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as he had sworn to be, the duke's man. Harold in reply sent back a full

answer to William's claims. He admitted that Edward had promised the crown

to William, but he said that according to the law of England a man might at

any time revoke his will, and this Edward had done, and had named him as

his successor. As to the oath he himself had sworn, he maintained that it

was an extorted oath, and therefore of no binding force. Finally, he

offered rich gifts to William if he would depart quietly, but added that if

he was bent on war he would meet him in battle on the coming Saturday.

It is probable that William's insolent message was meant to have the effect

of inducing Harold to march against him. The Norman position was a very

strong one, and had been carefully fortified, and he hoped that Harold

would attempt to storm it. Gurth urged his brother to remain in London,

while he himself went with the army to battle. A large number of the levies

had as yet not come in, and with these, should the first battle be

unsuccessful, another army could be gathered to continue the struggle.

Moreover, whether the oath Harold had sworn was binding or not, he had

sworn, and it were better that another who was perfectly free in his

conscience should lead the English to battle.

Then, too, Gurth urged, if he himself was slain, it would matter

comparatively little, while Harold's death would jeopardize the whole

kingdom. He prayed him therefore to stay in London, and to gather another

and greater force, and to lay waste the whole land between London and the

coast, so that the Normans, whether successful or not in their first

battle, would be starved into a departure from the land. The counsel of

Gurth was approved of by the thanes, but Harold rejected it. He declared

that he would never let his brothers and friends go forth to danger on his

behalf while he himself drew back from facing it, neither could he bring

himself to harm the lands or the goods of any Englishman.

For six days Harold remained in London waiting, but in vain, for the forces

from the North to join him, and on the Thursday morning set out with his

army in order to meet the invaders on the day he had named. Accounts differ

very widely as to the strength of that army. Norman writers, in order to

glorify their own victory, speak of it as one of prodigious numbers.

English writers, on the other hand, endeavour to explain the defeat by

minimizing the number of those who followed Harold's standard. Doubtless

the English king, knowing the proved valour of his housecarls, and fresh

from the crushing defeat inflicted on the Norsemen, considered the numbers

to be sufficient. His military genius was unquestionable, and next only to

William the Norman he was regarded as the greatest general in Europe. As

there was no occasion for haste so long as the Normans remained at Hastings

he would not have moved forward with a force he deemed insufficient, when

he knew that in another week its numbers would have been doubled.

On the day that the king made his last visit to Waltham, Wulf rode over to

Croydon in compliance with an entreaty he received from Edith.

"When does the army march?" she asked anxiously as she entered.

"The day after to-morrow, lady."

"And my lord goes with it?"

"He does. I myself think that Gurth's counsel was good, and that it were

best for England that he remained at Westminster; and yet I can understand

well that he himself would feel it a shame did he remain behind."

"I feel sore misgivings," Edith said, bursting into tears. "When he

marched north against the King of Norway and Tostig I felt no doubt he

would return victorious; but night after night I have had evil dreams, and

though I pray continually my spirit has no relief. I have never feared for

him before. I have always felt sure that whoever died Harold would be

spared for the sake of England, but I have no such feeling now. It seems to

me that I sacrificed him and myself in vain when I bade him leave me and

marry the sister of the Northern earls. No good has come of it. They are

behaving now as traitors, and he has lost his life's happiness. And yet I

did it for the best."

"It was a noble sacrifice, lady, and come what may you have no cause to

regret it."

"The queen is not with him," Edith said bitterly.

"No, she is at Oxford. You must not think, lady, that the king has been

unhappy since he came to the throne. He has been so incessantly occupied

with work that he has had no time for domestic happiness, even if it had

been within his reach. His thoughts are ever on England, and he has no

thought of self. Labouring ever for the good of his subjects, he has his

happiness alike in their love, and in the knowledge that he is doing all

that man can for their welfare. If he dies, he will die the death not only

of a soldier but of the noblest king that ever sat on the English throne,

and at all times he will be enshrined in the hearts of the English people,

whether Normans or Englishmen reign over the land."

"That is true, and I must take comfort from it, Wulf; but it was not for

this that I sent for you, but to ask you where the battle is likely to be

fought."

"Near Hastings, assuredly," Wulf replied.

"I shall travel south to-morrow. I have had a message from the king praying

me to see him, but that would be too much for me. He is another woman's

husband and I dare not meet him, it were sin for me to do so; but I would

fain be nearer to the scene of battle, so that in a few hours I might

journey there, in order that, if my lord dies, I might see him once again.

I know the superior of a convent at Lewes, and there I will betake myself.

Thence, as I believe, it is some sixteen miles to Hastings, and so far as I

have heard the Norman plunderers have not gone so far west. Should aught

happen to him, will you send a speedy messenger to me?"

"Should I live through the fight I will do so, lady, but even should I not

return the news will travel swiftly; but God forfend that so great a loss

should fall upon England."

"Amen," Edith murmured, "and yet I fear. Thanks, Wulf, for coming,

perchance we may not meet again. I am thinking of entering a convent,

probably that at Lewes. The struggle and pain here is well-nigh too great

for me, but in the walls of a cloister I may find peace. If my fears are

fulfilled I shall assuredly do this, and when I return to the convent I

shall leave it no more. My life is over. I have a happy past to look back

upon, in that am blest, and shall be happier than those who have no such

consolation. Moreover, I can still be proud of Harold, and may love him as

I might love the memory of a husband who is lost. God bless you, Wulf, and

protect you through the coming battle!"

