a Danegeld, of four shillings the hide, property of the Church not excepted, was levied for the defence of Normandy. Under Henry I., the annual Danegeld is said[1] to have been twelve pence the hide, "which was sometimes given to the tything men." Stephen at his coronation promised to remit the tax; but Selden[2] declares that it was occasionally paid in the time of Henry II., though it may be questioned whether the tax which formed a subject of dispute between Henry and Becket in 1163 was really Danegeld, in spite of the fact that in that year "Danegeld"[3] ceased to be a distinct item in the royal revenue, and made room for "donum" or "auxilium" (aid). The navy was, however, more particularly and regularly supported by the furnishing of contingents of ships and men from the ports and towns, as stipulated by their tenures. And sometimes the crown made special arrangements, as, for example, when William I.[4] exchanged a carucate of land near Lincoln for the ship of one Utchel, as recorded in 'Domesday.'
There should be no misapprehension as to William's attitude towards England after his success. Walsingham speaks of him as "rex electus": Matthew Paris and Matthew of Westminster call him "rex acclamatus"; but he was in fact a despotic conqueror, and England was his spoil and booty. He seized the estates of the conquered, and gave them to his friends; and nothing can be more convincing upon this score than the words of William of Poitiers,[5] a fighting priest, who was one of William's chaplains. "The English merchants," he says, "add to the opulence of their country, rich in its own fertility, still greater riches and more valuable treasures by importation. These imported treasures, which were considerable, both for their quantity and their quality, were either to have been hoarded up for the gratification of their avarice, or to have been dissipated in the indulgence of their luxurious inclinations. But William seized them, and bestowed part on his victorious army, part on churches and monasteries; and to the Pope and the Church of Rome he sent an incredible mass of money in gold, and many ornaments that would have been admired even at Constantinople."
Much has been made of the fact that William, after Senlac and
