CHAP. IV. Witenagemót, the one has grown out of the other by 1302. gradual development, without any sudden change. In France the ancient Assembly died out altogether, and the comparatively modern States-General came into being as an original device of Philip the Fair. To return to the more immediate affairs of Normandy. There can be no doubt that the various processes of which Growth of I have been speaking, the Christianizing, the Gallicizing, and the feudalizing process, all went on vigorously in Nornobility. mandy during the reign of Richard the Fearless. the doctrine of Humble origin of many princely and noble houses. The doctrine of nobility was fast growing; it was taking a form quite different from the ancient relations of Eorl and Ceorl, quite different from the later relations of Thegn and Ceorl, as they have been at any time understood in England. Hitherto mere lack of illustrious birth did not keep a man back from the highest offices. The legend that Hugh Capet himself was the son of a butcher of Paris, utterly fabulous as it is, marks the popular belief as to the origin of many of the princely houses of the time. The legends of Lyderic the Forester2 and of Torquatus and Tertullus3 point to no very exalted origin on the part of the princely houses of Origin of Flanders and Anjou. So it is in the reign of Richard that we man Baron- find the beginning of the Norman Baronage, and the origin of many of its members was certainly not specially illustrious. Some noble families indeed trace their descent up to old companions of Rolf, such as the house of Harcourt, which claims Bernard the Dane as its patriarch. But the larger part of the Norman nobility derived their origin from the amours or doubtful marriages of the Norman Dukes. Not the Nor age. 1 Dante, Purg. xx. 2 For this legend in full, see the early chapters of Oudegherst, Annales de Flandres. Lyderic, the foundling, is of course of princely birth. It is the same story as those of Cyrus and Romulus. 3 See L'Art de verifier des Dates, ii. 828. ORIGIN OF THE NORMAN NOBILITY. 279 and kins Richard. only their own children, but the families of their wives or CHAP. IV. mistresses, were carefully promoted by ducal grants or by advantageous marriages. Thus Sprota, the mother of Richard Children the Fearless, during the troubles of her son's early reign, folk of married one Asperleng, a rich miller. From this marriage sprang Rudolf Count of Ivry, a mighty man in the reign of his nephew, and also several daughters, who were of course well disposed of in marriage.1 Richard himself, whose marriage with Emma of Paris was childless,2 was the father of a large illegitimate or doubtful offspring. Besides undoubted bastards,3 there was a considerable brood, including Richard, the next Duke, and Emma, the future Lady of the English, who were legitimated by Richard's marriage with their mother. These were the children of Gunnor, a woman of Danish birth, to whom different stories attribute a noble and a plebeian origin. From these children, and from the kinsfolk of Gunnor, all of whom were promoted in one way or another, sprang a large portion of the Norman nobility. Meanwhile the principles of feudalism Progress of 1 Will. Gem. vii. 38. "Mater ejus Sprota necessitate urgente, contubernio [was there even a Danish marriage?] cujusdam prædivitis nomine Asperlengi adhæsit. Hic, licet in rebus locuples, tamen molendina vallis Ruelii ad firmam solitus erat tenere." So M. Jourdain measured cloth only for amusement; so, in some pious legends, Zebedee was a mighty baron of Galilee, whose sons fished for pleasure and not for profit. * There is something ludicrous in the way in which Dudo (137 B. C), after spending all his powers of prose to set forth the marriage of Emma, goes on to explain in verse that she was not fated to be the mother of a Duke of the Normans. 3 Dudo, 152 C. "Subscalpenti voluptuosæ humanitatis fragilitati subactus, genuit duos filios, totidem et filias, ex concubinis." Dudo (u. s.) makes her to be "ex famosissimâ nobilium Dacorum prosapiâ exorta," but he allows that the Duke "eam prohibitæ copulationis foedere sortitus est sibi amicabiliter." He marries her (“inextricabili maritalis fœderis privilegio sibi connectit") at the advice of the great men of the land. So William of Jumièges (iv. 18) vouches for the nobility of her birth and for her marriage being celebrated "Christiano more." But his continuator (viii. 36) has a curious legend-the same as one of the legends of our Eadgar-to tell about her first introduction to Richard. See also Roman de Rou, 5390-5429, &c., 5767-5812. feudal doc trines. CHAP. IV. were making fast progress both in Normandy and in France. Hugh the Great's doctrine of Commendation, practised on so magnificent a scale between the Duchies of Normandy everywhere carried out with regard grants Church. His foun dation of Fécamp. and France, was being ence from the general Such at least is the natural infer course of events; for it must be remembered that Normandy has, in this age, absolutely nothing to show in the way of written legislation. The Richard's wealth of the clergy was also largely increasing. Richard, to the unlike his father, was munificent in his gifts to the Church, especially to his new, or rather restored, foundation of Fécamp Abbey.' Fécamp, alone among the more famous monasteries of Normandy, stands