le to such destitution
that many sold themselves for slaves to escape starvation. Having
finished his work in the north, he turned toward the ancient Roman
city of Chester, in the west, and captured it. (See map facing
p. 38.)

110. Hereward (1091).

Every part of the land was now in William's power except an island in
the swamps of Ely, in the east of England. There the Englishman
Hereward, with his resolute little band of fellow countrymen,
continued to defy the power of the Conqueror. (See map facing p. 38.)
"Had there been three more men like him in the island," said one of
William's own soldiers, "the Normans would never have entered it."
But as there were not three more, the Conquest was at length
completed.

111. Necessity of William's Severity.

The work of death had been fearful. But it was better that England
should suffer from these pitiless measures than that it should sink
into anarchy, or into subjection to hordes of Northmen (S53). For
those fierce barbarians destroyed not because they desired to build
something better, but because they hated civilization and all its
works.

Whatever William's faults may have been, his great object was to build
up a government better than any England had yet seen. Hence his
severity, hence his castles and forts, by which he made sure of
retaining his hold upon whatever he had gained.

112. William builds the Tower of London.

We have seen that William gave London a charter (S107); but
overlooking the place in which the charter was kept, he built the
Tower of London to hold the turbulent city in wholesome restraint.
That tower, as fortress, palace, and prison, stands as the dark
background of most events in English history.

It was the forerunner of a multitude of Norman castles. They rose on
the banks of every river, and on the summit of every rocky height,
from the west hill of Hastings to the peak of Derbyshire, and from the
banks of the Thames to those of the Tweed. Side by side with these
strongholds there also rose a great number of monasteries, churches,
and cathedrals.

113. William confiscates the Land; Classes of Society.

Hand in hand with the progress of conquest, the confiscation of land
went on. William had seized the lands belonging to Harold (S67) and
those of the chief men associated with him, and had given them to his
own followers in England. In this way, all the greatest estates and
the most important offices passed into the ha