Page:A literal translation of the Saxon Chronicle.djvu/252

240 against his will, and he kept in prison those Earls who acted against his pleasure. He removed Bishops from their sees, and Abbots from their offices, and he imprisoned Thanes, and at length he spared not his own brother Odo. This Odo was a very powerful Bishop in Normandy, his see was that of Baieux, and he was foremost to serve the King. He had an Earldom in England, and when William was in Normandy he was the first man in this country, and him did he cast into prison. Amongst other things the good order that William established is not to be forgotten; it was such that any man, who was himself aught, might travel over the kingdom with a bosom-full of gold unmolested; and no man durst kill another, however great the injury he might have received from him. He reigned over England, and being sharp-sighted to his own interest, he surveyed the kingdom so thoroughly that there was not a single hide of land throughout the whole, of which he knew not the possession, and how much it was worth, and this he afterwards entered in his register. The land of the Britons (Wales) was under his sway, and he built castles therein; moreover he had full dominion over the Isle of Mann (Anglesey): Scotland also was subject to him