It is almost always overlooked that our modern constitutional democracy and capitalism had their origins in English Calvinism. Those political and economic institutions which have given humanity the best of what it enjoys today had their roots in a moral vision of responsible, trustworthy, individualism.
That moral vision and those institutions emerged in an England arising out of the adaptation of Norman and French rule to a Saxon culture and society.
That process of adaptation started with the victory of William, Duke of Normandy, over Harold, King of England, in the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066, 955 years ago today.
Here are some reflections on the significance for our time of that battle.