daughters. The earldom of Buckingham was given to Walter Giffard, and Surrey to William de Warrenne, who married Gundred, Gherbod's sister. King William granted the earldom of Holdernesse to Eudes of Champagne, nephew of Count Theobald, who married the king's sister, that is, Duke Robert's daughter; and the earldom of Norwich to Ralph de Guader, son-in-law of William Fitz-Osbern. To Hugh Grantmesnil he granted the town of Leicester, and distributed cities and counties among other lords, with great honors and domains. The castle of Tutbury, which Hugh d'Avranches before held, he granted to Henry, son of Walkelin de Ferrers, conferring on other foreigners who had attached themselves to his fortunes such vast possessions that they had in England many vassals more rich and powerful than their own fathers were in Normandy.

Geoffrey, bishop of Coutances, of an ancient Norman family, who rendered essential services and support at the battle of Senlac, and was commander of troops in other conflicts, in which natives and foreigners crushed each other, received for his share, by grant from King William, two hundred and eighty vills, which are commonly called manors, which at his death he left to his nephew de Mowbray, who speedily lost them by his rashness and misconduct.

Likewise Eustace de Boulogne and Robert Mortain, William d'Evreux, Robert d'Eu, Geoffrey son of Rotrou de Mortagne, and other counts and lords more than I can enumerate, received from King William great revenues and honors in England. Thus strangers were enriched with English wealth, while her sons were iniquitously slain or driven into hopeless exile in foreign lands.

At some time during his reign, it is not known exactly when, William issued the following edict. By it the new method of trial, wager of battle, previously well known in Normandy but not used in England, was made legal ; but at the same time trial by compurgation and by ordeal are both recognized.' Englishmen are put on the same level as Normans; indeed, in this particular instance, apparently in a superior position.`

William by the grace of God king of the English, to all to 58. Edict of whom this writing shall come greeting and friendship. We order William conand require this to be kept by the whole nation of England.

cerning

wager of

If an Englishman shall summon any Frenchman to battle battle for a theft or a homicide or any other matter for which battle ought to be waged or a plea made between the two men, he shall have full liberty to do this. And if the Englishman does not wish a battle, the Frenchman who is accused may defend himself by an oath against him, by his witnesses, according to the law of Normandy.

Likewise if a Frenchman shall summon an Englishman to battle concerning the same matters, the Englishman may with full liberty defend himself by battle, or by compurgation if that pleases him better. And if he is sickly and does not wish a battle, or is not competent, let him seek for himself a legal defender. If the Frenchman shall have been conquered, let him pay sixty shillings to the king. And if the Englishman does not wish to defend himself by battle, or by testimony, let him defend himself by the judgment of God.

William seems to have made a serious effort to preserve the old customs of the land. He took the usual oath of the English kings, gave a charter of liberties to London, and to many abbeys and other churches guaranteed their old rights, as indicated in the three following documents.

William

He swore before the altar of St. Peter the Apostle, in the 59. Coronapresence of the clergy and people, to defend the holy churches tion oath of of God and their governors, and also to rule over the whole people subject to him justly and with royal providence; to enact and to preserve right law, and straitly to forbid violence and unjust judgments.

charter to London

William the king friendly salutes William the bishop and 60. William's Godfrey the portreeve, and all the burgesses within London, both French and English. And I declare that I grant you to be all law-worthy, as you were in the days of King Edward; and I grant that every child shall be his father's heir, after his

61. Charter

of William to the abbey of Abingdon

62. Orderic's

account of the New Forest

father's days, and I will not suffer any person to do you wrong. God keep you.

William, king of the English, to Lanfranc, archbishop, and Robert de Oyley, and Roger de Pister, and all others his faithful subjects of the whole realm of England, greeting.

Know that I have granted to St. Mary of Abingdon, and Athelelm, abbot of that place, all the customs of their lands which belong to the aforesaid church, wherever they have them, in the borough or outside of the borough, according as Abbot Athelelm is able to show by charter or brief that the church of St. Mary of Abingdon and his predecessors had these customs by the gift of King Edward.

The cruelty and impiety attributed to William by his contemporaries in the devastations that produced the New Forest, brought down upon him, in their belief, a judgment from heaven. Two of his sons, and his grandson Richard, the young prince referred to in the following passage from Orderic Vitalis, were killed within its boundaries.

