Some write, that Gospatrike purchased the earledome of king William, and so held it, till the king tooke it from him againe, and then gaue it vnto earle Walteof or Waldeue. Next after him Walkher the foresaid bishop of Durham had the whole administration committed to him, but (after he was slaine as yée haue heard) one Alberike Robert Mulbray earle of Northumberland. ruled that countrie, and lastlie, Robert Mulbray a right noble personage (for his wisedome and valiancie highlie renowmed with all men) was created earle of Northumberland, and gouerned the people of those parties in such politike and wise order, that during his time, it is hard to saie, whether his quietnesse or the obedience of the people was greater.
The foundation of vniuersitie colledge in Oxford.
An. Reg. 15.
1081.
In like manner, after the foresaid Walkher; one William was created bishop of Durham,
who was the originall founder of vniuersitie colledge in Oxford, and by whose
assistance, the moonkes gaping both for riches, ease, and possessions, found the means
to displace the secular priests of the colledge of Durham, that they might get into their
roomes, as they did indeed soone after, to their great gaine and aduantage. But to
returne againe to the course of the historie. Shortlie after the reuenge of the death of
An. Reg. 16.
1082
Odo suspected and banished.
Walkher bishop of Durham, the fornamed bishop Odo, the kings brother was suspected
of some vntruth and sinister dealing, wherevpon he was sent as a banished
man into Normandie, or rather (as other write) committed to prison, where he remained,
not as a clerke, but as a baron of the realme; for he was both bishop and earle of Kent.
An. Reg. 17.
1083.
The king hauing at length obteined some rest from wars, practised by sundrie meanes
to inrich his cofers, and therefore raised a tribute through out the whole kingdome;
for the better leuieng whereof, he appointed all the subiects of his realme to be numbred,
all the cities, townes, villages, and hamlets to be registred, all the abbies, monasteries,
and priories to be recorded. Moreouer, he caused a certificat to be taken of
euerie mans substance, and what he might dispend by the yeare; he also caused their
names to be written which held knights fees, and were bound thereby to serue him in
Plow land.
the wars. Likewise he tooke a note of euerie yoke of oxen, & what number of
plow lands, and how manie bondmen were within the realme. This certificat
being made & brought vnto him, gaue him full vnderstanding what wealth remained
among the English people. Herevpon he raised his tribute, taking six
shillings for euerie hide of land through out this realme, which amounted to a
great masse of monie when it was all brought togither into his Excheker.
Geruasius Tilberiensis.
The true definition of a hide of land.
¶ Here note by the waie, that an hide of land conteineth an hundred acres, and an
acre conteineth fortie perches in length, and foure in bredth, the length of a perch is
sixtéene foot and an halfe: so that the common acre should make 240. perches; &
eight hides or 800. acres is a knights fée, after the best approued writers and plaine
demonstration. Those therefore are deceiued, that take an hide of land to conteine
twentie acres (as William Lambert hath well noted in his De priscis Anglorum legibus)
where he expoundeth the meaning of the old Saxon termes perteining to the
lawes.
But to procéed & come, a little after the temporals dealing, to some of the spirituall
affaires. It hapned about the same time, that when king William had finished the rating
An. Reg. 18.
1084.
Wil. Malm.
Simon Dun.
Thurston abbat of Glastenburie.
William of Fescampe.
of his subiects, that there rose a strife betwixt Thurstane abbat of Glastenburie a Norman,
and the moonkes of that house. One cause thereof was, for that the abbat would
haue compelled them to haue left the plaine song or note for the seruice which pope
Gregorie had set foorth, and to haue vsed an other kind of tune deuised by one William
of Fescampe: beside this, the said abbat spent and wasted the goods that belonged
to the house, in riot, leacherie, and by such other insolent meanes (withdrawing also
from the moonkes their old accustomed allowance of diet) for the which they first fell
Hen. Hunt.
Wil. Malm.
have two slaine and xiiij hurt.
at altercation in words, and afterwards to fighting. The abbat got armed men about
him, and falling vpon the moonkes, slue thrée of them at the high altar, and wounded
xviij. Howbeit the moonkes for their parts plaied the pretie men with formes and candelsticks,
defending themselues
Matt. Westm.
as well as they might, so that they hurt diuers of the
abbats adherents, and droue them out of the quier.
