nds of the Normans. The
King made these royal grants on the express condition that those who
received them should furnish him a certain number of armed men
whenever he should demand them.

Two great classes of society now existed in England. First, the
leading Norman conquerors, who, as chief tenants or landholders under
the Crown, and as peers of the realm, had the title of barons. They
numbered about fifteen hundred, and, as we have just seen, they were
all pledged to draw their swordss in behalf of the King. Secondly,
the English who had been reduced to a subordinate state; most of these
now held their land as grants from the Norman barons on condition of
some kind of service. A majority of these men were no longer entirely
free, while some were actual slaves. The greater part of this servile
class were villeins or farm laborers (S150). They were bound to the
soil, and could be sold with it, but not, like the slaves, separately
from it. They could be compelled to perform any menial labor, but
usually held their plots of land and humble cottages on condition of
plowing a certain number of acres or doing a certain number of days'
work in each year. In time the villeins generally obtained the
privilege of paying a fixed money rent, in place of labor, and their
condition gradually improved.

114. How William distributed his Gifts.

Yet it is noticeable that when William granted estates to his Norman
followers (S113), he was careful not to give any baron too much land
in any one county or shire. His experience in Normandy had taught him
that it was better to divide than to concentrate the power of the
great nobles, who were often only too ready to plot to get the crown
for themselves.

Thus William developed and extended the feudal system of land
tenure,[1] already in existence in outline among the Saxons (S86),
until it covered every part of the realm. He, however, kept this
system strictly subordinate to himself, and we shall see that before
the close of his reign he held a great meeting by which he got
absolute control over it (S121).

[1] See, too, the Constitutional Summary in the Appendix, p. v, S6.

115. The Three Counties Palatine.

The only exceptions which William made in these carefully restricted
grants were the three Counties Palatine,[1] which he created. They
bordered on Wales in the west, Scotland in the north, and the English
Channel in the southeast. To the earls of these counties o