"In the name of the Holy Trinity I promise three things to the Christian people and my subjects: first, that God’s church and all Christian people of my dominions hold true peace; the second is that I forbid robbery and all unrighteous things to all orders; and third, that I promise and enjoin in all dooms, justice and mercy, that the gracious and merciful God of his everlasting mercy may forgive us all, who liveth and reigneth." The name of the King is not mentioned, and may have been either Edward or Ethelred, but is usually identified with the latter. See Kemble, _Saxons in England_, II. 35. ----- It may be briefly analyzed into three promises—peace to God’s Church and people; repression of violence in men of every rank; justice and mercy in all judgments. Such was the famous tripartite oath taken, after celebration of mass, over the most sacred relics laid on the high altar, in presence of Church and people, by the kings of the old Anglo-Saxon race. When William I., anxious in all things to fortify the legality of his title, took the oath in this solemn form, he created a precedent of tremendous importance, although he may have regarded it at the moment as an empty formality.[164] ----- Footnote 164: Two independent authorities, both writing from the English point of view, Florence of Worcester, and the author of the Worcester version of the _Chronicle_, agree that the Conqueror took the oath; the Norman authorities neither contradict nor confirm this. “William of Poitiers and Guy are silent about the oath.” Freeman, _Norman Conquest_, III. 561, note. ----- This step was doubly important: as a link with the past, as a precedent for the future. A bridge was thus thrown across the social and political gulf of the Norman Conquest, preserving the continuity of the monarchy and of the basis on which it was founded. The elective character of the kingship, the need for coronation by the Church, and (the natural supplement of both) this tripartite oath containing promises of good government, valuable though vague, were all preserved. This was of vital moment, because limits were thereby placed, in theory at least, on prerogatives that threatened in practice to become absolute. Undoubtedly the power of the Norman kings was very great, and might almost be described as irresponsible despotism, tempered by the fear of rebellion. Three forces indeed acted as curbs: the practical necessity for consulting the Curia Regis (or assembly of crown vassals) before any vital step was taken; the restraining influence of the national Church, backed by the spiritual powers of Rome; and the growth, in a vague form, it is true, of a body of public opinion confined as yet to the upper classes.