more or less represented in the submission, and rivalries condoned in presence of absolute power. The expedience of conciliation being perceived, reciprocal intermarriages were arranged forthwith.

But if

William had indeed purposed to be a good lord to England, his spirit perverted itself under the temptations incident. The freeboter's passion prevailed over the speculative interests of the king. As first-fruits of his triumph, he had sent to Rome Harold's standard and much gold. Pay and largess had exhausted the proceeds of the earlier rapines. As of course, the royal treasury at Winchester, with all royal lands and dues, and all the property of the late king's family, fell to the crown but, notwithstanding this reasonable provision, the monasteries were called on for peaceofferings: gifts were demanded from towns and from all natives of quality and even the widow of Eadward was put under tribute. The numerous and wealthy foreigners fostered by the Confessor' for the most part joined the new comers in oppressing the natives, and in frustrating all regulations made for the common good; but even these forerunners of doom came under the general law of taxation, and learned to feel the grievous burden of an alien sceptre. Qui jus regni bello optinuit.'

:

6

There are feudal customs traceable through the later Anglo-Saxon age, yet England had conserved its autonomy. But a country, to be ruled by feudal law, had need of feudal institutions; and the Conqueror, recognising no other mode of government, would apply the Carlovingian system here-elaborate, entire. The first principle of this, military subordination, occupied his care immediately. For a while the special forms of Saxon self-control in burghs and hundreds might stand;

CHAP.

II.

A.D. 1067.

CHAP.
II.

A.D. 1067.

but earldoms became, or were divided into, counties; the building of strongholds in chief towns commenced. In

But

every county the king would have one castle at the least; in every castle a deputy and a garrison. among so many warriors, William found few statesmen; few capable of the judicial as well of the military office of earl or count; a still fewer number wholly trustworthy. The list of his first earls is short-the commands assigned large; occasionally suggestive of other inducements than confidence. Walter Giffard received the earldom of Buckingham; Robert de Mortagne, the king's half-brother, Cornwall; Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, another half-brother, Kent; Gherbod the Fleming, Chester; Odo of Champagne, William's brother-in-law, Holderness; Ralf de Gauder, a Breton, Norwich ; William de Warrenne, Surrey; Hugh de Grantmesnil, the vague government of the West Saxons; Hugh de Montfort, care of Dover Castle. But to Roger de Montgomery, a wise and upright man, was granted the city of Chichester, Arundel Castle, and the remote earldom of Shrewsbury; and to William Fitzosbernto whom mostly he stood indebted-the earldom of Hereford, with government of Winchester and the Isle O. Vit. ir. of Wight, and of the whole north of England.

2.

The welfare of Normandy meanwhile being efficiently secured, and England's condition imperatively requiring his presence here, it is perplexing to find William anxious to visit his hereditary domains. A longing for native scenes, a vain desire to display himself, to excite the admiration and envy of neighbours, a purpose to test the conduct of those he had put in authority, or the more criminal intent of enticing the conquered A.D. 1067. people to rebel, fail to explain this disastrous act. Leaving charge of the realm to William Fitzosbern,

Feb. 21.

CHAP.

II.

Bishop Odo, and Hugh de Grantmesnil, William took as hostages, for the behaviour of their countrymen, the Ætheling, the earls Eadwine and Morkere, Waltheof, A.D. 1067. Siward-Barn, Æthelnoth reeve of Kent, Archbishop Stigaud, and Ægelnoth abbot of Glastonbury, with many other chief men. His progress, like a Roman triumph, while gratifying to the victor's pride, embittered the nobler feelings of the vanquished. With the wealth of England he repaid all costs of the invasion of it; exhibiting to the poor inhabitants of the duchy a royal splendour beyond that of the Suzerain's court. French nobles retired from Fécamp well persuaded of the glory of their compeer; and clergy experienced that, through papal benediction, the weak had become strong indeed. But from that date William lost even the outward show of England's fealty, and acquired the attributes of a tyrant.

6

O. Vit. iv.

3.

