old struggle of district against district, tribe against tribe, but they added something more enduring—­an idea and principle destined almost wholly to supplant the old communal tenure which was the genius of the native polity.  The outward and visible sign of that new principle was manifested in the rapid growth of feudal castles, with their strong keeps, at every point of vantage gained by the Norman lords.  They were lords of the land, not leaders of the tribe, and their lordship was fitly symbolized in the great gloomy towers of stone that everywhere bear witness to their strength, almost untouched as they are by the hand of time.

When the duke of the Normans overthrew the Saxon king at Hastings, he became real owner of the soil of England.  His barons and lords held their estates from him, in return for services to be rendered to him direct.  To reward them for supporting him, first in that decisive battle, and then in whatever contests he might engage in, they were granted the right to tax certain tracts of country, baronies, earldoms, or counties, according to the title they bore.  This tax was exacted first in service, then in produce, and finally in coin.  It was the penalty of conquest, the tribute of the subject Saxons and Angles.  There was no pretence of a free contract; no pretence that the baron returned to the farmer or laborer an equal value for the tax thus exacted.  It was tribute pure and simple, with no claim to be anything else.  That system of tribute has been consecrated in the land tenure of England, and the class enriched by that tribute, and still bearing the territorial titles which are its hall-mark, has always been, as it is to-day, the dominant class alike in political and social life.  In other words, the Norman subjugation of Saxon and Angle is thoroughly effective at this moment.

This principle of private taxation, as a right granted by the sovereign, came over to Ireland with the De Courcys and De Lacys and their like.  But it by no means overspread Ireland in a single tide, as in England, after Hastings was lost and won.  Its progress was slow; so slow, indeed, that the old communal system lingers here and there at the present day.  The communal chiefs lived their lives side by side with the Norman barons, fighting now with the barons, now with each other; and the same generous rivalry, as we have seen, led to abundant fighting among the barons also.  The principle of feudal ownership was working its way, however.  We shall see later how great was its ultimate influence,—­not so much by direct action, as in the quite modern reaction which its abuse provoked—­a reaction from which have been evolved certain principles of value to the whole world.