Hard and heavy will be the hand of the conqueror; harsh and cruel, but withal not unjust, will be his rule. Now that he has won the kingdom, he will strive to reign as a lawful king. Heavy fines will be exacted from the large landowners who have resisted him, but otherwise he will endeavour to rule as the rightful successor to Alfred and Edward the Confessor. But he will soon discover that England is yet unconquered. Revolts will spring up in all parts of the land, and there will be hard fighting, and harrying, and burning and slaying for many a year ere he is acknowledged king from the Cheviots to the Channel. After every revolt the lands of the insurgents will change hands, and Norman knights will gradually secure the fairest estates in the country. Grim castles of stone will spring up, and where they arise the Norman will rule as lord. The discontented amongst William’s followers will goad the English whose lands they covet into rebellion. They will treat the highspirited English to every insult and outrage which they can conceive, and when the maddened thanes lie stricken on the field they will be rewarded with their possessions. Thus the Norman will enter into the land to possess it.
Coronation of William the Conqueror.
(From the picture by John Cross.)
When William was being crowned in Westminster Abbey, the archbishop, according to the old custom, asked the Norman and English nobles if they would have William for their king. They replied with loud shouts. The Norman soldiers outside the abbey thought that William was being attacked. They therefore fell on the people and set fire to the neighbouring houses. The picture shows the scene of alarm within the abbey. After a time order was restored, and the archbishop placed the crown on William’s head.
“Such is the patriot’s boast, where’er we roam,
His first, best country ever is at home.”