times stiled the Heptarchy of the Saxons They had expelled the Britains out of the fairest and best of their ancient Possessions and driven their greatest numbers who escaped the Conqueror's Fury into Wales and Cornwal Countries mountainous and barren encompassed on three sides by the Sea and towards the Land of difficult Access Some great Colonies of them wholly abandoned their Native Country to their fierce Invaders sailed over into the North-west Parts of France where possessing new Seats they gave a new Appellation to that Peninsula which preserves still the Name and Memory of Britain there though about this time almost worn out at home This is the Account commonly given of the British Colonies first establishing themselves in that Canton of Gaul But there is another given by some learned Persons of their own and drawn as they say either from ancient Archives or Traditions among them and which to me seems the most probable When upon the Roman Wars in Gaul among several Pretenders to the Empire great numbers of the Britains as well as Roman Forces in that Island were drawn over to assist the contending Parties 'T is said that very great Multitudes of the British having followed the unfortunate side retired as fast as they could to that part of the Sea-coast nearest to their Isle and most likely to furnish them with Ships for their Transportation But that the miseries of their Native Country from the furious Inroads of the Picts and Scots so discouraged their Return that by Consent of the Gauls their Friends they established themselves in the furthest North-west Parts of that Province which has since that time retained their Language and their Name And this agrees with the Legend of King Arthur who is said to have been a young Prince or Leader sent from the Britains in France to assist their Country-men here against the Saxons Whatever the Beginnings of this Colony were or at what time 't is at least agreed to have been much augmented by the Resort of so many Britains as sought Refuge there from the Saxon Cruelty The weak and poor Remainders of the old Britains who were scattered among the Saxons in England were wholly spoiled of their Lands and Goods which were fallen under the Mercy of the Conquerors who sharing them all among themselves left the remaining Britains in a Condition of downright Servitude Used them for Tilling Ground Feeding Cattle and other Servile Works in House or Field sometimes Farming out certain parts of Land to them at certain Rents or Profits but held always at the Will and Pleasure of the Landlord The Children that were born of these miserable People belonged to the Lord of the Soil like the rest of the Stock or Cattle upon it and thus began Villenage in England which lasted till the time or end of Henry the Seventh's Reign Soon after the year 600. the Saxons in England having ended their old Quarrel with the Britains began new ones among themselves and according to the usual Circle of human Affairs War ended in Peace Peace in Plenty and Luxury these in Pride and Pride in Contention till the Circle ended in new Wars The Saxon Princes of the seven Kingdoms they had erected in Britain fell into Emulations of one anothers Greatness Disputes about the Bounds of their several Principalities or about Successions or Usurpations pretended or exercised in one or other of them These were followed by formal Wars among them the stronger swallowing up the weaker and these having recourse to their Neighbours for defence against encroaching Power Many fierce Encounters Sieges Battels Spoils and Devastations of Country succeeded in the progress and decision of these mutual Injuries and Invasions between the Saxon Kings for above Two Hundred Years but the account of them is very poorly given us with little order
peaceably inhabiting came to incorporate and make a part of the English Nation without any distinction Edward the Confessor Reigned long reduced the Laws of Edward Alfred and Edgar's Reigns into more Form and Order and governed by them His Wars were successful both in Scotland and Wales though managed by his Leaders and without his presence But being a Prince of a soft and easie Nature he gave way to the growing Power and Arrogance of Earl Godwin and his Sons who had been the chief Instruments of advancing him to the Throne upon the Condition of Marrying Earl Godwin's Daughter After he was settled in the Kingdom either upon gratitude and inclination to the People and Customs of a Country where he had lived long and been well received when he was banished from his own He invited many of his Norman Friends into England employ'd them in his greatest Offices either of Church or State and upon some quarrels between them and the English exprest too much partiality to the Normans This gave Godwin and his Son Harold occasion or pretence of raising and heading great Discontents of the English against the Norman Favorites and at last Insurrections against the King who soft in his Nature devout in his temper and now declined in his Age endeavoured rather to appease these troubles by Articles than by Arms and thereby left Harold too powerful for a Subject and aspiring to the Crown Edward had no Children and though he seemed desirous to leave the Crown to his Nephew yet distrusting his weakness to defend it against so powerful a Rival it does not appear or is not agreed among Authors whether he made any disposition of it at his Death or no or whether any such at least as was afterwards pretended Harald alledged that he was appointed by Edward the Confessor to succeed him was believed by some and allowed by more who followed his Power rather than his Right and was immediately after the King's Death elected or admitted to the Crown His first trouble was from his own Brother who being the Elder had obtained assistance from Norway to set up a Title or Pretence to the Kingdom though he could have no other but that his Brother had usurped it Harald