the fact that, while such Norman statements as could be denied were
emphatically denied by the English writers, on these two points the
most patriotic Englishmen, the strongest partisans of Harold, keep
a marked silence. We may be sure therefore that some promise was
made; for that promise a time must be found, and no time seems
possible except this time of William's visit to Edward. The date
rests on no direct authority, but it answers every requirement.
Those who spoke of the promise as being made earlier, when William
and Edward were boys together in Normandy, forgot that Edward was
many years older than William. The only possible moment earlier
than the visit was when Edward was elected king in 1042. Before
that time he could hardly have thought of disposing of a kingdom
which was not his, and at that time he might have looked forward to
leaving sons to succeed him. Still less could the promise have
been made later than the visit. From 1053 to the end of his life
Edward was under English influences, which led him first to send
for his nephew Edward from Hungary as his successor, and in the end
to make a recommendation in favour of Harold. But in 1051-52
Edward, whether under a vow or not, may well have given up the hope
of children; he was surrounded by Norman influences; and, for the
only time in the last twenty-four years of their joint lives, he
and William met face to face. The only difficulty is one to which
no contemporary writer makes any reference. If Edward wished to
dispose of his crown in favour of one of his French-speaking
kinsmen, he had a nearer kinsman of whom he might more naturally
have thought. His own nephew Ralph was living in England and
holding an English earldom. He had the advantage over both William
and his own older brother Walter of Mantes, in not being a reigning
prince elsewhere. We can only say that there is evidence that
Edward did think of William, that there is no evidence that he ever