Cnut’s threatened invasion. 1084.

The Domesday Book. 1085.

Cnut was on the throne of Denmark. He had been one of the commanders in Swend’s disastrous expeditions; he had married Adela the daughter of Robert of Flanders, one of William’s chief Continental enemies, and had now determined to invade England. He had induced the King of Norway to join him, and their combined fleets were expected. William took ruthless precautions against his enemies. The old tax of the Danegelt was reimposed, and all the land along the coast was laid waste. The people were even ordered to shave and change their dresses, that the Danes might not easily recognize them. Disputes among the leaders, and the death of Cnut, prevented the invasion. But it was probably the difficulties which William had found in collecting his taxes and troops on this occasion which induced him to set on foot the great survey which produced the Domesday Book. For this purpose commissioners were appointed, who went through England, and in each shire inquired of the sheriff, priests, reeves, and representatives of the inhabitants, the condition of the land and its value, as compared with what it had been in the reign of the Confessor. The whole of this great work was completed in one year. On its completion a great assembly was held on Salisbury Plain. It was, in fact, a vast review, attended by no less than 60,000 persons. In this assembly was passed the important ordinance which ordered that every man should be not only the man of his immediate lord, but also the man of the king. This was in direct opposition to the usual rule in feudal countries. The whole assembly took the oath to William. This great piece of work, which rendered England one nation, was a fitting conclusion to William’s reign.

William’s death and burial. 1087. Sept. 9.

In the following year a war broke out for the possession of the Vexin claimed by the King of France. Angered by a coarse jest of that monarch, William entered the country and ruthlessly ravaged it, and at the destruction of the town of Mantes, his horse stepped upon a burning coal and threw him forward upon the pummel of the saddle; the bulk of the King aggravated the injury, which in a few days caused his death. Before he died he released his prisoners. No sooner had the breath left his body than his attendants are said to have fled. He owed his burial not to his son, but to the kind offices of a neighbouring knight, and when brought to his Church of St. Stephen’s at Caen, it was not till the clergy had paid the price of the grave that Anselm Fitz-Arthur, whose property had been seized to make room for the Church, would allow his body to be buried.

[WILLIAM II.]
1087–1100.

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