A History of England, Period I. Mediæval Monarchy

by J. Franck Bright

In addition to his grants of land, William had the government of the country to attend to, and the vacant earldoms to fill. In doing this he was guided by his past experience, and in the fully conquered parts of England was careful not to put any earl into the position occupied by the great earls of the last days of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy. In this respect, as in some others, the spirit of feudalism had been making rapid strides in England, and the great earls, as well as the great cities, were bidding fair to assume the position of the feudatories and free cities of the Continent. William was careful to return to older precedent, and to confine his earldoms to one shire. The importance of this in English history is great, as it obliged the nobility to work in alliance with the commonalty, and secured national rather than aristocratic progress. Thus his two most trusted servants, to whom in his absence he left the vice-regency of the kingdom, William Fitz-Osbern and his brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, were respectively but Earls of Hereford and of Kent. William thus arranged that part of England which he had really conquered. In the North he as yet continued the existing state of things. Edwin and Morkere did homage and received their Earldoms back again. Waltheof remained Earl of Nottingham, and Copsige (Copsi or Coxo) was given the earldom of the Northern province of Northumberland. To secure the allegiance of these great unconquered Earls, William took them with him when in March he went to revisit his native duchy. The kingdom he left in charge, the South to Odo of Bayeux, the North to William Fitz-Osbern.

William revisits Normandy.

Misgovernment by his viceroys and consequent rebellion.

His retirement from England has sometimes been traced to an evil intention of enticing his new subjects into a more serious rebellion, that he might conquer them more completely. His natural desire to display his triumph in his own country would seem to supply a sufficient reason, without attributing to him such double dealing. The effect of his absence, however, was in fact to produce such an insurrection. In the midst of his conquests and confiscations he had always kept a strong hand upon his followers, and his police was good. The case was different under the government of his viceroys. The rapacity and licentiousness of the conquerors made itself heavily felt. Discontent began to show itself in the North, in the West, and in the South; and the native English, despairing of their unaided efforts, began to seek assistance from abroad. The news of this danger brought William back to England in the December of 1067. But already a revolt in Bernicia, as the Northern division of Northumberland was called, had produced the death of the newly-made Earl Copsige. Eadric the Forester in the West of England, in union with the Welsh, had ravaged Herefordshire, and the men of Kent had obtained assistance from Eustace of Boulogne in a fruitless attack upon Dover. It was the dread of more important foreign allies which brought William back. The English efforts to get aid from Henry IV. of Germany, or from the Prince of Norway, had been frustrated either by William’s intrigues or by the character of the Princes to whom they applied, but Swend of Denmark seemed likely to embrace their cause.

William returns.

Insurrection in the West. Taking of Exeter.

On his return, William found that although his lieutenants had repressed actual insurrections, the unconquered districts both of the North and West of England were gloomy and threatening. Want of union was still the bane of the English; the insurrection of Exeter and the West had been suppressed before York and the North moved. The party of Harold and his family was strong in Exeter and the Western shires. At Exeter, indeed, it is probable that what remained of the family of Godwine was at this time collected. William marched against the city, harrying Dorset as he passed. The position of Exeter was characteristic. As in the case of the great earldoms, so in that of the great cities, the feeling of local independence had been rising, and the chief men of Exeter seem to have had some thought of making their city a free town. They offered to own the King’s supremacy and to pay his taxes, but refused to admit him within their walls. The one point of William’s policy which is most prominent is his determination to establish the strength of the monarchy, as against local interests. He therefore rejected the proposition, and marched upon the city. The civic chiefs offered to submit, but the people repudiated their arrangements, and stood the siege. The city was captured by means of a mine. Harold’s family fled—Gytha, his mother, to the islands in the Bristol Channel, his sons to Ireland. As usual, a castle was built in the city; the tribute of the town considerably increased; both Devonshire and Cornwall completely subdued, and the same process of partial confiscation which had marked the first steps of the Conqueror carried out there. The earldom of Cornwall, and a large quantity of property, was given to Robert of Mortain, William’s half-brother. The conquest of the West was completed by the subjugation of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire.

Insurrection in the North.

William’s position in the North and West.

This insurrection was hardly over when a general confederation against the Conqueror was set on foot in the North. Edwin and Morkere, and Eadgar, the nominal king, combined with Eadric the Forester, and had good hopes of assistance from the Welsh, from Malcolm Canmore of Scotland, and from Swend of Denmark. This help was not forthcoming; civil war hindered the Welsh, and Malcolm and Swend were not ready. The feeling against the Normans was, however, very strong, many of the inhabitants of Yorkshire taking to the woods rather than submit. The insurrection was a failure. Again Edwin and Morkere showed complete want of energy, submitted, and were received into favour. Such a desertion destroyed all unity of action; their armies dispersed to their own homes. A certain number of the insurgents retired and held Durham, others took refuge in Scotland, but William found no opposition; York submitted, and the usual castle, the constant badge of conquest, was built there. On his homeward march through Lincolnshire, the town of Lincoln and that part of England was also subjugated, while, at the same time, Malcolm of Scotland sent an embassy, and commended himself to William. At the close of 1068 William was actual possessor of England as far northward as the Tees; but Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, and part of Herefordshire were still unconquered; Durham, Northumberland, and Scotland were his only by the tie of homage.