ling, they prevailed nothing, but gave advantage to the conqueror to make himself more than he was; for all conspiracies of subjects, that succeed not, advance the sovereignty and nothing gave root to the Normans planting here more than the petty revolts made by scattered troops in several parts, begun without order, and weakly seconded without resolution; whereas nothing could be done for the general recovery but by the general rising of the people, which seldom we see to happen. And for this the new king had taken good order; first, by disarming them, then by forbidding them assemblies and all secret intercourse, upon heavy penalties; that every man at the closing of the day, by the warning of a bell, should cover his fire and go to bed; by making them to be bound pledges one for another to answer for their obedience and loyalty; by building divers fortresses in several parts of the kingdom, to awe the country and to hold them in; with many such like pro

visions.

§. 20. So that these lords, though they did, as they might, hold him doing in the north, and embroil themselves in an unsuccessful business, yet he having all the south settled under his power, with well-practised and prepared forces, could not but needs tire and consume them in the end; and in the mean time invest the Normans in their rooms and possessions forfeited by this attempt: as the earldom and all the lands which Edwin held in Yorkshire were given to Alanus earl of Brittain, his nephew; the archbishopric of Canterbury conferred on Lanfranc, an Italian ; that of York on Thomas, his chaplain, a Norman; and all the rest, both of the clergy and others, which fled and were out, had likewise their places supplied by Normans.

§. 21. And now the king having appeased the commotion in the west, where the sons of Harold had landed with forces out of Ireland and Wales, and also repressed the rebellion of Oxford, he takes his journey in person northward with all expedition; lest the enemy there should grow too great in heart and opinion by the defeat of his lieutenant with seven hundred Normans at Durham, and the great slaughter

of his people made at York. Where at his first coming he so wrought, as he corrupted the generals of the Danes with money, and sent them well contented away; and then set upon the army of the earls, weakened both in strength and hope by this departure of their confederates, and put them to flight which done, he utterly wasted and laid desolate all that goodly country between York and Durham, the space of sixty miles, that it might be no more a succour to the revolter. And the like course he used on all the coasts, where any certain landings were known, thereby to prevent invasions, and so returned to London; where he seized into his hands all the plate, jewels, and treasure within all the monasteries of England; pretending that the rebels and their assisters had conveyed their riches into these religious houses, as into places privileged and free from seizure, to defraud him of it.

§. 22. Most of the lords, after this great defeat in the north, came in upon public faith given them, and were conducted to Barkamstead, by the abbot Frederick. Where some write that the king again took a personal oath before the archbishop Lanfranc, and the lords, to observe the ancient laws of the realm established by his noble predecessors, the kings of England, and especially those of St. Edward: and all the lords, upon their oath and submission, were then reconciled unto him, and thereupon held themselves quiet for a time. But whether it were that they found not their entertainment such as they expected, or that they had received intelligence of new hopes from abroad; or that Edgar, who was still in Scotland, had solicited them upon promise of fresh succours to aid him; or howsoever it was, many of them again conspired, contrary to their oaths, and went out. The earl Edwin making towards Scotland, was murdered by his own people by the way. The earls Morcar and Hereward betook them to the isle of Ely, meaning to make good that place for that winter; whither also came the earl Siward and the bishop of Durham, out of Scotland. But the king, who was no timegiver to growing dangers, beset all the isle with flat boats on the east, and made a bridge

of a mile long on the west, and safely brought in his people upon the enemy; who, seeing themselves surprised, yielded them all to the king's mercy, except Hereward, (a man of great valour and courage,) who with his soldiers made a retreat through the fens, and escaped into Scotland. The rest were sent to divers prisons, where they died, or remained during the king's life.

§. 23. We find that those lords who remained loyal upon their last submission were all employed and well graced by the king as Edric the Forrester, that was the first revolter in his reign, was held in especial favour and trust near about him; Gospatric was made earl of Northumberland, and sent against Malcolm, who in this time takes advantage to subdue the countries of Tisdal, Cleveland, and Cumberland. Waltheof, the son of the earl Siward, he so highly esteemed, as he married him to his niece Judith; though he were a principal actor in this last commotion, and in the defence of the city of York against him, and is said to have stricken off the heads of divers Normans one by one as they entered upon a breach, to the great admiration of all men: by which valour of his he ransomed the offence he had made, and grew to that great grace with the king; who therein shewed a noble and magnanimous nature to honour virtue even in his enemies.

