was victorious. To perpetuate the memory of his successes, he erected,
on the site of each battle, a pyramid or heap of stones, with the inscription
HERE HAROLD CONQUERED.

By the rapid progress of events, Harold was now become the most
powerful subject in England. The advanced life and increasing in-
firmities of the king gave him the prospect of an early vacancy. The
death of the young heir, in which he stands not altogether free of sus-
picion, left only one individual between him and the succession, Edgar,
a youth feeble in body and still more feeble in mind, whose hereditary
right was sunk in his inaptitude to govern. Another competitor, how-
ever, then unknown to Harold, had appeared in the person of William
the young duke of Normandy. It was evident that by descent neither
could boast the remotest claim. William was the illegitimate son of
Robert, and nephew of Queen Emma. Harold's connexions with the
royal family arose from the marriage of his sister with Edward. Their
title lay in their power and ambition ; and in the latter William was
equal, in the former superior to Harold. There was still one obstacle
in Harold's way, which it was necessary to remove : Godwin, when re-
stored to his power and fortune, had given hostages for his good beha-
viour, and among the rest one son and one grandson ; these Edward,
for the greater security, had consigned to the custody of William in
Normandy. Harold was uneasy that such near relations, under his
present circumstances, should be detained prisoners in a foreign country;
and was afraid lest the duke should detain these pledges as a check on
the ambition of any other pretender. By professions of obedience and
devoted submission to the royal authority, he obtained the consent of
Edward to release them, and with this view he proceeded with a numer-
ous retinue on his journey to Normandy. Unfortunately the vessel in
which they sailed was driven by tempests and stranded in the mouth of
the river Mayo, on the territory of Guy, count of Ponthieu. A barbarous
custom had invested the lord of the district with a pretended right, not
only to the remains of the wreck, but also to the persons of the survi-
vors ; nor were torture and imprisonment spared to extort an exorbitant
ransom for the captives. Harold and his companions were seized and
conducted to Guy, by whom they were immured in his castle of Beau-
vain. 1 He found means to carry intelligence of his situation to William,
and complained that while proceeding to his court in the execution of
a royal commission from the English king, he had met with this harsh
treatment from the mercenary disposition of the count of Ponthieu.
No circumstance could have happened more propitious to the views of
William. He was sensible of the importance of the prisoner, and fore-
saw that if he could once gain Harold, either by force or favour, his
way to the throne of England would be open, and Edward would have
no difficulty in accomplishing the favourable intention which he secretly

1 Ingulf. 68. Guil. Pictav, 191. Chron. de Normandie.



PERIOD.] HAROLD II. 101

entertained in his behalf. He despatched a messenger to Guy demanding
the captive, and that nobleman not daring to refuse, surrendered Harold,
who was immediately conducted to Rouen, the ducal capital. In the
Norman court Harold was treated with respect and munificence ; but
he enjoyed only the semblance of liberty, and had soon cause to regret
the dungeons of Beauvain. The duke, after showing himself disposed
to comply with his desire in delivering up the hostages, took an oppor-
tunity of disclosing to him the great secret of his pretensions to the
crown of England, and of the will which Edward intended to make in
his favour. He desired the assistance of Harold in carrying that design
into effect ; in return for so great an obligation he made professions
of the utmost gratitude ; he promised that the present grandeur of
Harold's family, so precarious under the jealousy and hatred of Edward,
should receive new increase from a successor who would be so greatly
beholden to him for his advancement. Harold, is may well be ima-
gined, was surprised at this declaration ; but being sensible that he
should never recover his own liberty, much less tiat of his brother and
nephew, if he refused the demand of William, feigned a compliance with
his wishes. Compelled by the necessity of his situation, he renounced
all hopes of the crown for himself, and professed his sincere intention of
supporting the will of Edward in seconding his pretensions, and even
did homage for his lands and honours to William as the future monarch
of England. But the jealousy of the Norman required more than mere
ceremonial profession. To bind closer to his interests, besides offering
him his daughter Adela in marriage, he obliged him before an assembly
of his barons, to take an oath that he would fulfil his promises in pro-
moting his succession, and that he would admit a Norman garrison into
the castle of Dover. To render this appeal to heaven more obligatory,
he employed an artifice well-suited to the ignorance and superstition of
the age. He secretly conveyed under the altar on which Harold agreed
to swear, the reliques of some of the most revered martyrs ; and when
Harold had taken the oath, he showed him the canonized fragments, and
admonished him to observe religiously an engagement that had been
ratified by so tremendous a sanction. 2 The English earl was astonished,
but dissembling his concern he renewed the same professions, and
at length, loaded with presents, but distressed in mind, was dismissed
from the court of his rival with all the marks of mutual confidence and
esteem. He obtained, at the same time, the liberation of his nephew
Haco, one of the hostages. Wolfnoth, however, was retained as a se-
curity for the faith of his brother. That Harold was captured by the
count of Ponthieu, delivered up, and compelled to swear fealty to
William, are indisputable facts ; but the object which originally induced
him to put to sea, is a subject of doubt and disagreement among wri-
ters ; some alleging that he went to demand the hostages ; others that
he was employed by Edward to notify to the duke his intended eleva-
tion to the English throne ; while a third class, who appear ignorant
or incredulous of both these reports, describe his voyage as an occa-
sional excursion along the coast, when he was cast by storm on the
barbarous territory of Earl Guy. Whatever may have been the motive
of this unfortunate journey, Harold no sooner found himself at liberty,

