Willielmus Rex Anglor' omnibus suis fidelibus suis &Vicecomitibus in quorum Vicecomitatibus Abbatia de Heli Terras habet salutem. Praecipio ut Abbatia pred. habeat Omnes consuetudines suas scilicet Saccham & Socham Toll & Team &Infanganetheof, Hamsocua, & Grithbrice Fithwite & Ferdwite infra Burgum & extra & omnes alias forisfacturas in terra sua super suos homines sicut habuit Die qua Rex Edwardus fuit vivus &mortuus, & sicut mea jussione dirationatae apud Keneteford per plures Scyras ante meos Barones, viz. Galfridum Constantientem Ep. & Baldewine Abbatem, &c. Teste Rogero Bigot.
Willielmus Rex Angl. Lanfranco Archiepo', & Rogero Comiti Moritoniae, & Galfrido Constantien Epo. salutem. Mando vobis &Praecipio ut iterum faciatis congregari omnes Scyras quae interfuerunt placito habito de Terris Ecclesia de Heli, antequam mea conjux in Normaniam novissime veniret, cum quibus etiam sint de Baronibus meis, qui competenter adesse poterint & praedicto placito interfuerint & qui terras ejusdem Ecclesiae tenent;Quibus in unum congregatis eligantur plures de illis Anglis qui sciunt quomodo Terrae jacebant praefatae Ecclesiae Die qua Rex Edwardus Obiit, & quod inde dixerint ididem jure jurando testentur; quo facto restituentur Ecclesiae terrae quae in Dominico suo erant die obitus Regis Edwardi; Exceptis his quas homines clamabant me sibi dedisse; illas vero Literis mihi significate quae sint, & qui eas tenent; Qui autem tenent Theinlandes quae proculdubio debent teneri de Ecclesia faciant concordiam cum Abbate quam Meliorem poterint, & si nolurunt terrae remaneant ad Ecclesiam, Hoc quoque detinentibus Socham &Saccam fiat, &c.
Willielmus Rex Anglorum, Lanfranco Archiepisc', & G. Episc. &R. Comiti M. salutem, &c. Defendite ne Remigius Episcopus novas consuetudines requirat infra Insulam de Heli, Nolo enim quod ibi habeat nisi illud quod Antecessor ejus habebat Tempore Regis Edwar.di Scilicet qua die ipse Rex mortuus est. Et si Remig.
Episcopus inde Placitare voluerit placitet inde sicut fecisset tempore Regis Edw. & placitum istum sit in vestra praesentia; De custodia de Norguic Abbatem Simeonem quietum esse demittite; Sed ibi municionem suam conduci faciat & custodiri. Facite remanere placitum de Terris quas Calumniantur Willielmus de ou, &Radulphus filius Gualeranni, & Robertus Gernon; si inde placitare noluerint sicut inde placitassent temPore Regis Edwardi, & sicut iu eodem tempore Abbatia consuetudines suas habebat, Volo ut eas omnio faciatis habere sicut Abbas per Chartas sUas, & per Testes suos eas deplacitare poterit.
I might add many more Charters to the foregoing, and more especially those famous Charters in Spelman's Councils, Vol. 2.
Fol. 14. & 165, whereby it appears, That King William I. Communi Concilio, & Concilio Archiepiscoporum, Episcoporum & Abbatum, &omnium Principum & Baronum Regni, instituted the Courts for holding Pleas of Ecclesiastick Causes, to be separate and distinct from those Courts that had Jurisdiction of Civil Causes.
Sed de his plusquam fatis.
And thus I conclude the Point I first propounded, viz. How King William I after his Victory, dealt with the Possessions of the English, whereby it appears that there was no Pretence of an Universal Conquest, or that he was a Victor in Populum; neither did he claim the Title of English Lands upon that Account, but only made Use of his Victory thus far, to seize the Lands of such as had oppos'd him: Which is universal in all Cases of Victories, tho' without the Pretence of Conquest.
Secondly, Therefore I come to the Second general Question, viz. What was done in Relation to the Laws? It is very plain, that the King, after his Victory, did, as all wise Princes would have done, endeavour to make a stricter Union between England and Normandy; and in order thereunto, he endeavoured to bring in the French instead of the Saxon Language, then used in England:
"Deliberavit" (says Holcot) "quomodo Linguam Saxonicam possit destruere, & Anglicam & Normanicam idiomate concordare & ideo ordinavit quod nullus in Curia Regis placitaret nisi in Lingua Gallica, &c." From whence arose the Practice of Pleading in our Courts of Law in the Norman or French Tongue, which Custom continued till the Statute of 36 E. 3. c. 15.
And as he thus endeavoured to make a Community in their Language, so possibly he might endeavour to make the like in their Laws, and to introduce the Norman Laws into England, or as many of 'em as he thought convenient; and it is very probable, that after the Victory, the Norman Nobility and Soldiers were scattered through the whole Kingdom, and mingled with the English, which might possibly introduce some of the Norman Laws and Customs insensibly into this Kingdom: And to that End the Conqueror did industriously mingle the English and Normans together, shuffling the Normans into English Possessions here, and putting the English into Possessions in Normandy, and ****** Marriages among them, especially between the Nobility of both Nations.
This gave the English a Suspicion, that they should suddenly have a Change of their Laws before they were aware of it. But it fell out much better: For first, there arising some Danger of a Defection of the English, countenanced by the Archbishop of York in the North, and Frederick, Abbot of St. Albans in the South;the King, by the Perswasions of Lanfrank, Archbishop of Canterbury, "Probonopacis apud Berkhamstead juravit super Animas reliquias Sancti Altani tactisque Sacrosanctis Evangelis (ministrante juramento Abbate Frederico) ut bonas & approbatas antiquas Regni Leges quas sancti & pii Angliae Reges ejus Antecessores, & maxime Rex Edvardus statuit inviolabiliter observaret; Et sic pacificati ad propria laeti recesserunt." Vide Mat. Paris, in Vita Frederici Abbatis Sancti Albani.