having marched into the North overthrown his Brother and his Army of Strangers or Discontents with great slaughter at Stamford was suddenly recalled by a more dangerous and fatal Storm from the South For William Duke of Normandy surnamed the Conqueror was landed at Hastings with a mighty Army of stout Norman Soldiers to pursue a Right he pretended to the Succession of the Crown after the Death of Edward What this was is but obscurely proved or defended But the pretext was that Edward had by Testament left him Successor of the Crown and that Harald while he was last in Normandy had likewise assured him of his Assistance to advance him to the Kingdom upon the Death of the King and the Duke therefore sent to put him in mind of that Engagement But Harald was in possession and admitted neither of these Claims resolved to defend well what he had gotten ill since the apparent Right was in Edgar Atheling descended from the true Saxon Race and from a Brother of Edward the Confessor To decide these Disputes between the two powerful Pretenders while the just Right lay unregarded for want of Force to support it a fierce and bloody Battel was Fought near Hastings which continued for a whole day with great Bravery and Slaughter on both sides but ended with the Death of Harald most of the bravest Captains and above Sixty Thousand Soldiers of the English Nation who resolved to defend a Domestick Usurper against a Foreign Invader and by the loss of their Lives made easie way for the undisputed Succession of William the Conqueror to the Crown of England about the year 1066. or as some account 1068. This Norman Prince was Natural Son of Robert the Sixth Duke of Normandy by Arlette a very Beautiful Virgin of Falaize with whom he fell in Love as she stood gazing at her Door whilst he passed through that Town So that he was the Issue of a sudden and strong Inclination like a noble Plant raised in a hot Bed which gave it such Force and Vigour as made it prosper and grow to so great a Height Nor is it unlikely that the ancient Heroes derived themselves from some Gods to cover the Misfortunes or Follies the Rapes or Loves of some fair Maidens or else the Passions of some frail Wives who loved a Gallant better than a Husband And the force of such Encounters might have Part in the Constitution of a young Hero and give a Natural Vigour Spirit and Lustre to the Children from the Flames wherein they were conceived 'T is certain this young Conqueror owed his Greatness to his Birth and his Fortunes to his personal Merit from the strength of his Temper and vigour of his Mind For he had a Body of Iron as well as a Heart of Steel Yet his Intellectuals were at least equal to his other natural Advantages and he appears as Wise in his politick Institutions as he was Bold in his Enterprises or Brave and Fortunate in the Atchievment of his great Adventures His Father Robert growing Old fell into a Fit of Devotion frequent enough in that Age which made him resolve upon a Visit to the holy Sepulcher His Nobles used all Arguments they could to disswade him but chiefly from the want of lawful Issue and the Competition like to arise upon his Death between several great Pretenders which might prove dangerous to his Country and perhaps fatal to the Norman State But he persisted in the Design of his Journy and told them he had a young Son that he believed certainly to be his own and of whose Person and Disposition he had great Hopes and therefore resolved to leave him his Successor in the Dutchy recommended him to their Care and Loyalty and appointed the King of France to be his Guardian and the Duke of Britain his Governour who was one of the fairest Pretenders to the Succession of that Dutchy after the failing of Robert's Line An unusual Strain or Testimony of the good Faith and Meaning of that Age where Honour was so much more in Request than Interest that such a Prince could trust a Son of reproached Birth and disputed Right to a powerful Neighbour the likeliest to Invade him and to a Pretender that stood the fairest to contest his Title The Prince was not above Nine or Ten Years Old when Duke Robert caused his Nobles and Chief Norman Subjects to Swear Fealty to him and afterwards carried him to do Homage to Henry the First King of France for the Dutchy of Normandy according to the Custom of the former Dukes since their first Accords with that Crown after their Conquests and Establishments in that Part of France which was before called Neustry and took the Name of Normandy from those fierce Invaders These coming
distance fell again to their Arrows with one of which Harold was shot quite through the Head and fell to the Ground And by his Death gave the Victory and the Field to the Normans which had hitherto continued doubtful on both sides and seemed thus far to have been Fought with equal Courage and with equal Loss But the Flight of the English upon Harold's Fall soon determined it and was followed by a long and bloody pursuit of the Normans which continued till Night and left mighty Numbers of the English slain in their Flight that had been safe in the Battel and the rest of them wholly dispersed though covered by the Night So different are the effects of Courage and of Fear and so Just the Rewards of both the first which seeks dangers often avoids them the other often runs into them by endeavouring to escape them Much greater numbers falling in all Battels by the pursuit of those that fly than by the Slaughter of those that Fight Nothing seems to show the greatness of England so much at this time as that Harold should be able to assemble so mighty an Army to oppose this Invasion And find above Threescore Thousand Men Brave enough not only to Fight but to lose their Lives in his defence For so many are agreed to have been slain of the English at this Battel of Hastings where he lost his Crown and his Life together and left the Field with the Kingdom to this brave Norman Conquerour This was the