. . .As the dead body was borne from the forest, broken and stained with blood, the people said that this was a beginning of the reckoning God would make with William, and that the New Forest would prove an unquiet place to the Conqueror and to those of his blood.

“Foolish and superstitious stories began to be circulated. The people said that the New Forest was haunted; that spirits were seen, by moonlight, gliding among the dusky trees; that demons revelled there when the tempest arose, and the lightnings flashed, and the rain dashed on the great oaks. The old foresters did not wish to return to it now. They talked of it in low whispers, as of a place accursed.

[Pg 30] “At last William died. It was a bitter death. The Conqueror trembled before that Conqueror to whom the princes of the earth must yield.

“It is said that, when he had reached the height of his fame, he declared that he would surrender his crowns and kingdom to know a. . . Read More