A letter from Mr. Baring Gould confirms this: “In Wales there are two types, the dark Siluric and the light Norman. Here in the west of England we have the same two types. In this neighborhood one village is fair, the next dark and sallow. It is the same in Cornwall; in certain villages the type is dark and sallow, in others fair. There is no comparison between the capabilities moral and physical between the two types. The dark is tricky, unreliable and goes under, and the fair type predominates in trade, in business, in farming and in every department.”
Beddoe, Fleure and James, and also Hector McLean remark on the various moral and mental capabilities of the different physical types.
206 : 13. Beddoe, 4, chap. VIII.
206 : 16 seq. Taylor, 2, p. 129; Keary, pp. 486 seq. On the Normans see Beddoe, chaps. VIII, IX and X.
207 : 2. Beddoe, the same.
207 : 11. Gibbon, chap. LVI; Taylor, 2, p. 133.
207 : 15. Beddoe, chap. VIII.
208 : 8. Beddoe, 4, p. 95. The breadth of skull “of the Norman aristocracy may probably have been smaller, but the ecclesiastics of Norman or French nationality, who abounded in England for centuries after the conquest and who, in many cases, rose from the subjugated Celtic [Alpine] layer of population, have left us a good many broad and round skulls. Thus the crania of three bishops of Durham ... yield an index of 85.6, while those of eight Anglican canons dating from before the conquest yield one of 74.9. So far, however, as the actual conquest and armed occupation of England was concerned, the aristocracy and military caste, who were largely of Scandinavian type, came over in much larger proportion than the more Belgic or Celtic lower ranks, insomuch that it has been said that more of the Norman noblesse came over to England than were left behind.”
During the Middle Ages the church was a very democratic institution, and it was only through its offices that the lower ranks succeeded in working their way up. This was partly because the older peoples possessed the Roman learning, and because the northern invaders were more addicted to martial than to priestly pursuits. The conquered people had no chance to rise in political, aristocratic or military circles, and contented themselves with the church. At the present time, in many Catholic countries, notably Ireland, the priests are derived from the lowest stratum of the population, as may be clearly recognized in their portraits.
208 : 14. Beddoe, passim.