CHAP.

XIV.

the Confessor.

1065.

by exacting a large tribute from the country; Tostig so alienated the minds of the provincials, Edward that they revolted in 1065, expelled him, and seized his treasures. The insurgents invited Morcar, the son of Algar, and chose him for their earl. At the head of the men of Northumberland, Morcar marched southward, and was joined by an armed force from other counties, and from Wales. Harold met him at Northampton with military array, but it was deemed prudent to comply with a request so powerfully supported; Morcar was confirmed in the earldom, and the laws of Canute were restored. Tostig fled with his wife and friends to Flanders, where Baldwin entertained them. 49

EDWARD, whose passive and peaceful disposition seems to have left his nobles to their own quarrels without any interposition from himself, soon after these transactions began to sicken. At Christmas he held his court in London, and dedicated the church of St. Peter at Westminster which he had rebuilt. On the eve of the Epiphany his malady assumed a fatal aspect, and he was buried the day following at Westminster. 49

IN person, Edward was tall and well made; his hair and skin were remarkably white; his complexion rosy. 50 His mind was gentle, if not weak; but, in general, unless acted upon by others, his disposition was well meaning. He was averse to

48 See the printed Saxon Chronicle, p. 171. Flor. Wig. 427. the MS. Chronicles, Tib. B. 1. and B. 4.

49 MS. Tib. B. 1. and B. 4.; Flor. Wig. 427.; and Sax. Chron. 171. Both the MS. Chronicles have a long addition in Saxon, which follows his death. It begins, "pen Edpand kinze, Engla, hlafond, sende sothfeste," &c. This is not in Lamb. MS. Rossi Hist. Reg. Angl. 105.

50 Malmsb. 91.

1066.

BOOK

VI.

Edward

Confessor.

1066.

the imposition of taxes; abstinent in his diet; and on the public feast days, though, by the care of the the queen, he was sumptuously arrayed, he assumed no haughtiness of manner in his pomp. His piety was sincere and fervent. His time was chiefly divided between his prayers and hunting, to which he was greatly attached. His charities were frequent and extensive 51 ; and though his reign displayed no intellectual energies, and reflected no honour on his ancestry, he was so fortunate as to escape any striking disgrace.

51 Malmsb. 91. His memory was canonized, and many monkish miracles have been appended to it.

CHAP. XV.

The Reign of HAROLD the Second, the Son of GODWIN; and the last of the ANGLO-SAXON Kings.

EDWARD had intended to appoint his cousin Edward, the son of Edmund Ironside, the successor to his crown. This prince had continued in Hungary since Canute had sought his life. Called from thence by Edward the Confessor, he came to England in 1057, but died soon after his arrival.1

THE death of this prince confirmed in two men the hopes of attaining the Anglo-Saxon sceptre. Harold, and William duke of Normandy, after this event, looked forward to the splendid prize with equal ardour.

HAROLD had sworn to William to assist him in ascending the throne of England; but afterwards pleaded that his oaths had been extorted by irresistible force, as William, having had him in his power, compelled him to swear. This charge thus repelled, the rivals were in other respects on a level. Both claimed from Edward a gift or testamentary appointment in his favour2; both had

1 Flor. Wig. 419.

2 That Harold was appointed by Edward to succeed him, is asserted or intimated by the printed Saxon Chronicle, 172. By Flor. Wig. 427. Hoveden, 447. Sim. Dun. 194. Al. Bev. 122. Malmsbury informs us that this was the statement of the English (Angli dicant a rege concessum, 93.), but he thinks it was rather the rumour of partiality than of judgment. On the other side, the Annales Margenses, p. 1.; Wike's Chron. p. 22.; Malmsb. 93.; and the Nor man writers, declare that Edward gave the kingdom to William. The MS. Chronicles which affirm this are, Peter de Ickham, Domit. A. 3. (Willo duci Normanniæ consanguineo suo sicut ei prius jura

CHAP.
XV.
Harold

the

Second.

Competitween Ha

tion be

rold and

William.

