in 1052 and seized Steyning for himself, and his son Harold decided to keep it upon his accession. This made commercial and strategic sense as Harold did not want a Norman toehold in a potential invasion port, but William responded by swearing on a knife before setting out for England to recover it for the monks:

:Of the land of Steyning [county of Sussex]; the Duke gave seisin to the Church by the token of a knife, before he went to England; the