' . ( 7 ) 



to be confidered, that thefe writers were 

 monks, who had taken high offence at Wil- 

 liam for his exactions on their monasteries ; and 

 were neither, as it appears, informed them- 

 felves ; nor difpofed through their prejudices^ 

 to inform others. Many things they fay are 

 palpably falfe. 



In this dearth therefore of hiflorical evidence, 

 we are ilill at a lofs. To fuppofe that 

 William made no devaftation, and to fuppofe 

 that he made all, which thefe prejudiced 

 monks lay to his charge, feem to be fup- 

 pofitions equally unsupported. On the whole 

 therefore, the truth of this matter, as of moil 

 others, lies probably between the two opinions. 

 Doomfday-book brings us neareft the truth. 



Per 30, et amplius milliaria, ubi erat hominum manfio, terra 

 Fruftifera, necnon frugifera, extirpatis domibus, cum pomariis, 

 et hortis, et etiam ecclefiis, cum caemetariis, in foreftam, vel 

 potius in deferta, et ferarum luftra, rege jubente, redafta erant, 

 Hift. Winton. 



Hie Gulielmus (Rufus) fecit foreftas in multis locis, per 

 medium regni ; et inter Southampton, et prioratum Twynam, 

 qui nunc vocatur Chrift-church, proftravit, et exterminavit 22 

 ecclefias matrices, cum villis, capellis, maneriis atque man- 

 fionibus ; fecundum vero quofdam, 52 ecclefias parochiales ; et 

 fecit foreftam novam, quam vocavit fuum novum herbarium ; et 

 replevit earn cervis, damis, et aliis fens j parcens illis per feptenj 

 annos primes. Knighton. 



B 4 It 



