682 
parish, Rawmarsh, so abundant in coal, is written Homey s, 
and Romaries (see Kirlcby Inquest, Ed. I.), in olden times. 
Now, it is true that we have not so many substantial 
remains of Roman occupation in these Southern parts of 
North Humber Land as we might expect, from the impor- 
tance of its position; but William of Malmesbury, who 
lived soon after the Conquest, accounts for this. The 
Conqueror was at first inclined to treat with friendship the 
Great Northern Jarls ; but found that they would brook no 
second master. From the Humber to the Tees all was laid 
waste ; and the vengeance, or policy, of the Conqueror suf- 
fered scarcely a single homestead to escape. " Vasta," " Vasta," 
" Vasta," occurs in township after township, in every Yorkshire 
wapentake. These are the words of Malmesbury: — "Thus 
the resources of a province, once flourishing, and the nurse of 
tyrants, were cut off by fire and slaughter and devastation ; 
the ground, for more than sixty miles totally uncultivated 
and unproductive, remains bare even to the present day. 
Should any stranger now see it, he laments over the magni- 
ficent cities, the towns threatening heaven itself with their 
loftiness, the fields abundant in pasturage and watered with 
rivers ; and if any ancient inhabitant remains he knows it 
no longer." My lord, I hope your blood does not run chill 
at the thought of the part your maternal and paternal ances- 
tors, Fulk and Thorald de Lizours, and the father of Albreda 
de Lacy, may have taken in these transactions * They, no 
doubt, had their full share in polishing off the face of this 
southern part of North Humbria the inhabitants whose 
lands they retained possession of; but, my lord, I believe 
that yourself, as being in the loins of your ancestors, need 
not be conscience-striken for the deeds which they have 
done. We get a clue to the reason of what seems, at first 
* The Earl Fitzwilliam was in the chair. 