In the end, complaint hereof was brought to the king, by whose iudgement the matter was so ordered, that Thurstane lost his roome, and returned vnto Caen in Normandie from whence he came, and the moonkes were spred abroad into diuerse houses of religion through the realme, Glastenburie being replenished with more quiet persons, and such as were supposed readier to praie than to quarell, as the other did: yet is it said, that in the time of William Rufus this Thurstane obteined the rule of that abbeie againe for fiue hundred pounds.
Sim. Dunel.
Hen. Marle.
Matth. Paris.
There be which write, that the numbring of men and of places, the valuation of
goods and substance, as well in cattell as readie monie, was not taken till about the xix.
yéere of this kings reigne (although the subsidie afore mentioned was gathered about
two yeares before of euerie hide of land as yée haue heard) and that the certificat hereof
Hen. Marle. Simon Dun.
An. Reg. 19.
being inrolled, was put into the kings treasurie at Winchester, in the xix. yeare of his
reigne, and not in the xvj. But in what yeare soeuer it was, and howsoeuer the writers
agrée or disagree herein; certaine it is, that the same was exacted, to the great gréefe
and impouerishment of the people, who sore lamented the miserable estate whereinto they
Polydor.
Matth. Paris.
were brought, and hated the Normans in their harts to the verie death. Howbeit, the more
they grudged at such tolles, tallages, customes, and other impositions wherewith they were
pressed; the more they were charged and ouerpressed. The Normans on the other side
The Conquerour séeketh to kéepe the English men low.
with their king perceiuing the hatred which the English bare them, were sore offended,
and therefore sought by all meanes to kéepe them vnder. Such as were called to be iustices,
were enimies to all iustice; wherevpon greater burdens were laid upon the English,
Polydor.
insomuch that after they had béene robbed and spoiled of their goods, they were also
debarred of their accustomed games and pastimes. For where naturallie (as they doo
vnto this daie) they tooke great pleasure in hunting of déere, both red and fallow, in the
The forrests seized into the kings hands.
Matth. Paris.
woods and forrests about without restraint, king William seizing the most part of the same
forests into his owne hands, appointed a punishment to be executed vpon all such offendors;
namelie, to haue their eies put out. And to bring the greater number of men in
danger of those his penall lawes (a pestilent policie of a spitefull mind, and sauoring altogither
of his French slauerie) he deuised meanes how to bréed, nourish, and increase the
multitude of déere, and also to make roome for them in that part of the realme which
lieth betwixt Salisburie and the sea southward: he pulled downe townes, villages, churches,
and other buildings for the space of 30. miles, to make thereof a forrest, which at this
New forrest.
daie is called New forrest. The people as then sore bewailed their distres, & greatlie
lamented that they must thus leaue house & home to the vse of sauage beasts. Which
Matth. Paris.
An earthquake.
Polydor.
crueltie, not onelie mortall men liuing here on earth, but also the earth it selfe might
seeme to detest, as by a woonderfull signification it séemed to declare, by the shaking
and roaring of the same, which chanced about the 14. yeare of his reigne (as writers
haue recorded.) There be that suppose how the king made that part of the realme waste
and barren vpon a policie, to the intent that if his chance were to be expelled by ciuill
wars, and he compelled to leaue the land, there should be no inhabitants in that part of
the Ile to resist his arriuall vpon his new returne.
1085.
Simon Dun.
A rumor spred of the coming of the Danes.
But to go foorth with our purpose. About the same time, a rumor was spred in England
that Sueine king of Denmarke meant to inuade England with a puissant armie, hauing
the assistance of the earle of Flanders whose daughter he had maried. Whervpon
king William being then in Normandie, reteined a great power of French soldiers, both
archers and footmen which togither with his Normans he brought ouer into England in
haruest season, and meaning to disburthen himselfe of the charge of their keeping, he
caused their finding and wages to be borne by the lords and peeres of the realme, by the
shirifs of shires, and other officers. Howbeit, when he vnderstood that the Danes changed
Anno 20.
their purpose, and would not hold on their iourneie, he dismissed part of his power, and
sent them home againe, keeping the residue all the winter with him in England, readie for
his defense, if anie rebellion or other necessitie should befall.
1086.
