66 
that which precedes some great convulsion of nature. The 
antagonism of centuries, and the hatred of race brought by 
these Yikings from their Scandinavian homes, culminated in 
one fierce death grip, when the last of the Saxon kings, who, 
Norse in his sympathies, but Danish in his ministers, held 
the balance between the two factions, until his death left the 
prize for an open contest. The day of his death found 
Harold Godwinson king; the day of his funeral witnessed, 
with untimely haste, Harold’s coronation. When William 
meditated invasion, he knew there was a large party who 
favoured their kindred Northerners. Himself of the same 
lineage as the masters of the North, he had a party ready to 
assist him. Wessex might hold to the side of Harold, but 
not Northumbria, and Mercia and London would be doubtful. 
Godwin and Godwinson were no Englishmen at all, they 
were of Danish race and Danish feeling ; they had that poor 
weak creature, Edward the Confessor, under their iron rule, 
and, spite of his struggles, they kept him in their grip. 
They held their position by means of their armed retainers 
or huscarles, and their rule was cruel and oppressive to the 
natives. In the North, they who had ejected Tosti, a God- 
winson, “ because never a Dane should reign over them,”* 
(Dux would be nonsense,) would be ready to take part with a 
king of Norway, or duke of Normandy, and that welcome, 
not without reason they counted on, they received. 
This will account for what must otherwise seem so strange, 
that after the loss of one battle England lay at William’s 
feet. When Harold’s personal followers, his own bravest 
mercenaries or huscarles, perished at Standford Bridge, 
the fortunes of his race were done ; “ of the people there 
* Bonnechose, Livre iii., c. iii. — 4£ Se homines libere natos, libere educatos 
millius daci ferociam pati posse, a inajoribus diduisse aut libertatem aut mortem.” 
"William of Malmesbury, p. 83. — La denomination de danois (Dacus) donnee ici a 
Tosti fils de Godwin et de Githa, soeur du roi de Danemark, est digne d’attention. 
