The Norman Yoke

Abstract The myth of the Norman Yoke insisted that before 1066 England was a free country with self-governing institutions. The Conquest changed all that, but Englishmen have fought back ever since. There is evidence for continuity of this theme at least from the late thirteenth century, when The Mirror of Justices was written by Andrew Horn. It was transcribed by a member of the Society of Antiquaries in Queen Elizabeth's reign and circulated widely in manuscript. Edward Coke quoted it in the House of Commons in 1621. This treatise stressed the unbroken continuity of English law from before the Conquest. It was published — symbolically — in 1642. In the preceding year, a fourteenth-century document entitled Modus Tenendi Parliamentum had been published under the authority of Parliament. This purported to describe the method of holding parliaments under Edward the Confessor — as an example to be followed. Edward was a popular saint, and Parliament was also popular in 1641.