answered that he would never lay waste a single rood of English
ground, that he would never harm the lands or the goods of the men
who had chosen him to be their king. In the trial of skill between
the two commanders, each to some extent carried his point.
William's havoc of a large part of Sussex compelled Harold to march
at once to give battle. But Harold was able to give battle at a
place of his own choosing, thoroughly suited for the kind of
warfare which he had to wage.

Harold was blamed, as defeated generals are blamed, for being too
eager to fight and not waiting for more troops. But to any one who
studies the ground it is plain that Harold needed, not more troops,
but to some extent better troops, and that he would not have got
those better troops by waiting. From York Harold had marched to
London, as the meeting-place for southern and eastern England, as
well as for the few who actually followed him from the North and
those who joined him on the march. Edwin and Morkere were bidden
to follow with the full force of their earldoms. This they took
care not to do. Harold and his West-Saxons had saved them, but
they would not strike a blow back again. Both now and earlier in
the year they doubtless aimed at a division of the kingdom, such as
had been twice made within fifty years. Either Harold or William
might reign in Wessex and East-Anglia; Edwin should reign in
Northumberland and Mercia. William, the enemy of Harold but no
enemy of theirs, might be satisfied with the part of England which
was under the immediate rule of Harold and his brothers, and might
allow the house of Leofric to keep at least an under-kingship in
the North. That the brother earls held back from the King's muster
is undoubted, and this explanation fits in with their whole conduct
both before and after. Harold had thus at his command the picked