an end
to the evil.

William the Conqueror claimed the crown of England as the chosen heir of
Edward the Confessor. It was a claim which the English did not admit,
and of which the Normans saw the fallacy, but which he himself
consistently maintained and did his best to justify. In that claim he
saw not only the justification of the Conquest in the eyes of the
church, but his great safeguard against the jealous and aggressive host
by whose aid he had realized it; therefore, immediately after the battle
of Hastings he proceeded to seek the national recognition of its
validity. He obtained it from the divided and dismayed _witan_ with no
great trouble, and was crowned by the archbishop of York--the most
influential and patriotic among them--binding himself by the
constitutional promises of justice and good laws. Standing before the
altar at Westminster, "in the presence of the clergy and people he
promised with an oath that he would defend God's holy churches and their
rulers; that he would, moreover, rule the whole people subject to him
with righteousness and royal providence; would enact and hold fast right
law and utterly forbid rapine and unrighteous judgments." The form of
election and acceptance was regularly observed and the legal position of
the new King completed before he went forth to finish the Conquest.

Had it not been for this the Norman host might have fairly claimed a
division of the land such as the Danes had made in the ninth century.
But to the people who had recognized William it was but just that the
chance should be given them of retaining what was their own.
Accordingly, when the lands of all those who had fought for Harold were
confiscated, those who were willing to acknowledge William were allowed
to redeem theirs, either paying money at once or giving hostages for the
payment. That under this redemption lay the idea of a new title to the
lands redeemed may be regarded as questionable. The feudal lawyer might
take one view, and the plundered proprietor another. But if charters of
confirmation or regrant were generally issued on the occasion to those
who were willing to redeem, there can be no doubt that, as soon as the
feudal law gained general acceptance, these would be regarded as
conveying a feudal title. What to the English might be a mere payment of
_fyrdwite_, or composition for a recognized offence, might to the
Normans seem equivalent to forfeiture and restoration.

But however this wa