The Anglo-Saxon had been converted to Christianity; while the man of the North still gloried in the title of Son of Odin, and hated, as a renegade, him, who, once proud of the same descent from the Asas, had left his warrior faith for the new creed of the mass and the monk. Led by their Vikingr, younger sons of royal houses, whose only heritage was the sea and such lands beyond its waves as their own swords could win them, these "Slayers from the North," as the old legends termed them, reappeared in England again and again, settling ere long on the shores which at first they merely ravaged, breaking down Saxon bravery by their ferocious and fanatic valour, overwhelming the three minor kingdoms of Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria, and nearly crushing that of Wessex, which had become the chief Saxon State of the south and centre of the island.

The genius and heroic patriotism of Alfred rescued Saxon England from utter destruction. A son and grandson worthy of him succeeded him on the throne of Wessex. The Danish population, which had spread over the north-east of England, was brought to acknowledge their authority, partly by victories in the field, partly by the influence of superior civilization, and still more by conversion to Christianity. Anglo-Saxon and AngloDane became more and more assimilated; the AngloSaxon tongue, institutions, and habits generally acquiring the ascendancy. But there can be no doubt of the influence of the Danish having been strong and permanent. The evidence of language, both in difference of dialect and in the names of places and persons, still points out the parts of England where the Danish occupancy was strongest. In every shire where we find the compound names of places ending in by, (as in

Derby, Grimsby, Ormsby, &c.,) we trace the Dane. The German (or Saxon) ending would be ton.* The termination son to proper names of persons (as in Adamson, Nelson, i. e. Nielson, &c.) marks a Danish pedigree. Other proofs of a similar kind are collected by the modern Dane, who shows a pride, which we may well share, in these marks of affinity between the combatants of Copenhagen.t

The troubles which shook Saxon England after the reign of Edgar (875) caused fresh attacks from Denmark. But Denmark was now consolidated into one kingdom, and had been brought within the civilizing pale of Christendom. The wars which Sveyn and Canute waged here during the end of the 10th and commencement of the 11th centuries were of a very different character to the savage devastations with which the old Northmen had swept the land. They were steady wars of conquest and for a time were successful. Canute (or Knut, as the name is more properly written and pronounced) was undisputed sovereign of England from 1017 to 1035. He united also the crowns of the three Scandinavian kingdoms, and was one of the greatest princes that ever ruled in this island, whether we regard the extent of his power or his personal character. But his dynasty was not destined to take root here, and after the death of his son Hardicanute (1052), the Anglo-Saxon element showed its predominance over the Anglo-Danish; and the nation restored a prince of the old royal stock of Cerdic to the throne. From the accession of Edward the

* See Worsaae's "Danes in England," sect. viii.; and Latham's "Ethnology of British

Islands," chap. 13.

+ See Worsaae, p. 177, and pp. 186, 187.

Confessor to the battle of Hastings, England may be again correctly termed an Anglo-Saxon kingdom.

We have thus brought together three of the four elements of our race; and watched their fusion.

We have seen the general prevalence of the Anglo-Saxon over the British and the Danish: and henceforth we shall speak of the product of the combined three as AngloSaxon, in contradistinction to the fourth, the Norman element, that is yet to come. But before we turn our attention to Normandy, it is well to pause, and examine (so far as is practicable) the general nature of the AngloSaxon institutions before the Norman Conquest.

CHAPTER IV.

Anglo-Saxon Institutions.-Classes of the Population.-Thralls, Ceorls, Thanes.-Townships.- Hundreds. -Tythings. - Frankpledge.-Lords.-The Were.-The Socmen.-The Towns.-The Witenagemote. The King. The Bishops.-The Clergy. The Poor.-Deterioration of the Saxon Polity before the Conquest.

NOTWITHSTANDING the effects of the Norman Conquest, and the consequent introduction of the fourth element of our present nation, the foundations of so many of the most important of our institutions are Saxon, that a right understanding of the Anglo-Saxon system of government, and the condition of the various classes of the community under it, is indispensable in order to discern and appreciate the changes and modifications introduced by the Normans, and also those which "the great innovator, Time," has subsequently effected. And even at the present day we must look back to the Anglo-Saxon period, if we would properly comprehend the principles of many of the most important and the most practical parts of our laws and usages.

There is no branch of constitutional knowledge in which so much has been done during the last fifty years as in Anglo-Saxon history. It used to be studied merely with a view to modern politics, and it was misunderstood and distorted accordingly. It is now investigated with the desire of learning the truth, and the lessons which we

RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE CONSTITUTION.

43

derive from it are therefore trustworthy and sound. Extreme party-writers can no longer pretend to find, or fancy that they find, their favourite tenets in the Anglo-Saxon system; but we may all find much, the spirit of which is Xworthy of admiration and perpetuation, though the forms through which it acted are obsolete and incapable of revival.

It should be premised that the word "system," as applied to the Anglo-Saxon times, must be taken in a very modified sense, or it is calculated to mislead by giving an idea of uniformity, such as never existed. The AngloSaxon institutions were not arbitrarily created by any one lawgiver, or during any one age. They grew by degrees; and they grew also in a country which was an almost perpetual scene of war and tumult, and which was inhabited by races of different origin; so that the local development of these institutions varied, besides their temporary fluctuations. It is unsafe to attempt to give more than a general idea of their leading features, which must be variously worked out in detail, according to the particular reign, and the particular part of England, to which it is meant to be applied.

One class of the community in Anglo-Saxon times (though probably no very large portion) was in a state of absolute slavery. They were known in Saxon by the names of Theow, Esne, and Thrall. They probably originally consisted of conquered Britons; but, as criminals, who could not pay the fine imposed by law, were reducible to this state, many unfortunate beings of German ancestry must in process of time have been comprised in this degraded and suffering class. The freemen of the land were classified by a broad division into the Ceorls who formed the bulk of the population, and into