[1] See map of England facing p. 436.  Wiltshire is in the south of England.  Alfred had established the seat of government at Winchester in Hampshire, but under Edward the Confessor and Harold it was transferred to Westminster (London); the honor was again restored to Winchester by William, who made it his principal residence.  This was perhaps the reason why he chose Salisbury Plain (the nearest open region) for the great meeting.  It was held where the modern city of Salisbury stands.

The place chosen was historic ground.  On that field William had once reviewed his victorious troops.  Toward the north of the widespread plain rose the rugged columns of Stonehenge (S3), surrounded by the burial mounds of prehistoric peoples.  On the south rose the fortified hill of Old Sarum, scarred by British and by Roman entrenchments.  William probably made his headquarters in the Norman castle then standing on that hill.  On the plain below were the encampments of all the chief landholders of England.

122.  The Oath of Allegiance.

There William the Conqueror finished his work.  There not only every baron, but every baron’s free vassal or tenant, from Cornwall to the Scottish borders, bowed before the King and swore to be “his man” (S86).  By that act England was made one.  By it, it was settled that every landholder in the realm, of whatever condition, was bound first of all to fight in behalf of the Crown, even if in so doing he had to fight against his own lord.[1] The barons broke this oath in the next reign (S130), but the moral obligation to keep it still remained binding.

[1] See SS86, 150; see also the Constitutional Summary in the Appendix, p. v, S6.  Even if the men should disregard this oath of allegiance, they could not help feeling that the principle it represented had been acknowledged by them.

123.  What William had done.

A score of years before, William had landed, seeking a throne to which no law had given him any claim whatever (S67).[2] But Nature had elected him to it when she endowed him with power to take, power to use, and power to hold.  Under Harold, England was a kingdom divided against itself (S71).  It was fortunate for the country that William came; for out of chaos, or affairs fast drifting to chaos, his strong hand, clear brain, and resolute purpose brought order, beauty, safety, and stability.  We may say, therefore, with an eminent Fernch historian, that “England owes her liberties to her having been conquered by the Normans."[3]

[2] “William, in short, had no king of right to the crown, whether by birth, bequest, or election.” (E.  A. Freeman’s “Short History of the Norman Conquest,” p. 65.) [3] Guizot; see also note 1 on page 64.

124.  William’s Death (1087).

In less than a year from that time, William went to Normandy to quell an invasion led by his eldest son, Robert.  As he rode down a steep street in Mantes, his horse stumbled and he received a fatal injury.  He was carried to the priory of St. Gervase, just outside the city of Rouen.