"The duke's men took possession, and set John Paston's own tenants
to work, very much against their wills, to destroy the mansion and
break down the walls of the lodge, while they themselves ransacked
the church, turned out the parson, and spoiled the images. They
also pillaged very completely every house in the village. As for
John Paston's own place, they stripped it completely bare; and
whatever there was of lead, brass, pewter, iron, doors or gates, or
other things that they could not conveniently carry off, they
hacked and hewed them to pieces. The duke rode through Hellesdon to
Drayton the following day, while his men were still busy completing
the wreck of destruction by the demolition of the lodge. The wreck
of the building, with the rents they made in its walls, is visible
even now" (Introd. xxxv.).

The meaning of all this is evident. We have before us a state of
society in which the anarchical element is predominant. But it is
not pure anarchy. The nobles were determined to reduce the middle
classes to vassalage.

The reign of the Plantagenets witnessed the elevation of the
nobility. The descendants of the Norman barons menaced, and
sometimes proved too powerful for the Crown. In such reigns as
those of Edward I., Edward III., and Henry VI., the barons
triumphed. The power wielded by the first Edward fell from the
feeble grasp of his son and successor. The beneficent rule of
Edward III. was followed by the anarchy of Richard II. Success led
to excess. The triumphant party thinned the ranks of its opponents,
and in turn experienced the same fate. The fierce struggle of the
Red and White Roses weakened each. Guy, Earl of Warwick, "the king-