could give his mind to the affairs of Church and State in England.
Peace indeed was not quite unbroken. Events were tending to that
famous revolt in the Fenland which is perhaps the best remembered
part of William's reign. But even this movement was merely local,
and did not seriously interfere with William's government. He was
now striving to settle the land in peace, and to make his rule as
little grievous to the conquered as might be. The harrying of
Northumberland showed that he now shrank from no harshness that
would serve his ends; but from mere purposeless oppression he was
still free. Nor was he ever inclined to needless change or to that
scorn of the conquered which meaner conquerors have often shown.
He clearly wished both to change and to oppress as little as he
could. This is a side of him which has been greatly misunderstood,
largely through the book that passes for the History of Ingulf
Abbot of Crowland. Ingulf was William's English secretary; a real
history of his writing would be most precious. But the book that
goes by his name is a forgery not older than the fourteenth
century, and is in all points contradicted by the genuine documents
of the time. Thus the forger makes William try to abolish the
English language and order the use of French in legal writings.
This is pure fiction. The truth is that, from the time of
William's coming, English goes out of use in legal writings, but
only gradually, and not in favour of French. Ever since the coming
of Augustine, English and Latin had been alternative tongues; after
the coming of William English becomes less usual, and in the course
of the twelfth century it goes out of use in favour of Latin.
There are no French documents till the thirteenth century, and in
that century English begins again. Instead of abolishing the
English tongue, William took care that his English-born son should
learn it, and he even began to learn it himself. A king of those