7 William I 7the country, he introduced the Norman practice of build-
ing castles, including the Tower of London. The rebellions,
which were crushed by 1071, destroyed the English higher
aristocracy and replaced it with an aristocracy of Norman
lords, who introduced patterns of landholding and military
service that had been developed in Normandy. To secure
England’s frontiers, William invaded Scotland in 1072 and
Wales in 1081, creating special defensive “marcher” coun-
ties along the Scottish and Welsh borders.
In 1086 William ordered a complex census of all the
people and lands of England, which is summarized in
An English axman in combat with a Norman knight at the Battle of Hastings,
detail from the Bayeux Tapestry; in the Musée de la Tapisserie, Bayeux, France.
Giraudon/Art Resource, New York