s. At length the great body of the people united in
choosing Edward the Confessor king (1042-1066). He was English by
birth, but Norman by education. Under him the unity of the English
kingdom was, in name at least, fully restored.

[1] Some authorities consider Edgar (959) as the first "King of all
England." In 829 Egbert, King of the West Saxons, forced all the
other Saxon Kings of Britian to acknowledge him as their "Overlord"
(S49).

5. Beginning of the Feudal System; its Results.

Meantime a great change had taken place in England with respect to
holding land (SS86, 150). We shall see clearly to what that change
was tending if we look at the condition of France. There a system of
government and of land tenure existed known as the Feudal System.
Under it the King was regarded as the owner of the entire realm. He
granted, with his royal protection, the use of portions of the land to
his chief men or nobles, with the privilege of building castles and of
establishing courts of justice on these estates. Such grants were
made on two conditions: (1) that the tenants should take part in the
King's Council; (2) that they should do military service in the King's
behalf, and furnish besides a certain number of fully armed horsemen
in proportion to the amount of land they had received. So long as
they fulfilled these conditionms--made under oath--they could retain
their estates, and hand them down to their children; but if they
failed to keep their oath, they forfeited the land to the King.

These great military barons or lords let out parts of their immense
manors,[2] or estates, on similar conditions,--namely (1) that their
vassals or tenants should pay rent to them by doing military or other
service; and (2) that they should agree that all questions concerning
their rights and duties should be tried in the lord's private
court.[3] On the other hand, the lord of the manor pledged himself to
protect his vassals.

[2] Manor (man'or): see plan of a manor (Old French manoir, "a
mansion") on page 75, the estate of a feudal lord. Every manor had
two courts. The most important of these was the "court baron." It
was composed of all the free tenants of the manor, with the lord (or
his representative) presiding. It dealt with civil cases only. The
second court was the "court customary," which dealt with cases
connected with villeinage. The manors held by the greater barons had
a third court, the "court leet," whic