William the Conqueror's coronation did not go as planned. When the
people shouted "God Save the King" the nervous Norman guards at
Westminster Abbey thought they were going to attack William. In their fear they
set fire to nearby houses and the coronation ceremony ended in disorder.
Although William was now crowned
king, his conquest had only just begun, and the fighting lasted for another
five years. There was an Anglo-Saxon rebellion against the Normans every year
until 1070. The small Norman army marched from village to village, destroying
places it could not control, and building forts to guard others. It was a true
army of occupation for at least twenty years. The north was particularly hard
to control, and the Norman army had no mercy. When the Saxons fought back, the
Normans burnt, destroyed and killed. Between Durham and York not a single house
was left standing, and it took a century for the north to recover. •
Few Saxon lords kept their lands and those who did were the very small
number who had accepted William immediately. All the others lost everything. By
1086, twenty years after the arrival of the Normans, only two of the greater
landlords and only two bishops were Saxon. William gave the Saxon lands to his
Norman nobles. After each English rebellion there was more land to give away.
His army included Norman and other French land seekers. Over 4,000 Saxon
landlords were replaced by 200 Norman ones.
