August 27, 1908.

CONTENTS

PAGE
INTRODUCTION[1]
CHAPTER I
THE MINORITY OF DUKE WILLIAM AND ITS RESULTS[63]
CHAPTER II
REBELLION AND INVASION[96]
CHAPTER III
THE CONQUEST OF MAINE AND THE BRETON WAR[126]
CHAPTER IV
THE PROBLEM OF THE ENGLISH SUCCESSION[143]
CHAPTER V
THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE CONQUEST AND THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS[180]
CHAPTER VI
FROM HASTINGS TO YORK[211]
CHAPTER VII
THE DANISH INVASION AND ITS SEQUEL[267]
CHAPTER VIII
THE CENTRAL YEARS OF THE ENGLISH REIGN[304]
CHAPTER IX
THE LAST YEARS OF THE CONQUEROR[344]
CHAPTER X
WILLIAM AND THE CHURCH[376]
CHAPTER XI
ADMINISTRATION[407]
CHAPTER XII
DOMESDAY BOOK[457]
INDEX[503]

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
SEAL OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR[Frontispiece]
From Rymer’s Fœdera (published 1704).
JUMIÈGES ABBEY—FAÇADE[66]
Reproduced by permission of Levy et ses Fils, Paris.
JUMIÈGES ABBEY—INTERIOR[80]
Reproduced by permission of Levy et ses Fils, Paris.
THE SIEGE OF DINANT[140]
FROM THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY
From Vetusta Monumenta of the Society of Antiquaries of London (published 1819).
SEAL OF EDWARD THE CONFESSOR[148]
From Rymer’s Fœdera (published 1704).
HAROLD ENTHRONED[158]
FROM THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY
From Vetusta Monumenta of the Society of Antiquaries of London (published 1819).
HAROLD’S OATH[162]
FROM THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY
From Vetusta Monumenta of the Society of Antiquaries of London (published 1819).
THE BUILDING OF HASTINGS CASTLE[188]
FROM THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY
From Vetusta Monumenta of the Society of Antiquaries of London (published 1819).
THE DEATH OF HAROLD[198]
FROM THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY
From Vetusta Monumenta of the Society of Antiquaries of London (published 1819).
FOSSE DISASTER, BATTLE OF HASTINGS[204]
FROM THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY
Reproduced from Vetusta Monumenta of the Society of Antiquaries of London (published 1819).
ST. JOHN’S CHAPEL, IN THE TOWER OF LONDON[228]
CHARTER OF WILLIAM I. TO THE LONDONERS[230]
IN THE ARCHIVES OF THE CORPORATION
Facsimile prepared by F. Madan, M. A., Reader in Palæography in the University of Oxford.
THE BAILE HILL, YORK[270]
THE SITE OF WILLIAM I.’S SECOND CASTLE
Reproduced from Traill’s Social England.
TOMB OF ROBERT COURTHOSE, THE ELDEST SON OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, DUKE OF NORMANDY, GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL[350]
THE EFFIGY IS OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY
Reproduced from a photograph by Pitcher, Gloucester, England.
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR[360]
AS CONCEIVED BY A FRENCH PAINTER OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
The original of this picture, now lost, was painted by an artist when the tomb of the Conqueror was opened in 1522. A copy executed in 1708, is preserved in the sacristy of St Etienne’s Church at Caen; the present illustration is from a photograph of that copy.
REDUCED FACSIMILE OF THE CHARTER OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO HYDE ABBEY[382]
Reproduced from Liber Vitæ of New Minster and Hyde Abbey, Winchester. Edited by W. de Gray Birch.
GAMEL SON OF ORME’S SUNDIAL[388]
From A Short Account of Saint Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, by Rev. F. W. Powell, Vicar.
WILLIAM’S WRIT TO COVENTRY[420]
From Facsimiles of Royal and Other Charters in the British Museum. Edited by George F. Warner and Henry J. Ellis.
PLAN OF GREAT CANFIELD CASTLE, ESSEX[440]
From Victoria History of the Counties of England.
AUTOGRAPH SIGNATURES TO WINDSOR AGREEMENT[448]
Reproduced from Palæographical Society’s Facsimiles of Manuscripts and Inscriptions.
A PORTION OF A PAGE OF DOMESDAY BOOK[458]
THE BEGINNING OF THE BERKSHIRE SECTION
Facsimiles prepared by F. Madan, M.A., Reader in Palæography in the University of Oxford.
A PORTION OF A PAGE OF DOMESDAY BOOK[466]
THE BEGINNING OF THE BERKSHIRE SECTION
Facsimiles prepared by F. Madan, M.A., Reader in Palæography in the University of Oxford.
COINS
[[1]]PENNY OF EDWARD THE CONFESSOR[62]
[[2]]DENIER OF GEOFFREY MARTEL[95]
[[2]]DENIER OF HENRY I. OF FRANCE[125]
[[2]]DENIER OF CONAN II. OF BRITTANY[142]
[[2]]PENNY OF HAROLD HARDRADA[179]
[[1]]PENNY OF HAROLD II.[210]
[[2]]DENIER OF BALDWIN OF LILLE[266]
[[2]]PENNY OF SWEGN ESTUTHSON[303]
[[2]]DENIER OF ROBERT LE FRISON[343]
[[2]]DENIER OF PHILIP I. OF FRANCE[375]
[[3]]PENNY OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR406[406]
[[3]]PENNY OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR[456]
[[3]]PENNY OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR[501]
GENEALOGICAL CHARTSFACING PAGE [502]
TABLE [A]—THE DUCAL HOUSE OF NORMANDY
TABLE [B]—THE COUNTS OF BRITTANY
TABLE [C]—THE DESCENDANTS OF ARLETTE
TABLE [D]—THE COUNTS OF MAINE
TABLE [E]—THE COUNTS OF THE VEXIN
TABLE [F]—THE SUCCESSION IN 1066
TABLE [G]—THE COUNTS OF FLANDERS
TABLE [H]—THE EARLS OF NORTHUMBRIA
MAPS
MAP OF EASTERN NORMANDY AND THE BORDER COUNTIES[64]
MAP OF YORKSHIRE IN 1066–1087[268]
MAP OF WESTERN NORMANDY[360]
MAP OF ENGLAND IN 1087[374]
MAP OF EARLDOMS, MAY, 1068[412]
MAP OF EARLDOMS, JANUARY, 1075[414]
MAP OF EARLDOMS, SEPTEMBER, 1087[416]

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR

INTRODUCTION

I

Since the current of barbarian immigration which overthrew the civilisation of Rome in the West, probably no national movement of the kind has more profoundly affected the general course of history than the expansion of Scandinavia which fills the ninth and tenth centuries. Alike in their constructive and destructive work, in the foundation of new communities on conquered soil, as in the changes produced by reaction in the states with which they came in contact, the Northmen were calling into being the most characteristic features of the political system of medieval Europe. Their raids, an ever-present danger to those who dwelt near the shores of the narrow seas, wrecked the incipient centralisation of the Carolingian Empire, and gave fresh impetus to the forces which were already making for that organisation of society which we describe as feudalism; and yet in other lands the Northmen were to preserve their own archaic law and social custom longer than any other people of Germanic stock. The Northmen were to bring a new racial element into the life of Western Europe, but whether that element should adapt itself to the conditions of its new environment, or whether it should develop new forms of political association for itself, was a question determined by the pre-existing facts of history and geography.