Strong as he held his claim to be by the gift of Edward, it would be better to be, if not strictly chosen, at least peacefully accepted, by the chief men of England.It might some day serve his purpose to say that the crown had been offered to him, and that he had accepted it only after a debate in which the chief speaker was an impartial stranger.Having gained this point more, William set out from Berkhampstead, already, in outward form, King-elect of the English.
The rite which was to change him from king-elect into full king took place in Eadward's church of Westminster on Christmas day, 1066, somewhat more than two months after the great battle, somewhat less than twelve months after the death of Edward and the coronation of Harold.Nothing that was needed for a lawful crowning was lacking.
The consent of the people, the oath of the king, the anointing by the hands of a lawful metropolitan, all were there.Ealdred acted as the actual celebrant, while Stigand took the second place in the ceremony.But this outward harmony between the nation and its new king was marred by an unhappy accident.Norman horsemen stationed outside the church mistook the shout with which the people accepted the new king for the shout of men who were doing him damage.But instead of going to his help, they began, in true Norman fashion, to set fire to the neighbouring houses.The havoc and plunder that followed disturbed the solemnities of the day and were a bad omen for the new reign.It was no personal fault of William's; in putting himself in the hands of subjects of such new and doubtful loyalty, he needed men near at hand whom he could trust.But then it was his doing that England had to receive a king who needed foreign soldiers to guard him.
William was now lawful King of the English, so far as outward ceremonies could make him so.But he knew well how far he was from having won real kingly authority over the whole kingdom.Hardly a third part of the land was in his obedience.He had still, as he doubtless knew, to win his realm with the edge of the sword.But he could now go forth to further conquests, not as a foreign invader, but as the king of the land, putting down rebellion among his own subjects.If the men of Northumberland should refuse to receive him, he could tell them that he was their lawful king, anointed by their own archbishop.It was sound policy to act as king of the whole land, to exercise a semblance of authority where he had none in fact.And in truth he was king of the whole land, so far as there was no other king.The unconquered parts of the land were in no mood to submit; but they could not agree on any common plan of resistance under any common leader.Some were still for Edgar, some for Harold's sons, some for Swegen of Denmark.Edwin and Morkere doubtless were for themselves.If one common leader could have been found even now, the throne of the foreign king would have been in no small danger.But no such leader came: men stood still, or resisted piecemeal, so the land was conquered piecemeal, and that under cover of being brought under the obedience of its lawful king.
Now that the Norman duke has become an English king, his career as an English statesman strictly begins, and a wonderful career it is.
Its main principle was to respect formal legality wherever he could.
All William's purposes were to be carried out, as far as possible, under cover of strict adherence to the law of the land of which he had become the lawful ruler.He had sworn at his crowning to keep the laws of the land, and to rule his kingdom as well as any king that had gone before him.And assuredly he meant to keep his oath.
But a foreign king, at the head of a foreign army, and who had his foreign followers to reward, could keep that oath only in its letter and not in its spirit.But it is wonderful how nearly he came to keep it in the letter.He contrived to do his most oppressive acts, to deprive Englishmen of their lands and offices, and to part them out among strangers, under cover of English law.He could do this.
A smaller man would either have failed to carry out his purposes at all, or he could have carried them out only by reckless violence.
When we examine the administration of William more in detail, we shall see that its effects in the long run were rather to preserve than to destroy our ancient institutions.He knew the strength of legal fictions; by legal fictions he conquered and he ruled.But every legal fiction is outward homage to the principle of law, an outward protest against unlawful violence.That England underwent a Norman Conquest did in the end only make her the more truly England.
But that this could be was because that conquest was wrought by the Bastard of Falaise and by none other.