Wulf rode sadly back to the camp. Although he had denied it to Edith, he

could not but admit to himself that the sacrifice that she and Harold had

made had, so far, been unavailing. It had failed to draw the Northern earls

closer to the king. The marriage had been productive of no happiness to

Harold, and the only reward he had gained had been in the sympathy of the

people, who knew well enough that he had sacrificed his love for the good

of his country.

The army marched rapidly. Beorn and Wulf rode together, and talked over the

chances of the coming battle.

"I cannot blame Harold for not remaining behind," Wulf said, "though it

were certainly more politic for him to have stayed in London. As he could

not do so, I think it would have been well had he bidden Gurth remain

behind to gather another army with which to meet the Normans should we be

defeated; or if he could not spare Gurth he might have left Leofric behind.

It is assuredly a mistake for the three brothers all to come, for should

all fall England would no longer have a head."

"Surely no such misfortune as that will befall us, Wulf."

"I know not. They will fight side by side, and should one fall all may

perish together. One at least ought to remain behind. It matters not how

many of us are killed, so that one of Godwin's sons is left to rally the

kingdom. You may be sure that if we are conquered the victors will be in

but poor condition to meet another foe; but if there is no one to gather an

army and unite all England against the Normans they will eat us up

piecemeal."

"We must not think of so terrible a thing, Wulf. It is not like you to look

at the dark side. Why, when we were in Wales, and in as bad a plight as

could well be, you always made light of danger, and managed affairs as if

we were certain to succeed. Why should we be defeated? Why should the king

be killed? He went through the terrible fight at Stamford Bridge without a

scratch. We have seen the Normans at work, and know that they are not such

terrible fellows; and as for their duke, I would assuredly rather meet him

in battle, doughty as he may be, than have faced Harold Hardrada with his

two-handed sword."

"I have every hope of winning the day, Beorn, but still I do regret much

that Gurth and Leofric are both here. Do you remember that in Wales we

agreed that it was always well to have a way of retreat in case of defeat?

Well, I feel that defeat this time will mean not only the defeat of an army

but the ruin of England."

On Friday afternoon the army reached rising ground near the village of

Senlac, which Harold had beforehand fixed upon as the place where he would

give battle to the invaders. Kent and Sussex he knew well. They had been

the home of his family, and he owned vast estates there. Doubtless in the

long weeks of waiting for the coming of the Norman fleet he had fixed upon

this spot as one well suited for a battle. It was necessary that the

English should fight on the defensive. The Normans were strong in cavalry,

while the English were unaccustomed to fight on horseback, and would have

been at a grievous disadvantage had they attacked the enemy.

The hill offered many advantages to a force standing on the defensive. The

great eastern road passed close to its foot, and its possession barred the

passage of the invaders in that direction. The ground between it and the

sea was marshy and broken, and its occupation by an English force left the

Normans no choice but to come out and attack them.

The sides were steep and the ground rose rapidly in the rear, so that the

Norman cavalry could not attack from behind. It was, indeed, a sort of

peninsula running southward from the main range of hills.

The moment the troops reached the ground the royal standard was planted,

and the men set to work to fell trees and to form a triple palisade along

the accessible sides of the hills. The force at Harold's command must have

been far nearer to the estimate given of its strength by the English

chroniclers than by the Normans, for the space occupied was insufficient

for the standing room of such an army as that enumerated by the latter

writers.

Harold relied almost entirely upon the housecarls. The levies might be

brave, but they were undisciplined, and might easily be thrown into

disorder; they would, too, be impatient under the trial of a long day's

battle. It is even said that he sent away some of the ill-armed levies, who

came flocking in from the country round, eager to revenge the injuries

received at the hands of the Normans. It was upon the shield-wall, the

favourite formation of the English, that he relied to win the battle. It

was their national mode of fighting. It was that in which Alfred had led

the Saxons to victory over the Danes. It was that in which they clashed

against the shield-wall of Norway and shattered it, and he might well hope

that the barons of Normandy and the adventurers from all parts of Europe

who fought under William's banner might well try in vain to break it.

In the evening a messenger arrived from William, again bidding Harold

resign the kingdom or meet the duke in single combat, the crown of England

to be the prize of the victor. Harold refused the challenge. He had proved

his personal courage too often for it to be supposed that he declined from

any feeling of cowardice, but he knew well that the issue could not be thus

decided. Were he to fall, the people would still refuse to accept William

as their king; were William to fall, the host that had gathered for the

plunder of England would still give battle. Nothing was therefore to be

gained by the proposed combat.

CHAPTER XXI.

HASTINGS.

The fiction of the Norman historians, that while the Normans passed the

night preceding the battle in prayer, the English spent it in feasting, is

even more palpably absurd than the many other falsehoods invented for the

purpose of damaging the character of Harold. The English army had marched

nearly seventy miles in the course of two days, and had in addition

laboured incessantly for many hours in erecting the palisades and in

digging ditches. We may be sure that after two such days the great mass of

the army lay down dog-tired directly their work was done, and slept till

morning. Harold and his thanes had shared in their labours, and knowing the

terrible work that awaited them in the morning, would most surely be

disposed to get as long a sleep as possible to prepare for it.

But what is most opposed to the Norman story is the fact that Harold was a

sincerely and deeply religious man, far more so than his rival. The life of

the one man was in accordance with his professions--he was gentle and

merciful, ever ready to forgive his enemies, averse to bloodshed, and so

true a friend of the church that the whole of the prelates and clergy set

the interdict of the pope at naught for his sake. The only exception in his

clemency to the conquered was in the case of the Welsh, and in this

instance the stern measures he adopted were in the end the most merciful.

No oaths could bind these marauders, and the stern punishment he inflicted

was the means of procuring for the West of England a respite from their