As usual, however, the want of proper concert and of any acknowledged and heroic leader rendered the English efforts futile. The sons of Harold were disastrously defeated by Count Brian of Brittany, their wandering and ill-disciplined troops conquered in two battles in one day, and they themselves, escaping to Ireland, are heard of no more. This was in July. In September the Danish fleet approached. It touched, but was beaten off, both in Kent and in East Anglia, and finally entered the Humber, where it was joined by the great English exiles. Thence the combined English and Danish army moved upon York, while Eadric, in Staffordshire and the Welsh border, moved forward and besieged Shrewsbury, and the men of the West, though unaided by the sons of Harold, rose and besieged the castle of Montacute in Somersetshire. These two lesser insurrections William could afford to leave to his lieutenants; Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances relieved Montacute, and William Fitz-Osbern and Earl Brian apparently completed the subjugation of the West, compelling Eadric the Forester to retire after he had destroyed Shrewsbury, and re-establishing the Norman influence in Devonshire. William himself hastened to the scene of greatest danger. Already the castles of York were taken, as the story tells us chiefly by the prowess of Waltheof; but having completed this object the army had foolishly dispersed, and the Danes, lying in the Humber, were occupying Lindesey and the north of Lincolnshire. There William’s sudden march surprised them, and they were compelled to withdraw to the other side of the Humber. William then set quietly to work, with his army, which had now joined him, at the reconquest of Yorkshire. Staffordshire and Nottingham were secured, and after a lengthened delay at the passage of the Aire, during which he was probably engaged in negotiations with the Danes, he moved on practically unopposed to York. He there re-established his two castles, and proceeded to give the inhabitants of the country a lesson they were not likely to forget. He set to work systematically to lay waste the whole of the territory from the Humber to the Tees. Every house, every store of food, the very cattle themselves were included in the great burning. The completeness of the destruction is marked by the entries of “Waste,” following each other in unbroken succession in the Domesday Book. For nine years the country was left untilled, the towns wholly uninhabited, and the few survivors lived like beasts of the field, feeding upon unclean animals, and reduced even, in their utter want, to eat human flesh. Having completed this terrible work, William kept his Christmas in state at York. He pursued his advantage further, and, as the winter went on, advanced and secured the hitherto unconquered town of Durham. The North of England was at length completely conquered.