The writs of "quo warranto" were roughly met here and there.

Earl Warenne bared a rusty sword and flung it on the justices' table.

"This, sirs," he said, "is my warrant.

By the sword our fathers won their lands when they came over with the Conqueror, and by the sword we will keep them." But the king was far from limiting himself to the mere carrying out of the plans of Henry the Second.

Henry had aimed simply at lowering the power of the great feudatories; Edward aimed rather at neutralizing their power by raising the whole body of landowners to the same level.