He desired the assistance of Harold in
perfecting that design; he made professions of the utmost gratitude in
return for so great an obligation; he promised that the present grandeur
of Harold's family, which supported itself with difficulty under the
jealousy and hatred of Edward, should receive new increase from a
successor, who would be so greatly beholden to him for his advancement
Harold was surprised at this declaration of the duke; but being sensible
that he should never recover his own liberty, much less that of his
brother and nephew, if he refused the demand, he feigned a compliance
with William, renounced all hopes of the crown for himself, and
professed his sincere intention of supporting the will of Edward, and
seconding the ptetensions of the duke of Normandy. William, to bind him
faster to his interests, besides offering him one of his daughters
in marriage, required him to take an oath that, he would fulfil his
promises; and in order to render the oath more obligatory, he employed
an artifice well suited to the ignorance and superstition of the age. He
secretly conveyed under the altar, on which Harold agreed to swear, the
relics of some of the most revered martyrs; and when Harold had taken
the oath, he showed him the relics, and admonished him to observe
religiously an engagement which had been ratified by so tremendous a
sanction.
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