in the land north-east of the Seine; all the rest lie either in the valley of the river or in the true Norman districts to the west of it. Fécamp, like Westminster, Holyrood, and the Escurial, contained Minster and Palace in close neighbourhood; the spot became a favourite dwelling-place of Richard in his later days, and it was at last the place of his burial. The last years Æthelred. of his reign present only one important event, a dispute, possibly a war, with the English King Æthelred, which was composed by the mediation of Pope John the Fifteenth. This event, one of some moment in the general view of my history, is passed over alike by the Norman and by the English writers nearest to the time. Yet it seems to rest on quite sufficient evidence. But I reserve its discussion for its place in the next chapter in my more detailed narrative of Death of English affairs. At last, Richard the Fearless, the "Dux Dispute with 991. Richard, 996. Piratarum" as he is called to the last by Richer, died of "the lesser apoplexy," after a reign of fifty-three years. Like several other princes who play a part in the world for an unusual number of years, one is surprised to find that he was not much older in years than he was. Unlike his 1 On Fécamp, see Dudo, 153 B et seqq. 2 See History of Federal Government, i. 574. REIGN OF RICHARD THE GOOD. 281 enemies, Arnulf and Theobald, whose lives were really CHAP. IV. prolonged beyond the common span of human existence, Richard the Fearless, or Richard the Old, as he was called to distinguish him from his successor, after all that he had done and undergone, after all the changes that he had wrought and beheld, had lived no longer than sixty-three years. § 6. Early Years of Richard the Good. 996-997. Richard The reign of his son, Richard, surnamed the Good, car- Reign of ries us beyond the limits of the present sketch into the the Good. essential and central portion of our history. Richard was 996-1026. a direct actor in the events which were the immediate causes of the Conquest. He was the uncle of Eadward the Confessor, the grandfather of William the Bastard; and he personally played a certain part in English affairs. I will therefore reserve his actions for their proper place in my general narrative, and I will here speak of one event, which marks the complete developement of the influences which had been at work throughout the reign of his father. Richard succeeded to the government of a state in which the Danish tongue, Danish manners, perhaps even the old Danish religion, still lingered in particular places, but which was now, in the face of other nations, a French state, a member, and the principal member, of the Capetian commonwealth. He had imbibed to the full all the new- Aristoborn aristocratic feelings of feudal and chivalrous France. ings of He would have none but gentlemen about him. This is Richard. perhaps the earliest use of a word so familiar both in French and in English, but which bears such different meanings in the two languages. But, whatever constituted a gentleman in the language of Richard's court, it is plain that the word took in all who could pretend to any sort of 1 Roman de Rou, 5955-5974. cratic feel Revolt 997. CHAP. IV. kindred or affinity, legitimate or illegitimate, with th sovereign. The way in which the exclusively aristocratic household of Richard is spoken of seems to show that his conduct in this respect was felt to be something different W from that of his father. Taken in connexion with what follows, it was probably the last pound which broke the camel's back. Popular discontent broke out in the great peasant revolt to which I had occasion to allude earlier in this chapter. We may suppose that the peasantry were mainly of Celtic, Roman, or Frankish origin; that is, they sprang from that mixture of those three elements which produced the modern French nation. But we may well believe that many a man of Scandinavian descent, many a small allodial holder who was unwilling to commend himself to a Their regu- Lord, threw in his lot with the insurgents. What is most lar political remarkable in the story of this revolt is the regular poliorganization. tical organization of the revolters. The systematic way in which they set to work is common enough in cities, but is exceedingly rare in rural communities. It is almost enough to place this revolt of the Norman peasantry side by side with the more famous and more fortunate revolt of the Forest Cantons against the encroachments of Austria. The men who could do as they did were worthy to have sworn at Grütli and to have vanquished at Morgarten. We can hardly believe what we read when we find that these rebellious villains established a regular representative Parliament. The peasants of each district deputed two of their number to a General Assembly, the decisions of which were to be binding on the whole body. The men They establish a "Commune with a 1 Will. Gem. v. 2. Roman de Rou, 5975-6118. See above, p. 195. 2 I do not mean merely because the word "parlement" occurs several times in the Roman de Rou. It is there used in its primitive sense, as translating colloquium." 3 Will. Gem. u. s. "Nam rustici unanimes per diversos totius Normannica patriæ comitatus plurima agentes conventicula, juxta suos libitus vivere decernebant. Quatenus, tam in silvarum compendiis quam in |