Quid de duobus filiis Godwini comitis rex prophetaverat.
A Boyhood Brawl Foretold
While young Harold and Tostig fight as boys at court, King Edward interprets the quarrel as a divine revelation of future war between them.
But now let me set down some of those things that were revealed to him about future or hidden heavenly matters, with God granting us the ability to do so. Once the blessed king was sitting at the table, and at his side sat Count Godwin, the father of the queen, whom we mentioned above. This man's two sons, Harold and Tostig, still boys, were playing before them, when one of them turned against the other more harshly than the sweetness of play warranted, and they turned their game into a fight. And look—Harold rushed at his brother more violently, grabbed him by the hair with both hands, and threw him down; had he not been rescued quickly by a higher power, he would have suffocated him. Then the king turned to the duke and said, 'Do you see nothing else in this, O Godwin, but the simple play or fight of boys?' And he replied, 'Nothing else, my lord king.' 'Far otherwise does my mind speak to me, and what is to come for these boys through this is revealed to me as war.' For once the boyish years had passed and each had grown into a man, envy would inflame each breast against the other, and at first they would seem to be scheming and laying private traps against each other as if in sport, but in the end the stronger would drive out the weaker, strike him down as he rebelled, and the calamity that followed shortly after would atone for the death of the first.
The Prophecy Fulfilled
Edward's prophecy is shown to have come true when Tostig invades England with Harold Hardrada, is killed in battle, and King Harold himself soon falls from the kingdom.
All of this is proved to have been fulfilled, with the whole of England as witness. For Tostig, driven out by Harold, when he himself had shortly afterward succeeded Edward as king, with Harold, king of Norway, called Harald Hardrada, accompanying him, landed in England with a large fleet and a vast army, ready to fight against his brother. Harold drew up his line against them and was victorious. Tostig was laid low in the battle, and the king of Norway, put to flight, escaped with a few men into a single ship. In the same year, Harold himself was stripped of the kingdom of the English and either died miserably or, as some think, was spared only for repentance and escaped.
Read the original Latin
Sed jam aliqua de his quae ei sunt de futuris vel secretis coelestibus revelata, Deo nobis facultatem tribuente ponamus. Sedebat ad mensam aliquando rex beatus, et a latere ejus comes Godwinus pater reginae, de quo superius fecimus mentionem. Hujus duo filii pueri adhuc Haroldus et Tostinus ludentes coram eis, cum unus ex illis amarius quam expetebat ludi suavitas insurrexisset in alterum, ludum verterunt in pugnam. Et ecce Haroldus vehementius in fratrem irruens, utramque manum capillis ejus inseruit, prostratumque nisi citius eriperetur virtute superior suffocasset. Tunc rex versus ad ducem: «Nihilne, inquit, aliud, o Godwine, nisi simplicem in his vel ludum puerorum, vel pugnam contemplaris?» Et ille: «Nihil aliud, domine mi rex. --Longe, ait, aliud mea mihi mens loquitur, et quid his futurum sit pueris per hoc mihi bellum revelatur. Emensis quippe puerilibus annis cum in virum uterque profecerit, utriusque pectus adversus invicem livor aduret, et primum circumventione insidiisque privatis quasi ludere videbuntur, ad ultimum fortior infirmiorem proscribet, rebellantem prosternet, et prioris mortem post modicum sequens alterius calamitas expiabit.»
Quae omnia sic completa tota Anglia teste probantur. Nam Tostinus ab Haroldo fugatus, cum paulo post ipse in regnum successisset Edwardo, comitante se rege Norwagiae Haroldo cognomento Harfager, multa classe cum exercitu multo contra fratrem pugnaturus applicuit in Angliam. Contra quos aciem producens Haroldus, victor exstitit, Tostinus in bello prosternitur, rex Norwagiae lapsus fuga in unam navim cum paucis sese recepit. Eodem anno Haroldus ipse regno spoliatus Anglorum aut misere occubuit, aut ut quidam putant poenitentiae tantum reservatus evasit.
Aelred of Rievaulx, Vita Sancti Edwardi Regis et Confessoris companion
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