Table Of ContentThe Online Library of Liberty
A Project Of Liberty Fund, Inc.
Augustin Thierry, History of the Conquest of England
by the Normans; Its Causes, and its Consequences, in
England, Scotland, Ireland, & on the Continent, vol. 2
[1856]
The Online Library Of Liberty
This E-Book (PDF format) is published by Liberty Fund, Inc., a private,
non-profit, educational foundation established in 1960 to encourage study of the ideal
of a society of free and responsible individuals. 2010 was the 50th anniversary year of
the founding of Liberty Fund.
It is part of the Online Library of Liberty web site http://oll.libertyfund.org, which
was established in 2004 in order to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc.
To find out more about the author or title, to use the site's powerful search engine, to
see other titles in other formats (HTML, facsimile PDF), or to make use of the
hundreds of essays, educational aids, and study guides, please visit the OLL web site.
This title is also part of the Portable Library of Liberty DVD which contains over
1,000 books and quotes about liberty and power, and is available free of charge upon
request.
The cuneiform inscription that appears in the logo and serves as a design element in
all Liberty Fund books and web sites is the earliest-known written appearance of the
word “freedom” (amagi), or “liberty.” It is taken from a clay document written about
2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash, in present day Iraq.
To find out more about Liberty Fund, Inc., or the Online Library of Liberty Project,
please contact the Director at [email protected].
Online Library of Liberty: History of the Conquest of England by the Normans; Its Causes, and its
Consequences, in England, Scotland, Ireland, & on the Continent, vol. 2
LIBERTY FUND, INC.
8335 Allison Pointe Trail, Suite 300
Indianapolis, Indiana 46250-1684
PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 2 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/2216
Online Library of Liberty: History of the Conquest of England by the Normans; Its Causes, and its
Consequences, in England, Scotland, Ireland, & on the Continent, vol. 2
Edition Used:
History of the Conquest of England by the Normans; Its Causes, and its
Consequences, in England, Scotland, Ireland, & on the Continent, translated from the
seventh Paris edition, by William Hazlitt (London: H.G. Bohn, 1856). In 2 volumes.
Vol. 2.
Author: Augustin Thierry
Translator: William Hazlitt
About This Title:
Volume 2 of a 2 volume work. Thierry was a pioneering liberal historian who
collected large bodies of primary source material to use in his writings. He is
particular remembered for his class analysis based upon the idea of conquest. This
work is a classic exposition of this thesis showing the conquest of the Anglo-Saxons
by the French Normans.
PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 3 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/2216
Online Library of Liberty: History of the Conquest of England by the Normans; Its Causes, and its
Consequences, in England, Scotland, Ireland, & on the Continent, vol. 2
About Liberty Fund:
Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the
study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.
Copyright Information:
The text is in the public domain.
Fair Use Statement:
This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc.
Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may
be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way
for profit.
PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 4 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/2216
Online Library of Liberty: History of the Conquest of England by the Normans; Its Causes, and its
Consequences, in England, Scotland, Ireland, & on the Continent, vol. 2
Table Of Contents
History of the Conquest of England By the Normans.
Book VIII.: From the Battle of the Standard to the Insurrection of the Poitevins
and Bretons Against Henry II. 1137—1189.
Book IX.: From the Origin of the Quarrel Between King Henry II. And
Archbishop Thomas Beket, to the Murder of the Archbishop. 1160—1171.
Book X.: From the Invasion of Ireland By the Normans Established In England
to the Death of Henry II. 1171—1189.
Book XI.: From the Accession of King Richard I. To the Execution of the
Saxon, William Longbeard. 1190—1196.
Conclusion.
I.: The Continental Normans and Bretons; the Angevins and the Populations of
Southern Gaul.
II.: The Inhabitants of Wales.
III.: The Scots.
IV.: The Native Irish and the Anglo-norman Irish.
V.: The Anglo-normans and the English By Race.
Magna Charta.
Charta Forestæ. Made At Westminster, 10 Th Feb., Anno 9 Hen. III. Ad 1225,
and Confirmed Anno 28 Edw. I. Ad 1299.
Appendix.
No. I.: Cruelties Exercised By the Norman-lords In Their Castles. 1
No. II. (page 51.): War Song of the Troubadour Bertrand De Born, Seigneur De
Hautefort. 1
No. III. (page 139.): History of the Marriage of Gilbert Beket, Father of
Archbishop Thomas; Fragment of a Life of the Archbishop, By a
Contemporary. 3
No. IV. (page 139.): Old Ballad On the Captivity and Marriage of Gilbert
Beket. 1
No. V. (page 139.): Particulars of the Worldly Life of Thomas Becket, Before
His Elevation to the Bishopric, From William Fitzstephen, His Secretary. 1
No. VI. (page 139.): Letter of John of Salisbury to Becket, Respecting the
Views of the King of France, the Earl of Flanders, and the Court of Rome,
Concerning Him.
