So had England
accepted Canute the Dane as her king, and he had ruled as an English
monarch wisely and well.
The embassy offered William the crown. The Norman prelates and priests, who
held so many of the dignities in the English Church, had worked hard to
incline men's minds to this end. Silent while England stood united under
its king to oppose the invader, their tongues were loosed as soon as the
strength of England was broken and its king dead, and they pointed out that
God had clearly designated William as their king by giving him victory and
by destroying alike Harold and his brothers.
William went through the farce of hesitating to accept the offer of the
crown, and held a consultation with his officers as to the answer he should
give. They of course replied that he should accept the offer. William,
therefore, marched with his army to London, where on Christmas-day the same
prelate who had anointed Harold King of England crowned William as his
successor.
A few days later Beorn and Wulf with Osgod, who had now completely
recovered from his wounds, set sail for England. There was no longer any
reason why they should not take their oaths to serve William. He was the
crowned king of England, the accepted of the people, as Harold had been,
and when all Southern England had submitted it was not for them, who had
received special favours at William's hand, to hold back. With them went
Lady de Burg, Guy, and Agnes, with many other Norman ladies on their way to
rejoin their lords in London.
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