Page:The child's pictorial history of England; (IA childspictorialh00corn).pdf/66

 10. William had marched to London, and laid siege to it, soon after the battle of Hastings, and the people having submitted to him, he was crowned in Westminster Abbey, on Christmas day.

11. A few of the English nobles went to offer their submission, that is, they agreed to obey him as their king, since he had promised that all who did so should be permitted to enjoy their rank and property undisturbed.

12. But it was only a few who trusted to these promises, and they were deceived in the end, for it is almost certain that the Conqueror intended, from the first, to take every thing from the English to give to the Normans.

13. I mean the English lords; for he meant to make the common people remain on the estates to which they belonged, that the new masters might have vassals and slaves to cultivate their lands.

14. Now the poor people did not like this any more than the nobles themselves, so they fought bravely for their masters in many places; but it was all to no purpose; for, at the end of seven years, the Normans were in possession of all the land in the country, and most of its former lords had either been killed, or were reduced to such