The same yeare, he kept his Christmasse at Glocester, and made his sonne Henrie
knight at Westminster in Whitsunwéeke insuing. Shortlie after, calling togither aswell
Matth. West.
An oth taken to be true to the king.
1087.
lords spirituall as temporall he caused them, all to sweare fealtie to him and his heires
after him in the possession of this kingdome.
Great sickenes reigning. Murren of cattell.
Matth. West.
Paules church burned.
Simon Dun.
Ran. Higd.
Simon Dun.
About this season, the people in all places were pitifullie plaged with burning feuers,
which brought manie to their end: a murren also came to their cattell, whereof a woonderfull
number died. At the same time (which is more maruellous) tame foules, as hens,
géese, & peacocks, forsaking their owners houses, fled to the woods and became wild.
Great hurt was doone in manie places of the realme by fire, and speciallie in London,
where vpon the 7. daie of Julie a sudden flame began, which burnt Paules church, and
a great part or the citie downe to the verie ground.
Now when K. William had taken the oth of fealtie and loialtie of all his lords, Edgar
Etheling, who was reconciled vnto his fauour (as you haue heard) obteining licence of him
to depart the realme for a season, sailed into Puglia with two hundred souldiers: of
whose acts there and returne into England I spare to speake, bicause I find little or nothing
of moment recorded. And now king William, who hauing brought the Englishmen
An. Reg. 21.
so lowe and bare, that little more was to be got out of their hands, went once againe
ouer into Normandie with an huge masse of mony, where soone after he fell sicke, so
that he was constrained to keepe his bed longer than he had beene accustomed to doo,
whereat Philip the French king in iesting manner said, that king William his cousine laie
Wil. Malm.
Matth. Paris.
now in childbed (alluding belike to his big bellie, for he was verie corpulent) and withall
added; "Oh what a number of candels must I prouide to offer vp at his going to church!
certeinelie I thinke that 100000. will not suffice," &c. This frumping spéech so moued the
Wil. Malm.
Ran. Higd.
king, that he made this answere: "Well, I trust when I shall be churched, that our cousine
shall be at no such cost, but I will helpe to find him a thousand candels myselfe, and light
them too, to some of their paines, if God grant me life." Which promise he bound with
an oth, and in déed performed. For in Julie next insuing, when their corne, fruit, and
He inuadeth France.
Gemeticensis.
The citie of Maunt burnt by K. William.
Matth. West.
Matth. Paris.
grapes were most florishing, and readie for the sickle, he entered France with a great
armie, set fire on manie of their cities and townes in the west side of that countrie, and
came at last to the citie of Maunt, which he burnt with the church of our ladie, and an
ankresse inclosed in the wall thereof as an holie closet, for the force of the fire was such
as all went to wrecke. In this heat king William tooke such a sicknesse (which was likewise
aggrauated by the fall of an horsse as he rode to and fro, bicause he was not able
to trauell on foot about his palace by reason of his disease) that cost him his life; so
King William departed this life.
Simon Dun.
Matth. West.
The lix. of his age hath Wil. Malm.
that when he had ordeined his last will, and taken order for the staie of things after his
decease, he departed this life on the 9. day of September, in the yeare after the birth
of our Saviour 1087. and 74. (as Polydor saith) of his age, hauing gouerned Normandie
about 51. yeres, and reigned ouer England 20. yeares, ten moneths, and 28. daies (as
all writers doo report.)
He set all prisoners at libertie saith Wil. Malm.
Polydor.
Not long before his death, he released his brother Odo bishop of Bayeux out of prison,
Marchar earle of Northumberland, and Wilnotus the sonne of king Harold, or (as some
say) his brother. Moreouer he repented him (as some say) when he lay on his death
bed, of his cruell dealing with the English, considering that by them he had atteined to
such honour and dignitie, as to weare the crown and scepter of a kingdome: but whether
he did so or not, or that some moonke deuised the excuse in fauour of the prince:
surely he was a puissant prince, and though his time was troublesome, yet he was right
fortunate in all his attempts. Againe, if a man shall consider that in a strange realme
he could make such a conquest, and so exactlie and readilie assure the same to his heires,
with new lawes, orders and constitutions (which are like for euer to endure) he would
thinke it a thing altogither void of credit. Yet so it was, and so honourable were his
dooings in the sight of the world, that those kings, which succeeded sithens his death,
begin their account at him, as from one that had by his prudence renewed the state of
the realme, and instituted an other forme of regiment, in atchiuing whereof he did not
so much pretend a rightfull challenge by the grant of his coosine king Edward the Confessor,
as by the law of armes and plaine conquest, than the which (as he supposed) there
could be no better title.
