This was always employed for good, and she was much
beloved by the Saxons.
The alliance had been formed while Harold was quite a young man, and he and
Edith were fondly attached to each other. His rise, however, to the
position of the foremost man in England, and the prospect of his accession
to the throne, rendered it probable that ere long he would be obliged to
marry one who would strengthen his position, and would from her high birth
be fitted to share the crown with him. William of Normandy was perfectly
well aware of the relation in which Edith stood to Harold, and had not
regarded her as any obstacle to the earl's marriage with his daughter; and
even Harold himself had not attempted to give it as a reason for declining
the offer of the hand of the Norman princess.
As they rode down to Hampton the earl said, "I dare say you are somewhat
surprised at my leaving the court at this crisis, Wulf, but in truth I want
to keep my hands free. Tostig, you know, is rash and impetuous. I love him
well, but am not blind to his faults; and I fear that the people of
Northumbria have some just cause for complaint against him. He is
constantly away from his earldom. He was absent for months when he went to
Rome, and he spends a great part of his time either at the court here or
with the king at his hunting-lodges. The Northumbrians are a proud people,
and it is small wonder that they object to be governed by an absent earl.
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