report of the financial and military
resources of the kingdom which might be directly available for revenue
and defense.

121. The Great Meeting; the Oath of Allegiance to William, 1086.

In the midsummer following the completion of Domesday Book, William
summoned all the barons and chief landholders of the realm, with their
principal vassals or tenants, to meet him on Salisbury Plain,
Wiltshire.[1] It is said that the entire assemblage numbered sixty
thousand. There was a logical connection between that summons and the
great survey (S120). Each man's possesions and each man's
responsibility were now known. Thus Domesday Book prepared the way
for the action that was to be taken there.

[1] See map of England facing p. 436. Wiltshire is in the south of
England. Alfred had established the seat of government at Winchester
in Hampshire, but under Edward the Confessor and Harold it was
transferred to Westminster (London); the honor was again restored to
Winchester by William, who made it his principal residence. This was
perhaps the reason why he chose Salisbury Plain (the nearest open
region) for the great meeting. It was held where the modern city of
Salisbury stands.

The place chosen was historic ground. On that field William had once
reviewed his victorious troops. Toward the north of the widespread
plain rose the rugged columns of Stonehenge (S3), surrounded by the
burial mounds of prehistoric peoples. On the south rose the fortified
hill of Old Sarum, scarred by British and by Roman entrenchments.
William probably made his headquarters in the Norman castle then
standing on that hill. On the plain below were the encampments of all
the chief landholders of England.

122. The Oath of Allegiance.

There William the Conqueror finished his work. There not only every
baron, but every baron's free vassal or tenant, from Cornwall to the
Scottish borders, bowed before the King and swore to be "his man"
(S86). By that act England was made one. By it, it was settled that
every landholder in the realm, of whatever condition, was bound first
of all to fight in behalf of the Crown, even if in so doing he had to
fight against his own lord.[1] The barons broke this oath in the next
reign (S130), but the moral obligation to keep it still remained
binding.

[1] See SS86, 150; see also the Constitutional Summary in the
Appendix, p. v, S6. Even if the men should disregard this oath of
allegiance, they could not