§. 24. And now there rested nothing for the general quieting of the kingdom but only the suppression of Malcolm king of Scots, the greatest kindle-fire of all these conspiracies in the north parts, and the only refuge for all that were discontented and mutinous in this state. Against him the king led such mighty forces, both by sea and land, as Malcolm, rather than to adventure battle, was content to make his peace; and not only to give up hostages for securing the same, but also to do him homage for the kingdom of Scotland. And so all his home-wars were ended, regni anno 6: saving only in anno 15, he levied a puissant army, and subdued Wales; which business held him not long. For the rest of his government here he had no

more to do here with the sword, though he had it always abroad during his whole reign.

§. 25. Now for the doubt he might have of the great men of the kingdom, who by power or love were aptest to disturb his government, it was in this sort taken away. First, by the submission of Edgar Atheling, who, anno 7, was restored into grace, and had a fair maintenance, which held him ever after quiet: then by those whom the prisons kept from attempting any more: and, lastly, by the revealing of a new conspiracy, contrived at a marriage between Ralph de Wahera, earl of Norfolk and Suffolk, and his new kinswoman, the sister of Roger, the young earl of Hereford at which solemnization in their banqueting and jollity, the two earls Normans, with Waltheof and divers English, plotted to call in the Danes again, and to make away the king upon which discovery they were all apprehended, (except the earl of Norfolk, who fled the land,) and died some in prison and some on the scaffold.

§. 26. The Danes being on the coasts with two hundred sail, hearing how their confederates had sped, and the great preparations the king had made, after some spoils taken on the coast of England and Flanders, returned home, and never after infested this kingdom. Though in anno 20 of this king there was a great rumour of their fresh preparations for a new invasion; which made him entertain a great number of Frenchmen, besides Normans, which he brought into England about harvest, and held the most part of them all the winter, to the great charge of the kingdom. But it came to nothing; for the wind held so long against the Danish navy, consisting of about one thousand sail, as it overthrew their intended action, and freed both the king and his successors from future fears that way for ever after.

§. 27. The foreign wars he had were all about his dominions in France, and raised by his own son Robert, whom

Roger Fitz Osborn, the son of William, cousin and especial councellor to the king.

he had left his lieutenant-governor of the duchy of Normandy and the county of Maine. Where, by his father's absence, tasting the glory of command, he grew to assume into his own power the sovereign rule of the province ; caused the barons there to do him homage, as duke, not as lieutenant; and put himself wholly under the protection of the king of France; who was not a little pleased to apprehend so good an occasion to foster a division in the house of so great and near a neighbour, who was now grown fearful and dangerous to all the princes about him; and therefore spared for no cost to set forward this work. The king, understanding the fire thus kindled in his own house, whilst he laboured to quench that himself had made in others, hastes with his forces into Normandy, to have surprised his son; who, advertised of his coming, furnished with two thousand men at arms by the king of France, put himself in ambush where his father should pass, and set upon him so fiercely as he defeated most of his people, and in the press happened to encounter with himself; whom he unhorsed, and wounded in the arms with his lance. But perceiving by his voice it was his father, he hasted to lift him up again to his horse, craving most humble pardon for his offence, which the king, seeing in what case he was, easily granted, and received him into grace, with whom, and with his son William, (who was likewise hurt in the skirmish,) he retired to Roan; and after being there cured of his hurt, returned again into England.

§. 28. Where he was no sooner arrived, but he heard that his son was again revolted, treated the Normans ill, and renounced his father's sovereignty over that province; which caused his little stay in England for that time, but only to prepare for his return into Normandy. Whither passing, he was by tempest driven on the coast of Spain; and there is said to have fought in battle against the Saracens. Afterwards, arriving at Bourdeaux, his son Robert came and submitted himself the second time; whom now he took with him into England, to frame him to a better obedience, by employing him here for a season; and then sent him back RALEGH, MISC. WORKS.

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