an of any regular conspiracy which could give them a
rational hope of success against the established power of the Normans.
The inhabitants of Exeter, instigated by Githa, mother to King Harold,
refused to admit a Norman garrison, and betaking themselves to arms,
were strengthened by the accession of the neighbouring inhabitants of
Devonshire and Cornwall [a]. The king hastened with his forces to
chastise this revolt; and on his approach, the wiser and more
considerable citizens, sensible of the unequal contest, persuaded the
people to submit, and to deliver hostages for their obedience. A
sudden mutiny of the populace broke this agreement; and William,
appearing before the walls, ordered the eyes of one of the hostages to
be put out, as an earnest of that severity which the rebels must
expect if they persevered in their revolt [b]. The inhabitants were
anew seized with terror, and surrendering at discretion, threw
themselves at the king's feet, and supplicated his clemency and
forgiveness. William was not destitute of generosity, when his temper
was not hardened either by policy or passion: he was prevailed on to
pardon the rebels, and he set guards on all the gates, in order to
prevent the rapacity and insolence of his soldiery [c]. Githa escaped
with her treasures to Flanders. The malecontents of Cornwall imitated
the example of Exeter, and met with like treatment: and the king,
having built a citadel in that city, which he put under the command of
Baldwin, son of Earl Gilbert, returned to Winchester, and dispersed
his army into their quarters. He was here joined by his wife Matilda,
who had not before visited England, and whom he now ordered to be
crowned by Archbishop Aldred. Soon after she brought him an accession
to his family by the birth of a fourth son, whom he named Henry. His
three elder sons, Robert, Richard, and William, still resided in
Normandy.
[FN [a] Order. Vital. p. 510. [b] Ibid. [c] Ibid.]

But though the king appeared thus fortunate, both in public and
domestic life, the discontents of his English subjects augmented
daily; and the injuries committed and suffered on both sides rendered
the quarrel between them and the Normans absolutely incurable. The
insolence of victorious masters, dispersed throughout the kingdom,
seemed intolerable to the natives; and wherever they found the
Normans, separate or assembled in small bodies, they secretly set upon
them, and gratified their vengeance b