The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-02-21

| the English people was utterly lost.
as the weak sought the protection of
I lords and masters. The long strife
not only destroyed the freedom of the
masses but finally the independence
! of England herself. when in the year
| 1902 the Saxon King in terror of fresh
lnvasionS from Scandinavia sought and
| sealed an alliance with foreign ma
| ton on the continent by marrying the
daughter of the Duk. of Normandy
Whence the NOrmans Sailed.
In that age of the Scand ina via n
wandering. the Mortimer invaded
! France as well as England and ven
tured as far as the coast of the New
World. But the English We're still
lighting with their Mortimer long af-
ter the Gauls. always more ready TO
assimilate alien breeds. had tanned
and transformed their fcrocious in
vaders into Frenchmen.
Although the Mortimer OF France
had been softened into Normans. and
had become French in speech and re-
ligion. the vikings love of adventure
still glowed in their blood and their
aid was sought at once in wars at the
opposite eztremities of Europe. In the
some period as the AngloNorman al
lance against the Danes the Norman
sword was invoked against the scim-
itar of the Saracen and. driving the
crescent from Naples. Calabria and
Sicily. it founded Norman Kingdoms IN
those southern lands.
Even now. when for Loo years the Nor
man has been a loyal Frenchman
mandy is yet French with a differ
ence. Its rugged architecture wears
its own noble distinction. Its cities and
towns are scrubbed and tidied up be
while its countryside is more English
than French as it is more charming
than that of any other province of
France.
Ik,- he pat Of fla nj fah
dents the coast of Normandy, the vine
garlanded windows of the famous Nor
mandy Inn of William the Conqueror
at Dives look out upon the starting
point of the most celebrated invasion
of England. 1t is a legend that some
fragment of the walls of that unique
and ancient Hostellerie de Guillaume
lie Conquerant survives from the DAY
in the year 1866. when Duke William.
son of a tanners daughter. sailed to
claim the English throne. which had
been first linked with the Norman
throne by the matrimonial alliance OF
siXty-four years before.
Across the channel. the traditional
landing place of the Normans is mark !
ed by the little village of Pevensey
on the railroad between Hastings and |
Brighton. Pevensey has been quite
forsa ken by the sea in the course of |
the centuries and the village clinCs
about the has" of great Norma n !
castle as if fearful of losing that one !
remaining witness to its departed |
glory.
when the conqueror and his fleet of
900 boats appeared not a weaponed
stood on the shore to |
him. For King Harold was
far away by the North Sea where
he was was breastins and turning
back another Scandinavian tide. and
more than two weeks passed before
the English assembled on the heights
Of SaIac. between TunbridSe Wells
and Hastings. to check the march of
the invaders on London.
. After 4 long. hot day of doubtful
fighting with bows and javelins and
axes. the sun was sinking behind the
Sussex downs when = cloud of ar
rows rained upon the Kings body
guard and put the English to rout.
I was in fulfillment of the promise he
registered in the midst of the fray
that William erected Battle Abbey
1 votive altar just where the last of
he Saxon kings. with n dart in his
brain. fell between the royal stand
,rds.
Englnnd's Last Conaucror.
The dismayed Londoners threw upon
heir gates 10 the victor in that bat
lie of Hastings. They bowed to him
'or need" said the English chronicler
IF Williams conquest. STARK man he
vas and great awe men had of him"
nan could bend. put on the crown at
Westminster, while he reared thei
Tower of London TO frown upon the
town, and soon all Eng
and covered in the shadow of Nor
nan castles
To two invasions England owes two
# her national qualities which more
han all else have distinguished and
Nalted her among the nations The
invading Angles and Saxons brought
Ter the love of liberty. But it was
wild and turbulent passion and the
Stand had been torn by 500 years OF
-, rtf Ntha ,
'onqueror came to balance il with a ]
aspect Tor law and order. ITO no man {
pake he and no man dared speak to
him." but THE good peace he made
bout his realm with bosom full OF
old