received the submission of Winchester. He marched on, ravaging as
he went, to the immediate neighbourhood of London, but keeping ever
on the right bank of the Thames. But a gallant sally of the
citizens was repulsed by the Normans, and the suburb of Southwark
was burned. William marched along the river to Wallingford. Here
he crossed, receiving for the first time the active support of an
Englishman of high rank, Wiggod of Wallingford, sheriff of
Oxfordshire. He became one of a small class of Englishmen who were
received to William's fullest favour, and kept at least as high a
position under him as they had held before. William still kept on,
marching and harrying, to the north of London, as he had before
done to the south. The city was to be isolated within a cordon of
wasted lands. His policy succeeded. As no succours came from the
North, the hearts of those who had chosen them a king failed at the
approach of his rival. At Berkhampstead Edgar himself, with
several bishops and chief men, came to make their submission. They
offered the crown to William, and, after some debate, he accepted
it. But before he came in person, he took means to secure the
city. The beginnings of the fortress were now laid which, in the
course of William's reign, grew into the mighty Tower of London.

It may seem strange that when his great object was at last within
his grasp, William should have made his acceptance of it a matter
of debate. He claims the crown as his right; the crown is offered
to him; and yet he doubts about taking it. Ought he, he asks, to
take the crown of a kingdom of which he has not as yet full
possession? At that time the territory of which William had even
military possession could not have stretched much to the north-west
of a line drawn from Winchester to Norwich. Outside that line men
were, as William is made to say, still in rebellion. His scruples