But he could not hope to rest after such an exploit; therefore he waged open war with the Normans around, and by his extraordinary bravery and good fortune soon attracted such universal attention that the patriots in the Camp of Refuge besought him to come and be their leader.

Here, for nearly three years, he defied all the efforts of William.  His uncle Brand, Abbot of Peterborough, conferred on him the order of knighthood, for which act William designed adequate punishment.  The abbot would doubtless have been expelled, but death anticipated the Conqueror of England.  To punish the monks, the King appointed the fighting abbot, Turauld, as the successor of Brand, and in order to conciliate this ruffian-for such he was-the monks of Peterborough prepared their best cheer.  But Hereward and his merry men anticipated Turauld’s arrival by an hour or two, ate up the dinner prepared for the Normans, and spoiled what the did not eat; carried away, for safe keeping at Ely, all the treasures of the abbey, and left an empty house for the intruder.

Shortly afterwards, that worthy, together with Ivo Taille-Bois, concerted a plan for attacking the English.  Hereward entrapped them both, and kept them in captivity, much to the joy of the monks of Peterborough, and the vassals of Ivo, as we have elsewhere noted.

All the valour and nobility of Old England yet surviving, gathered around the great chieftain; thither came Edwin and Morcar, the brothers-in-law of King Harold; and many an earl and knight, fearless as the warriors of the Round Table, fought beneath the banner of Hereward, and banqueted while there was aught left to eat, at the board of the large-hearted Abbot Thurstan.

The Danes, who had been summoned to the aid of the English patriots, were bought off soon after their arrival by the gold of William, but still Hereward fought on.

At length William stationed his fleet in the Wash, with orders to guard every outlet from the fens to the ocean; still he could not reach Hereward, who had retired, with his valiant men, to their stronghold, situate in an expanse of water, which, in the narrowest part, was at least two miles in breadth.  Then the king undertook a tremendous task-that of constructing a solid road through the inundated marshes, throwing bridges over the deeper channels, and building a causeway elsewhere.  But in the face of an active enemy this was no easy task; and so frequently were the Normans surprised by Hereward that they believed he must be aided by sorcery, and employed the “witch,” who perished by fire (as mentioned in another Note), to counteract his magic, with the result already described.

But William was determined that the last refuge of English liberty should fall, and, backed by all the resources of a kingdom, the end came at last.  The monks of Ely, starved out, deposed their abbot, the gallant Thurstan, and betrayed the secret approaches of the camp to the Normans.