In a recent book, Hugh Thomas has examined the process of ‘assimilation’ between the Normans and the English during the century and a half following the Norman Conquest. We certainly agree with Thomas's long-term description of the assimilation process, but disagree with his assessment of the initial base from which this assimilation took place. Indeed, as Thomas put it:

Although, as is well known, there was much violence associated with the Norman Conquest, especially with the famous ‘Harrying of the North’ in 1069–70, we feel that the emphasis on such warlike incidents tends to convey a one-dimensional view of Norman policy in the years following the battle of Hastings and certainly gives short shrift to more peaceful approaches to reconciling local people to Norman rule. In fact, William the Conqueror himself adopted a very conciliatory tack in the early phase of the Conquest, as indicated by two quotations from Orderic Vitalis, writing from the vantage point of a couple of generations after the conquest in 1066. Orderic went to some pains to show how hard William tried to soothe English worries almost immediately after the battle of Hastings, as in the following passage: