not hope to maintain his hold on both England and Normandy unless he made friends with the body of the English people. He did not rely wholly on his sword: he presented himself for election, according to the old Saxon custom—of which we still retain a trace in our Coronation service. And, however much we may believe that the election was a farce, it was a concession to public opinion, and as such was an abandonment of the purely military claim of a conqueror. He went much further than a sham election. Master Wace, in the "Chronicle of the Conquest,"[1] says: "Then he called together all the barons, and assembled all the English, and put it to their choice, what laws they would hold to, and what customs they chose to be observed; whether the Norman or the English; those of which lord and which king. And they all said, 'King Edward's; let his laws be held and kept.' They requested to have the customs which were well-known … and it was done according to their desire, the King consenting to their wish."
This seems to have taken place immediately after the Conquest. Hut there was a later confirmation. From the year 1082, William was constantly harassed by the fears of a Danish invasion, to co-operate with Hereward—still holding out with a remnant of desperate men in the swamps of Ely. Twice had a Danish fleet reached our shores, and twice had it sailed home again, afraid to strike. Not daring to trust the English, William brought in great numbers of mercenaries from Normandy and Brittany, and quartered them on the English, whom they ate out of house and home. In 1085 another invasion was feared. At Christmas a great Council was held at Gloucester, and it was determined to make a survey of the whole land of England. The survey was ready by the Easter of 1086— it was the great Survey called Domesday Book.'[2] This could not have been done in the time if there had not already been in existence a complete description of lands, based on the old Anglo-Saxon charters. At Easter, 1086, the King summoned all the freeholders
