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The history of Normandy and of England (v. 2)
The history of Normandy and of England - v. 2 Author:Francis Turner Palgrave Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: concluded that settlement with the Northmen, 912-027 which, so long as he reigned, procured security for the Realm. Peace was purchased by Charles at a very high... more » price, yet not so dear as that which Alfred paid : those who enlarge upon the cession made to Rollo as a proof of Charles-le- Simple's weakness, must, in fairness, extend the like, or a heavier censure, to our Anglo-Saxon King. The creation of the English Danelaghe, the dominion legalized by Alfred to the Danes in East Anglia and Northumbria, was a fatal dismemberment, which worked the ruin of Anglo- Saxon England. King Charles had but small capital of any kind, VsTf political or financial—no revenue, according to Charles- the proper sense of the term. A Danegeld might be levied, because the Pagans aided the Collector: the people paid the money to ransom themselves. But except indirectly, and by aiding him to keep the common enemy at bay, these contributions did not raise a sol for the wants of the King. Whether pecuniary, or rendered in the form of stock or kind, his resources for duly maintaining his state and household arose only from the very few royal domains as yet un- alienated from the crown,—Laon the chiefest:— perhaps occasionally a vacant abbey, which, after farming awhile, he would then be compelled to cede to the prayer of a needy favourite, or to some growling discontented leader of the opposition party. No army—If the king of the Franks summoned the arriere-ban, those who answered the summons were purely volunteers, serving with an eye to booty : no discipline could retain the troops under their standard, no proclamation assemble the lieges who chose to keep away. § 3. Charlemagne's heir had been recalled : the true Cajlovingian monarch was re-instated upon the throne of his ancestors. But the rest...« less