* Mem. de 1'Acad. des Inscrip. Tom. viii.



102 POLITICAL SERIES. [FlRST

than his ambition suggested casuistry enough to exonerate him from an
oath which had been extorted from him by fear, and which, if fulfilled,
might be attended with the subjugation of his native country^ to a
foreign power. He continued insidiously to practise every art of po-
pularity, and by an ostentation of his power and influence, to deter the
timorous Edward from consummating the destination of the throne in
favour of William.

It was fortunate for the views of this aspiring prince, that immediately
on his return to England, (1065,) his services were required to quell an
insurrection of the Northumbrians. Tostig, his brother, had governed
that province with the rapacity of a despot, and the cruelty of a barba-
rian. In this rebellion Morcar and Edwin had concurred two brothers,
the grandsons of Leofric, and who possessed great power in that district.
Tostig had perfidiously murdered two noble thanes in his palace at
York ; at his request Editha had ordered the assassination of Gospatrick
in Edward's court ; while the recent imposition of an extraordinary
tax, as it was universally felt, had armed the whole population against
him. In the beginning of October the insurgents surprised York ; Tos-
tig fled, his treasures and armoury were pillaged, and his guards, to
the number of two hundred, bothDanes and English, were made prisoners,
conducted out of the city, and massacred in cold blood on the north
bank of the Ouse. Elated with their success, the Northumbrians chose
Morcar for their future earl, and advancing as far as Northampton, they
met Harold on his way to chastise and reduce them to subjection.
Before the armies came to action, Morcar endeavoured to justify his own
conduct and that of his adherents. Finding Harold disposed to listen
to their grievances, he represented to him that Tostig had behaved
in a manner so unworthy his station, that nobody, not even a brother,
could support such tyranny without participating in some degree in the
infamy attending it ; that they had been accustomed to a legal admin-
istration, and were willing to submit to the king if they had a gover-
nor that would pay a regard to their rights and privileges ; that they
were freemen, and would not tamely submit to oppression ; that they
had been taught by their ancestors to prefer death to servitude, and
had taken the field determined to perish rather than suffer the indig-
nities to which they had been exposed ; that they only required the
confirmation of the laws of Canute, and the appointment of Morcar to
the earldon; ; and they trusted that Harold, on reflection, would not
defend in another that violent conduct which he had never admitted
into his own government. This vigorous remonstrance was accom-
panied with such a detail of facts so well-supported, that Harold found
it prudent to abandon his brother's cause, and returning to Edward,
he persuaded him to pardon the Northumbrians, and to confirm Mor-
car in the government. He even married the sister of that nobleman,
and by his interest procured Edwin, her younger brother, to be elected
governor of Mercia. Tostig departed the kingdom in great indigna-
tion, and took refuge with Earl Baldwin, at Bruges, the usual asylum
of his family. The nuptials of Harold with the sister of Morcar broke
all measures with the duke of Normandy ; and William clearly per-
ceived that he could no longer rely on the oaths and promises which
he had extorted from him. But the artful earl was now in such a situ-
ation that he deemed it no longer necessary to dissemble. His mode-



