After arranging the canonization of Ireland and Wales, and announcing the canonization of seven new dukes, it was finally time for the royal council.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the credit of Lord Earl Hubert is obvious to all. He was faithful and followed me in my most downtrodden years; He was brave, and he always took the lead in all major wars; He was religious, and every year he donated most of the income from his estate to the construction of a monastery to support the poor priests and believers in Normandy.

I would like to commend him for all his efforts and dedication.

Lord Count Hubert, please come forward. William smiled and looked at Count Hubert and held out his hand to invite.

"Your Majesty!" Count Hubert did not squint, but walked with a steady step, stopped under William's throne, and stood tall and saluted William.

"Count Hubert, I will grant you the title of Duke of Anjou and the Duchess of Anjou, including two domains, the County of Anjou and the County of Tours."

"Your Majesty, this ......" William had not finished his sentence when Count Hubert hurriedly refused.

"Hubert, don't shirk, I hope you can take off the title and domain of the Duke of Anjou and protect the Kingdom of Normandy for me.

Speaking of which, it would be a disservice to you to be canonized as the Duke of Anjou, the original county of Mann has been assigned to the Duchy of Normandy, and the county of Tours, which belongs to the title of Duke of Anjou, is still in Germany. In the hands of the House of Anjou, under the control of the Kingdom of France, I will not be able to take the county of Tours to you for a while because of the peace treaty.

But don't worry, one day I will take the county of Tours and give it to you. William waved his hand, nodded solemnly, and said apologetically.

"Don't say that, I'm content to be given the title of Duke of Anjou and guard the southern border of the Norman kingdom for you." Touched by William's sincere words, Earl Hubert softened his attitude a lot, and seemed to accept William's canonization.

"Hubert, will you be my Duke of Anjou?" William asked again formally.

"I will, Your Majesty, and I swear that my family and I will always be loyal to you and your heir, and never to forsake you." Count Hubert knelt down on one knee and said solemnly.

"Well, Hubert, you are my Duke of Anjou, and I will always protect you and your family, and anyone who is your enemy will be my enemy." William smiled, took a few steps forward, put his arm on Duke Hubert's shoulder, and said, "Get up, my Lord Hubert, Duke of Anjou." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Duke Hubert stood up, and William Yu smiled at each other and said.

"Lord Hubert, after you return to the Duchy of Anjou this time, you must put your army in order, and when we go to war with King Henry I of France again, you will be the commander of my western army, leading your army of the Duchy of Anjou all the way east to Chartres, Blois and Orleans, and finally joining our army in Paris, I look forward to your performance at that time." William admonished with a smile.

"Leave it to me with confidence!" Duke Hubert patted his chest and reassured, then he looked at William and cautiously proposed:

"Your Majesty, can you give me complete autonomy, although the Duchy of Anjou is very rich in territory by virtue of the Loire, but if it does not have sufficient military, financial and autonomous powers, I cannot afford to organize a large army with the Duchy of Anjou."

"Hubert, the rules of my Norman kingdom must not be abolished, all dukes and counties in the entire kingdom need to establish a government that is directly subordinate to the court, and the tax, judicial, administrative and military affairs of the noble realm must be under the leadership of me and the court ministers, and they are not allowed to act on their own.

Richard, Duke of Ulster. Morality. Lord Vassy, Duke of Munster, Rodrigo. Morality. Lord Vival, Duke of Leinster Mephistopheles. Lord Sauron and Duke Odo of Connaught. Morality. Lord Pontier, Duke of De Gebas Maurice. Lord Welf, Lord Adolphus, Duke of Boyys, and Albert, Duke of Gwynness. Lord Sauron, and all of you.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Norman kingdom, I made a pact with you that your realm would be governed by the central government and the court, and that there would be no chaos like the princes of the Kingdom of France, which would lead to the disintegration of the Norman kingdom.

Of course, I will not encroach on your estates and the powers of your respective territories, but it must be consistent with the laws and policies of the kingdom, and the administration and army will rule under my direction, which is the weapon with which we Normans can unite and defeat countless enemies. William looked around at the crowd and admonished in a solemn tone.

"What you have taught you is, Your Majesty, that I was reckless." Duke Hubert lowered his head and said with a somewhat ashamed expression.

"Don't worry, Hubert, I know you're acting out of the open, for my sake and that of the Norman kingdom, and I don't mean to reproach you.

And even though you can't exercise self-government in your realm, I'll get the royal officials of Anjou to fully cooperate with you and do everything in your power to help you assemble your army and improve your readiness, and whatever you need, tell me and I'll meet your requirements. William said with a smile.

In the Norman Kingdom, William's royal power was stronger than that of the Kingdom of France and other Western European countries, not only requiring the vassals of his vassals to be loyal to him, but also requiring officials to be stationed in the vassals' territories, building castles and stationing troops.

These nobles were like the local military governors under William, similar to the Tang Dynasty's Jiedu envoys, commanding the military forces of a place, and at the same time having the power of moderation and appointment to the local government, as well as some financial power, but they must accept the leadership of William and the central government, and must not be divided like the French princes and the princes of the Holy Roman Empire, which is the biggest difference between William's Norman kingdom and other countries.

Naturally, William's approach was very uncomfortable for the native-born nobles, who always wanted to get more power from William, like the Duke Hubert, who was loyal to William, also involuntarily made this request to William.

It's not that he's not loyal to William, it's that he, as a noble lord, will naturally sit on the side of the lords, and it is a matter of course to ask William for power.

When Duke Hubert returned to his place, William set his sights on Andrew again. Earl Dalton said, "Count Andrew, please come forward!" ”

In a few moments, Andrew stood in front of William with an agitated expression, and seemed to be trembling from the excitement.

"Count Andrew, I canonize you as the Count of Belgium, the Duke of Belgium, the Counts of Bruges, part of the County of Yprinn, the County of Genie and part of the Count of Artois, and I grant you all the territories of the Duchy of Flanders that I own, except the Count of Boulogne.

I hope that you will take on the responsibility of guarding the eastern borders of the Norman Kingdom. William drew a circle with his scepter on the coastal part of the Duchy of Flanders, pointed to this half of the Duchy of Flanders, and said to Count Andrew.