ngland and the Norman Islands,
the relation naturally becomes a relation of dependence on the part of
the smaller members of the union. But it is well to remember that our
forefathers never conquered the forefathers of the men of the Norman
Islands, but that their forefathers did once conquer ours.

These instances and countless others bear out the position, that while
community of language is the most obvious sign of common
nationality,--while it is the main element, or something more than an
element, in the formation of nationality,--the rule is open to
exceptions of all kinds; and that the influence of language is at all
times liable to be overruled by other influences. But all the
exceptions confirm the rule, because we specially remark those cases
which contradict the rule, and we do not specially remark those cases
which do conform to it.

THE NORMAN COUNCIL AND THE ASSEMBLY OF LILLEBONNE

From 'The History of the Norman Conquest of England'

The case of William had thus to be brought to bear on the minds of his
own people, on the minds of the neighboring countries whence he
invited and looked for volunteers, on the minds of the foreign princes
whose help or at least whose neutrality he asked for, and above all,
on the minds of the Roman Pontiff and his advisers. The order of these
various negotiations is not very clear, and in all probability all
were being carried on at once. But there is little doubt that
William's first step, on receiving the refusal of Harold to surrender
his crown,--or whatever else was the exact purport of the English
King's answer,--was to lay the matter before a select body of his most
trusted counselors. The names of most of the men whom William thus
honored with his special confidence are already familiar to us. They
were the men of his own blood, the friends of his youth, the faithful
vassals who had fought at his side against French invaders and Norman
rebels. There was his brother, Robert, Count of Mortain, the lord of
the castle by the waterfalls, the spoil of the banished Warling. And
there was one closer than a brother,--the proud William the son of
Osborn, the son of the faithful guardian of his childhood. There,
perhaps the only priest in that gathering of warriors, was his other
brother, Odo of Bayeux, soon to prove himself a warrior as stout of
heart and as strong of arm as any of his race. There too, not
otherwise renowned, was Iwun-al-Chapel, the husband of the s