No. VII. (page 139.): Letter Relative to the Intrigues of Henry II. At the Court
of Rome, and the Mission of Two Legates Into France. 1 ( Ad 1169.)
No. VIII. (page 139.): Letter Op Thomas Beket to Cardinal Albert, On the
Conduct of the Court of Rome Towards Him. 1 ( Ad 1170.)
No. IX. (page 139.): Letter From Thomas Beket’s Companions In Exile to
Cardinal Albert, On the Injustice of the Court of Rome, and the Conduct of
the Cardinals Towards Them. 1 ( Ad 1170.)
No. X. (page 139.): Letter of John of Salisbury On the Landing of Thomas
Beket, and His Reception In England. 1 ( Ad 1170.)
No. XI. (page 139.): Extract From a Letter of John of Salisbury, Relative to the
Murder of Thomas Beket. 1 ( Ad 1171.)
PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 5 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/2216
Online Library of Liberty: History of the Conquest of England by the Normans; Its Causes, and its
Consequences, in England, Scotland, Ireland, & on the Continent, vol. 2
No. XII. (page 139.): Narrative of the Murder of Thomas Beket, By Edward
Grim, Who Was Wounded While Endeavouring to Defend Him. 1
No. XIII. (page 139.): Letter From King Louis VII. To Pope Alexander III.,
Demanding Vengeance Against the Murderers of Thomas Beket. 1 ( Ad
1171.)
No. XIV. (page 139.): Letter From Thibault, Earl of Blois, to Pope Alexander
III., On the Murder of Thomas Beket. 2 ( Ad 1171.)
No. XV. (page 139.): Letter In Which the Bishop of Lisieux, On the Part of All
the Prelates of Normandy, Relates to the Pope the Conduct of Henry II. After
the Murder of Thomas Beket. 1 ( Ad 1171.)
No. XVI. (page 139.): Letter From Henry II. To the Pope, On the Subject of the
Murder of Thomas Beket. 1 ( Ad 1171.)
No. XVII. (page 139.): Letter From Henry II. To the Pope, On the Subject of
the Rebellion of His Sons. 1 ( Ad 1173.)
No. XVIII. (page 167.): Political Poems of Bertrand De Born, Preceded By the
Historical Notices Given In the Manuscripts At the Head of Each of the
Productions of This Troubadour.
No. XIX. (page 220.): Sirvente of Richard Cœur-de-lion On His Captivity. 1
No. XX. (page 223.): The King’s Disguise, and Friendship With Robin Hood. 2
No. XXI. (page 224.): The Birth of Robin Hood. 1
No. XXII. (page 237.): Sirvente of Bertrand De Born to Induce the Kings of
France and England to Go to War. 1
No. XXIII. (page 237.): Another Sirvente of Bertrand De Born, to the Same
Purpose. 1
No. XXIV. (page 240.): Sirvente of the Dauphin of Auvergne On His Quarrel
With the King of England. 1
No. XXV. (page 280.): Treaty of Alliance Between Lewellyn Ap-griffith, King
of North Wales, With the King of France, Philip-le-hardi. 1
No. XXVI. (page 282.): List of the Company of Yvain of Wales. 1
No. XXVII. (page 282.): List of the Company of John Wynn. 1
No. XXVIII. (page 282.): Receipt Given By Robin-ap-llwydin, and List of His
Company. 1
No. XXIX. (page 282.): List of the Company of Edward-ap-owen. 1
No. XXX. (page 282.): List of the Company of Owen-ap Griffith, and Receipt
Given Him. 1
No. XXXI. (page 283.): Agreement of Yvain De Galles With King Charles V.
For a Sum of 300,000 Francs D’or, and Alliance Made Between Them and
Their Subjects. 2
No. XXXII. (page 287.): Letter From Owen Glendowr, Prince of Wales, to the
King of France, Charles VI. 1
No. XXXIII. (page 303.): The Souters of Selkirk At the Battle of Flodden Field,
a Scottish Ballad of the Sixteenth Century.
No. XXXIV. (page 316.): The Battle of Bothwell Bridge—a Scottish
. . The Folc of Normandie,
That among us woneth yet, and schulleth ever mo: . . . .
Of the Normannes beth thys hey men, that beth of thys lond,
And the lowe men of Saxons. . . . .
PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 6 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/2216
Online Library of Liberty: History of the Conquest of England by the Normans; Its Causes, and its
Consequences, in England, Scotland, Ireland, & on the Continent, vol. 2
Robert of Gloucester’s Chronicle, vol. I., p. 3 & 363.
William the Conqueror
PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 7 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/2216
Online Library of Liberty: History of the Conquest of England by the Normans; Its Causes, and its
Consequences, in England, Scotland, Ireland, & on the Continent, vol. 2
[Back to Table of Contents]
HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF ENGLAND By The
Normans.
BOOK VIII.
FROM THE BATTLE OF THE STANDARD TO THE
INSURRECTION OF THE POITEVINS AND BRETONS
AGAINST HENRY II.
1137—1189.
Vassalage of the kings of Scotland—Political state of Scotland—Populations of
Scotland—Social equality and language of the Scots—Highland and island
clans—Hostility of the Scots to the Anglo-Normans—Entry of the Scots into
England—Assembling of the Anglo-Norman army—Battle of the Standard—Invasion
of the Welsh—Conquests of the Normans in Wales—Bernard de Neuf
Marché—Richard d’Eu, called Strongbow—Norman monks and priests in
Wales—Norman bishops driven out by the Welsh—Manners and character of the
Welsh—Civil war among the Anglo-Normans—Vexations and ravages committed by
the Normans—King Stephen besieges Bristol—Attack on the Isle of Ely—Stephen
made prisoner—Matilda elected queen of England—Her arrogance—Matilda driven
from London by the citizens—Revival of the party of Stephen—Landing of Henry,
son of Matilda—Termination of the civil war—Eleanor, duchess of
Aquitaine—Marriage of Eleanor with the son of Matilda—State of southern Gaul—Its
population—Its social state—Henry II. of England—Expulsion of the
Flemings—Mixture of races—Saxon genealogy of Henry II.—War of Henry II.
against his brother—War against the Bretons—Submission of Brittany—National
insurrection of the Bretons—Their defeat—Insurrection of the Poitevins—Peace
between the kings of France and England—Termination of Breton
independence—Message of a Welsh chieftain to the king of France—War against the
Toulousans—Character of the southern Gauls.
The friendship which, at the period of William’s conquest, had been suddenly formed
between the Anglo-Saxon people and that of Scotland, although cooled since by
several circumstances, had never been entirely broken. On the day, indeed, when
Malcolm Kenmore, king Edgar’s brother-in-law, was constrained to confess himself
the vassal of the Conqueror, a kind of moral barrier was raised between the Scottish
kings and the English by race; but Malcolm himself and his successors ill endured this
condition of vassalage that force had imposed on them. More than once, seeking to
throw it off, they became aggressors of the Anglo-Normans by way of reprisal, and
marched south of the Tweed; more than once, also, the Normans passed that river, and
the oath of feudal subjection was, by turns, broken and renewed, according to the
chances of war. Besides, the kings of Scotland never reckoned among the duties they
PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 8 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/2216
Online Library of Liberty: History of the Conquest of England by the Normans; Its Causes, and its
Consequences, in England, Scotland, Ireland, & on the Continent, vol. 2
had contracted in accepting the title of liegemen, the obligation to close their country
against the Anglo-Saxon emigrants.
The multitude of men of all ranks and conditions who, after a futile struggle against
the invaders, expatriated themselves to Scotland, considerably augmented there the
previous mass of Germanic population established between the Tweed and the Forth.
The kings who succeeded Malcolm were not less generous than he to these refugees;
they gave them lands and offices, and admitted them into their state-council, where
gradually the true Scottish language, the Gaelic or Erse, was supplanted by the Anglo-
Danish dialect, spoken in the lowlands of Scotland. By the same revolution, the
Scottish kings discarded the patronymic surnames which recalled to mind their Celtic
origin, and only retained simple proper names, Saxon or foreign, as Edgar, Alexander,
David, &c.
The hospitality which the chiefs of Scotland accorded to the men of Saxon race flying
from the Normans, was, as we have already seen, offered by them also to men of
Norman race, discontented with the share which had fallen to them in the division of
the conquest, or banished from England by the sentence of their own chiefs. These
sons of the conquerors came, in great numbers, to seek fortune where the conquered
had found refuge. Most of them were tried soldiers; the Scottish kings took them into
their service, delighted to have Norman knights to oppose to the Normans beyond the
Tweed. They received them into their intimacy, confided high commands to them,
and even, to render their court more agreeable to these new guests, studied to
introduce into the Teutonic language spoken there, many French words and idioms.1
Fashion and custom gradually naturalized these exotic terms throughout the country
south of the Forth, and in a short time the national language became there a singular
medley of Teutonic and French, in about equal proportions.
