Page:The child's pictorial history of England; (IA childspictorialh00corn).pdf/74

 5. The king's palace was at Winchester, and he wanted to have a forest close by for hunting, so he ordered that all the towns and villages should be pulled down for about thirty miles, and the land planted with trees; and, what was worse, he gave nothing to the poor people for turning them out of their homes; and this is still called the New Forest.

6. In imitation of this bad example, many of the nobles began to make large parks, enclosed with walls to keep deer, and they cared no more than William had done about taking away the fields and pasture lands of the poor cottagers, who dared not complain, and were even obliged to run to their doors with refreshments to offer to the Norman lords and their followers when they were out hunting, although they often saw them riding over their corn, and breaking through their hedges.

7. It was not till after several reigns that the descendants of the Norman Conquerors began to consider themselves Englishmen, and to treat their vassals more like fellow countrymen.

8. The first hundred years after the conquest is therefore usually called the Norman period, and includes the reigns of William the Conqueror, William Rufus, Henry the First, and Stephen.