party whatever in England, could himself aspire to the English crown,
yet at Edward's death, there might be pretenders whom the Norman arms
could find ready excuse to sanction. There was the boy Atheling, on
the one side, there was the valiant Norwegian King Hardrada on the
other, who might revive the claims of his predecessor Magnus as heir
to the rights of Canute. So near and so formidable a neighbour as the
Court of the Normans, every object of policy led him to propitiate;
and Gurth, with his unbending hate of all that was Norman, was not, at
least, the most politic envoy he could select for that end. Add to
this, that despite their present reconciliation, Harold could never
long count upon amity with Tostig: and Tostig's connection with
William, through their marriages into the House of Baldwin, was full
of danger to a new throne, to which Tostig would probably be the most
turbulent subject: the influence of this connection how desirable to
counteract! [178]

Nor could Harold, who, as patriot and statesman, felt deeply the
necessity of reform and regeneration in the decayed edifice of the
English monarchy, willingly lose an occasion to witness all that
William had done to raise so high in renown and civilisation, in
martial fame and commercial prosperity, that petty duchy, which he had
placed on a level with the kingdoms of the Teuton and the Frank.
Lastly, the Normans were the special darlings of the Roman Church.
William had obtained the dispensation to his own marriage with
Matilda; and might not the Norman influence, duly conciliated, back
the prayer which Harold trusted one day to address to the pontiff, and
secure to him the hallowed blessing, without which ambition lost its
charm, and even a throne its splendour?

All these considerations, therefore, urged the Earl to persist in his