o contention; in public life, contention often leads
to marriage. Ethelred sought to "engraft the branch of Cerdic upon the
stem of Rollo," in the hope of increasing the power of England. He asked
for the hand of Emma, sister of Richard le Bon, and obtained it. This
union was every way unfortunate, and prepared the road for the Conquest.
The Normans who accompanied Emma to England, and those who followed her,
are described as "subtle, intriguing, false, and capable of any act of
treason which promised to further their own fortunes." They behaved as
members of "superior races" generally behave in countries inhabited by
"inferior races." They obtained power and place, and used their
influence to the detriment of England. The king and queen did not live
happily. One of their children was Edward the Confessor, who is
popularly considered the very personification of the Saxon race, but who
was half a Norman by birth, and wholly Norman by education; for the
successes of the Danes compelled his family to become exiles, and his
youth and earlier manhood were passed in Normandy.[J] When he became
king, the Normans had matters pretty much their own way in England. He
remembered that Robert, Duke of Normandy, father of William the
Conqueror, had once made an attempt to restore the Saxon line in
England, and that he failed only because his fleet was destroyed by a
storm. Duke William's influence had aided in his elevation to the
English throne. His gratitude was expressed at the expense of his
people. Once crowned, Edward invited his Norman friends to England. That
country soon swarmed with foreigners, with whom the king was more at
home than he was with his own subjects. Their language, the Romane, was
his language. It was the language of the higher classes, the language of
fashion, "the court tune." Such strong places as then stood in England
were garrisoned by foreigners, and other Normans were settled in the
towns. The country was half conquered years before the year of Hastings.

Duke William visited England in 1051. He was most hospitably received,
and it is supposed that what he saw caused him to form the plan that led
to the Conquest. Edward admired his visitor; and on the death of Edward
the Outlaw,--whom he had recalled from Hungary, with the intention of
proclaiming him as heir to the crown,--he determined that William should
be his successor. He bequeathed the English crown to the ruler of
Normandy. Harold agreed to supp