king's officer to take the place of the selectman of the wapentake. The king's officer was called a sheriff (from the words shire and reeve, or keeper).
The leaderless English people were without organization or national purpose. They had to submit and see their ancient and beloved customs and liberties trodden under foot.
Then their new masters, the knights, set about quietly disarming the people. They also discountenanced all popular military customs, and even the usual athletic exercises and games.
Within a single generation the people had rendered up their arms and local rights to the knights, who were bound only to help the king in his wars.
Before the conquest, every Englishman was a spearman or bowman, and quarter-staff and other lusty exercises were the common pastime of the people. That was the time when England was called, and deservedly, "Merrie England."
Addison, writing about popular exercises ("Spectator," No. 161), alludes to "an old statute which obliged every man in England, having such an estate, to keep and exercise the longbow ;" by which means, he says, "our ancestors excelled all other nations in the use of that weapon, and we had all the real advantages without the inconvenience of a standing army."
