William I. gave the Earldom of the city of Norwich to Ralph de Guader, who designed to wed the daughter of one William Fitz-Osbern, sister of Roger Earl of Hereford, and a relative of the king. This matrimonial scheme not pleasing the king, it was prohibited, but barons in those days would sometimes have a will of their own, and the fair affianced was made a bride within the castle walls, whose doorway in an angle marks the site of the act of disobedience to the sovereign. After the sumptuous feast, with its attendant libations, a rebellion was planned by Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland, Huntingdon, and Northampton, and Roger, Earl of Hereford. Having carried the forbidden marriage into effect, they became bold in their language and designs, until a chorus of excited voices joined them in oaths as conspirators against their lord the king. Treachery revealed the plot, and the church lent its aid to the crown to crush the rebels. Lanfranc, then the primate and archbishop, sent out troops, headed by bishops and justiciaries, the highest dignitaries of church and law, to oppose and besiege them. The bridegroom fled for succour to his native Brittany, leaving his bride for three months to defend the garrison with her retainers, at the end of which time the brave Emma was forced to capitulate, but upon mild terms, obtaining leave for herself and her followers to flee to Brittany. Her husband became an outlaw, her brother was slain, and scarcely one guest present at that ill-fated marriage feast escaped an untimely end. Nor did the city go unscathed. The devastation carried into its midst was heavy; many houses were burnt, many were deserted by those who had joined the earl, and it is curious to read in the valuation of land and property, taken soon after this event, how many houses are recorded as void, both in the burgh or that part of the city under the jurisdiction of the king and earl, and in other portions, subject to other lords; for it would seem that the landlords of the soil on which the city stood were the king or earl of the castle, the bishop, and the Harold family. Clusters of huts were then built round the base of the hill, and constituted the feudal village; its inhabitants consisting of villains, of which there were two classes, the husbandmen or peasants annexed to the manor or land, and a lower rank described as villains in gross, or absolute slaves, transferable by deed from one owner to another, the lives of these slaves being a continual state of toil, degradation and suffering.