peror arrived upon the scene, the robbers were gone and
nothing remained but a few smouldering ruins.

During the days of disorder which followed the death of Charlemagne, the
Northmen developed great activity. Their fleets made raids upon every
country and their sailors established small independent kingdoms along
the coast of Holland and France and England and Germany, and they even
found their way into Italy. The Northmen were very intelligent They
soon learned to speak the language of their subjects and gave up the
uncivilised ways of the early Vikings (or Sea-Kings) who had been very
picturesque but also very unwashed and terribly cruel.

Early in the tenth century a Viking by the name of Rollo had repeatedly
attacked the coast of France. The king of France, too weak to resist
these northern robbers, tried to bribe them into "being good." He
offered them the province of Normandy, if they would promise to stop
bothering the rest of his domains. Rollo accepted this bargain and
became "Duke of Normandy."

But the passion of conquest was strong in the blood of his children.
Across the channel, only a few hours away from the European mainland,
they could see the white cliffs and the green fields of England. Poor
England had passed through difficult days. For two hundred years it had
been a Roman colony. After the Romans left, it had been conquered by the
Angles and the Saxons, two German tribes from Schleswig. Next the
Danes had taken the greater part of the country and had established the
kingdom of Cnut. The Danes had been driven away and now (it was early in
the eleventh century) another Saxon king, Edward the Confessor, was
on the throne. But Edward was not expected to live long and he had no
children. The circumstances favoured the ambitious dukes of Normandy.

In 1066 Edward died. Immediately William of Normandy crossed the
channel, defeated and killed Harold of Wessex (who had taken the crown)
at the battle of Hastings, and proclaimed himself king of England.

In another chapter I have told you how in the year 800 a German
chieftain had become a Roman Emperor. Now in the year 1066 the grandson
of a Norse pirate was recognised as King of England.

Why should we ever read fairy stories, when the truth of history is so
much more interesting and entertaining?

FEUDALISM

HOW CENTRAL EUROPE, ATTACKED FROM THREE SIDES, BECAME AN ARMED CAMP AND
WHY EUROPE WOULD HAVE PERISHED WITHOUT THOSE PROFESSIONAL SOLD