Domestic Every-day Life, and Manners and Customs in this Country, From the Earliest Period to the end of the Eighteenth Century

The Norman conquest, when William, Duke of Normandy, in the year 1066, landed in this country with a number of his chosen followers, and after killing King Harold in battle, and routing his army, established here the Norman sway, and introduced new laws and customs and manners, is one of those leading events in the history of this country by which the most important results upon its whole career, and more especially the cause of its civilization, were produced. True it is that the bulk of the people remained, and many of their institutions continued unchanged. But a great deal that was new was engrafted on the old. The native inhabitants were brought into immediate contact with the people of another country, who were not only more powerful than themselves, but who possessed different habits and pursuits and modes of thought, and who varied from them essentially in character and disposition; besides being used to a manner of living entirely varying from what they found here, and who were moreover determined, as the dominant power, to make changes in the government and institutions of the kingdom. Civilization was thus advanced by the coming in contact of the people of the two countries, and by the superior cultivation possessed by the Normans; and a very great stimulus was given to art, commerce, and national enterprise of every description. Hence, although I do not intend to give an account of the battles and political contests which occurred during their early career in this country, yet the Norman conquest is so intimately connected with, and had so important an influence on the habits, pursuits, and general condition of the people in this land, that it is absolutely necessary, in order correctly to become acquainted with the latter, to take a general survey of the former also

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