The North was making ready for war while the war in the West went on, but one part of England did nothing to help the other.  In the summer the movement in the North took shape.  The nominal earls Edwin, Morkere, and Gospatric, with the AEtheling Edgar and others, left William’s court to put themselves at the head of the movement.  Edwin was specially aggrieved, because the king had promised him one of his daughters in marriage, but had delayed giving her to him.  The English formed alliances with the dependent princes of Wales and Scotland, and stood ready to withstand any attack.  William set forth; as he had taken Exeter, he took Warwick, perhaps Leicester.  This was enough for Edwin and Morkere.  They submitted, and were again received to favour.  More valiant spirits withdrew northward, ready to defend Durham as the last shelter of independence, while Edgar and Gospatric fled to the court of Malcolm of Scotland.  William went on, receiving the submission of Nottingham and York; thence he turned southward, receiving on his way the submission of Lincoln, Cambridge, and Huntingdon.  Again he deemed it his policy to establish his power in the lands which he had already won rather than to jeopard matters by at once pressing farther.  In the conquered towns he built castles, and he placed permanent garrisons in each district by granting estates to his Norman and other followers.  Different towns and districts suffered in different degrees, according doubtless to the measure of resistance met with in each.  Lincoln and Lincolnshire were on the whole favourably treated.  An unusual number of Englishmen kept lands and offices in city and shire.  At Leicester and Northampton, and in their shires, the wide confiscations and great destruction of houses point to a stout resistance.  And though Durham was still untouched, and though William had assuredly no present purpose of attacking Scotland, he found it expedient to receive with all favour a nominal submission brought from the King of Scots by the hands of the Bishop of Durham.

If William’s policy ever seems less prudent than usual, it was at the beginning of the next year, 1069.  The extreme North still stood out.  William had twice commissioned English earls of Northumberland to take possession if they could.  He now risked the dangerous step of sending a stranger.  Robert of Comines was appointed to the earldom forfeited by the flight of Gospatric.  While it was still winter, he went with his force to Durham.  By help of the Bishop, he was admitted into the city, but he and his whole force were cut off by the people of Durham and its neighbourhood.  Robert’s expedition in short led only to a revolt of York, where Edgar was received and siege was laid to the castle.  William marched in person with all speed; he relieved the castle; he recovered the city and strengthened it by a second castle on the other side of the river.  Still he thought it prudent to take no present steps against Durham.  Soon after this came the second attempt of Harold’s sons in the West.