PERIOD.] HAROLD II. 103

rate and generous conduct towards the Northumbrians had gained him
the affections of his countrymen. He saw that almost all England was
engaged in his interests; while he himself possessed the jurisdiction of
the south, Morcar of the north, and Edwin of the east. He now made
no secret of aspiring to the crown, and insisted that, as all admitted
the imbecility of Edgar, the sole surviving heir, there was no one so
capable of filling the throne as a nobleman of great influence, of ma-
ture experience, and approved talents, who, being a native of the king-
dom, would effectually secure it against the dominion and tyranny of
foreigners. The death of Edward, which happened at this crisis, left
his real intentions, . as to his successor, a matter of uncertainty. Two
competitors, as we have seen, looked forward to the splendid prize with
equal ardour. The love of justice and of legitimate right is so inter-
woven with the most common associations of the human mind, that
even ambition, which seeks its object by a disregard for all law and
equity, yet labours to conceal its vicious course, by pretending to tread
in the path of rectitude. William and Harold were alike determined
to possess the English crown at every hazard: but as neither could
succeed without popular support, they addressed themselves to the
conscience and feelings of the society in which they lived ; and while
they intended the sword to be the arbitrator of their dispute, each
magnified his claims and talked of his right.

There is, perhaps, no great event in our annals in which truth is more
difficult to be elicited, than in adjusting the succession between William
and Harold. 3 The interest of both to persevere in their assertions, was
so vastly important, that their different narratives have been believed
and vehemently maintained by their respective partisans. Though it
may be impossible to reconcile them in every particular, where the
probabilities of the case are so equally balanced, it is but candid to
hear what the parties have severally advanced. The friends of Harold
assert, that before Edward expired, that earl and his kinsmen forced
their way into the chamber of the dying monarch, and exhorted him
to name a successor, by whom the realm might be ruled in peace
and security. " Ye know full well, my lords," said Edward, " that I
have bequeathed my kingdom to the duke of Normandy ; and are
there not those here whose oaths have been given to promote his suc-
cession ?" Harold stepped nearer, and interrupting the king, asked
him upon whom the crown should be bestowed. " Harold ! take it, if
such be thy wish ; but the gift will be thy ruin. Against the duke and
his baronage no power of thine can avail thee." Harold replied, that
lie did not fear the Norman, or any other enemy. Wearied with im-
portunity, the king turned himself upon his couch, and faintly intimat-
ed, that the English nation might name Harold, or whom they liked,
as king, and shortly after breathed his last. It was upon this last will
of Edward, that Harold founded his title ; and many of our historians
favour his claim. On the other hand, whatever the opposite party
may have advanced, it does not seem likely that Edward, though his
wishes might have been decidedly expressed, ever executed a will in
favour of the Norman duke, much less that he got it ratified by the
states of the kingdom, as is affirmed by some. Such a document

