This shows that it was unnecessary to call vassals to Salisbury to
swear allegiance. The assemblage was of the same nature and
character as previous meetings. It was composed of the LIBERI
HOMINES, the FREEMEN, described by the learned John Selden (ante,
p. 10), and by Dr. Robertson and De Lolme (ante, pp. 12, 13).

But there is evidence of a much stronger character, which of itself
refutes the views of these writers, and shows that the Norman
system, at least during the reign of William I., was a continuation
of that existing previous to his succession to the throne; and that
the meeting at Salisbury, so graphically portrayed, did not effect
that radical change in the position of English landholders which
has been stated. I refer to the works of EADMERUS; he was a monk of
Canterbury who was appointed Bishop of St. Andrews, and declined or
resigned the appointment because the King of Scotland refused to
allow his consecration by the Archbishop of Canterbury. His history
includes the reigns of William I., William II., and Henry I., from
1066 to 1122, and he gives, at page 173, the laws of Edward the
Confessor, which William I. gave to England; they number seventy-
one, including the LII. law quoted by Sir Martin Wright. The
introduction to these laws is in Latin and Norman-French, and is as
follows:

"These are the laws and customs which King William granted to the
whole people of England after he had conquered the land, and they
are those which KING EDWARD HIS PREDECESSOR observed before him."

[Footnote: The laws of William are given in a work entitled
"Eadmeri Monachi Cantuariensis Historia Novorum," etc. It includes
the reigns of William I. and II., and Henry I., from 1066 to 1122,