[16] Ibid. (2nd Ed.), iii. 773.
[17] Add. MS., 14,314, fo. 32b (pencil).
[18] See my letter on 'the death of William Malet' in Academy of August 26, 1884.
[19] Since this paper was written, there has appeared the valuable Bath Cartulary (Somerset Record Society) containing a most remarkable charter (p. 36), which should be closely compared with those to Regenbald. It is issued by William the King and William the Earl, and must undoubtedly be assigned to the former's absence from England, March-December 1067. It shows us therefore William fitz Osbern acting as Regent and anticipating the office of the later Great Justiciar by inserting in the document his own name. This charter, like that to Regenbald, is addressed to the still English authorities of an unconquered district.
THE CONQUEROR AT EXETER
'And y seide nay, and proved hit by Domesday.'[1]
For a companion study to the Battle of Hastings, one could not select a better subject than the Siege of Exeter by William in 1068. It is so, because, in the tale of the Conquest, 'No city of England', in Mr Freeman's words, 'comes so distinctly to the front as Exeter':[2] and because, as editor of 'Historic Towns', he chose Exeter, out of all others, as the town to be reserved for himself.[3] 'Its siege by William', we are told, 'is one of the most important events of his reign';[4] but it was doubtless the alleged 'federal' character of Exeter's attitude at this crisis that gave its story for him an interest so unique. This episode, moreover, has many advantages: it is complete in itself; it is rich in suggestion; it is taken from the period in which the Professor described himself as 'most at home'; and its scene is laid within his own borders, his own West Saxon land. It presents an admirable test of Mr Freeman's work at the point where he was admittedly strongest, and his thoroughly typical treatment of it affords a perfect illustration of the method he employed.
The year 1067 was drawing to its close when the Conqueror, summoned back from Normandy by the tidings of pressing danger, returned to spend his Christmas at Westminster amidst 'the sea of troubles which still awaited him in his half-conquered island-kingdom'.[5] Threatened at once by foes within and without the realm, he perceived the vital necessity of severing their forces by instant suppression of the 'rebellions' at home, swift suppression before the invaders were upon him, stern suppression before the movement spread. Let us bear in mind these twin motives, by which his policy must at this juncture have been shaped, the need for swiftness, with invasion in prospect, and the need for sternness as a warning to 'rebels'.