Whatever William's faults may have been, his great object was to build up a government better than any England had yet seen. Hence his severity, hence his castles and forts, by which he made sure of retaining his hold upon whatever he had gained.
112. William builds the Tower of London.
We have seen that William gave London a charter (S107); but overlooking the place in which the charter was kept, he built the Tower of London to hold the turbulent city in wholesome restraint. That tower, as fortress, palace, and prison, stands as the dark background of most events in English history.
It was the forerunner of a multitude of Norman castles. They rose on the banks of every river, and on the summit of every rocky height, from the west hill of Hastings to the peak of Derbyshire, and from the banks of the Thames to those of the Tweed. Side by side with these strongholds there also rose a great number of monasteries, churches, and cathedrals.
113. William confiscates the Land; Classes of Society.
Hand in hand with the progress of conquest, the confiscation of land went on. William had seized the lands belonging to Harold (S67) and those of the chief men associated with him, and had given them to his own followers in England. In this way, all the greatest estates and the most important offices passed into the hands of the Normans. The King made these royal grants on the express condition that those who received them should furnish him a certain number of armed men whenever he should demand them.
Two great classes of society now existed in England. First, the leading Norman conquerors, who, as chief tenants or landholders under the Crown, and as peers of the realm, had the title of barons. They numbered about fifteen hundred, and, as we have just seen, they were all pledged to draw their swordss in behalf of the King. Secondly, the English who had been reduced to a subordinate state; most of these now held their land as grants from the Norman barons on condition of some kind of service. A majority of these men were no longer entirely free, while some were actual slaves. The greater part of this servile class were villeins or farm laborers (S150). They were bound to the soil, and could be sold with it, but not, like the slaves, separately from it. They could be compelled to perform any menial labor, but usually held their plots of land and humble cottages on condition of plowing a certain number of acres or doing a certain number of days' work in each year. In time the villeins generally obtained the privilege of paying a fixed money rent, in place of labor, and their condition gradually improved.
114. How William distributed his Gifts.
Yet it is noticeable that when William granted estates to his Norman followers (S113), he was careful not to give any baron too much land in any one county or shire. His experience in Normandy had taught him that it was better to divide than to concentrate the power of the great nobles, who were often only too ready to plot to get the crown for themselves.
Thus William developed and extended the feudal system of land tenure,[1] already in existence in outline among the Saxons (S86), until it covered every part of the realm. He, however, kept this system strictly subordinate to himself, and we shall see that before the close of his reign he held a great meeting by which he got absolute control over it (S121).
[1] See, too, the Constitutional Summary in the Appendix, p. v, S6.
115. The Three Counties Palatine.
The only exceptions which William made in these carefully restricted grants were the three Counties Palatine,[1] which he created. They bordered on Wales in the west, Scotland in the north, and the English Channel in the southeast. To the earls of these counties of Chester, Durham, and Kent, which were especially liable to attack from Wales, Scotland, or France, William thought it expedient to give almost royal power, which descended in their families, thus making the title hereditary. (See map facing p. 436.)
[1] Palatine (from palatium, palace): having rights equal with the King in his palace. The county of Chester is now Cheshire. Durham bordered on Northumberland, then opposed to William. Shropshire was practically a fourth County Palatine until Henry I. Later, Lancaster was added to the list.
116. How William stopped Assassination; the Law of Englishry; Gregory VII.
The hard rule of the Norman nobles caused many secret assassinations. To put a stop to these crimes, William enacted the Law of Englishry. It compelled the people of the district where a murder was perpetrated to pay a heavy fine for every Norman so slain; for it was assumed that every man found murdered was a Norman, unless proof could be brought to the contrary.
While these events were taking place in England, Hildebrand, the archdeacon who had urged the Pope to favor William's expedition against England (S68), ascended the papal throne, under the title of Gregory VII. He was the ablest, the most ambitious, and, in some respects, he most farsighted man who had been elected supreme head of the Catholic Church.
117. State of Europe; Gregory's Scheme of Reform.
Europe was at that time in a condition little better than anarchy. A perpetual quarrel was going on between the feudal barons. The Church, too, as we have seen (SS53, 60), had temporarily lost much of its power for good. Pope Gregory conceived a scheme of reform which he intended should be both wide and deep.
Like Dunstan (S60), he determined to correct the abuses which had crept into the monasteries. He resolved to have a priesthood who should devote themselves body and soul to the interests of the Church; he resolved to bring all society into submission to that priesthood; finally, he resolved to make the priesthood itself acknowledge him as its sole master. His purpose in this gigantic scheme was a noble one; it was to establish the unity and peace of Europe.
118. The Pope and the Conqueror, 1076.
Pope Gregory looked to William for help in this matter. The Conqueror, who was a zealous Catholic, was ready to give that help, but with limitations. He pledged himself to aid in reforming the English Church, which had enjoyed "an insular and barbaric independence." He undertook to remove inefficient men from its high places. The King also agreed to do something that had never been done before in England, namely, to establish separate courts (S151) for the trial of Church cases (SS164, 165). Finally, he agreed to pay the customary yearly tax to Rome, called "Peter's pence."
But Pope Gregory was not satisfied. He demanded that the Conqueror should do him homage for his crown, and should swear "to become his man" (S86). This William respectfully, but decidedly, refused to do, saying that as no "King of the English before him had ever become the Pope's man, so neither would he." In taking this action the King declared himself to be an obedient and affectionate son of the "Holy Catholic Church." But at the same time he laid down these three rules to show that he would not tolerate any interference with his power as an independent English sovereign:
1. That no Pope should be acknowledged in England, or letters from the Pope received there, without his sanction. 2. That no national synod or meeting of churchmen (S48) should enact any decrees binding the English Church, without his confirmation. 3. That no baron or officer of his should be expelled from the Church without his permission.[1]
[1] Taswell-Langmead's "English Constitutional History," p. 59; Professor W. Stubb's "Constitutional History of England," I, 286.
It is noticeable that Pope Gregory never seems to have censured William for the position he took—perhaps because one brave man always understands and respects another.
Yet a little later than this (1077), when Henry IV, Emperor of Germany, refused to comply with certain demand made by Gregory VII, the German monarch had to submit. More than this, he was compelled to stand barefooted in the snow before the Pope's palace, waiting three days for permission to enter and beg forgiveness.
119. William a Stern but Just Ruler; the Jews; the New Forest.
Considering his love of power and strength of will, the reign of William was conspicuous for its justice. He was harsh, but generally fair. He protected the Jewish traders who came over to England in his reign, for he saw that their commercial enterprise and their financial skill would be of immense value in developing the country. Then too, if the royal treasury should happen to run dry, he thought it might be convenient to coax