By the battle of Hastings, England, which had been for centuries closely linked with Scandinavian interests, was wrenched away from that connection, and was forced to revolve in the same orbit with the Latin-speaking races of western Europe. A revival of the empire of Canute, which had bound England, Norway, and Denmark together, was made forever impossible. The eyes of the English king turned henceforth toward Rouen, Paris, Angers, Bordeaux; the lands of the northeast on the far side of the German Ocean were to him a well-nigh for gotten world.
As a matter of tactics the victory of Hastings seems to have been due to William's skilful combination of archers and cavalry. The English forces, though much more imper fectly disciplined and less inured to war than the Normans, stood well at bay for many hours behind the shield-wall which they knew so well how to weave, but they were galled by the thick-flying arrows of the Normans, and were tempted, by the feigned flight of the enemy, to rush down the hill after them. Then did Wil liam's cavalry, galloping up, thrust themselves in between their broken ranks, and throw them into confusion from which they never recov ered. Since the 14th of October 1066 no for eign conqueror has permanently established himself on English soil, and we may therefore here close our brief and rapid sketch of the Conquests of England.
Bibliography.— For prehistoric man, con sult Dawkins's (Early Man in Britain,' and Beddoe's
Races of Britain.' For the interesting subject of British coin age, the great authority is Sir John Evans in his two works,
For the Roman Conquest, consult
Commentaries,' (Books IV and V) ; Tacitus, 'Annals) (Book XIV), and (Life of Agricola' ; Dion CassiusHistoria Romana) ; the lives of E the Roman Emperors, which go by the name of the
For the end of the Roman period consult Paulus Orosius, 'Histories" (Book 7, Anglo Saxon affairs). The two chief British author
ities are the (Libor Quernlus' of Gildas, edited by the Rev. Hugh Williams, and Nennius, (His toria Brittonum,' edited by Stevenson for the Historical Society, and by Mommsen in
The chief authority for the personal history of Alfred the Great is Asser, (De Rebus Gestis Aelfredi,' recently edited by W. H. Stevenson, who in a convincing manner has vindicated Asser's authority. The works of King Alfred have been published in two volumes, Oxford, 1852-53.
Some light is thrown on the Danish inva sions by the Heimskringla (in the Saga Library, edited by Morris and Magnusson), also by Vig fusson and Powell's 'Corpus Poeticum Boreale.' For the Norman Conquest, the chief authorities are Ordericus Vitalis, the (Roman de Ron' of William Wace and pre-eminently the (Bayeux Tapestry,' edited by F. R. Fowke, London. Modern writers on the subject are too numerous to mention here, but reference may be made for the Roman period to Mommsen's 'Prov inces of the Roman Empire,' (Vol. I of the English translation), and F. Haverfield's con tributions to the Victoria County History of England.
For later history it will be sufficient to refer to J. R. Green's (Making of England) and (The Conquest of England,' to E. A. Freeman's (Norman Conquest,' to Sir James Ramsay's of England,' and to C. F. Keary's in Western Christendom.) But for the whole subject of the bibliography of Eng lish history from the earliest times to the 15th century no better guide can be found than 'Sources and Literature of English History,' by Charles Gross, of Harvard University.