Salisbury 1086
Death of William I. 1087

[Illustration: A silver penny of William the Conqueror, struck at
Romney.]

1. =The First Months of the Conquest. 1066--1067.=--Though at the time
when William was crowned he had gained actual possession of no more
than the south-eastern part of England, he claimed a right to rule the
whole as lawful king of the English, not merely by Eadward's bequest,
but by election and coronation. In reality, he came as a conqueror,
whilst the Normans by whose aid he gained the victory at Senlac left
their homes not merely to turn their Duke into a king, but also to
acquire lands and wealth for themselves. William could not act justly
and kindly to his new subjects even if he wished. What he did was to
clothe real violence with the appearance of law. He gave out that as
he had been the lawful king of the English ever since Eadward's death,
Harold and all who fought under him at Senlac had forfeited their
lands by their treason to himself as their lawful king. These lands he
distributed amongst his Normans. The English indeed were not entirely
dispossessed. Sometimes the son of a warrior who had been slain was
allowed to retain a small portion of his father's land. Sometimes the
daughter or the widow of one of Harold's comrades was compelled to
marry a Norman whom William wished to favour. Yet, for all that, a
vast number of estates in the southern and eastern counties passed
from English into Norman hands. The bulk of the population, the
serfs--or, as they were now called by a Norman name, the
villeins--were not affected by the change, except so far as they found
a foreign lord less willing than a native one to hearken to their
complaints. The changes which took place were limited as yet to a
small part of England. In three months after his coronation William
was still without authority beyond an irregular line running from the
Wash to the western border of Hampshire, except that he held some
outlying posts in Herefordshire. It is true that Eadwine and Morkere
had acknowledged him as king, but they were still practically
independent. Even where William actually ruled he allowed all
Englishmen who had not fought on Harold's side to keep their lands,
though he made them redeem them by the payment of a fine, on the
principle that all lands in the country, except those of the Church,
were the king's lands,