him from his government. Morcar and Edwin, two brothers,
who possessed great power in those parts, and who were grandsons of
the great duke, Leofric, concurred in the insurrection; and the former,
being elected duke, advanced with an army to oppose Harold, who was
commissioned by the king to reduce and chastise the Northumbrians.
Before the armies came to action, Morcar, well acquainted with the
generous disposition of the English commander, endeavored to justify
his own conduct. He represented to Harold, that Tosti had behaved in a
manner unworthy of the station to which he was advanced, and no one, not
even a brother, could support such tyranny, without participating,
in some degree, of the infamy attending it; that the Northumbrians,
accustomed to a legal administration, and regarding it as their
birthright, were willing to submit to the king, but required a governor
who would pay regard to their rights and privileges; that they had been
taught by their ancestors, that death was preferable to servitude, and
had taken the field determined to perish, rather than suffer a renewal
of those indignities to which they had so long been exposed; and they
trusted that Harold, on reflection, would not defend in another that
violent conduct, from which he himself in his own government, had always
kept at so great a distance. Thus vigorous remonstrance was accompanied
with such a detail of facts, so well supported, that Harold found it
prudent to abandon his brother's cause; and returning to Edward, he
persuaded him to pardon the Northumbrians, and to confirm Morcar in the
government. He even married the sister of that nobleman;[*] and by his
interest procured Edwin, the younger brother, to be elected into the
government of Mercia. Tosti in a rage departed the kingdom, and took
shelter in Flanders with Earl Baldwin, his father-in-law.

By this marriage, Harold broke all measures with the duke of Normandy,
and William clearly perceived that he could no longer rely on the oaths
and promises which he had extorted from him. But the English nobleman
was now in such a situation, that he deemed it no longer necessary to
dissemble. He had, in his conduct towards the Northumbrians, given such
a specimen of his moderation as had gained him the affections of his
countrymen. He saw that almost all England was engaged in his interests;
while he himself possessed the government of Wessex, Morcar that of
Northumberland, and Edwin that of Mercia