shields and fought like madmen. But the English kept cool and fought on carefully, and at last Tostig and the chief men amongst the Northmen were slain, and the rest fled away to their ships. The next morning Harold made peace with the Northmen, and they put to sea and went back home. And Harold had to hasten southwards to fight against new foes.

VII.

THE LEGEND OF THE PRESERVATION
OF BEVERLEY.

A.D. 1069.

FOR some time after William the Conqueror had become King of England, many of the English went on trying to drive him out of the land, for they wished to have an English rather than a Norman king. At one time the men of the north rose against him, and the Danes came with a great fleet to help them. The Danes and the English rebels marched to York, the chief town of the north, where William had built two castles and filled them with Norman soldiers. The Normans knew that the English would attack them; so they set fire to the houses round them, so that the enemy might not come near to the walls of the castles. Then, as the English and the Danes marched up, the Norman soldiers rushed out upon them. The fight began within the walls of the burning city. Wal

theof, the great Earl of Northampton and Huntingdon, was with the Danes. He was as tall and strong as a giant, and he stood by the gate of the city holding his battle-axe in his mighty arms. As the Norman soldiers came out, he struck at them with his battle-axe, and with each stroke a head rolled from its body. The story tells us that on that day Waltheof himself killed among the flames a hundred of the chief of the Norman soldiers, and he gave the corpses of the hated foreigners to be food for the wolves of Northumbria. Altogether three thousand Normans died that day, and the Danes and the English won York and destroyed the castles which William had built there.

When William heard how his men had been killed and his castles destroyed at York, he was filled with grief and wrath. He at once set forth to punish the rebels and drive out the Danes. Before he reached the north the Danes had gone away to their ships, and the English rebels had scattered far and wide to their own homes.

There was no one to keep William from entering York in peace. The city was nothing but a mass of ruins, and he left some soldiers there to build up the castles again, and went on himself to punish the rebels. He had made up his mind to punish them so terribly that they should never rise up against him again. He went to and fro over the land, and everywhere he gave orders that everything should be destroyed. The houses were burnt with all that was in them; stores of corn and all kinds of goods were put together in heaps and then set on fire; even the living animals were

burnt. The wretched people were left to starve. Some tried to live on the flesh of cats and dogs; others sold themselves as slaves to any who would feed them. Many laid themselves down to die on the roads and in the fields, and there was no man to bury them. An old story tells us that in the midst of the general destruction one spot was spared. At Beverley there was a church dedicated to John, an English Bishop, who, on account of his good deeds, had been made a saint, and men thought that from his home in heaven he watched with special care over the church and town of Beverley. King William had made his camp seven miles from Beverley, when news was brought that all the people from the neighbourhood had taken refuge with all the precious things that belonged to them at the church of St. John. At once a band of plunderers set out for Beverley. No one stopped them from entering the town, and they made their way to the churchyard, where a vast crowd of people was gathered together. Standing in the crowd was a well-dressed old man with a golden bracelet on his arm. The leader of the band of plunderers turned to seize him, but the old man fled within the walls of the church. The plunderer felt no respect for the church, and with his drawn sword in his hand he spurred on his horse, meaning to ride in after the old man. But the story tells us that St. John of Beverley took care of his church. At the very door the horse fell with its neck broken, and the plunderer himself was smitten to the earth, his arms and legs all twisted behind his back, so that he no longer seemed a man but a monster. His terrified comrades thought no mor

of plunder, but humbly asked pardon of the saint. Then they went back to William and told him what had happened. William, when he heard the wonderful story, called the clergy of the church before him, and gave them new lands and precious gifts for the adornment of their church. Then he broke up his camp and went away, and left Beverley in peace. In other places he carried on his terrible work, and when he went back to York he left nothing but a ruined country behind him. For nine years no fields were tilled, no corn was grown, in Northumbria; only the blackened ruins of cities and villages could be seen where once all was full of life and joy. But after this terrible punishment there were no more risings in the north to trouble William.

VIII.

HEREWARD.

A.D. 1071.

ONE by one William the Conqueror put down the risings of the English against him in different parts of the land. Everywhere he triumphed, in spite of his many enemies, for he was wise and brave, strong both in mind and body, and he could make men obey him. At last he brought peace and order into the land; his rule was very strict, and every one had to obey the laws. But there were still some Englishmen who

would not submit to him, partly because they hated him as a foreigner, and partly because they hated his strict rule. These discontented men gathered together in the fens near Ely. In those days when the land was not properly drained the lowlying country round Ely was nothing but water and marsh. In the middle of the marsh was some raised land called the Isle of Ely, which could only be reached by one or two roads raised up high above the marsh. Here in the Isle of Ely an Englishman named Hereward had taken refuge. He was a wild restless man, who loved to spend his days in fighting and plundering, and never could settle down to lead a quiet life. He built a wooden fort in the Isle of Ely and hoped to spend the winter there in safety, for it was easy to defend the roads which led to the Isle against an enemy, and the Norman horsemen would be useless in that marshy country. Men of all kinds joined Hereward in his isle; there were monks and clergy as well as fierce warriors. They sat side by side at their meals; whilst on the walls and from the roof hung the weapons of war, so that if any sudden need arose all alike might be ready in a moment-for the monks and clergy were quite willing to fight too.

William could not let such a state of things last, and determined to destroy this nest of rebels. He came himself to Cambridge that he might see how best to get at them. He had both ships and soldiers ready to fight against them if only he could reach them, and at last he ordered that a great raised road should be made over the marsh to the Isle. Stones and trees and hides were brought from all the country round to