[15]. The main features of Norman society in the eleventh century are described in outline by Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law, i., chapter iii., on which the following sketch is founded.
[16]. The scanty evidence which exists on this matter is summarised by Pollock and Maitland, H. E. L., chapter iii., and by Haskins, E. H. R., Oct., 1907.
[17]. See on this matter F. Lot, Fidèles ou Vassaux.
[18]. See Histoire Général de France, Les Premiers Capetiens, p. 90; also Sœhnée, Catalogue des Actes d’Henri Ier No. 38.
[19]. See Bohmer’s Kirche und Staat in England und in der Normandie, 20.
[20]. The fullest account of Cnut’s reign is given by Freeman. Norman Conquest i., chapter vi. Freeman was disposed to underrate the value of Scandinavian evidence, and hence considered Cnut’s reign almost exclusively from the English standpoint.
[21]. See the lives of Earls Eric and Eglaf in the notes to the Crawford Charters, No. xii.
[22]. P. and M., i., 20.
[23]. The most recent discussion in detail of this episode is that of Plummer, Two Saxon Chronicles, ii. Freeman’s attempt to clear Godwine of complicity was marked by a very arbitrary treatment of the contemporary authorities.
[24]. Heimskringla, trans. Morris and Magnusson, vol. iii., p. 10.