Iohn Rous. But to conclude, though king William held the English so vnder foot, that in his daies almost no Englishman bare any office of honor or rule in his time, yet he somewhat fauoured the citie of London, and at the earnest sute of William a Norman then bishop of that see, he granted vnto the citizens the first charter, which is written in the Saxon toong, sealed with greene wax, and expressed in viij. or ix. lines at the most, exemplified according to the copie, and so printed, as followeth.
"Williem King grets Williem Bisceop & Godfred Porterefan, & ealle ya Burghwarn binnen London Frencisce, & Englise frendlice, & Ickiden eoy, yeet ic wille yeet git ben ealra weera lagayweord, ye get weeran on Eadwerds daege kings. And ic will yeet aelc child by his fader yrfnume, aefter his faders daege. And ic nelle ge wolian, yeet aenig man eoy aenis wrang beode. God eoy heald."
"Wilhelmus rex salutat Wilhelmum Episcopum, & Goffridum Portegrefium, & omnem Burghware infra London Frans. & Angl. amicabiliter. Et vobis notum facio, quòd ego vole quòd vos sitis omni lege illa digni qua fuistis Edwardi diebus regis. Et volo quòd omnis puer sit patris sui hæres post diem patris sui. Et ego nolo pati quòd aliquis homo aliquam iniuriam vobis inferat. Deus vos saluet."
Matth. Paris. Hen. Hunt. But howsoeuer he vsed the rest of the English, this is recorded of some writers, that by his rigorous proceedings against them, he brought to passe that the countrie was so rid of theeues and robbers, as that at length a maid might haue passed through the land with a bag full of gold, and not haue met with any misdooer to haue bereft hir of the same: a thing right strange to consider, sith in the beginning of his reigne there were such routs of outlawes and robbers, that the peaceabler people could not be safelie possessed of their owne houses, were the same neuer so well fortified and defended.
Iohn Rous. Hen. Marle. Among manie lawes made by the said William, this one is to be remembred, that such as forced any woman, should lose their genitals.
Salisburie vse. In this kings daies also liued Osmond the second bishop of Salisburie, who compiled the church seruice, which in times past they commonlie called after Salisburie vse.
Shooting. The vse of the long bowe (as Iohn Rous testifieth) came first into England with this king William the Conquerour: for the English (before that time) vsed to fight with axes and such hand weapons: and therefore in the oration made by the Conquerour before he gaue battel to king Harold, the better to encourage his men, he told them they should encounter with enimies that wanted shot.
In the yeare of our Lord 1542. Monsieur de Castres bishop of Baieulx and abbat of Saint Estienne in Caen, caused the Sepulchre of this William to be opened, wherein his bodie was found whole, faire and perfect; of lims, large and big; of stature and personage, longer than the ordinarie sort of men: with a copper plate fairlie gilt, and this epitaph therevpon ingrauen:
"Qui rexit rigidos Normannos, atque Britannos
Audacter vicit, fortiter obtinuit,
Et Cœnomenses virtute contudit enses,
Imperijq. sui legibus[4] applicuit,
Rex magnus parua iacet hæc Guilhelmus in urna:
Sufficit & magno parua domus domino,
Ter septem gradibus se voluerat atq. duobus
Virginis in gremio Phœbus, & hic obijt:"
that is;