To the end of his life the proudest barons lay bound and blinded in his prison.

His hoard grew greater and greater.
Normandy, toss as she might, lay helpless at his feet to the last.

In England it was only after his death that men dared mutter what evil things they had thought of Henry the Peace-lover, or censure the pitilessness, the greed, and the lust which had blurred the wisdom and splendour of his rule.
[Sidenote: Henry's Administration] His vigorous administration carried out into detail the system of government which the Conqueror had sketched.

The vast estates which had fallen to the crown through revolt and forfeiture were granted out to new men dependent on royal favour.

On the ruins of the great feudatories whom he had crushed Henry built up a class of lesser nobles, whom the older barons of the Conquest looked down on in scorn, but who were strong enough to form a counterpoise to their influence, while they furnished the Crown with a class of useful administrators whom Henry employed as his sheriffs and judges.