gar
Atheling appeared from Scotland, and brought along with him Cospatric,
Waltheof, Siward, Bearne, Merleswain, Adelin, and other leaders, who,
partly from the hopes which they gave of Scottish succors, partly
from their authority in those parts, easily persuaded the warlike and
discontented Northumbrians to join the insurrection. Mallet, that he
might better provide for the defence of the citadel of York, set fire
to some houses which lay contiguous; but this expedient proved the
immediate cause of his destruction. The flames, spreading into the
neighboring streets, reduced the whole city to ashes. The enraged
inhabitants, aided by the Danes, took advantage of the confusion to
attack the castle, which they carried by assault; and the garrison,
to the number of three thousand men, was put to the sword without
mercy.[****]

This success proved a signal to many other parts of England, and gave
the people an opportunity of showing their malevolence to the Normans.
Hereward, a nobleman in East Anglia, celebrated for valor, assembled his
followers, and taking shelter in the Isle of Ely, made inroads on all
the neighboring country.[*****] The English in the counties of Somerset
and Dorset rose in arms, and assaulted Montacute, the Norman governor;
while the inhabitants of Cornwall and Devon invested Exeter, which from
the memory of William's clemency still remained faithful to him.

[* Gul. Gemet. p. 290. Order. Vitalis, p. 513.
Anglia Sacra, TO! I. p. 216.]

[** Order. Vitalis, p. 512. Chron. de Mailr. p.
116. Hoveden, p. 450. M. Paris, p. 5. Sim. Dunelm. p. 198.]

[*** Order. Vitalis, p. 512.]

[**** Order. Vitalis, p. 513. Hoveden, p. 451.]

[***** Ingulph. p. 71. Chron. Abb. St. Petri de
Burgo, p. 47.]

Edric the Forester, calling in the assistance of the Welsh, laid siege
to Shrewsbury, and made head against Earl Brient and Fitz-Osberne, who
commanded in those quarters.[*] The English, everywhere repenting their
former easy submission, seemed determined to make by concert one great
effort for the recovery of their liberties, and for the expulsion of
their oppressors.

William, undismayed amidst this scene of confusion, assembled. his
forces, and animating them with the prospect of new confiscations
and forfeitures, he marched against the rebels in the north, whom he
regarded as the most formidable, and whose defeat, he knew, would strike
a terror into all the other male