In vain
they pointed out that while all the thanes would willingly put their forces
at his disposal to resist a foreign foe, or even to repel an invasion from
the north, they would not risk life and fortune in an endeavour to force a
governor upon a people who hated him, and, as most thought, with good
reason.
The king was immovable; but Harold and his councillors took steps quietly
to inform the thanes that the Witan was opposed to the order, and that for
the present no harm would be done by disregarding the royal mandate. The
king, in his anger and mortification at finding himself unable to march
against the rebels with an overwhelming force, fell ill, and the control of
affairs passed into Harold's hands; and the king, whose fits of passion,
though extreme while they lasted, were but short-lived gave him full power
to deal with the matter as he thought best.
Harold had done all that he could for Tostig when he went to Northampton,
but had failed. There was no alternative now between a great war, followed
probably by a complete split of the kingdom, or acquiescence in the demands
of the men of the North. He did not hesitate, but in the name of the king
confirmed the decisions arrived at by the Gemot of York--recognized Morcar
as Earl of Northumbria, and granted a complete amnesty for all offences
committed during the rising, on condition only that a general Witenagemot
should be held at Oxford.
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