and Literature of English History (London, 1900).]

III. THE NORMAN-PLANTAGENET PERIOD (p. 006)

At the coming of William the Conqueror, in 1066, two fundamental
principles may be said to have been firmly fixed in the English
political system. The first was that of thoroughgoing local
self-government. The second was that of the obligation of the king, in
all matters of first-rate importance, such as the laying of taxes and
the making of laws, to seek the counsel and consent of some portion of
his subjects. In the period which was inaugurated by the Conquest
neither of these principles was entirely subverted, yet the Norman era
stands out distinctly as one in which the powers of government were
gathered in the hands of the king and of his immediate agents in a
measure unknown at any earlier time. Building in so far as was
possible upon foundations already laid, William was able so to
manoeuver the consequences of the Conquest as to throw the advantages
all but wholly upon the side of the crown. Feudalism, land-tenure,
military service, taxation, the church--to all was imparted, by force
or by craft, such a bent that the will of the sovereign acquired the
practical effect of law, and monarchy in England, traditionally weak,
was brought to the verge of sheer absolutism.

*7. Extension of Centralized Control.*--In respect to the actual
mechanism of government the principal achievement of the
Norman-Plantagenet period was the overhauling and consolidation of the
agencies of administration. Despite the fact that local institutions
of Saxon origin were largely respected, so that they have continued to
this day the most substantial Anglo-Saxon contribution to English
polity, there was a notable linking-up of these hitherto largely
disassociated institutions with the institutions of the central
government. This was accomplished in part by the dissolution of the
earldoms by which the monarchy had been menaced in later Saxon days,
and in part by a tremendous increase of the power and importance of
the sheriffs. It was accomplished still more largely, however, by the
organization of two great departments of government--those of justice
and finance--presided over by dignitaries of the royal household and
manned by permanent staffs of expert officials. The department of
justice comprised the Curia; that of finance, the Exchequer. At the
head of the one was the Chancellor; at the head of the