1 Turner's Angl. Sax. Hist. iii. 339.



104 POLITICAL SERIES. [FlRST

would have been known to all, and would have been produced by the
Conqueror, to whom, had it existed, it gave so plausible and really so
just a title. But the doubtful and ambiguous manner in which he
seems always to have mentioned it, evinces that he could only plead
the known intentions of that monarch in his favour, which he was de-
sirous to call a will. In one of his charters he calls himself rex heredi-
toritis, intimating his right as heir ; but he had then obtained the
crown, and might employ, without being challenged, what term he
chose. In the war of argument, William had one great triumph.
Harold had sworn to assist his rival in ascending the throne of Eng-
land ; and when the son of Godwin took the sceptre to himself, he vio-
lated his solemn adjuration as a Christian, as well as his plighted
honour as a soldier, and a man. This charge of perjury Harold en-
deavoured to repel, by pleading that his oaths had been extorted by
force and constraint ; but such an excuse amounts to little else than
an evasion, and can prove nothing but his own insincerity. It is also
inauspicious to his cause, that his journey to the continent, when he
was thrown by a tempest on the coast of Ponthieu, should be explained
so contradictorily by his own abettors. 4 The various statements respect-
ing the conflicting claims of William and Harold, it may be difficult to
reconcile, but they are just such as are often to be met with in the affairs
of private life ; and whatever uncertainty there may be as to the con-
tradictory bequests of the Confessor, one fact is obvious, that the pre-
tensions of both competitors were founded upon acts emanating from a
wavering and feeble mind. When such disputes take place in the
transactions of ordinary life, they are decided by a court of justice ; if
they concern a kingdom, they can only be settled by the sword. Hesi-
tation or delay might have proved fatal to Harold's cause; but he so well
prepared matters, that immediately on Edward's death he stepped into
the vacant throne. On the same evening, he was proclaimed king in
an assembly by the nobles and the citizens of London ; and the next
day witnessed both the funeral of the late, and the coronation of the
new, sovereign. The accession was attended with as little disturbance
or opposition, as if he had succeeded by the most undoubted hereditary
title, for the claim of Edgar Atheling, the last surviving male of the
race of Cerdic, was never mentioned, much less that of the Norman

4 There is one important relic of those times, discovered about a century ago, which
has survived, and which is peculiarly interesting, because it illustrates and confirms the
history of this period, more especially the transaction between Harold and William. In
the^ cathedral church of Bayeux, in Normandy, an ancient tapestry has been preserved,
which contradicts the story of Harold being driven by storm on the opposite shore, while
on a mere excursion of pleasure. The ground of this piece of work is a white linen
cloth or canvass, one foot eleven inches in depth, and two hundred and twelve feet in
length. The figures of the men, horses, &c., are rudely shaped, but in their proper
colours, wrought in the manner of samplers in worsted. It has been very generally
ascribed to Queen Matilda, wife of the Conqueror, and the maids of her court; and we
have good authority that the English ladies of that age excelled at their needle, and in



ducal palace at Rouen ; his stay and military exploits in that country ; his swearing
homage, over the holy relics, to William, who appears on his throne without armour,
but with a sword, and his left hand extended ; his return to England ; and lastly, his
coronation. This tapestry obviously confirms the main circumstance of the Norman
account; though, as an historical document, it cannot be regarded as completely free
from suspicion.



PERIOD.] HAROLD II. 105

duke. It is true he had assumed the crown without waiting for the
free deliberation of the states, or regularly submitting the question to
their determination; but he might take the general silence for consent,
and appeal to the suffrages of the people, which appeared unanimous.
The whole nation seemed joyfully to acquiesce in his elevation ; if any
were averse to this measure, they were obliged to conceal their senti-
ments. Aldred, archbishop of York, performed the ceremony of the
coronation, on account of the suspension of Stigant from the see of
Canterbury; though the Normans represent the latter prelate as offici-
ating on that occasion. 5 The only discontented portion of his subjects
were the Northumbrians, who were preparing to find a chieftain of
their own. But Harold hastened with an army to the north, and by
his conciliatory conduct, and his marriage with Algitha, the daughter
of Algar, he secured the obedience of that province, and bound the
two powerful earls, Morcar and Edwin, to his interests. 6

The intelligence of Edward's demise and Harold's usurpation, had
been conveyed to Normandy by the same messenger. William was
hunting in the park of Rouen, surrounded by a noble train of knights,
squires, and damsels, when the envoy arrived. The bow dropped out
of his hand, such was the effect of his surprise and anxiety ; he clasped
and unclasped his mantle, spoke not a word, and looked so fierce, that
no one ventured to address him. Entering a small boat, he crossed the
Seine still silent, strode into the great hall of his palace, threw him-
self into a seat, wrapped his head in his cloak, and bent his body down-
wards, apparently overwhelmed with the sensation of the tidings. The
streets of Rouen were crowded with inquirers. " Sirs," said the sene-
schal to the eager multitude, " ye shall soon know the cause of our
lord's anxiety ;" and then approaching his master, he roused him from
his painful reverie. Moved to the highest pitch of indignation, Wil-
liam assembled his council, informed them of the event, and expressed
his resolution to pursue, by arms, his pretensions to the crown of Eng-
land. 1 An embassy was despatched to remind Harold of his former
oath of fealty and promise of assistance. The latter replied, that the
oath with which he was reproached was not obligatory, being the re-
sult of force ; that he had no authority either from the late king, or the
states of England, to tender him the succession ; that he had himself
been elected by the free choice of the people, and would prove himself
unworthy of their favour if he did not strenuously maintain their liber-
ties; and that if any attempts were made on the throne by violence,
the 'Bastard of Normandy' should experience the power of a united
nation, conducted by a prince resolved to lose his government only
with his life. The message was exactly such as William expected. It
was an unnecessary parade of form, as both parties had determined to
appeal to arms ; and the English, no less than the Normans, were asto-
nished at the mighty preparations making to decide the splendid prize. 8
Harold did not feel his own weakness, and he scarcely knew the re-
sources of his adversary ; but it was unfortunate that he had to contend
at the same time not only with William, but with his own brother,
Tostig, then in Flanders, who stirred up every opposition in his power.