Herevpon also those that haue sithens succeeded him, vse the same armes as peculiar to the crowne of England, which he vsed in his time; namelie, three lions passant He bare but two lions or rather leopards as some thinke. gold in a field gewels (as Polydor writeth) the three floure delices were since that time annexed thereto by Edward the third, by reason of his claime to the crowne of France, whereof hereafter ye shall heare. Among other greeuances which the English susteined by the hard deling of the Conquerour, this is to be remembered, that he brought Jewes into this land from Rouen, and appointed them a place to inhabit and occupie.
Polydor. There be that write, how the inconstancie of the English people by their oft rebellions occasioned the king to be so rough and rigorous against them; wheras (of his naturall disposition and proper inclination) he was rather gentle and courteous than sharpe and cruell. But sith he continued his extremitie euen to his last daies, we may rather beléeue, that although from his childhood he shewed some tokens of clemencie, bountie, and liberalitie; yet by following the wars, and practising to reigne with sternenesse, he became so inured therewith, that those peaceable vertues were quite altered in him, and in maner clearelie quenched. He was indued with a certeine stoutnesse of courage and skill in feats of warre, which good hap euer followed: he was frée from lecherous lusts, without suspicion of bodilie vices, quicke of wit, desirous of honor, painefull, watchfull, and able to tolerate heat and cold, though he were tall of stature, and verie grosse of bodie.
Toward the end of his daies he waxed verie deuout, and became desirous to aduance the state of the church, insomuch that he builded thrée abbeies in three seuerall places, endowing them with faire lands and large possessions, one at the place where he vanquished king Harold, fiue miles from Hastings, which he named Battell, of the field there fought: the other at Celby in Yorkeshire: and the third in Normandie at Caen, where his wife Quéene Maud had builded a nunnerie, which Maud died in the yéere 1084, before the decease of the king hir husband.
After his death, his bodie was buried in Caen, in S. Stephans church; but before it They gaue him an hundred pound, saith Hen. Marle. could be committed to the ground, the executors were constreined to agree with the lord of the soile where the church stood, which (as he said) the king in his life time had iniuriouslie taken from him, and gaue him a great summe of monie to release his title.
¶ By this we may consider the great miserie of mans estate, in that so mightie a prince could not haue so much ground after his death as to couer his dead corps, without dooing iniurie to another. This also may be a speciall lesson for all men, and namelie for princes, noblemen, and gentlemen, who oftentimes to enlarge their owne commodities, doo not regard what wrong they offer to the inferiour sort.
The said king William had by Maud his wife the daughter of Baldwine earle of Flanders, foure sonnes, Robert surnamed Curthose (vnto whome he bequeathed the duchie of Normandie) Richard who died in his youth, William surnamed Rufus, to whom he gaue by testament the realme of England, and Henrie surnamed Beauclerke for his cunning, knowledge and learning, vnto whom he bequethed all his treasure and mooueable goods, with the possessions that belonged to his mother. Besides these foure sonnes, he Hen. Marle. had also by his said wife fiue daughters, Cecilie, who became a nunne; Constance, who was married to Alane duke of Britaine; Adela, who was giuen in mariage to Stephan earle of Blois (of whom that Stephan was borne which reigned after Henrie the first) Adeliza, who was promised in mariage to Harold king of England (as before you haue heard) but she died yer she was maried either to him, or to any other, and so likewise did the fift, whose name I cannot reherse.
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:
that is;
Thus far William Conquerour.
There are no footnotes in the original. The original spelling and punctuation have been retained, with the exception of obvious errors which have been corrected by reference to the 1587 edition of which the original is a transcription.
[1] Original reads 'l d'; corrected to 'led'.
[2] Original reads '(that bare their title'; opening parenthesis removed.
[3] Original reads 'the the parties'; corrected to 'the parties'.
[4] Original reads 'suilegibus'; corrected to 'sui legibus'.