3. I should here tell you that William the Conqueror made the first game laws, and very severe they were, and very hard upon the poor people, who used to be at liberty to kill game in the forests; but, after these new laws, they dared not so much as take even a hare or partridge in their own fields. 4. It was not only the English, who were forbidden to hunt on the royal domains, but the Normans also, unless they had special leave to do so; and, if any one was bold enough to kill a deer in the king’s forests, he was punished in the most cruel manner, by having his eyes put out, or his hands cut off. 5. The king’s palace was at Winchester, and he wanted to have a forest close by for hunting, so he ordered that all the towns and villages should be pulled down for about thirty miles, and the land planted with trees; and, what was worse, he gave nothing to the poor people for turning them out of their homes; and this is still called the New Forest. 6. In imitation of this bad example, many of the nobles began to make large parks, enclosed with walls to keep deer, and they cared no more than William had done about taking away the fields and pasture lands of the poor cottagers, who dared not complain, and were even obliged to run to their doors with refreshments to offer to the Norman lords and their followers when they were out hunting, although they often saw them riding over their corn, and breaking through their hedges. 7. It was not till after several reigns that the descendants of the Norman Conquerors began to consider themselves Englishmen, and to treat their vassals more like fellow countrymen. 8. The first hundred years after the conquest is therefore usually called the Norman period, and includes the reigns of William the Conqueror, William Rufus, Henry the First, and Stephen. 9. I have already told you that the Feudal system was brought into England by the Saxons, and I explained what it was; but I must now mention that this system was carried much farther by the Normans, that is, their feudal laws were stricter, and the nobles themselves were bound by them as well as the common people. 10. I should wish you to understand this as clearly as possible, because the manners and customs of the age were governed entirely by those laws. 11. First, then, the king was lord of the land, and kept a great portion of it for himself, which made what were called crown lands; and all the people, who lived on the crown lands, whether in burgh, town, or country, were his tenants, and paid him rent, or taxes, both in money and produce, besides being obliged to furnish him with soldiers at their own expense. 12. For example, if a town had to find two or more horse-soldiers, the inhabitants were, besides, obliged to pay the expenses of their arms, horses and maintenance, for the time they were on service.