not reach the end of the Danish trouble, which did not cease till after Sweyn’s invasions between the years 1011 and 1014, which were worse than their predecessors, and included the pillage of Canterbury. About this time occurs the first mention of “Heorotford” as the name of the county. Scarcely had the country recovered, in greater or less degree, from the Danish raids than it was conquered by the Normans under William I, who soon after the battle of Hastings marched through the country south of the Thames till he reached Berkhampstead in this county, where he built the castle whose foundations and earthworks remain to this day. By relentless severity against all who stood in his way on the march, William had succeeded in instilling a wholesome fear into the Saxon (or, as we now say, English) inhabitants of the country; and, although he is reported to have been successfully opposed by Frederic, Abbot of St Albans, he was finally tendered the submission of the people and the English crown at Berkhampstead. To follow in detail the events of the troublous times which succeeded the conquest is here impossible; and it must suffice to state that at Christmas, 1116, Henry I paid a visit to St Albans for the purpose apparently of quelling trouble among the turbulent Norman barons who had now become the paramount lords. Stephen also held a court at St Albans in 1143 in connection with other troubles. With the bare mention that several Hertfordshire barons accompanied Richard I in his crusade to the Holy Land, we may pass on to the quarrel between King John and his barons, which has a very intimate connection with our county; among the opposing noblemen being Robert Fitzwalter, their leader, and the Earls of Essex and of Hertford. The barons advanced from Northampton to Bedford, while the main body of their army marched to Ware and thence to London. The signing of Magna Charta produced temporary peace; but this was soon succeeded by fiercer fighting than ever in this county. At the commencement of 1215 John himself was in St Albans, and also had possession of Hertford and Berkhampstead castles. In May of the same year Louis landed from France, and in due course besieged Hertford and Berkhampstead till they surrendered, and then proceeded to St Albans, where he was for some time defied by the abbot. At the departure of Louis the castles were restored to the king. The next event is the looting of St Albans by Fulke de Breauté and his band in 1217.