Man These the Forces and such the Circumstances that contributed to so famous an Enterprise by which the Fate of England was determined in or about the Year 1066. The Duke after this famous Victory resolved not to lose the Fruits and Advantages he had thereby gained which is often done for want of Speed or Vigour in the Prosecution wherein Celerity is sometimes of more Consequence than Force Therefore after the Pursuit of his broken Enemies and a short Refreshment of his own Army He began immediately his March towards London where was all the Strength then left in the Kingdom believing if he could be Master of the Head the rest of the Body would follow without more Struggle or Resistance In his March he is said to have exercised much Cruelty towards all he found in Arms with great Rigour and Oppression upon the other Inhabitants and Spoil of the Countries where he passed till entring into a Woody Part of Kent and advancing with his Vanguard before the rest of his Army he found himself almost environed with mighty Numbers of the Kentish Men who had concealed themselves in the Wood by carrying every Man a great Bough of a Tree like a Shield in his Hand But when they saw the Norman Troops and the Duke at the Head of them within their Danger they began on a sudden to march like a moving Wood till approaching their Enemies they threw down their Boughs and discovered on all Sides a Multitude of brave armed Men ready to charge the Normans that stood surprised and amazed at the Strangeness of the Sight which appeared as if a Wood had been by some Enchantment transformed into an Army But the Kentish Men approaching made a Halt and sent the Abbot of St. Austins to tell the Duke that all the Men of that Province were there assembled to defend their Country and their Liberties or to sell their Lives as dear as they could that if he would swear to preserve them in those ancient Laws and Customs under which they and their Ancestors had so long lived they were all ready to lay down their Arms and become his Subjects if not he must prepare to fight with Men that had resolved to lose their Lives rather than their Liberties and Laws The Duke finding he was too far advanced to joyn the Body of his Army before he engaged and unwilling to venture all his Fortunes and Hopes against such numerous Bands as these appeared and of so desperate Men granted to all the Inhabitants of the Province of Kent the Preservation and free Enjoyment of all their ancient Laws and Customs under the Saxon Reigns swore the Observance of his Grant received their Homage and so pursued his March This is represented as a forc'd Prelude to a subsequent voluntary Act of this Prince whereby he made or confirmed the same Concession in general to all the rest of the Kingdom And though this Adventure of the Kentish Men be not recorded with great Evidence of Truth or Agreement of Circumstances or of Time for some Writers place it before his first Arrival at London others after and upon an Expedition to reduce the Castle of Dover yet it is related by so many Authors and is so generally received by vulgar Tradition that it seems not to be omitted But when or however it happened or whether at all or no is not material to the History of this Prince or to the following Actions or Institutions of his Reign In the City of London besides the great Numbers and Riches of the Inhabitants were retired most of the great Nobles of the Kingdom both Ecclesiastical and Secular who had not been engaged in Action of either Side and attended what would be the Issue of this strong and violent Convulsion of the State Upon Decision of the last Battel they all consulted together with the Citizens what was best to be advised and done for their common Interest and Safety as well as of the whole Kingdom which was like to run their Fate by following their Example Many of the secular Nobles were for collecting what Forces they could and making a stand either in the Field or in the Town and thereby trying their Fortunes or at the worst making Conditions for they could not bear that their great Possessions and Lands should lie at the Mercy of a Prince whose Will might be as boundless as his Power and who had so great a Train to be rewarded at their Cost and by the Spoils if he pleased of the whole Kingdom The Citizens feared the hostile Entrance of an incensed Army upon a weak Resistance and the sudden Loss of their Possessions which consisting chiefly in Moveables might be seized in a Day and dissipated past any Recovery by the very Grace of the Prince or succeeding Composition between him and the rest of the Kingdom They thought no Forces could be collected either in Time upon so sudden an Approach or with Strength enough to make Opposition in a Body that had lost so much Blood and without a Head to command them or upon any Treaty to manage their common Interests to the best Advantage and so they were disposed to submit to what they esteemed the Fate of the Kingdom The Arch-bishops Bishops and the rest of the Clergy were a sort of State apart within the State it self having a Jurisdiction independent as they pretended and were usually allowed in that Age upon the secular Power they held their Lands and Possessions in the Kingdom
