d into Kent; where his
uncles had already seized the fortresses of Pevensey and Rochester.
These places he successively reduced by famine; and though he was
prevailed on by the Earl of Chester, William de Warenne, and Robert
Fitz-Hammon, who had embraced his cause, to spare the lives of the
rebels, he confiscated all their estates, and banished them the
kingdom [f]. This success gave authority to his negotiations with
Roger, Earl of Shrewsbury, whom he detached from the confederates; and
as his powerful fleet, joined to the indolent conduct of Robert,
prevented the arrival of the Norman succours, all the other rebels
found no resource but in flight or submission. Some of them received
a pardon; but the greater part were attainted; and the king bestowed
their estates on the Norman barons, who had remained faithful to him.
[FN [f] Chron. Sax. p. 195. Order. Vital. p. 668.]

[MN 1089.] William, freed from the danger of these insurrections,
took little care of fulfilling his promises to the English, who still
found themselves exposed to the same oppresions which they had
undergone during the reign of the Conqueror, and which were rather
augmented by the insolent impetuous temper of the present monarch.
The death of Lanfranc, who retained great influence over him, gave
soon after a full career to his tyranny; and all orders of men found
reason to complain of an arbitrary and illegal administration. Even
the privileges of the church, held sacred in those days, were a feeble
rampart against his usurpations. He seized the temporalities of all
the vacant bishoprics and abbeys; he delayed the appointment of
successors to those dignities, that he might the longer enjoy the
profits of their revenue; he bestowed some of the church lands in
property on his captains and favourites; and he openly set to sale
such sees and abbeys as he thought proper to dispose of. Though the
murmurs of the ecclesiastics; which were quickly propagated to the
nation, rose high against this grievance, the terror of William's
authority, confirmed by the suppression of the late insurrections,
retained every one in subjection, and preserved general tranquillity
in England.

[MN 1090. Invasion of Normandy.]
The king even thought himself enabled to disturb his brother in the
possession of Normandy. The loose and negligent administration of
that prince had emboldened the Norman barons to affect a great
independency; and their mutual quarrels and dev