LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
| PAGE | |
| HOW THE CONQUEROR DEALS WITH REBELS, | [Frontispiece] |
| EMMA FITZOSBERN ACCEPTS THE TASSEL-GENTLE, | [62] |
| JUDITH WATCHES HER SLEEPING SPOUSE, | [92] |
| LANFRANC JESTS WITH THE CONQUEROR, | [130] |
| WALTHEOF'S HUMILIATION, | [136] |
| BISHOP ODO MEETS DE GUADER, | [170] |
| THE TOWER STAIRS, | [178] |
| THE RESCUE OF THE EARL, | [198] |
| EMMA'S FIRST SIGHT OF THE FOE, | [240] |
| THE BIG RAT HAS GONE INTO HIS HOLE, | [292] |
| A WARRENNE! A WARRENNE! FOR WILLIAM THE NORMAN! | [300] |
| DE GUADER DONS THE CROSS, | [342] |
THE SIEGE OF NORWICH CASTLE
CHAPTER I.
THE SUZERAIN'S 'NAY.'
It was towards the close of the year of our Lord 1073. As we now reckon, it would have been some way into 1074, but in those old times they began their twelve-month on March 25th. So, notwithstanding that the daffy-down-dillies were pushing their grey-green blades through the softening earth, and that the partridges had chosen their mates for the season, it was the end of 1073, and just before Easter.
The fair Emma Fitzosbern, sister and ward of Roger, Earl of Hereford, a young damsel of splendid beauty, in whose honour the chivalric champions of Normandy and Bretagne were busy cracking each other's heads, according to the fashion of the times, had followed the example of the partridges, and promised her hand in marriage.