in spite of these defects, the Normans made themselves the foremost race in Europe."
The period of English history ending in 1066, relieved though it was by episodes of national union and conspicuous patriotic devotion, must, upon the whole, be regarded as a period of almost continuous piratical struggles for the dominion of the island. The leading prince of the day, no matter whether he was called Cymbeline, Carausius, Allectus, Æsc, Egbert, Edward the Elder, Edgar, Canute, or Harold, was, it must be feared, little better than the strongest pirate who happened at the moment to have ships in the Narrow Seas. That several of these pirates used their power beneficently, and that a few more were, in addition, great statesmen and enlightened monarchs, can scarcely be held to alter the facts. Might counted for everything: right, and the general good of the people and of the State, for little, and often for nothing at all. Until Godwin's time, even popular opinion was practically a dormant factor; and the middle classes, as well as the masses, were only so many pawns in the stirring games played by the big sea rovers. In 1066 England was conquered by pirates for the last time.
Duke William claimed the crown of England[1] by right of donation from Edward the Confessor; by election; by grant from the Pope; and by right of arms; but he was a prince who regarded the first three grounds of claim as of small importance and cogency in comparison with the fourth. Upon the strength of the first three, he gained only a relatively feeble following; nor was the indignation of his friends much stirred either by the recollection that the Norman bishops had been driven from England by the instrumentality of the family of Godwin, or by the knowledge that Harold had forgotten his oath. The great lever wherewith William induced his nobles to identify themselves with his projects was, rather, a promise of spoil;[2] for the old pirate traditions were still flourishing vigorously in the hearts of all Normans, whether bishops,[3] barons, or burghers. The Pope's consecrated Gonfanon was useful; the ring with a hair of St. Peter served its turn; but the conquest would not have been effected, nor
- ↑ 'Chron. de Norm.,' xiii. 235; Thierry, i. 283. See also Freeman, passim.
- ↑ Eadmer, Hist. i. 7; Will. of Malmes. 'De Gest. Pont. Angl.,' 290.
- ↑ The Bishop of Bayeux contributed forty, and the Bishop of Le Mans thirty ships. Remi, priest of Fécamp, sent twenty men-at-arms in exchange for a promise of an English bishopric.
