and, _thirdly_, to the Crusades, which, attracting the nobles to
adventures in Palestine, lifted the heel of Norman oppression off the
Saxon neck, and gave that opportunity, which alone was needed, to make
England in reality, if not in name--in thews, sinews, and mental strength,
if not in regal state and aristocratic privilege--Saxon-England in all its
future history. Other elements are still found, but the Saxon greatly
predominates.

The historian of that day might well bemoan the fate of the realm, as in
the Saxon Chronicle already quoted. To the philosopher of to-day, this
Norman conquest and its results were of incalculable value to England, by
bringing her into relations with the continent, by enduing her with a
weight and influence in the affairs of Europe which she could never
otherwise have attained, and by giving a new birth to a noble literature
which has had no superior in any period of the world's history.

As our subject does not require, and our space will not warrant the
consideration of the rise and progress of French literature, before its
introduction with the Normans into England, we shall begin with the first
fruits after its transplantation into British soil. But before doing so,
it becomes necessary to mention certain Latin chronicles which furnished
food for these Anglo-Norman poets and legendists.


WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY.--_William of Malmesbury_, the first Latin historian
of distinction, who is contemporary with the Norman conquest, wrote a work
called the "Heroic Deeds of the English Kings," (_Gesta Regum Anglorum_,)
which extends from the arrival of the Saxons to the year 1120; another,
"The New History," (_Historia Novella_,) brings the history down to 1142.