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YORK.
future landing of the Northmen might be rendered,
practically, useless. The fair vale of York, full of
towns and cultivated fields, which stretched above
sixty miles from the city, as far as the water of the
Tees, was devastated so completely that, as William
of Malmesbury tells us, it remained barren and
desolate down to his own time. The crops which
were growing in the fields,
the cattle which grazed in
the pastures, and the implements of husbandry were
all destroyed. The wretched inhabitants who failed
to secure safety by a timely flight were put to the
sword and their houses burned. Famine subsequently
added its horrors, which is said to have added
100,000 to the list of those w'ho perished by the
hands of William's soldiery. A fresh rising indeed
took place in 1071, under the leadership of Edwin
and Morcar, who had some hope, as it seems, of receiving
aid from King Malcolm of Scotland ; but it
was an abortive attempt, and Malcolm eventually acknowledged
the great Norman as his liege lord.
England then became in reality one kingdom under
one sovereign.
One effect of the Norman conquest was a change
as regarded the appointment of bishops. They were
no longer of Saxon or Danish blood. Most of the
English prelates were removed from their sees, and
their places filled by Norman ecclesiastics. The
days were passed when a bishop could nominate his
successor, and the policy of the Conqueror was
utterly adverse to the people having any share in the
election of their chief pastor. " Prelates were practically
chosen by the king. Homage was exacted