Following repeated northern rebellions and a Danish invasion fleet supporting English claimants, William I conducted a systematic campaign of destruction across Yorkshire, Durham, and surrounding counties in the winter of 1069–70. Villages were burned, livestock slaughtered, and food stores destroyed. The Domesday Book records vast tracts of Yorkshire as "wasteland" sixteen years later. The Harrying of the North was one of the most brutal acts of the Norman Conquest, killing an estimated 100,000 people through violence and subsequent famine.
Estimated 100,000 deaths from violence and famine
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