124 A CITY OF MANY WATERS 



and value of all lands within the kingdom, to be en- 

 grossed in the ' Rotulus Wintonise' — the Winchester 

 RoU. ' So narrowly was it spied out/ whines the chroni- 

 cler Ingulph, ' as it is shameful to say, though the king 

 thought it no shame to do — that never a hide nor a rood 

 of land escaped mention, nor ox, nor cow, nor swine ; all 

 was set down in writing and laid before him.' So odious 

 and inconvenient was this proceeding to the commonalty, 

 by reason of the facility it afforded for purposes of taxa- 

 tion, that the register was never referred to under its 

 official title, but men nicknamed it the 'Domesday Book.' 

 Brave Stigand was deprived of his bishopric in 1072, 

 and imprisoned in Winchester Castle, where he died. 

 Walkelin, a relative of King William, was appointed in 

 his place, and seven years later began to build a new 

 cathedral — for the Normans despised the homely Roman- 

 esque of the Saxon architects. In 1086, the great structure 

 being ready for the roof, the bishop besought his royal 

 kinsman to supply him with timber from the forest of 

 Hempage, which then flourished about three miles from 

 Winchester on the Alresford road. The king gave him 

 leave to take as many oaks as his carpenters could cut in 

 four days ; whereupon the wily bishop enlisted a whole 

 army of carpenters, who, working day and night, hewed 

 down every oak in the forest. Now King William set 

 great store by his woods, and, riding that way not long 

 after, exclaimed 'Am I bewitched? am I out of my 

 senses ? had I not once a most delectable wood here ? ' 

 When he heard of the trick played on him by the bishop, 

 straightway he feU into a great rage, such as it took all 

 Walkelin's tact and courage to assuage. The original 

 timbers of the oaks so craftily obtained without payment 



