William I 1027 or 1028-1087

Five years more were to elapse before he became master of the west and north. Early in 1067 he made a progress through parts of the south, receiving submissions, disposing of the lands of those who had fought against him, and ordering castles to be built ; he then crossed the Channel to celebrate his triumph in Normandy. Disturbances at once occurred in Northumbria, on the Welsh marches and in Kent ; and he was compelled to return in December. The year 1068 was spent in military ex peditions against Exeter and York, in both of which the adher ents of Harold had found a welcome. In 1069 Robert of Comines, a Norman to whom William had given the earldom of North umberland, was murdered by the English at Durham; the north declared for Edgar Atheling, the last male representative of the West-Saxon dynasty; and Sweyn Estrithson of Denmark sent a fleet to aid the rebels. Joining forces, the Danes and English captured York, although it was defended by two Norman castles. Marching rapidly on York William drove the Danes to their ships; and the city was then reduced by a blockade. The king ravaged the country as far north as Durham with such com pleteness that traces of devastation were still to be seen sixty years later. But the English leaders were treated with politic clemency, and the Danish leader, Jarl Osbiorn, was bribed to withdraw his fleet. Early in 1070 the reduction of the north was completed by a march over the moors to Chester, which was now placed under an earl of William's choice. From this point we hear no more of general rebellions against the foreign rule.

Administration.

Of the measures which William took to consolidate his authority we have many details ; but the chrono logical order of his proceedings is obscure. The redistribution of land appears to have proceeded pari passu with the reduction of the country; and at every stage of the conquest each important follower received a new reward. Thus were formed the vast but straggling fiefs which are recorded in Domesday. The great earldoms of the West-Saxon period were allowed to lapse; the new earls, for the most part closely connected with William by the ties of blood or friendship, were lords of single shires; and only on the marches of the kingdom was the whole of the royal jurisdiction delegated to such feudatories. William's writs show that he kept intact the old system of governing through the sheriffs and the courts of shire and hundred. Those whom he enfeoffed with land held it according to the law of Norman feudalism, and were thus brought into close personal relations with the king. But he forced the most powerful of them to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the ancient local courts; and the old fyrd-system was maintained in order that the crown might not be wholly dependent on feudal levies. Though his f orest laws and his heavy taxation caused bitter complaints, William won the respect of his English subjects. They appear to have accepted him as the lawful heir of the Confessor; and they regarded him as their natural protector against feudal oppression. This is to be explained by his regard for legal forms, by his confirmation of the "laws of Edward" and by the support which he received from the church. Domesday Book shows that in his confiscations he can have paid little attention to abstract justice.

Almost every English landholder of importance was dispossessed, though only those who had actually borne arms against William should have been so treated. As far as possible Englishmen were excluded from all responsible positions both in church and state. After 1071 our accounts of William's doings become jejune and disconnected. Much of his attention must have been engrossed by the work of administration, carried on without the help of those elaborate institutions, judicial and financial, which were perfected by Henry I. and Henry II. William had few ministers of note. William Fitz Osbern, earl of Hereford, who had been his right-hand man in Normandy, fell in the civil wars of Flan ders (1071). Odo, bishop of Bayeux, William's half-brother, lost favour and was finally thrown into prison on a charge of dis loyalty (1082). Another half-brother, Robert of Mortain, earl of Cornwall, showed little capacity. Of the king's sons Robert, though titular count of Maine, was kept in leading strings ; and even William Rufus, who was in constant attendance on his father, never held a public office. The Conqueror reposed much confidence in two prelates, Lanfranc of Canterbury and Geoffrey of Coutances. They took an active part in the civil no less than the ecclesiastical government. But the king himself worked hard in hearing lawsuits, in holding councils and ceremonious courts, and finally in conducting military operations.

In 1072 he undertook a campaign against Malcolm, king of Scots, who had married Margaret, the sister of Edgar Atheling, and was inclined to promote English rebellions. When William reached the Forth his adversary submitted, did homage as a vassal, and consented to expel Edgar Atheling, who was subse quently endowed with an English estate and admitted to William's favour. From Scotland the king turned to Maine, which had profited by the troubles of 1069 to expel the Norman garrisons. William had no difficulty in reducing the country, even though Le Mans was assisted by Fulk of Anjou (1073). A conspiracy of the earls of Hereford and Norfolk, in which the Englishman Waltheof, earl of Northampton, was to some extent implicated, was defeated by Lanfranc in the king's absence; but William returned to settle the difficult question of their punishment, and to stamp out the last sparks of disaffection. The execution of Waltheof, though strictly in accordance with the English law of treason, he only sanctioned after long hesitation, and this severity to a man who was generally thought innocent, is one of the dark stains on his career. In 1076 he invaded Brittany to get possession of the fugitive earl of Norfolk; but Philip of France came to the aid of the Bretons, and William gave way before his suzerain. The next few years were troubled by a quarrel between the king and his eldest son, Robert (q.v.). In the years 1083-1085 there was a second rising in Maine. In 1085 news arrived that Cnut the Saint, king of Denmark, was preparing to assert the claims of his house in England. The project fell through, but gave occasion for the famous moot at Salisbury in which William took an oath of direct allegiance from "all the land-sitting men that were in England" (1086).