A Short Note

A note to apology for taking so long between “Means of Accomplishing” posts. This section on women losing their identity and autonomy is critical on its own and as insight to the loss of rights for men and non-whites as well. Exactly when, where, and why did the autonomy Roman Empire women enjoyed disappear, and why?

It has required new research to be able to identify and explain the most important change in Western Society beliefs. I’ve found a valuable historical legal analysis that will allow me tell this story in detail rather than a vague “this happened.”

The change arrived in 1066 with William the Conqueror’s victory at the Battle of Hastings. His death-bed confession sets the ground for the next post.

“I have persecuted the natives of England beyond all reason. Whether gentle or simple I have cruelly oppressed them; many I unjustly disinherited; innumerable multitudes perished through me by famine or the sword…I fell on the English of the northern shires like a ravening lion. I commanded their houses and corn, with all their implements and chattels, to be burnt without distinction, and great herds of cattle and beasts of burden to be butchered wherever they are found. In this way I took revenge on multitudes of both sexes by subjecting them to the calamity of a cruel famine, and so became the barbarous murderer of many thousands, both young and old, of that fine race of people. Having gained the throne of the Kingdom by so many crimes I dare not leave it to anyone but God…”¹

1 H.R. Loyn, Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest 3 (2d edition. 1991) Note 3 at p 327