ure. Harold of Norway
came first, landing in the old Danish stronghold of Northumbria; and the
English Harold hurried northward to meet him, with his little body of
house-carls, aided by a large fyrd which he had hastily collected to use
against William. At Stamford-bridge he overthrew the invaders with great
slaughter, Harold Hardrada and Tostig being amongst the slain.
Meanwhile, William had crossed to Pevensey, and was ravaging the coast.
Harold hurried southward, and met him at Senlac, near Hastings. After a
hard day's fight, the Normans were successful, and Harold fell. But even
yet the English could not agree among themselves. In this crisis of the
national fate, the local jealousies burnt up as fiercely as ever. While
William was marching upon London, the witan were quarrelling and
intriguing in the city over the succession. "Archbishop Ealdred and the
townsmen of London would have Eadgar Child,"--a grandson of Eadmund
Ironside--"for king, as was his right by kin." But Eadwine and Morkere,
the representatives of the great Mercian family of Leofric, had hopes
that they might turn William's invasion to their own good, and secure
their independence in the north by allowing Wessex to fall unassisted
into his hands. After much shuffling, Eadgar was at last chosen for
king. "But as it ever should have been the forwarder, so was it ever,
from day to day, slower and worse." No resistance was organised. In the
midst of all this turmoil, the Peterborough Chronicler is engaged in
narrating the petty affairs of his own abbey, and the question which
arose through the application made to Eadgar for his consent to the
appointment of an abbot. In such a spirit did the English meet an
invasion from the stoutest and best organised soldiery in Europe.
William marched on without let or hindrance, and on his way, the
Lady--the Confessor's widow--surrendered the royal city of Winchester
into his hands. The duke reached the Thames, burnt Southwark, and then
made a detour to cross the river at Wallingford, whence he proceeded
into Hertfordshire, thus cutting off Eadwine and Morkere in London from
their earldoms. The Mercian and Northumbrian leaders being determined to
hold their own at all hazards, retreated northward; and the English
resistance crumbled into pieces. Eadgar, the rival king, with Ealdred,
the archbishop, and all the chief men of London, came out to meet
William, and "bowed to him for need." The Chronicler can only say that