f the pope to
decide which of the two ought to be king, or let it be determined by the
issue of a single combat. Harold abruptly replied, 'I will not resign my
title, I will not refer it to the pope, nor will I accept the single
combat.' He was far from being deficient in bravery; but he was no more
at liberty to stake the crown which he had received from a whole people
in the chance of a duel than to deposit it in the hands of an Italian
priest. William, not at all ruffled by the Saxon's refusal, but steadily
pursuing the course of his calculated measures, sent the Norman monk
again, after giving him these instructions: 'Go and tell Harold that if
he will keep his former compact with me, I will leave to him all the
country which is beyond the Humber, and will give his brother Gurth all
the lands which Godwin held. If he still persist in refusing my offers,
then thou shalt tell him, before all his people, that he is a perjurer
and a liar; that he and all who shall support him are excommunicated by
the mouth of the Pope, and that the bull to that effect is in my hands.'

"Hugues Maigrot delivered this message in a solemn tone; and the Norman
chronicle says that at the word _excommunication_ the English chiefs
looked at one another as if some great danger were impending. One of
them then spoke as follows: 'We must fight, whatever may be the danger
to us; for what we have to consider is not whether we shall accept and
receive a new lord, as if our king were dead; the case is quite
otherwise. The Norman has given our lands to his captains, to his
knights, to all his people, the greater part of whom have already done
homage to him for them: they will all look for their gift if their duke
become our king; and he himself is bound to deliver up to them our
goods, our wives, and our daughters: all is promised to them beforehand.
They come, not only to ruin us, but to ruin our descendants also, and to
take from us the country of our ancestors. And what shall we do--whither
shall we go, when we have no longer a country?' The English promised, by
a unanimous oath, to make neither peace nor truce nor treaty with the
invader, but to die or drive away the Normans."

The 13th of October was occupied in these negotiations, and at night the
Duke announced to his men that the next day would be the day of battle.
That night is said to have been passed by the two armies in very
different manners. The Saxon soldiers spent it in joviality, si