The Battle of Hastings - Part Four

..The new king now repaid
All the promises he'd made
Of titles and of land to those who'd follow.
The English, dispossessed,
As one may well have guessed,
Found this situation very hard to swallow.

Northern parts rebelled -
A rising cruelly quelled -
The survivors had no food and life was harsh.

William I

And Hereward the Wake
A valiant stance did take
At Ely, in the middle of a marsh.

Will's men - such clever chaps -
Built a bridge that would collapse:
An attempt to reach the stronghold that was made.
Then a monk - disloyal brute -
Said, "I'll show you a safe route,"
Thus Hereward was fatally betrayed.

Once Will was well positioned,
Bishop Odo then commissioned
(To show just how his brother won the throne),
A record of events,
Of great magnificence,
And so the Bayeux Tapestry was sewn..............

Bayeux Tapestry