SOURCE. (B) Historia Sicula. Gaufredus Malaterra (fl. 1100). Trans. E. Gibbon. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. London, 1862. Vol. vii., p. 106. The Normans are a cunning and revengeful people, eloquence and dissimulation appear to be their hereditary qualities; they can stoop to flatter, but unless they are curbed by the restraint of law, they indulge the licentiousness of nature and passion. Their princes affect the praises of popular munificence; the people observe the medium, or rather blend the extremes, of avarice and prodigality, and in their eager thirst of wealth and dominion, they despise whatever they possess, and hope whatever they desire. Arms and horses, the luxury of dress, the exercises of hunting and hawking are the delight of the Normans, but, on pressing occasions, they can endure with incredible patience the inclemency of every climate, and the toil and abstinence of a military life. 14. GREGORY VII. TO WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR (1080). To feel the full force of this letter, one must be somewhat familiar with the struggle which raged between the mediaval empire and the papacy during the latter portion of William the Conqueror's reign. The view was then advanced by Gregory VII. that because spiritual things are higher than temporal the pope is exalted above the emperor. An easy inference was that the pope must be superior to national kings as well, because they stood lower than the emperor. Gregory had clear convictions and unflinching courage, but a basis of physical power was needed to support them. There were many reasons why he should turn towards the Normans. Leo IX. had confirmed them in their Italian possessions, and Alexander II. had blessed William's expedition to England. In seeking to strengthen the alliance Gregory had a difficult course to steer. He wanted aid against the emperor, Henry IV., and yet he would not surrender a single right belonging to his office. The wide extent of papal claims, and the graciousness of the language used towards the king as an individual are equally noticeable in this letter to William. That Gregory could be more pointed when he chose is evident from his second bull of excommunication against Henry IV., which was written An extract from this document appears in the same year. under B. SOURCE. (4) Gregorii VII. Epistolæ. ed. Migne. Vol. cxlviii., p. 568. (1015?-1085). Patrologia Latina, Trans. C. W. Colby. Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to William, King of the English, greeting and apostolic benediction. We believe it not to be hid from thy sagacity that Almighty God has provided for the rule of this world two powers more excellent than all others, the apostolic and the royal. For just as He has set the sun and moon above all other lights in order that the beauty of the world may at different times be seen by eyes of flesh, so, lest the creature whom His goodness has created after His own image should go astray and be drawn into deadly peril, He has provided through the apostolic and royal dignities divers means whereby it shall be ruled. But just as in this case there is a difference between the greater and the less so the Christian religion proceeds; in order that the royal dignity may be governed next after God, by the care and dispensation of the apostolic. And though this, dearest son, will not escape thy watchfulness, yet for thy salvation let one truth become an inseparable part of thy mind: Holy Scripture bears witness that the apostolic and papal dignity stands proctor for Christian kings and all others before the bar of God, and must account to Him for their offences. If, therefore, in the dreadful day of judgment I must stand forth in thy behalf before the just Judge who cannot lie, the Creator of every creature, judge wisely and well whether I ought not most carefully to watch over thy salvation, and whether thou shouldst not for thy salvation obey me at once, that thou mayest possess the land of the living. And so for thine own sake, if thou lovest thyself, pay constant heed to set God and His honour before thine own self and thy honour; and to love Him with a pure mind, with all thy strength and with an upright heart. Believe me that if thou lovest God with sincere mind (as thou hearest and as the Scripture hath said), if in all things thou dost duteously place the honour of God before thine own, He who cannot love falsely and who has power to advance thee will, here and forever, embrace thee and extend thy realm by His omnipotent arm. SOURCE. (B) Bull of Excommunication against Henry IV. Gregory VII. This passage is translated by Bryce in the Holy Roman Empire. London, 1889. P. 161. Come now, I beseech you, O most holy and blessed Fathers and Princes, Peter and Paul, that all the world may understand and know that if ye are able to bind and to loose in heaven, ye are likewise able on earth, according to the merits of each man, to give and to take away empires, kingdoms, princedoms, marquisates, duchies, countships and the possessions of all men. For if ye judge spiritual things, what must we believe to be your power over worldly things? and if ye judge the angels who rule over all proud princes, what can ye not do to their slaves? 15. DOMESDAY BOOK (1086). No one act of William the Conqueror is so famous as his compilation of Domesday Book. Owing to the technical nature of the terms employed in making a land survey, it would be beside the present purpose to quote from the work itself. The new system of registration was, of course, distasteful to the English, and their feeling of enmity can be seen cropping out in the Saxon Chronicle. SOURCE.