A.D. 1065. QUARREL BETWEEN TOSTI AND HAROLD. 551 middle of the hall, and having with all faith heaped on piles of wood, they, without feeling any injury from the raging fire, were changed, and became of greater beauty than previously. The countess, marvelling at the strangeness of the circumstance, took the hair of the holy martyr out of the fire, and at the suggestion of the bishop, placed it in fa safe place with all due honour, and then permitted the catholic people, which had come together to see this spectacle, to depart, being thus confirmed in their devotion to the blessed martyr. The same year, duke Harold built a large house in the Welch territory, and prepared many things which were requisite for the proper furnishing of it, with the intention that king Edward, in the hunting season, might turn aside thither and remain for some time. But Cradoc, the son of Griffin, whom Harold had banished the preceding year, came thither in a hostile manner, and slew the workmen, and the superintendents, and the soldiers, and the servants, and carried away all the materials which had been collected with great labour. It happened the same year, in the presence of king Edward, at Windsor, that Tosti, earl of Northumberland, being instigated by envy, seized Harold, his brother, by the hair, as he was pledging the king in a wine-cup, and while all the household of the king stood amazed, struck him violently, and treated him with great indignity. But Harold, being excited to revenge, seized him by the hands, and lifting him up on high, dashed him down on the floor. And seeing this, the eoldiers started up on all sides, and parting the brothers by force, they put an end to the strife, and separated the angry combatants from one another. And the king foretold that the destruction of both the brothers was at hand, and that the avenging anger of God, and a mortal quarrel between them, would not be longer suffered. For all the sons of the traitor Godwin were men of such wickedness, that if they saw any beautiful town belonging to any one, they caused the lord of it to be slain by night, and his offspring to be destroyed, that they might obtain the property of the deceased. Nevertheless, by their soft and honied words, which were only poisoned arrows, they cajoled the simplicity of the overcredulous king, that, even after their many enormous crimes, be appointed them justiciaries of the kingdom, governors of the realm, and managers of all things. But Tosti, after his