While the year 1071 kept William of Normandy busy subduing rebellions on the continent and in south eastern England, most notably in a messy effort to capture the outlaw Hereward the Wake, his popularity as conqueror in the north continued its decline from quite slight to petite, in his own vernacular.  Defiance by the noblemen of Northumbria and York, and their somewhat helpful attitude toward the excursions by Malcolm of Scotland once again into the Cumbria, led William to carry his own banner like the Caesars of old to the Wall of Hadrian, so to crush the malcontents. 

And that was precisely the temper of William the Conqueror as he rode a brilliant white stallion into the ancient amphitheater at Chester, a horse provided by the stables of The Hoo’s of Kent, who had a venerable enterpris...

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