BOOK.
VI.
Harold
the
Second.

been in Edward's friendship, and the family of Harold, as well as the family of William, had been connubially allied to him.

THERE is perhaps no great event in our annals in which the truth is more difficult to be elicited, than in the transaction between Harold and William in the lifetime of Edward. We will state first the account of Harold and his friends, and contrast it with the Norman story.

In revolving the history of the friends of Harold, we meet with the unpleasing circumstance of two narrations upon the subject, which counteract each other. According to some, Harold accidentally sailed in a little fishing excursion from Bosham in Sussex, and was driven, by a sudden tempest, on the opposite shore. According to others, Harold went to the Continent not accidentally but deliberately. Two of his brothers had been committed by Edward, during the rebellion of Godwin, to the care of William. Harold wished

3

mento promiserat regnum teste dedit.) So Will. Sheepheved, Faust. B. 6. (adoptavit in regnum Willielmum ducem Normannorum.) So Th. Elmham, Claud. E. 5. (Willielmum ducem Normanniæ adoptavit heredem.) So Hermannus says, it was the rumor plurimum that Edward appointed the kingdom to William. Many other MS. Chronicles affirm as much, as Chron. ab adv. Sax. ad Hen. 4. Nero, A. 6.; Chron. S. Martini de Dover a Bruto ad Hen. 2.; Vespasian, B. 11.; Chron. de Bruto ad 1346. Cleop. D. 2.; Chron. de Hale's ab initio mundi ad 1304. Cleop. D. 3.; Annales de Gest. Angl. ad 1377. Cleop. D. 9.; Hist. brevis. ending temp. Ed. 2. Domit. A. 8. ; the Hist. Abb. Claud. B. 6. We may add the words of William himself, who, in one of his charters, says: "Devicto Haraldo rege cum suis complicibus qui mihi regnum prudentia domini destinatum et beneficio concessionis domini et cognati mei gloriosi regis Edwardi concessum, conati sunt auferre." Faustina, A. 3. The authorities are too contradictory to decide the question.

3 Matt. Paris, p. 2. Matt. West. 426.; and from him Bever, in his MS. Chron. in the Harleian Library, 641. Malmsbury mentions it as a report.

XV.

Harold

the

Second.

to procure their release, and for that purpose is CHAP. said to have requested permission of Edward to visit William in Normandy. The appendage to this account is, that Edward dissuaded him in vain: and that when Harold returned, and stated to him that William had detained and made him swear to give him the English crown, the king reminded him, that he had foreseen the misfortune.*

THE Norman historians declare, that on the death of the son of Edmund Ironside, who had been invited from Hungary, Edward obeyed the dictates of personal regard, and appointed William to be his successor; that he sent Harold to announce to him this disposition, and that Harold, sailing to Flanders for the purpose of travelling to the Norman court on this important mission, was thrown by a tempest on the coast of the count of Ponthieu, who seized and imprisoned him."

To these circumstances it is added, that before Edward sent Harold, he had commissioned Robert the Norman, the archbishop of Canterbury, to make to William the same annunciation.

THIS last assertion, however, cannot, for a moment, be believed, because Robert was exiled from England in the year 1052, on Godwin's reconciliation. He went to Normandy not on public business, but fled with precipitation to secure his personal safety; and so far was Edward from

4 Eadmer, 4. Al. Bev. 125. Sim. Dun. 195. Bromton, 947. Rad. Dic. 479. Walt. Hemingford, 456. I believe Hemingford's Chronicle to be the same with the Chronica Will. de Giseburne, in the Cotton Library, Tiberius, B. 4. Higden, 283.

5 Ingulf, a contemporary writer, p. 68. Guil. Pictav. 191. Will. Gemmet. 285. Orderic. Vital. 492. Ann. Petrob. 45. WalsingWike's Chron. 22. and many of the MS Chronicles. 6 Sax. Chron. 168. and the fuller Chronicle quoted there, 167. Hoveden, 443.

ham Ypod. 28.