ce of corn, William of
Poitiers calls England "the store-house of Ceres."

IV. THE NORMANS.

The invasion of William of Normandy led to results which have been
represented by some writers as having been the most momentous in English
history. I do not wish in any way to depreciate their views, but it
seems to me not to have been so disastrous to existing institutions, as
the Scandinavian invasion, which completely submerged all former usages.
No trace of Roman occupation survived the advent of the ANGLO-SAXONs;
the population was reduced to and remained in the position of serfs,
whereas the Norman invasion preserved the existing institutions of the
nation, and subsequent changes were an outgrowth thereof.

When Edward the Confessor, the last descendant of Cedric, was on
his deathbed, he declared Harold to be his successor, but William of
Normandy claimed the throne under a previous will of the same monarch.
He asked for the assistance of his own nobles and people in the
enterprise, but they refused at first, on the ground that their feudal
compact only required them to join in the defence of their country,
and did not coerce them into affording him aid in a completely new
enterprise; and it was only by promising to compensate them out of the
spoils that he could secure their co-operation. A list of the number
of ships supplied by each Norman chieftain appears in Lord Lyttleton's
"History of Henry III." vol. i., appendix.

I need hardly remind you that the settlers in Normandy were from Norway,
or that they had been expelled from their native land in consequence of
their efforts to subvert its institutions, and to make the descent of
land hereditary, instead of being divisible among all the sons of the
former owner. Nor need I relate how they won and held the fair provinces
of northern France--whether as a fief of the French Crown or not, is an
open question. But I should wish you to bear in mind their affinity to
the ANGLO-SAXONs, to the Danes, and to the Norwegians, the family of Sea
Robbers, whose ravages extended along the coasts of Europe as far
south as Gibraltar, and, as some allege, along the Mediterranean. Some
questions have been raised as to the means of transport of the Saxons,
the Jutes, and the Angles, but they were fully as extensive as those by
which Rollo invaded France or William invaded England.

William strengthened his claim to the throne by his military success,
and by a form of electi