come to take his crown, and he had unluckily met with some
opposition in taking it. The crown lands of King Edward passed of
course to his successor. As for the lands of other men, in
William's theory all was forfeited to the crown. The lawful heir
had been driven to seek his kingdom in arms; no Englishman had
helped him; many Englishmen had fought against him. All then were
directly or indirectly traitors. The King might lawfully deal with
the lands of all as his own. But in the greater part of the
kingdom it was impossible, in no part was it prudent, to carry out
this doctrine in its fulness. A passage in Domesday, compared with
a passage in the English Chronicles, shows that, soon after
William's coronation, the English as a body, within the lands
already conquered, redeemed their lands. They bought them back at
a price, and held them as a fresh grant from King William. Some
special offenders, living and dead, were exempted from this favour.
The King took to himself the estates of the house of Godwine, save
those of Edith, the widow of his revered predecessor, whom it was
his policy to treat with all honour. The lands too of those who
had died on Senlac were granted back to their heirs only of special
favour, sometimes under the name of alms. Thus, from the beginning
of his reign, William began to make himself richer than any king
that had been before him in England or than any other Western king
of his day. He could both punish his enemies and reward his
friends. Much of what he took he kept; much he granted away,
mainly to his foreign followers, but sometimes also to Englishmen
who had in any way won his favour. Wiggod of Wallingford was one
of the very few Englishmen who kept and received estates which put
them alongside of the great Norman landowners. The doctrine that
all land was held of the King was now put into a practical shape.
All, Englishmen and strangers, not only became William's subjects,