England.
His brother, Archbishop Otto, was with him; and when the earl came to
England he began to plunder, and take possession of the land as he came
along. Earl William was stouter and stronger than other men; a great
horseman and warrior, but somewhat stern; and a very sensible man, but
not considered a man to be relied on.

100. FALL OF KING HARALD GODWINSON.

King Harald Godwinson gave King Harald Sigurdson's son Olaf leave to go
away, with the men who had followed him and had not fallen in battle;
but he himself turned round with his army to go south, for he had heard
that William the Bastard was overwhelming the south of England with a
vast army, and was subduing the country for himself. With King Harald
went his brothers Svein and Gyrd, and Earl Valthiof. King Harald
and Earl William met each other south in England at Helsingja-port
(Hastings). There was a great battle in which King Harald and his
brother Earl Gyrd and a great part of his men fell. This was the
nineteenth day after the fall of King Harald Sigurdson. Harald's
brother, Earl Valthiof, escaped by flight, and towards evening fell in
with a division of William's people, consisting of 100 men; and when
they saw Earl Valthiof's troop they fled to a wood. Earl Valthiof set
fire to the wood, and they were all burnt. So says Thorkel Skallason in
Valthiof's ballad:--

"Earl Valthiof the brave
His foes a warming gave:
Within the blazing grove
A hundred men he drove.
The wolf will soon return,
And the witch's horse will burn
Her sharp claws in the ash,
To taste the Frenchman's flesh."

101. EARL VALTHIOF'S DEATH.

William was proclaimed king of England. He sent a message to Earl
Valthiof that they should be reconciled, and gave him assurance of
safety to come to the place of meeting. The earl set out with a few men;
but when he came to a heath north of Kastala-bryggia, there met him two
officers of King William, with many followers, who took him prisoner,
put him in fetters, and afterwards he was beheaded; and the English call
him a saint. Thorkel tells of this:--

"William came o'er the sea,
With bloody sword came he:
Cold heart and bloody hand
Now rule the English land.
Earl Valthiof he slew,--
Valthiof the brave and true.
Cold heart and bloody hand
Now rule the English land."

William was after this king of England for twenty-one years, and his
des