* Turner's Angl. Sax. Hist iii. 353. Lingard, i. 323. * Aug. Sac. ii. 253.

1 Chronique de Normnndie. Ingulf. 68. Malm. 50.

I. O



106 POLITICAL SERIES. [FlRST

He visited Normandy, and arranged a plan of co-operation with the duke,
and sent messengers to Norway, in the hope of exciting the freeboot-
ers of that kingdom. Having collected a fleet of sixty sail at Bruges,
he entered the channel and began the war by levying contributions in
the Isle of Wight But he retired on the approach of his brother, to-
wards the north ; and in Lindesay he was defeated by Edwin, earl of
Mercia. His mariners abandoned him in distress, and Malcolm king
of Scotland, offered him an asylum till the arrival of his northern ally.
The Norwegian monarch, Hardrada, embarked with his family and a
gallant army, in a fleet of three hundred sail. The queen and her two
daughters, fearing the danger of the campaign, were set on shore at Ork-
ney. The combined fleets met at the mouth of the Tyne. Their first
object was to obtain possession of York; and with this view they enter-
ed the Humber, and ascended the Ouse. The two brothers, Edwin and
Morcar, made a desperate effort to save that capital. The impetuosity
of the English burst through the enemy's line, which was drawn up
with their right flank to the river, and their left to a morass ; but they
in their turn were repulsed by a fresh body of troops from the ships;
and more of the fugitives perished in the water than had fallen by the
sword. So great was the carnage, that the Norwegians traversed the
marsh on the bodies of the slain. The two earls escaped to York, and
the mutual exchange of one hundred and fifty hostages shows that the
province was conditionally surrendered to the invaders. 9 The citizens
of York either believing opposition to be hopeless, or not choosing to
resist, opened their gates to the victor, Avho proceeded to establish his
authority by summoning all the inhabitants to perform homage, accord-
ing to the forms of the constitution. The news of this disaster arrived
as he was completing his preparations to meet the threatened descent of
the Normans. Rallying his forces, he lost not a moment in marching
against the aggressors, and in four days after the surrender of York he
reached the seat of war. The rebels were surprised, but not dismayed.
Hardrada, arrayed in a blue mantle and glittering helmet, retired to
Stamford bridge, on the Derwent, waiting reinforcements from his ships.
There he drew up his warriors in a compact but hollow circle. The
royal standard, called the Land-eyda, or 'the ravager of the earth,'
occupied the centre. The circumference was composed of spear-
men, ranged with target close to target, forming what they termed a
Shield-bong, or ' fortress of shields.' The whole was surrounded by a
line of spears firmly fixed in the earth, and bristling outwards in an
oblique direction. The English cavalry were accustomed to charge in
irregular masses, and if they met with resistance, to disperse themselves
and re-assemble on a given point; but the fine array of the Norwegians
bade defiance to all their attempts, and Harold, with his great superior-
ity of force, might yet have been foiled, had not the enemy, believing
their adversaries were about to fly, broken their ranks and begun the
pursuit. At this instant the English wheeled round and rushed in
through the opening. In the confusion Hardrada was shot in the
neck with an arrow; he fell instantly, and Tostig assumed the command.
Peace was offered, but he declined all terms ; and the Norwegians with
one voice declared they would accept of no quarter. The combat was