<P> At the same time resistance flared up again in western Mercia, where the forces of Eadric the Wild, together with his Welsh allies and further rebel forces from Cheshire and Shropshire, attacked the castle at Shrewsbury . In the south - west, rebels from Devon and Cornwall attacked the Norman garrison at Exeter, but were repulsed by the defenders and scattered by a Norman relief force under Count Brian . Other rebels from Dorset, Somerset and neighbouring areas besieged Montacute Castle but were defeated by a Norman army gathered from London, Winchester and Salisbury under Geoffrey of Coutances . Meanwhile, William attacked the Danes, who had moored for the winter south of the Humber in Lincolnshire, and drove them back to the north bank . Leaving Robert of Mortain in charge of Lincolnshire, he turned west and defeated the Mercian rebels in battle at Stafford . When the Danes attempted to return to Lincolnshire, the Norman forces there again drove them back across the Humber . William advanced into Northumbria, defeating an attempt to block his crossing of the swollen River Aire at Pontefract . The Danes fled at his approach, and he occupied York . He bought off the Danes, who agreed to leave England in the spring, and during the winter of 1069--70 his forces systematically devastated Northumbria in the Harrying of the North, subduing all resistance . As a symbol of his renewed authority over the north, William ceremonially wore his crown at York on Christmas Day 1069 . </P> <P> In early 1070, having secured the submission of Waltheof and Gospatric, and driven Edgar and his remaining supporters back to Scotland, William returned to Mercia, where he based himself at Chester and crushed all remaining resistance in the area before returning to the south . Papal legates arrived and at Easter re-crowned William, which would have symbolically reasserted his right to the kingdom . William also oversaw a purge of prelates from the Church, most notably Stigand, who was deposed from Canterbury . The papal legates also imposed penances on William and those of his supporters who had taken part in Hastings and the subsequent campaigns . As well as Canterbury, the see of York had become vacant following the death of Ealdred in September 1069 . Both sees were filled by men loyal to William: Lanfranc, abbot of William's foundation at Caen, received Canterbury while Thomas of Bayeux, one of William's chaplains, was installed at York . Some other bishoprics and abbeys also received new bishops and abbots and William confiscated some of the wealth of the English monasteries, which had served as repositories for the assets of the native nobles . </P> <P> In 1070 Sweyn II of Denmark arrived to take personal command of his fleet and renounced the earlier agreement to withdraw, sending troops into the Fens to join forces with English rebels led by Hereward the Wake, at that time based on the Isle of Ely . Sweyn soon accepted a further payment of Danegeld from William, and returned home . After the departure of the Danes the Fenland rebels remained at large, protected by the marshes, and early in 1071 there was a final outbreak of rebel activity in the area . Edwin and Morcar again turned against William, and although Edwin was quickly betrayed and killed, Morcar reached Ely, where he and Hereward were joined by exiled rebels who had sailed from Scotland . William arrived with an army and a fleet to finish off this last pocket of resistance . After some costly failures the Normans managed to construct a pontoon to reach the Isle of Ely, defeated the rebels at the bridgehead and stormed the island, marking the effective end of English resistance . Morcar was imprisoned for the rest of his life; Hereward was pardoned and had his lands returned to him . </P> <P> William faced difficulties in his continental possessions in 1071, but in 1072 he returned to England and marched north to confront King Malcolm III of Scotland . This campaign, which included a land army supported by a fleet, resulted in the Treaty of Abernethy in which Malcolm expelled Edgar the Ætheling from Scotland and agreed to some degree of subordination to William . The exact status of this subordination was unclear--the treaty merely stated that Malcolm became William's man . Whether this meant only for Cumbria and Lothian or for the whole Scottish kingdom was left ambiguous . </P>

Englands new system of justice included which of the following