This language, which is still the popular dialect of the inhabitants of southern
Scotland, retained but very few Celtic words, Erse or Breton, most of them expressing
features peculiar to the country, such as the various accidents of an extremely various
soil. But, notwithstanding the little figure made by the remains of the ancient idiom of
the Scottish plains in the new language, it was easy to see, in the spirit and manners of
the population of these districts, that it was a Celtic race, in which other races had
mingled without entirely renewing it. Vivacity of imagination, the taste for music and
poetry, the custom of strengthening the social bond by ties of relationship, marked out
and recognised in the most distant degree, are original features which distinguished
then, and still distinguish, the inhabitants of the left bank of the Tweed from their
southern neighbours.
Further westward in the plains of Scotland, these features of Celtic physiognomy
appeared more strongly impressed, because the people there were more removed from
the influence of the royal cities of Scone and Edinburgh, whither the multitude of
foreign emigrants flocked. In the county of Galloway, for instance, the administrative
authority was, up to the twelfth century, only regarded as a fiction of paternal
authority; and no man sent by the king to govern this country could exercise his
command in peace, unless he was accepted as head of the family, or chief of the clan,
by the people whom he was to rule.2If the inhabitants did not think fit to assign this
PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 9 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/2216
Online Library of Liberty: History of the Conquest of England by the Normans; Its Causes, and its
Consequences, in England, Scotland, Ireland, & on the Continent, vol. 2
title to the king’s officer, or if the old hereditary chief of the tribe did not voluntarily
yield him this privilege, the tribe would not recognise him, for all his royal
commission, and he himself was soon fain to resign or sell this commission to the
chief preferred by the people.1
In the places where the emigrants from England, Saxons or Normans, obtained
territorial domains on condition of fealty and service, they built a church, a mill, a
brewery, and some houses, for their people, which the Saxons called the hirède, and
the Normans la menie. The collection of all these edifices, surrounded by a palisade or
a wall, was called l’enclos or the tun, in the language of the lowlands of Scotland. The
inhabitants of this inclosure, masters and servants, proprietors and farmers, composed
a sort of little city, united like a Celtic clan, but by other ties than relationship, by
those of service and pay, obedience and command. The chief, in his square tower,
built in the midst of the more humble dwellings of his vassals or labourers, resembled
in general appearance the Norman of England, whose fortress dominated the huts of
his serfs. But there was a great difference between the real condition of the one and of
the other. In Scotland, the subordination of the poor to the rich was not servitude; true,
the name of lord, laird, in the Teutonic language, and of sire in the French, was given
to the latter, but as he was neither a conqueror, nor the son of a conqueror, he was not
hated, and none trembled before him. A sort of familiarity brought more or less nearly
together the inhabitant of the tower and the dweller in the cottage; they knew that
their ancestors had not bequeathed to them mortal injuries to revenge upon each other.
When war assembled them in arms, they did not form two separate peoples, the one
horse, the other foot; the one clothed in complete steel, the other denied spurs under
penalty of ignominious punishment. Every man, armed according to his means, in a
coat of mail or a quilted doublet, rode his own horse, well or ill-caparisoned. In
Scotland, the condition of labourer on the domain of another man, was not
humiliating as in England, where the Norman term villain has become, in the
vernacular tongue, the most odious of epithets. A Scotch farmer was commonly called
the gude-man; his lord could only demand from him the rents and services mutually
settled between them; he was not taxed haut et bas, as in a conquered country;1and
accordingly no insurrection of peasants was ever seen in Scotland; the poor and rich
sympathized, because poverty and riches were not derived from victory and
expropriation. The races of men, like the different idioms, were mingled in every
rank, and the same language was spoken in the castle, the town, and the hut.
This language, which, from its resemblance to that of the Anglo-Saxons, was called
Anglisc or English, had a very different fate in Scotland and in England; in the latter
country, it was the idiom of the serfs, the artizans, the shepherds; the poets, who wrote
for the upper classes, composed only in pure Norman; but, north of the Tweed,
English was the favourite tongue of the minstrels attached to the court; it was
polished, refined, elaborate, graceful, and even distinguished, whilst, on the other side
of the same river, it was becoming rude and inelegant, like the unfortunate people
who spoke it. The few popular poets who, instead of rhyming in French for the sons
of the Normans, continued to rhyme in English for the Saxons, felt this difference,
and complained of their inability to employ, under penalty of not being understood,
the fine language, the bold flights, and the complex versification of the southern
PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 10 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/2216
