( 7 ) 



to be confidered, that thefe writers were 

 monks, who had taken high offence at Wil- 

 liam for his exadions on their monafteries y 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 hiftorical evidence, 

 we are ftill 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 unfupported. On the whole 

 therefore, the truth of this matter, as of mofl 

 others, lies probably between the two opinions. 

 — Doomfday-book brings us nearefl the truth. 



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

 frucTtifera, necnon fnigifera, extirpatis domibus, cum promariis, 

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

 potius in deferta, et ferarum luftra, rcge jubente, redafta 

 erant. Hift. Winton. 



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

 medium regni ; et inter Southampton, et prioratum Twvnam, 

 qui nunc vocatur Chrift-church, proftravit, et exterminavit 2Z 

 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 feris ; parcens iJlis per 

 feptem annos primes. Knighton. 



B 4 It 



