been betrayed and murdered by somebody.  A widespread belief laid the deed to the charge of the father of the new king.  This story might easily be made a ground of national complaint by Normandy against England, and it was easy to infer that Harold had some share in the alleged crime of Godwine.  It was easy to dwell on later events, on the driving of so many Normans out of England, with Archbishop Robert at their head.  Nay, not only had the lawful primate been driven out, but an usurper had been set in his place, and this usurping archbishop had been made to bestow a mockery of consecration on the usurping king.  The proposed aggression on England was even represented as a missionary work, undertaken for the good of the souls of the benighted islanders.  For, though the English were undoubtedly devout after their own fashion, there was much in the ecclesiastical state of England which displeased strict churchmen beyond sea, much that William, when he had the power, deemed it his duty to reform.  The insular position of England naturally parted it in many things from the usages and feelings of the mainland, and it was not hard to get up a feeling against the nation as well as against its king.  All this could not really strengthen William’s claim; but it made men look more favourably on his enterprise.

The fact that the Witan were actually in session at Edward’s death had made it possible to carry out Harold’s election and coronation with extreme speed.  The electors had made their choice before William had any opportunity of formally laying his claim before them.  This was really an advantage to him; he could the better represent the election and coronation as invalid.  His first step was of course to send an embassy to Harold to call on him even now to fulfil his oath.  The accounts of this embassy, of which we have no English account, differ as much as the different accounts of the oath.  Each version of course makes William demand and Harold refuse whatever it had made Harold swear.  These demands and refusals range from the resignation of the kingdom to a marriage with William’s daughter.  And it is hard to separate this embassy from later messages between the rivals.  In all William demands, Harold refuses; the arguments on each side are likely to be genuine.  Harold is called on to give up the crown to William, to hold it of William, to hold part of the kingdom of William, to submit the question to the judgement of the Pope, lastly, if he will do nothing else, at least to marry William’s daughter.  Different writers place these demands at different times, immediately after Harold’s election or immediately before the battle.  The last challenge to a single combat between Harold and William of course appears only on the eve of the battle.  Now none of these accounts come from contemporary partisans of Harold; every one is touched by hostile feeling towards him.  Thus the constitutional language that is put into his mouth, almost startling from