THE NORMAN CONQUEST AND ITS EARLIEST LITERATURE.


Norman Rule. Its Oppression. Its Benefits. William of Malmesbury.
Geoffrey of Monmouth. Other Latin Chronicles. Anglo-Norman Poets.
Richard Wace. Other Poets.



NORMAN RULE.


With the conquest of England, and as one of the strongest elements of its
permanency, the feudal system was brought into England; the territory was
surveyed and apportioned to be held by military tenure; to guard against
popular insurrections, the curfew rigorously housed the Saxons at night; a
new legislature, called a parliament, or talking-ground, took the place of
the witenagemot, or assembly of the wise: it was a conquest not only in
name but in truth; everything was changed by the conqueror's right, and
the Saxons were entirely subjected.


ITS OPPRESSION.--In short, the Norman conquest, from the day of the battle
of Hastings, brought the Saxon people under a galling yoke. The Norman was
everywhere an oppressor. Besides his right as a conqueror, he felt a
contempt for the rudeness of the Saxon. He was far more able to govern and
to teach. He founded rich abbeys; schools like those of Oxford and
Cambridge he expanded into universities like that of Paris. He filled all
offices of profit and trust, and created many which the Saxons had not. In
place of the Saxon English, which, however vigorous, was greatly wanting