Facts were quick in responding to this quickly produced impression; a formal deputation was sent to William's camp; the archbishops of Canterbury and York, many other prelates and laic chieftains, the principal citizens of London, the two brothers-in- law of Harold, Edwin and Morkar, and the young king of yesterday, Edgar Atheling himself, formed part of it; and they brought to William, Edgar Atheling his abdication, and all the others their submission, with an express invitation to William to have himself made king, "for we be wont," said they, "to serve a king, and we wish to have a king for lord." William received them in presence of the chieftains of his army, and with great show of moderation in his desires.

"Affairs," said he, "be troubled still; there be still certain rebels; I desire rather the peace of the kingdom than the crown; I would that my wife should be crowned with me." The Norman chieftains murmured whilst they smiled; and one of them, an Aquitanian, Aimery de Thouars, cried out, "It is passing modest to ask soldiers if they wish their chief to be king: soldiers are never, or very seldom, called to such deliberations: let what we desire be done as soon as possible." William yielded to the entreaties of the Saxon deputies and to the counsels of the Norman chieftains but, prudent still, before going in person to London, he sent thither some of his officers with orders to have built there immediately, on the banks of the Thames, at a point which he indicated, a fort where he might establish himself in safety.

That fort, in the course of time, became the Tower of London.
When William set out, some days afterwards, to make his entry into the city, he found, on his way to St.Alban's, the road blocked with huge trunks of trees recently felled.

"What means this barricade in thy domains ?" he demanded of the abbot of St.Alban's, a Saxon noble.

"I did what was my duty to my birth and mission," replied the monk: "if others, of my rank and condition, had done as much, as they ought to and could have done, thou hadst not penetrated so far into our country." On entering London after all these delays and all these precautions, William fixed, for his coronation, upon Christmas-day, December 25th, 1066.