s had
assisted William in gaining England, and were equally entitled to
a share of the spoils. "It was," said he, "by their swords that his
ancestors had obtained their lands, and that by his he would maintain
his rights." The same monarch required the Earls of Hereford and Norfolk
to go over with his army to Guienne, and they replied, "The tenure of
our lands does not require us to do so, unless the king went in person."
The king insisted; the earls were firm. "By God, sir Earl," said Edward
to Hereford, "you shall go or hang." "By God, sir King," replied the
earl, "I will neither go nor hang." The king submitted and forgave his
warmth.

The struggle between the nobles and the Crown commenced, and was
continued, under varying circumstances. Each of the barons had a large
retinue of armed men under his own command, and the Crown was liable to
be overborne by a union of ambitious nobles. At one time the monarch had
to face them at Runnymede and yield to their demands; at another he was
able to restrain them with a strong hand. The Church and the barons,
when acting in union, proved too strong for the sovereign, and he had to
secure the alliance of one of these parties to defeat the views of the
other. The barons abused their power over the FREEMEN, and sought to
establish the rule "that every man must have a lord," thus reducing
them to a state of vassalage. King John separated the barons into two
classes--major and minor; the former should have at least thirteen
knights' fees and a third part; the latter remained country gentlemen.
The 20th Henry III., cap. 2 and 4, was passed to secure the rights of
FREEMEN, who were disturbed by the great lords, and gave them an appeal
to the king's courts of assize.

Bracton, an eminent lawyer who wrote in the time of Henry III., says:

"The king hath superiors--viz., God and the law by which he is made
king; also his court--viz., his earls and barons. Earls are the king's
associates, and he that hath an associate hath a master; and therefore,
if the king be unbridled, or (which is all one) without law, they ought
to bridle him, unless they will be unbridled as the king, and then the
commons may cry, Lord Jesus, pity us," etc.

An eminent lawyer, time of Edward I., writes:

"Although the king ought to have no equal in the land, yet because the
king and his commissioners can be both judge and party, the king ought
by right to have companions, to hear and determine in Parliament a