obnoxious baron: and though the feudal institutions which prevailed in
his kingdom had the same tendency as in other states to exalt the
aristocracy and depress the monarchy, it required, in England,
according to its present constitution, a great combination of the
vassals to oppose their sovereign lord, and there had not hitherto
arisen any baron so powerful, as of himself to levy war against the
prince, and to afford protection to the inferior barons.

While such were the different situations of France and England, and
the latter enjoyed so many advantages above the former, the accession
of Henry II., a prince of great abilities, possessed of so many rich
provinces on the continent, might appear an event dangerous, if not
fatal, to the French monarchy, and sufficient to break entirely the
balance between the states. He was master, in the right of his
father, of Anjou and Touraine; in that of his mother, of Normandy and
Maine; in that of his wife, of Guienne, Poictou, Xaintogne, Auvergne,
Perigord, Angoumois, the Limousin. He soon after annexed Britany to
his other states, and was already possessed of the superiority over
that province, which, on the first cession of Normandy to Rollo, the
Dane, had been granted by Charles the Simple, in vassalage to that
formidable ravager. These provinces composed above a third of the
whole French monarchy, and were much superior, in extent and opulence,
to those territories which were subjected to the immediate
jurisdiction and government of the king. The vassal was here more
powerful than his liege lord: the situation which had enabled Hugh
Capet to depose the Carlovingian princes seemed to be renewed, and
that with much greater advantages on the side of the vassal; and when
England was added to so many provinces, the French king had reason to
apprehend, from this conjuncture, some great disaster to himself and
to his family: but in reality, it was this circumstance, which
appeared so formidable, that saved the Capetian race, and, by its
consequences, exalted them to that pitch of grandeur which they at
present enjoy.

The limited authority of the prince in the feudal constitutions
prevented the King of England from employing with advantage the force
of so many states, which were subjected to his government; and these
different members, disjoined in situation, and disagreeing in laws,
language, and manners, were never thoroughly cemented into one
monarchy. He soon became, b