Introduction of the Feudal Land System

As fast as the Conqueror subjugated the territory he confiscated the lands of those who had fought against him, and either took them himself or distributed them among his followers, who held them in feudal tenure as vassals of the king. Some of the English, in all probability not a large number, who had neither fought against him nor revolted, he allowed to redeem their lands and to hold them from him by the same tenure as before. Thus, for the complicated land system of the English was substituted a perfectly simple arrangement according to which all land was held feudally of the king. This land law, which was applied first in the south, was extended to the north, and no part of England escaped it. Two important features of this policy are to be noted: in the first place, these lands were now definitely held by military tenure, that is to say, each great vassal for the land that had been given to him was obliged to render to the king the service of a certain number of knights, and to lead them himself to war. The number of knights to be furnished was not determined by the amount of land held by the great vassal, but was fixed arbitrarily by King William. The whole number thus furnished amounted to about five thousand knights , who composed the army of the king. In the second place, the lands thus held were scattered over all England, so that no single great vassal had a very large amount in any one locality. This scattering of the vassal's lands, which was due not to any design of the Conqueror, but to the slowness of the conquest, saved England from one of the worst features of Continental feudalism. No man in England could become territorially powerful and independent, as had scores of great lords in France and Germany. The only portions of England that were at all independent were the great earldoms of the north, Cumberland, the southern portion of the old Strathclyde (Cumbria), and Northumberland, the Deira of the Saxon days. These border provinces, refusing to recognize the overlordship of either the Scottish or the English kings, were almost like independent states.

In still another way did English feudalism differ from that of the Continent. In a great meeting held at Salisbury in 1086 William summoned all the landholders and made them swear allegiance to him as chief lord and king.' Thus he laid down the rule that every landholder in England, whosesoever vassal he might be, owed allegiance first to the king and then to his own lord, and that, therefore, no English vassal might follow his lord against his king. In so doing William violated the recognized feudal principle that a vassal owed allegiance to his immediate lord only. But he could do this without danger, because as king he was able to enforce a rule that as feudal lord he would hardly have dared to make.

Thus, while William the Conqueror introduced into England an advanced form of feudalism with a uniform land tenure and a regular knight service, he prevented feudalism in England from developing its worst aspects; the territorial independence of great lords, and private war. It looks very much as if eventually England would have had all these evils had Anglo-Saxon conditions been allowed to take their course, though there is nothing to show that the Anglo-Saxons would ever have developed high feudal ideas regarding contract and tenure.

William's Government

William introduced a uniform land system, so he established a strong and orderly central government. In Anglo-Saxon times the individual had not been under the direct control of any central authority, and this defect William remedied by creating such an authority.

William was himself at the same time conqueror, king, and paramount feudal lord, of whom all men held their lands. He was absolute in authority, a very different king from Eadward the Confessor or Harold. The administration that be established was simple and centralized. When he was absent, he placed the government temporarily in the hands of a justiciar, who was always an ecclesiastic, that the office of justiciar might not become hereditary. William had also a chancellor or secretary, as Eadward the Confessor had had, who wrote letters, issued writs, and kept the royal seals; and a treasurer, who received the royal revenue and was the guardian of the royal hoard. This hoard was located first at Winchester and afterward at Westminster, and consisted of coin, regalia, and jewels. The treasurer probably disbursed money and audited the accounts, for a regular exchequer had not yet been established.

William had also a council, called the "great council," which in composition was probably not unlike the old Anglo-Saxon witan. It was composed of the officers already mentioned, together with others of the royal household and certain earls and bishops whom the king desired to summon. Its duties were chiefly judicial, though it also acted as an advisory body to the king. It cannot be said to have limited his authority, for it never opposed him; and the fact that its members were liable to be changed at the will of the king, prevented it from acting with any settled plan or policy.