-Saxon Chronicle. Trans. J. A. Giles. London, 1847. P. 458. At midwinter the king was at Gloucester with his Witan, and he held his court there five days; and afterwards the archbishop and clergy held a synod during three days, and Maurice was there chosen to the bishopric of London, William to that of Norfolk, and Robert to that of Cheshire; they were all clerks of the king. After this the king had a great consultation, and spoke very deeply with his Witan concerning this land, how it was held and what were its tenantry. He then sent his men over all England, into every shire, and caused them to ascertain how many hundred hides of land it contained, and what lands the king possessed therein, what cattle there were in the several counties, and how much revenue he ought to receive yearly from each. He also caused them to write down how much land belonged to his archbishops, to his bishops, his abbots and his earls, and, that I may be brief, what property every inhabitant of all England possessed in land or in cattle, and how much money this was worth. So very narrowly did he cause the survey to be made, that there was not a single hide nor a rood of land, nor-it is shameful to relate that which he thought no shame to do was there an ox, or a cow, or a pig passed by, and that was not set down on the accounts, and then all these writings were brought to him. 16. THE CONQUEROR'S CHARACTER (1087). The Saxon Chronicle is at its best in estimating the Conqueror's character. Full credit is given William for his mildness towards churchmen, and for the good order which he preserved. His avarice, his pride and the cruelty of his forest laws are all remembered, and yet the writer creates the conviction that he is passing a just sentence rather than pleading a selfish cause. This is not to say that his verdict must be finally accepted. For instance, he leaves William's military skill and statesmanship largely out of the reckoning. But while it speaks well for the Conqueror that he should have extorted praise from the vanquished, it is honourable to the chronicler that he should have given the foreign master what seemed his due. SOURCE.--Saxon Chronicle. Trans. J. A. Giles. London, 1847. P. 461. If any would know what manner of man king William was, the glory that he obtained, and of how many lands he was lord; then will we describe him as we have known him, we, who have looked upon him, and who once lived in his court. This king William, of whom we are speaking, was a very wise and a great man, and more honoured and more powerful than any of his predecessors. He was mild to those good men who loved God, but severe beyond measure towards those who withstood his will. He founded a noble monastery on the spot where God permitted him to conquer England, and he established monks in it, and he made it very rich. In his days the great monastery at Canterbury was built, and many others also throughout England; moreover this land was filled with monks who lived after the rule of St. Benedict; and such was the state of religion in his days that all that would might observe that which was prescribed by their respective orders. King William was also held in much reverence: he wore his crown three times every year when he was in England: at Easter he wore it at Winchester, at Pentecost at Westminster, and at Christmas at Gloucester. And at these times, all the men of England were with him, archbishops, bishops, abbots, and earls, thanes and knights. So also, was he a very stern and a wrathful man, so that none durst do anything against his will, and he kept in prison those earls who acted against his pleasure. He removed bishops from their sees, and abbots from their offices, and he imprisoned thanes, and at length he spared not his own brother Odo. This Odo was a very powerful bishop in Normandy, his see was that of Bayeux, and he was foremost to serve the king. He had an earldom in England, and when William was in Normandy he was the first man in this country, and him did he cast into prison. Amongst other things the good order that William established is not to be forgotten; it was such that any man, who was himself aught, might travel over the kingdom with a bosom-full of gold unmolested; and no man durst kill another, however great the injury he might have received from him. He reigned over England, and being sharp-sighted to his own interest, he surveyed the kingdom so thoroughly that there was not a single hide of land throughout the whole of which he knew not the possessor, and how much it was worth, and this he afterwards entered in his register. The land of the Britons was under his sway, and he built castles therein; moreover he had full dominion over the Isle of Man [Anglesey]: Scotland also was subject to him from his great strength; the land of Normandy was his by inheritance, and he possessed the earldom of Maine; and had he lived two years longer he would have subdued Ireland by his prowess,1 and that without a battle. Truly there was much trouble in these times, and very great distress; he caused castles to be built, and oppressed the poor. The king was also of great sternness, and he took from his subjects many marks of gold, and many hundred pounds of silver, and this, either with or without right, and with little need. He was given to avarice, and greedily loved gain. He made large forests for the deer, and enacted laws therewith, so that whoever killed a hart or a hind should be blinded. As he forbade killing the deer, so also the boars; and he loved the tall stags as if he were their father. He also appointed concerning the hares, that they should go free. The rich complained and the poor murmured, but he was so sturdy that he recked nought of them; they 1 This statement is unsupported by other authority, although Lanfranc and Anselm consecrated a number of Irish bishops. |