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| Harrying of the North |
| In March 1067 King William returned to his dukedom across the Channel and left his newly acquired territory in the hands of his half-brother Odo. The estates and titles were distributed among the Norman barons who had backed William's enterprise. No man was given too great a part of the land in one region, the estates being scattered all over the country so that one baron could not combine his estates into one powerful, and possibly rebellious, whole. |
| William soon found that it was not safe to stay away from England for too long. The barons, glutted with their newfound wealth, became arrogant towards their subjects and quarrelsome between themselves. They raised taxes to breaking point until a rash of revolt broke out across the country. William returned and, although he recognised that much of the fault lay with his people, burned and slaughtered his way through any resistance. |
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Orderic Vitalis, a contemporary chronicler,
wrote of the year 1069… '…. Nowhere else had William shown so much cruelty. Shamefully he succumbed to this vice, for he made no effort to restrain his fury and punished the innocent with the guilty. In his anger he commanded that all crops and herds, chattels and food of every kind should be brought together and burned to ashes with consuming fire, so that the whole region north of the Humber might be stripped of all means of sustenance. In consequence so serious a scarcity was felt in England, and so terrible a famine fell upon the humble and defenceless populace, that more than 100,000 Christian folk of both sexes, young and old alike, perished of hunger.' |
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Another contemporary chronicler,
Symeon of Durham, paints a picture as bleak as any modern day
Cambodia or Yugoslavia…. In 1070 Thomas, the Treasurer of Bayeaux became the Archbishop of York. On his arrival in the ruined city he found everything deserted and waste. |
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