Note 778 — Chapter XIII · THE NEGOTIATIONS OF DUKE WILLIAM.[752] January–August, 1066.

Ib. “Præterea iniquum postulat ut imperio decedat, quod tanto favore civium regendum susceperit; hoc nec provincialibus gratum, nec militibus tutum.” I do not fully understand this last clause. Would Harold’s Thegns and Housecarls have been specially exposed to danger in case of William’s peaceful accession? Or does the historian write by the light of his own time and of Domesday, remembering how much more heavily William’s confiscations fell on the “milites” than on the “provinciales.”