ne burning ploughshares, were the inventions of the monkish
historians, and were propagated and believed from the silly wonder of
posterity [b].
[FN [a] Anglia Sacra, vol. i. p. 237. [b] Higden, p. 277.]

The English flattered themselves that, by the accession of Edward,
they were delivered for ever from the dominion of foreigners; but they
soon found that this evil was not yet entirely removed. The king had
been educated in Normandy; and had contracted many intimacies with the
natives of that country, as well as an affection for their manners
[c]. The court of England was soon filled with Normans, who, being
distinguished both by the favour of Edward, and by a degree of
cultivation superior to that which was attained by the English in
those ages, soon rendered their language, customs, and laws,
fashionable in the kingdom. The study of the French tongue became
general among the people. The courtiers affected to imitate that
nation in their dress, equipage, and entertainments: even the lawyers
employed a foreign language in their deeds and papers [d]. But, above
all, the church felt the influence and dominion of those strangers:
Ulf and William, two Normans, who had formerly been the king's
chaplains, were created Bishops of Dorchester and London. Robert, a
Norman also, was promoted to the see of Canterbury [e], and always
enjoyed the highest favour of his master, of which his abilities
rendered him not unworthy. And though the king's prudence, or his
want of authority, made him confer almost all the civil and military
employments on the natives, the ecclesiastical preferments fell often
to the share of the Normans; and as the latter possessed Edward's
confidence, they had secretly a great influence on public affairs, and
excited the jealousy of the English, particularly of Earl Godwin [f].
[FN [c] Ingulph. p. 62. [d] Ingulph. p. 62. [e] Chron. Sax. p. 161.
[f] W. Malm. p. 80.]

This powerful nobleman, besides being Duke or Earl of Wessex, had the
counties of Kent and Sussex annexed to his government. His eldest
son, Sweyn, possessed the same authority in the counties of Oxford,
Berks, Gloucester, and Hereford; and Harold, his second son, was Duke
of East Anglia, and at the same time governor of Essex. The great
authority of this family was supported by immense possessions and
powerful alliances; and the abilities, as well as ambition of Godwin
himself, contributed to render it still more dangerous. A prin