claimed that he had been rightful King ever since the death of his
cousin Edward the Confessor; and that those who had supported Harold
were traitors, and their lands confiscated to the crown. As nearly all
had been loyal to Harold, the result was that most of the wealth of the
Nation was emptied into William's lap, not by right of conquest, but by
English law.

Feudalism had been gradually stifling old English freedom, and the King
saw himself confronted with a feudal baronage, nobles claiming
hereditary, military, and judicial power independent of the King, such
as degraded the Monarchy and riveted down the people in France for
centuries. With the genius of the born ruler and conqueror, William
discerned the danger, and its remedy. Availing himself of the early
legal constitution of England, he placed justice in the old local
courts of the "hundred" and "shire," to which every freeman had access,
and these courts he placed under the jurisdiction of the _King_
alone. In Germany and France the vassal owned supreme fealty to his
_lord_, against all foes, even the King himself. In England, the
tenant from this time swore direct fealty to none save his King.

With the unbounded wealth at his disposal, William granted enormous
estates to his followers upon condition of military service at his
call. In other words, he seized the entire landed property of the
State, and then used it to buy the allegiance of the people. By this
means the whole Nation was at his command as an army subject to his
will; and there was at the same time a breaking up of old feudal
tyrannies by a redistribution of the soil under a new form of land
tenure.

The City of London was rewarded for instant submission by a Charter,