ANECDOTES OF EUROPEAN MANNERS.


The following circumstances probably gave rise to the tyranny of the
feudal power, and are the facts on which the fictions of romance are
raised. Castles were erected to repulse the vagrant attacks of the
Normans; and in France, from the year 768 to 987, these places disturbed
the public repose. The petty despots who raised these castles pillaged
whoever passed, and carried off the females who pleased them. Rapine, of
every kind were the _privileges_ of the feudal lords! Mezeray observes,
that it is from these circumstances romancers have invented their tales
of _knights errant_, _monsters_, and _giants_.

De Saint Foix, in his "Historical Essays," informs us that "women and
girls were not in greater security when they passed by abbeys. The monks
sustained an assault rather than relinquish their prey: if they saw
themselves losing ground, they brought to their walls the relics of some
saint. Then it generally happened that the assailants, seized with awful
veneration, retired, and dared not pursue their vengeance. This is the
origin of the _enchanters_, of the _enchantments_, and of the _enchanted
castles_ described in romances."

To these may be added what the author of "Northern Antiquities," Vol.
I. p. 243, writes, that as the walls of the castles ran winding round
them, they often called them by a name which signified _serpents_ or
_dragons_; and in these were commonly secured the women and young maids
of distinction, who were seldom safe at a time when so many bold