(Soing afaoal) of William ti)e onqucrot. 157 



we shall see others of his family to whom the forest will 

 prove fatal, and they spoke true. 



War was declared with France, and a gathering of the 

 bandit chiefs who had accompanied the king from 

 Normandy, with their sons, and all who held of him a 

 fief, was convened at Sarum. Thither, accordingly, 

 they came, barons and men-at-arms, abbots and then- 

 vassals, to the number of six thousand, all bound to do 

 service to the king, and having oaths of homage and 

 allegiance tended to them in the place of their assem- 

 bling, that both those who went, and such as remained 

 behind, might afresh remember to do his bidding. 

 Sarum was well suited for the purpose, both on account 

 of its accommodations, and the fine downs by which it 

 was surrounded. It was anciently a place of considerable 

 note, at first a Roman station, afterwards the residence 

 of the Emperor Severus. 



When the assembly which had met at Sarum was 

 dissolved, the king returned to London, whence he 

 shortly afterwards departed for the continent, taking 

 with him his two sons, and a " mighty mass of money," 

 as wrote one who lived at the time, " piled together for 

 some great attempt," and followed by the execrations of 

 his Saxon subjects. The object of the expedition was 

 expressly to take possession of the city of Mantes, with 

 a rich territory situated between the Epte and the Oise. 

 It is needless to speak of the negociations with which 

 the French king endeavoured to amuse his rival, while 