H. Hunt.

O. Vit. iv.

8. Lib. Eli.

Emigration-the first proof of an ill-balanced commonwealth, the last shift of despairing patriots-was already driving back the Saxons to the Elbe, to the Rhine, to Flanders. Soon Apulia and Sicily witnessed the undying hatred of races which would not dwell together. And on the distant shores of Marmora, the battle-axes of Ingloi,' which should have freed their country, served but to procrastinate the Eastern Empire's fall. As a nation, Saxon England was extinct; its chosen Harold was referred to as a traitor; all its patriots were treated as traitors. Confiscations weakened its magnates, poverty brought its folk to ruin. Society brake up. Women rushed to convents to escape the lawless lusts of an insatiable soldiery, and the free spirit sought thewold. The plague had begun. Oppression, rife wherever o. Vit. iv. alien dominated, roused resistance here and there. The Norman garrison of Hereford and one Fitz Scrob,

II. 101.

3.

СНАР.
II.

A.D. 1067. Aug. 15.

a previous settler, ravaged Eadric's lands; and the forester, summoning to his aid the princes of North Wales and of Powis, laid waste the country as far as the O. Vit.iv.3. the bridge over Lugg. Nor were the adventurers themselves content. Eustace, Count of Boulogne, vexed that the convenient port of Dover had been denied him, raising a body of French and Kentish Ib. men, attacked the castle. Again, Earl Morkere had placed Osulf in government of Bernicia, but renegade Copsi, having obtained the same from William, the Northumbrians armed, slew Copsi and re-entered Osulf. The various results are notable. Eadric regained favour. The Count of Boulogne judicially forfeited all his honours in this country. Osulf falling under a robber, his earldom, for a money consideration, passed to Gospatric, grandson of Uhtred by Elgyfu, daughter of King Ethelred. And if wisdom lay in purchasing the forester's forbearance, if justice vindicated itself in punishment of Eustace, surely the sale of power to an hereditary claimant of the throne seems impolitic.

Dec. 6.

England had sought far for help. France, morbidly unheedful of her vassal's aggrandisement, declined it. Svend, nephew of the great Cnut, sympathised, hesitated. The alliance with Blethyn and Rywallon, brothers of the late King Griffyn (Gruffydh), became futile through intestine war in Wales. But Saxon and Briton in England combined, in angry but desultory way, to defy the alien power.

After half a year's absence, William found all the realm astir. In proclamations he endeavoured to reassure, but by new imposts he distracted the public A.S. Chron. heart. Exeter refused to take oath of allegiance, nor would open its gates. Saxon and Briton, long time dwelling here harmoniously, would pay only the tribute

Flo. Wig.

Hoved.

customarily due to the king. Gytha, Harold's mother, lay here; and within its strong walls had gathered neighbouring thegns and townsfolk resolved to defend their liberties. William drew nigh. Craftily he placed his English troops foremost. Certain burghers tendered submission and hostages. But the folk forbade. William drew closer. At the very gates he bade thrust out the eyes of a hostage. Yet Exeter, its towers undermined, its ealdormen treacherous, withstood the siege for eighteen days. For once no slaughter or spoiling followed; but a garrison, under Baldwin de Moles, began to build a castle that should ensure obedience for time to come.

II.

A.D. 1067-8.

Gytha and many ladies fled to Steepholme Island, in A.S.Chron the Bristol Channel, and finally embarked for Flanders. William proceeded into Cornwall-thence to Winches- A.D. 1068, ter; afterwards assisting at the coronation of his wife.

March 23.

If we may believe a current anecdote, the presence Ellis, ii.54. of Matilda and a female court of Norman dames in- Lapp. 123. spired no gentler feelings on the one part, no hopes on the other. It is related that, previous to her marriage, Matilda had sought, and had been refused, the love of Brihtric, a young Saxon noble then resident at Bruges. Years passed; but revenge accepted its opportunity. While consecrating a chapelet at his manor of Hanley, Brihtric was seized and imprisoned for the rest of life, and his lands (at least in part) fell to the Queen.

Now the hostages taken to Normandy had returned. Eadwine, angry that William refused to ratify the promise of his daughter in marriage, quickly revolted, and with him Morkere. Then the former alliance of these earls' sister, Harold's queen Eadgyth, with Griffyn, interested the Welsh princes in their cause. The sons o. Vit. 14, of Harold also, as yet sheltered in Ireland, with

D

5.