An Introduction to the Industrial and Social History of England | Page 8

Edward, in 1051, William, the duke of Normandy, visited
England and is said to have obtained a promise that he should receive
the crown on the death of Edward, who had no direct heir. Accordingly,
in 1065, when Edward died and Harold, a great English earl, was
chosen king, William immediately asserted his claim and made
strenuous military preparations for enforcing it. He took an army across
the Channel in 1066, as Cæsar had done more than a thousand years
before, and at the battle of Hastings or Senlac defeated the English
army, King Harold himself being killed in the engagement. William
then pressed on toward London, preventing any gathering of new forces,

and obtained his recognition as king. He was crowned on Christmas
Day, 1066. During the next five years he put down a series of rebellions
on the part of the native English, after which he and his descendants
were acknowledged as sole kings of England.
The Norman Conquest was not, however, a mere change of dynasty. It
led to at least three other changes of the utmost importance. It added a
new element to the population, it brought England into contact with the
central and southern countries of the Continent, instead of merely with
the northern as before, and it made the central government of the
country vastly stronger. There is no satisfactory means of discovering
how many Normans and others from across the Channel migrated into
England with the Conqueror or in the wake of the Conquest, but there
is no doubt that the number was large and their influence more than
proportionate to their numbers. Within the lifetime of William, whose
death occurred in 1087, of his two sons, William II and Henry I, and
the nominal reign of Stephen extending to 1154, the whole body of the
nobility, the bishops and abbots, and the government officials had come
to be of Norman or other continental origin. Besides these the architects
and artisans who built the castles and fortresses, and the cathedrals,
abbeys, and parish churches, whose erection throughout the land was
such a marked characteristic of the period, were immigrants from
Normandy. Merchants from the Norman cities of Rouen and Caen
came to settle in London and other English cities, and weavers from
Flanders were settled in various towns and even rural districts. For a
short time these newcomers remained a separate people, but before the
twelfth century was over they had become for the most part
indistinguishable from the great mass of the English people amongst
whom they had come. They had nevertheless made that people stronger,
more vigorous, more active-minded, and more varied in their
occupations and interests.
King William and his successors retained their continental dominions
and even extended them after their acquisition of the English kingdom,
so that trade between the two sides of the Channel was more natural
and easy than before. The strong government of the Norman kings gave
protection and encouragement to this commerce, and by keeping down

the violence of the nobles favored trade within the country. The English
towns had been growing in number, size, and wealth in the years just
before the Conquest. The contests of the years immediately following
1066 led to a short period of decay, but very soon increasing trade and
handicraft led to still greater progress. London, especially, now made
good its position as one of the great cities of Europe, and that
preëminence among English towns which it has never since lost. The
fishing and seaport towns along the southern and eastern coast also, and
even a number of inland towns, came to hold a much more influential
place in the nation than they had possessed in the Anglo-Saxon period.
The increased power of the monarchy arose partly from its military
character as based upon a conquest of the country, partly from the
personal character of William and his immediate successors, partly
from the more effective machinery for administration of the affairs of
government, which was either brought over from Normandy or
developed in England. A body of trained, skilful government officials
now existed, who were able to carry out the wishes of the king, collect
his revenues, administer justice, gather armies, and in other ways make
his rule effective to an extent unknown in the preceding period. The
sheriffs, who had already existed as royal representatives in the shires
in Anglo-Saxon times, now possessed far more extensive powers, and
came up to Westminster to report and to present their financial accounts
to the royal exchequer twice a year. Royal officials acting as judges not
only settled an increasingly large number of cases that were brought
before them at the king's court, but travelled through the country, trying
suits and punishing criminals in the different shires. The king's income
was vastly