To such a civilization came William, who had seen the evils of Continental feudalism in his own country, and had secured his position only after long struggles. He claimed England, not as a conqueror, but as the legitimate sovereign, nominated by Edward the Confessor, and as such was accepted by the Witan, and crowned in London after the battle of Senlac. His natural policy was, therefore, to continue such institutions as were not yet feudal, and thus his arrival checked that natural growth of feudalism which was running its course in England as in other Teutonic countries. On the other hand, it was impossible from his position that he should do otherwise than introduce many feudal institutions. He had brought with him many of his vassals, who held from him in feudal tenure; and it was necessary, when, from the confiscated lands of Harold and his family and of the other nobles who either opposed his entrance into England or afterwards revolted against him, he made large grants to reward the adventurers of whom his army mainly consisted, he should make those grants in accordance with the system with which he was acquainted in exchange for military service, and saddled with the usual feudal burdens. While he thus, on the one hand, was the national English sovereign, on the other he was the supreme landowner and feudal lord. Under this double influence, the tenure of land, following the universal tendency of Europe, became wholly feudal and military. But the other side of feudalism--with its isolation, the virtual independence of the feudatories (among whom the king was but the first among his peers), and the suppression of national jurisdiction, which were the chief characteristics of French feudalism--was kept in careful restraint. Thus, the whole machinery of justice, the Hundred Court and the Shire Gemot were retained under presidency of the sheriff, side by side with that territorial jurisdiction which he could not refuse to his feudal vassals. The police system of mutual responsibility was kept up and systematized under the name of _frankpledge_, and on the whole nation still lay the _trinoda necessitas_. The Witan remained, although its members were now feudal vassals; the laws as they existed were for the most part perpetuated, though certain emendations were made, such as the law of Englishry,[4] for the protection of his Norman subjects, and the liberty allowed to the different nationalities to be tried according to their own law. At the same time, the further to restrain the independent power of the great feudatories, the great earldoms which Cnut had created were broken up, with the exception of three border counties, Chester, Durham, and Kent; the business of the counties was transacted by the sheriff, who was a royal officer, and the earldoms were either of one county only, or if of more than one, of counties far apart. As a final court of appeal, he established the Curia Regis, formed of the Justiciary (who was