Learn now, my reader, why the forest in which the young prince was slain secured the name of the New Forest. That part of the country was extremely populous from early times and full of well-inhabited hamlets and farms. A numerous population cultivated Hampshire with unceasing industry, so that the southern part of the district plentifully supplied Winchester with the products of the land. When William the First ascended the throne of Albion, being a great lover of forests, he laid waste more than sixty parishes, compelling the inhabitants to emigrate to other places, and substituted beasts of the chase for human beings, that he might satisfy his ardor for hunting. Two of his sons, Richard and William Rufus, as well as his grandson Richard, of whom we have lately spoken, perished in this forest, and apparitions of various kinds were seen there, to the great alarm of some persons; and in this way the Lord manifested his displeasure that consecrated churches had been ruined to make a shelter for wild beasts.

The old Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, from which so many extracts have been taken, was still kept up at two or three monasteries. It is interesting to see how the Conqueror was looked upon by one of the continuators of this chronicle who had himself often seen him.

tion of William from the

Chronicle

If any would know what manner of man King William was, 63. A descripthe glory that he obtained, and of how many lands he was lord, then will we describe him as we have known him,-we, Anglowho have looked upon him, and who once lived in his court. Saxon This King William, of whom we are speaking, was a very wise and a great man, and more honored and more powerful than any of his predecessors. He was mild to those good men who loved God, but severe beyond measure towards those

who withstood his will He founded a noble monastery on the Battle Abbey spot where God permitted him to conquer England, and he established monks in it, and he made it very rich. In his days the great monastery at Canterbury was built, and many others also throughout England. Moreover, this land was filled with monks who lived after the rule of St. Benedict; and such was the state of religion in his days that all that would might observe that which was prescribed by their respective orders.

Great Council

King William was also held in much reverence. He wore Three meethis crown three times every year when he was in England: at ings of the Easter he wore it at Winchester, at Pentecost at Westminster, and at Christmas at Gloucester. And at these times all the men of England were with him, archbishops, bishops, abbots, and earls, thanes, and knights. So also was he a very stern and a wrathful man, so that none durst do anything against his will, and he kept in prison those earls who acted against his pleasure. He removed bishops from their sees and abbots from their offices, and he imprisoned thanes, and at length he spared not his own brother Odo. This Odo was a very powerful bishop in Normandy; his see was that of Bayeux, and he was foremost to serve the king. He had an earldom in England, and when William was in Normandy he was the first man in this country, and him did he cast into prison.

Good order and the Domesday

Survey

Amongst other things the good order that William established is not to be forgotten; it was such that any man, who was himself aught, might travel over the kingdom with a bosomful of gold, unmolested; and no man durst kill another, however great the injury he might have received from him. He reigned over England, and, being sharp-sighted to his own interest, he surveyed the kingdom so thoroughly that there was not a single hide of land throughout the whole, of which he knew not the possessor, and how much it was worth, and this he afterwards entered in his register. The land of the Welsh was under his sway, and he built castles therein; moreover he had full dominion over the Isle of Man ; Scotland also was subject to him, from his great strength; the land of Normandy was his inheritance, and he possessed the earldom of Maine; and had he lived two years longer he would have subdued Ireland by his prowess, and that without a battle.

Truly there was much trouble in these times, and very great distress; he caused castles to be built, and oppressed the poor. The king also was of great sternness, and he took from his subjects many marks of gold and many hundred pounds of silver, and this either with or without right, and with little need. He was given to avarice and greedily loved gain. He made large forests for the deer and enacted laws therewith, so that whoever The forest killed a hart or a hind should be blinded. As he forbade killing the deer, so also the boars; and he loved the tall stags as if he were their father. He also appointed concerning the hares, that they should go free. The rich complained and the poor murmured, but he was so sturdy that he recked naught of them; they must will all that the king willed, if they would live, or would keep their lands, or would hold their possessions, or would be maintained in their rights.

laws

He left three sons: Robert, the eldest, was duke of Normandy after him; the second, named William, wore the crown of England after his father's death; and his third son was Henry, to whom he bequeathed immense treasures.