A modern day word has quite some history behind it!

I've been reading "Famous Men of the Middle Ages"

and read about this the other day...

After many battles were won

and a few years of being King of England,

England was so peaceful that William the Conquerer

left to visit Normandy.

He left England in the charge of his brother while he was gone.

But while he was gone,

many English nobels rebelled against him.

So when he returned, he made very severe laws

and did some harsh things.

He laid an extensive area waste, destroying all houses on it,

causing thousands of people to die from lack of food and shelter.

All because the people there had not sworn allegiance to him.

He made a law that all lights should be put out

and all fires covered with ashes at 8:00 every evening,

so the people would have to go to bed then.

A bell was rung in all cities and towns throughout England

to warn people of the hour.

The bell was called the 'curfew',

from the French words couvre feu,

meaning "to cover fire."