Realists and relief camps
The English and the Normans (3)
In 1075 three earls revolted against William the Conqueror, while he was abroad in Normandy. They were Ralph de Guader earl of East Anglia, Roger de Breteuil earl of Hereford, and Waltheof earl of Northumbria.
Waltheof quickly lost heart and confessed his role in the plot to Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury. On Lanfranc's advice, he went to Normandy to beg mercy of William. The other two earls were more resolute. Earl Roger quickly raised an army and marched to join up with Earl Ralph.
He was confronted by the English bishop, Wulfstan, who had raised the fyrd of Worcester to prevent Roger from crossing the Severn. Wulfstan was supported by another English clergyman, Aethelwig, abbot of Evesham, along with the sheriff of Worcestershire and Walter de Lacy.
Meanwhile Odo, William's half-brother, raised an army of English and French and fell upon Earl Ralph's camp near Cambridge. The earl and his followers were forced to flee. As Lanfranc described in a letter to the king, many were killed or mutilated in the rout. Thanks to his loyal followers in England, William's throne was saved.
Wulfstan and Aethelwig were not mere time-servers. Although they supported William, they also did what they could to help his victims. According to the Chronicle of Evesham, Aethelwig turned Evesham and Worcester into relief camps for survivors of the Harrying of the North. These homeless refugees were joined by English landholders, dispossessed by William, who had nowhere else to go.
In short, these men were realists. However cruel and undesirable William might be, at least he was a strong hand, and there few alternatives. At any rate, a strong man on the throne was preferable to anarchy and civil war.
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