Editing William the Conqueror (section)

== William as king ==

=== Changes in England ===
{{See also|English castles|Royal forest#Royal forests in England}}

[[File:Tower of London White Tower.jpg|thumb|left|The White Tower in London, begun by William<ref name=Castles151>Pettifer ''English Castles'' p. 151</ref>]]

As part of his efforts to secure England, William ordered many castles, [[keep]]s, and [[motte]]s built&nbsp;– among them the central keep of the [[Tower of London]], the [[White Tower (Tower of London)|White Tower]]. These fortifications allowed Normans to retreat into safety when threatened with rebellion and allowed garrisons to be protected while they occupied the countryside. The early castles were simple earth and timber constructions, later replaced with stone structures.<ref name=Bates147>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' pp. 147–148</ref>

At first, most of the newly settled Normans kept household [[knight]]s and did not settle their retainers with [[fief]]s of their own, but gradually these household knights came to be granted lands of their own, a process known as [[subinfeudation]]. William also required his newly created magnates to contribute fixed quotas of knights towards not only military campaigns but also castle garrisons. This method of organising the military forces was a departure from the pre-Conquest English practice of basing military service on territorial units such as the [[Hide (unit)|hide]].<ref name=Bates154>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' pp. 154–155</ref>

By William's death, after weathering a series of rebellions, most of the native Anglo-Saxon aristocracy had been replaced by Norman and other continental magnates. Not all of the Normans who accompanied William in the initial conquest acquired large amounts of land in England. Some appear to have been reluctant to take up lands in a kingdom that did not always appear pacified. Although some of the newly rich Normans in England came from William's close family or from the upper Norman nobility, others were from relatively humble backgrounds.<ref name=Bates148>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' pp. 148–149</ref> William granted some lands to his continental followers from the holdings of one or more specific Englishmen; at other times, he granted a compact grouping of lands previously held by many different Englishmen to one Norman follower, often to allow for the consolidation of lands around a strategically placed castle.<ref name=Bates152>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' pp. 152–153</ref>

The medieval chronicler [[William of Malmesbury]] says that the king also seized and depopulated many miles of land (36 parishes), turning it into the royal [[New Forest]] to support his enthusiastic enjoyment of hunting. Modern historians have concluded that the New Forest depopulation was greatly exaggerated. Most of the New Forest comprises poor agricultural lands, and archaeological and geographic studies have shown that it was likely sparsely settled when it was turned into a [[royal forest]].<ref name=Young7>Young ''Royal Forests'' pp. 7–8</ref> William was known for his love of hunting, and he introduced the forest law into areas of the country, regulating who could hunt and what could be hunted.<ref name=Bates118>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' pp. 118–119</ref>

=== Administration ===
{{Main|Norman conquest of England#Consequences}}

[[File:William the Conqueror 1066 1087.jpg|thumb|upright|English coin of William the Conqueror]]

After 1066, William did not attempt to integrate his separate domains into one unified realm with one set of laws. His [[Seal (emblem)|seal]] from after 1066, of which six impressions still survive, was made for him after he conquered England and stressed his role as king, while separately mentioning his role as duke.{{efn|The seal shows a mounted knight and is the first extant example of an [[equestrian seal]].<ref name=Bates138/>}} When in Normandy, William acknowledged that he owed fealty to the French king, but in England no such acknowledgement was made&nbsp;– further evidence that the various parts of William's lands were considered separate. The administrative machinery of Normandy, England, and Maine continued to exist separate from the other lands, with each one retaining its own forms. For example, England continued the use of [[writ]]s, which were not known on the continent. Also, the charters and documents produced for the government in Normandy differed in formulas from those produced in England.<ref name=Bates138>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' pp. 138–141</ref>

William took over an English government that was more complex than the Norman system. England was divided into [[shire]]s or counties, which were further divided into either [[hundred (county subdivision)|hundreds]] or [[wapentake]]s. Each shire was administered by a royal official called a sheriff, who roughly had the same status as a Norman [[viscount]]. A sheriff was responsible for royal justice and collecting royal revenue.<ref name=Bates23/> To oversee his expanded domain, William was forced to travel even more than he had as duke. He crossed back and forth between the continent and England at least 19 times between 1067 and his death. William spent most of his time in England between the Battle of Hastings and 1072; after that, he spent the majority of his time in Normandy.<ref name=Bates133134>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' pp. 133–134</ref>{{efn|Between 1066 and 1072, William spent only 15 months in Normandy and the rest in England. After returning to Normandy in 1072, he spent around 130 months in Normandy as against about 40 months in England.<ref name=Bates133134/>}} Government was still centred on William's [[royal household|household]]; when he was in one part of his realms, decisions would be made for other parts of his domains and transmitted through a communication system that made use of letters and other documents. William also appointed deputies who could make decisions while he was absent, especially if the absence was expected to be lengthy. Usually, this was a member of William's close family&nbsp;– frequently his half-brother Odo or his wife Matilda. Sometimes deputies were appointed to deal with specific issues.<ref name=Bates136>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' pp. 136–137</ref>

William continued the collection of [[danegeld]], a land tax. This was an advantage for William and the only universal tax collected by western European rulers during this period. It was an annual tax based on the value of landholdings and could be collected at differing rates. Most years saw the rate of two shillings per hide, but in crises, it could be increased to as much as six shillings per hide.<ref name=Bates151>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' pp. 151–152</ref> Coinage across his domains continued to be minted in different cycles and styles. English coins were generally of high silver content, with high artistic standards, and were required to be re-minted every three years. Norman coins had a much lower silver content, were often of poor artistic quality, and were rarely re-minted. In England, no other coinage was allowed, while on the continent other coinage was considered [[legal tender]]. Nor is there evidence that many English [[pennies]] were circulating in Normandy, which shows little attempt to integrate the monetary systems of England and Normandy.<ref name=Bates138/>

Besides taxation, William's large landholdings throughout England strengthened his rule. As King Edward's heir, he controlled all of the former royal lands. He also retained control of much of the lands of Harold and his family, which made the king the largest secular landowner in England by a wide margin.{{efn|In ''[[Domesday Book]]'', the king's lands were worth four times as much as the lands of his half-brother Odo, the next largest landowner, and seven times as much as [[Roger of Montgomery]], the third-largest landowner.<ref name=Bates150>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 150</ref>}}

=== Domesday Book ===
{{Main|Domesday Book}}
[[File:Domesday Book - Warwickshire.png|upright|thumb|A page from the ''[[Domesday Book]]'' for Warwickshire]]

At Christmas 1085, William ordered the compilation of a survey of the landholdings held by himself and by his vassals throughout his kingdom, organised by counties. It resulted in a work now known as the ''[[Domesday Book]]''. The listing for each county gives the holdings of each landholder, grouped by owners. The listings describe the holding, who owned the land before the Conquest, its value, its tax assessment, and usually the number of peasants, ploughs, and any other resources the holding had. Towns were listed separately. All the English counties south of the River Tees and [[River Ribble]] are included. The whole work seems to have been mostly completed by 1 August 1086, when the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' records that William received the results and that all the chief magnates swore the [[Salisbury Oath]], a renewal of their oaths of allegiance.<ref name=Bates198>Bates ''William the Conqueror'' pp. 198–202</ref> William's motivation in ordering the survey is unclear, but it probably had several purposes, such as making a record of feudal obligations and justifying increased taxation.<ref name=DNB/>