His march brought Eadwine and Morkere again to submission; a fresh rising ended in the occupation of York, and England as far as the Tees lay quietly at William's feet.
[Sidenote: The Norman Conquest] It was in fact only the national revolt of 1068 that transformed the King into a conqueror.

The signal for this revolt came from Swein, king of Denmark, who had for two years past been preparing to dispute England with the Norman, but on the appearance of his fleet in the Humber all northern, all western and south-western England rose as one man.

Eadgar the AEtheling with a band of exiles who had found refuge in Scotland took the head of the Northumbrian revolt; in the south-west the men of Devon, Somerset, and Dorset gathered to the sieges of Exeter and Montacute; while a new Norman castle at Shrewsbury alone bridled a rising in the West.

So ably had the revolt been planned that even William was taken by surprise.

The outbreak was heralded by a storm of York and the slaughter of three thousand Normans who formed its garrison.