Editing William the Conqueror (section)

=== 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By William's death, after weathering a series of rebellions, most of the native Anglo-Saxon aristocracy had been replaced by Norman and other continental magnates.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>