William I

In the beginning of his reign, there were two rebellions William had to face. The first was the rebellion at Dover. These people were under the direct rule of the bishop Odo. The men at Odo fought for two days and were put down without the intervention of William himself. The next rebellion was that of Exeter. Here, the citizens refused to recognize William as the King. So William went to the town and the nobles met William and his 500 knights four miles from Exeter. Here they offered their surrender. William accepted it and left. Later he found out that many of the villagers disapproved of their nobles decision and refused to pay their taxes. So William went back to Exeter and put a siege on the town for 18 days. Once again, the town surrendered.