Prince the Dauphin fell into Passion called him Son of a Bastard and threw some of the Chessmen at his Head Upon which Prince Henry enraged took up the Chess-board and struck the Dauphin with such Fury on the Head that he laid him bleeding on the Ground and had killed him if his Brother Robert had not retained him and made him sensible how much more it concerned him to make his Escape than pursue his Revenge and thereupon they went down immediately took Horse and by the Help of their Speed or their own good Fortune got safe to Pontoise before they could be reached by the French that pursued them The King of France exasperated by this Accident and Indignity to his Son which revived an inveterate Malice or Envy he had against King William first demanded Satisfaction but at the same time prepared for Revenge both by raising an Army to invade Normandy and taking private Measures with Duke Robert to divest his Brother Henry of his Share in the Government and leave the Dominion of that Dutchy to the Duke according to his former Pretensions grounded upon his Father's Promise wherein the King of France as a Witness still pretended to be concerned The King of England seeing the War inevitable enters upon it with his usual Vigor and with incredible Celerity transporting a brave English Army invades France and takes several Towns in Poictou whilst the French took the City of Vernon by which Hostilities on both sides the first War began between England and France which seemed afterwards to have been entailed upon the Posterity and Successors of these two Princes for so many Generations to have drawn more noble Blood and been attended with more memorable Atchievements than any other National Quarrel we read of in any ancient or modern Story King William after taking of several Towns and spoiling much Country in Poictou and Xantonge returned to Rouen where by the Benignity of his own Nature and Levity of his Son 's he was the third time reconciled to Duke Robert and thereby disappointed those Hopes the King of France had conceived from his Practises with that Prince and as some write with his Brother Henry too and defeated his Pretext of assisting his Right in the Dominion of Normandy But Philip bent upon this War by other Incentives than those which appeared from the Favour of Duke Robert's Pretensions or Revenge of the Dauphin's Injury and moved both with the Jealousie of the King's Greatness and the Envy of his Glory and Felicity resolved to prosecute obstinately the Quarrel he had rashly begun and not esteeming the sudden though violent Motions of a youthful Heat between the two Princes a Ground sufficient to bear the Weight of a formal and declared War upon the News and Spight of Duke Robert's Reconciliation with his Father he sent to the King to demand Homage of him both for Normandy and England King William answered that he was ready to do him the Homage accustomed for Normandy but would do him none for England which he held only of God and his Sword The French King hereupon declared open War against him which was begun and pursued with great Heats and Animosities on both sides with equal Forces but unequal Fortune which favoured either the Justice of the King's Cause the Valour of his Troops or the Conduct of their Leader upon all Encounters He marched into France took Nantes and burnt it with many Villages about it saying That to destroy the Wasps their Nests must be burnt In the Heat of this Action and by that of the Fires which he too near approached he fell into a Distemper which forced him to retire his Army and return to Rouen where he lay sick for some time with ill Symptoms that gave his Friends Apprehension and Hopes to his Enemies During the Expectation of this Event both sides were quiet by a sort of tacit and voluntary Truce between them The King of France talking of his Sickness and mocking at the Corpulency to which he was grown of late Years said King William was gone only to lay his great Belly at Rouen and that he doubted he must be at Charge to set up Lights at his uprising The King of England being told this Scoff sent King Philip Word That he was ready to sit up after his lying in and that when he was churched he would save him the Charge of setting up Lights and come himself and light a thousand Fires in France No Injuries are so sensible to Mankind in general as those of Scorn and no Quarrels pursued between Princes with so much Sharpness and Violence as those which arise from personal Animosities or private Passions to which they are subject like other Mortal Men. The King recovered gathers the greatest Forces he could raise both of English and Normans marches into the Isle of France with Fire and Spoil where-ever he came approaches within Sight of Paris where that King was retired There King William sent him word that he was up and abroad and would be glad to see him abroad too But the French King resolved to let this Fury pass and appeared not in the Field which was left to the Mercy and Ravage of his Enemies The King riding about to observe his Advantages and give his Orders and straining his Horse to leap a Ditch in his Way bruised the Bottom of his Belly against the Pommel of his Saddle with such a Weight and so much Pain as gave him a Relapse of his Illness so lately recovered forced him to march his Army back into Normandy and to go himself to Rouen Here his Bruise turned to a Rupture and his Sickness encreasing with the Anguish of his Wound gave too soon and true Apprehensions of his Danger Yet he languished for some time which he made use of to do many Acts of great Charity and give other Testimonies of Piety and Resignation to the Will of God as well as to dispose the Succession and Affairs of his State leaving by his Testament the Dutchy of Normandy to his eldest Son Robert the Kingdom of England to William his second Son and all his Treasures which were very great to Henry his third After this he ended his Life in the full Career of Fortune and Victory which attended him to his Grave through the long Course of more than threescore Years Reign For he began that in Normandy about ten Years old and continued it above fourty Years before his English Expedition after which he reigned above twenty Years in England and died in or about the seventy second Year of his Age and the Year of our Lord 1087. Several Writers show their ill Talent to this Prince in making particular Remarks how his Corps was immediately forsaken by all his Friends and Followers as soon as he expired how the Monks of an Abbey he had founded were thereby induced to come of Charity and take the care of his Body and his Burial which he had ordered to be at Caen