his ancient subjects: he set sail in the month of March 1067, and left the administration in the hands of his uterine brother, Odo, bishop of Bayeux, and of William Fitz-Osborne. That their authority might be exposed to less danger, the king carried over with him all the most considerable nobility of England, who, while they served to grace his court by their magnificence, were in reality hostages for the fidelity of the nation. He resided for some time at the abbey of Fescamp, where he was visited by Rodulph, uncle to the king of France, and by many powerful princes and nobles, whom he received with a great display of splendour.

In the mean time, the king's absence produced the most fatal effects in England. Discontents and complaints multiplied every where. His officers, being no longer controuled by his justice, thought this a fit opportunity for extortion, while the English, no longer awed by his presence, thought it the happiest occasion to vindicate their freedom; every thing seemed to announce a revolution as rapid as that which had placed William on the throne; hostilities were already began in many places; an attack had been made upon the garrison of Dover; but the Normans being upon their guard, the assailants had been repulsed every where with some slaughter. A secret conspiracy was therefore entered into, for destroying all the Normans in the same day, as it had been done with the Danes. The conspirators had already fixed the day for the intended massacre, which was to take place on AshWednesday, during the time of divine service. But William, informed of these commotions, hastened over to England on the 6th of December, and disconcerted their schemes by his presence.

Ann. 1068.

The inhabitants of Exeter, instigated by Githa,

mother to king Harold, and strengthened by the accession of the neighbouring inhabitants of Devonshire and Cornwall, refuse to receive a Norman garrison; but, on the king's sudden approach, they submit and deliver hostages for their obedience. This agreement being broken by the populace, William appears before the walls, and orders the eyes of one of the hostages to be put out. The rebels, seized with terror at this act of severity, throw themselves at the king's feet, surrendering at discretion, and supplicating his clemency and forgiveness; their example is imitated by the malcontents of Cornwall, William condescends to pardon them, and after having built a citadel at Exeter, and quartered a Norman garrison in it, he returns to Winchester, and sends his army into their quarters.

Another insurrection breaks out in the north, excited by Edwin and Morcar, the two most powerful noblemen in England, supported by the prince of North Wales, and by the kings of Scotland and Denmark. William knowing the inportance of celerity in such cases, advances by great journies to the north, and reaches York before the rebels were joined by any of the foreign succours they expected. The two earls found no other means of safety, but having recourse to the clemency of the king, who pardoned them, and allowed them for the present to keep possession of their estates, but he confiscated the lands of all their followers, and gave them away to his Norman soldiers, expecting that the multitude being terrified by such examples of severity, the insurrections would become at last less frequent and less numerous. In the mean time, he began to consider all his English subjects as inveterate enemies, and therefore, either embraced, or was more fully confirmed in the resolution of seizing their possessions, and of reducing them to the

most passive submission and obedience, while he would rely entirely on the support and affections of his followers.

The English soon perceived that none of them possessed the king's confidence, or was entrusted with any command of authority, and that, instead of a sovereign whom they had hoped to gain by their submission, they had tamely surrendered themselves, not only to a conqueror, but to a tyrant. Impressed with the sense of this dismal situation, many fled into foreign countries. They were so well received by Malcolm, in Scotland, that some of these exiles settled there, and laid the foundation of families, which afterwards made a figure in that country.

While the English suffered under this oppression, and particularly from the continual and unpunished insults they received from the Normans; these foreigners, surrounded on all sides by enraged ene mies, were not much at their ease, and a day seldom passed but some of them were found assassinated in the woods and high-ways, without any possibility of bringing the murderers to justice. Thus, in spite of the favours they daily received from the king, they began to wish again for the tranquillity and security of their native country, and desired to be dismissed the service; a desertion, which was highly resented by the king, and punished by the confiscation of all their possessions in England.

Ann. 1069 to 72.

The Northumbrians attack the Norman garrison in Durham, put the governor and seven hundred of his men to the sword. The Norman governor of York shares the same fate, and the insurgents, reinforced by the Danes and some leaders from Scotland, besieged Mallet, its governor, who, the

better to provide for the defence of the citadel, set fire to some houses which lay contiguous; but the fire spreading over the whole city, the enraged inhabitants join in the assault, enter the citadel sword in hand, and destroy the whole garrison. A general spirit of insurrection produced by this success, pervades the counties of Somerset, Dorset, Cornwall, and Devon; they determine to unite in the common cause, and make a great effort for the recovery of their former freedom.

William, undaunted amidst these scenes of disorder and rebellion, assembles his forces, and leads them towards the north, conscious that his presence will be sufficient to repress these commotions; and in fact, wherever he appears, the insurgents either submit or retire. The immense power of William being thus acknowledged, he resolves to throw off all appearance of lenity, accordingly, he orders the county of Northumberland to be laid waste, the houses to be burnt, the instruments of husbandry to be destroyed, and the inhabitants to seek new habitations. He next proceeded to confiscate all the estates of the gentry, and reforming the feudal law introduced by the Saxons, according to that practised in Normandy; he divided all the lands in England, except the royal demesne, into baronies, which he conferred upon certain conditions of military service on the most considerable of his followers. These were empowered to share their grants to inferior tenants who were denominated knights or vassals, and who paid their lord the same duty that he paid the sovereign. To the first class of those baronies the English were not admitted; and the few who were permitted still to retain their landed property, were content to be received in the second. The barons exercised all kind of jurisdiction within their own manors, and held courts, in which they administered justice to their

vassals. The ecclesiastical landed properties were submitted to the same feudal law. The bishops and abbots were obliged, accordingly, to furnish to the king, when required, a number of knights or military tenants, in proportion to the extent of their property.

The devoted attachment of William to Rome, did not prevent him from prohibiting his subjects from acknowledging any one for Pope, whom he himself had not previously acknowledged. He required, that all the ecclesiastical canons voted in any synod, should first be laid before him, and ratified by his authority. Even bulls or letters from Rome, could not legally be produced till they

received his sanction.

The laws, and the pleadings in the supreme courts of judicature were in French; the deeds were often drawn up in the same language. William, had even entertained the difficult project of totally abolishing the English idiomn, and for that purpose, he ordered, that in all the schools of the kingdom, the youth should be instructed in French; a practice, which was continued from custom, until the reign of Edward III. No other tongue was used at court, nor in any fashionable company. Thence proceeded that mixture of French, which composes at present, the greatest part of the English language.

Ann. 1073 to 1075.

The province of Maine in France, had fallen under the dominion of William, before his conquest of England; but the inhabitants, dissatisfied with the Norman government, now arose in rebellion, and expelled the magistrates whom the king had placed over them. The full settlement of England, afforded him leizure to punish this insult on