Norman Institutions eBook

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Tee institutions of the duchy of Normandy occupy a unique place in the history of Europe. They have their local interest, giving character and distinctness to an important region of France; they furnished models of orderly and centralized ad ministration to the French kings after the conquest of the duchy by Philip Augustus; and they exerted an inuence of the first importance upon the constitutional and legal development of Eng land and''the countries of English law. Normandy was thus the channel through which the stream of Frankish and feudal custom owed to England; it was the training ground where the first anglo-norman king gained his experience as a ruler, and the source whence his followers drew their ideas of law and govern ment; and during nearly a century and a half of personal union with England it afforded a constant example of parallel develop ment. In the larger view the effects of Norman institutions upon English lands are the most significant, and these naturally possess the principal interest for English and American students of his tory. The following studies were undertaken in the first instance for the purpose of seeking light on the constitutional develop ment of England, and while they necessarily include many mat ters which bear on this but indirectly, their original purpose has determined their scope and character. They begin with the earli est trustworthy information respecting the government of Nor mandy; they end with the loss of the duchy''s originat and independence.