ter the
murder of Prince Arthur, which is said to have taken place within the
Tower of Rouen by the Seine, had added gross impolicy to unpardonable
crime, the last descendant of Rollo, who was both a King of England
and a Duke of Normandy, fell before the power of the King of France.
Rouen surrendered to Philip Augustus, and Normandy became a French
province. The change had been an easy one, for John was far more
Angevin and English than he was Norman, and his Duchy was no longer
the home that William the Conqueror had made a terror to his
neighbours.

[Illustration: FIGURE FROM THE BORDER OF THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY]

Englishmen might indeed regret the loss of that motherland of heroes
which had conquered Sicily and England too, and mourn to see her seven
great cities, her strong castles, her stately minsters, and her
Teutonic people in a Roman land, all under the yoke of kings whom Duke
William had beaten at Varaville, and King Henry had conquered at
Noyon. But the loss was England's gain. It meant not only that England
was united under a really English king, but that her Norman nobles had
become her own Englishmen. Far more had resulted from the immigration
from the Continent, led by the Conqueror, than is usually appreciated.
Its results were not merely such tangible documents as that charter of
the liberties of London, signed by the great Duke of Rouen, which is
still the most cherished possession of the archives of the City.
William's soldiers were swiftly followed by peaceful invaders far more
numerous, whose influence was far more widespreading. Not only did
every Norman baron and abbot bring his own company of chosen artists
and craftsmen with him from France, but "many of the citizens and
merchants of Rouen," says the chronicler, "passed over, preferring to
be dwellers in London, inasmuch as it was fitter for their trading,
and better stored with the merchandise in which they were wont to
traffic." One concrete example of the resulting growth of trade may be
quoted. Before the Conquest, weaving had not been practised in England
as a separate craft for the market. By 1165 we find a kind of
corporation of weavers at Winchester, who preserved their own customs
almost as closely as the Jews, contributed independently (like other
aliens) to fiscal demands, and even chose their own aldermen. Almost
the only name that remains to us of those ancient "portreeves" of
London, who were the predecessors of its mayors, is that