[Illustration: Coronation of a king, _temp._ William the Conqueror. (From a drawing in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries.)] _Books recommended for further study of Part I._ DAWKINS, W. Boyd. Early Man in Britain. RHYS, J. Early Britain. ELTON, C. J. Origins of English History. GUEST, E. Origines Celticae. Vol. ii. pp. 121-408. FREEMAN. History of the Norman Conquest. Vols. i.-iii. GREEN, J. R. The Making of England. ---- The Conquest of England. ---- History of the English People. Vol. i. pp. 1-114. BRIGHT, W. Chapters of English Church History. STUBBS, W. The Constitutional History of England. Chaps. I.-IX. CUNNINGHAM, W. The Growth of English Industry and Commerce during the Early and Middle Ages. pp. 1-128. HODGKIN, T. The Political History of England. Vol i. From the Earliest Times to 1066. PART II. _THE NORMAN AND ANGEVIN KINGS._ CHAPTER VII. WILLIAM I. =1066--1087.= LEADING DATES William's coronation 1066 Completion of the Conquest 1070 The rising of the Earls 1075 The Gemot at 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.