The Leading Facts of English HistoryMontgomery, D. H. (David Henry)
History
The Leading Facts of English History
Montgomery, D. H. (David Henry)
Great Britain -- History
1. That no Pope should be acknowledged in England, or letters from the
Pope received there, without his sanction.
2. That no national synod or meeting of churchmen (S48) should enact
any decrees binding the English Church, without his confirmation.
3. That no baron or officer of his should be expelled from the Church
without his permission.[1]
[1] Taswell-Langmead's "English Constitutional History," p. 59;
Professor W. Stubb's "Constitutional History of England," I, 286.
It is noticeable that Pope Gregory never seems to have censured
William for the position he took,--perhaps because one brave man
always understands and respects another.
Yet a little later than this (1077), when Henry IV, Emperor of
Germany, refused to comply with certain demand made by Gregory VII,
the German monarch had to submit. More than this, he was compelled to
stand barefooted in the snow before the Pope's palace, waiting three
days for permission to enter and beg forgiveness.
119. William a Stern but Just Ruler; the Jews; the New Forest.
Considering his love of power and strength of will, the reign of
William was conspicuous for its justice. He was harsh, but generally
fair. He protected the Jewish traders who came over to England in his
reign, for he saw that their commercial enterprise and their financial
skill would be of immense value in developing the country. Then too,
if the royal treasury should happen to run dry, he thought it might be
convenient to coax or compel the Jews to lend him a round sum.
On the other had, the King seized a tract of over sixty thousand acres
in Hampshire for a hunting ground, which he named the New Forest.[1]
It was said that William destroyed many churches and estates in order
to form this forest, but these accounts appear to have been greatly
exaggerated. The real grievance was not so much the appropriation of
the land, which was sterile and of little value, but it was the
enactment of the savage Forest Laws. These ordinances made he life of
a stag of more value than that of a man, and decreed that anyone found
hunting the royal deer should have both eyes torn out (S205).
[1] Forest: As here used, this does not mean a region covered with
woods, but simply a section of country, partially wooded and suitable
for game, set apart as a royal park or hunting ground. As William
made his residence at Winchester, in Hampshire, in the south of
England (see map facing p. 38), he naturally took land in that
vicinity for the chase.
120. The Great Survey; Domesday Book, 1086.
Not quite twenty years after his coronation William ordered a survey
and valuation to be made of the whole realm outside of London. The
only exceptions were certain border counties on the north were war had
left little to record save heaps of ruins and ridges of grass-grown
graves (S109).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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