King Edward was now of a good age; his reign had been long, and to his sorrow he had no child, and no near relation to take his kingdom after him, and maintain it. He considered with himself who should inherit it when he died; and often bethought him, and said he would give his inheritance to duke William his relation, as the best of his lineage. Robert his father had brought him up, and William himself had been of much service to him; and, in fact, all the good he had received had come from that line, and he had loved none so well, however kindly he might behave to any one else. For the honor thereof of his good kinsman, with whom he had been brought up, and on account of the great worth of William himself, he determined to make him heir to the realm. [Footnote 1: The marriage was, it is supposed, in 1053. See the last note to Chapter VI.] [Footnote 2: Matilda. The anonymous continuer of Wace's Brut says of her; Ceste Malde de Flandres fu née, Meis de Escoce fu appelée, Pur sa mère ke fu espusé Al roi de Escoce ki l'out rové; Laquele jadis, quant fu pucele, Ama un conte d'Engleterre. Brictrich-Mau le oï nomer, Apres le rois ki fu riche ber. A lui la pucele enveia messager Pur sa amur a lui procurer: Meis Brictrich Maude refusa, Dunt ele mult se coruça. Hastivement mer passa E a Willam bastard se maria. He then relates that after the conquest, Matilda revenged herself on this Brictrich-Mau, by seizing him 'a Hanelye, a sun maner,' and carrying him to Winchester, where he died 'par treison.' See, as to this Brictrich, Dugdale, _Monasticon_, title TEWKESBURY; and Palgrave, _English Commonwealth_, vol. i. ccxciv.] [Footnote 3: Eu.] [Footnote 4: The churches of each of these celebrated foundations remain; we shall find William interred in his church; while Matilda's remains rested in the other.] [Footnote 5: The 'Truce of God' was introduced in Normandy in 1061. If Wace meant to assert that the institution originated there, it is of course erroneous. It had existed in other countries twenty years before; but the Normans resisted its introduction among them, till enforced by William's authority, as a measure of restraint on their excesses. See Jolimont, _Monuments de Calvados_, page 42, and plate xx, as to the ruins of the church of St. Paix.] [Footnote 6: Saint Ouen.] [Footnote 7: Carreau, or carrel--squared, quadrated, or quarried stones, for which the neighbourhood of Caen became celebrated.] [Footnote 8: All-Saints.] [Footnote 9: This journey took place in 1051, during the exile of Godwin and his sons; see Higden, _Polychronicon_. Most of the old historians are silent about it; but it admits of little question, and had important influence on subsequent events. See _Thierry_, i. 220.] [Footnote 10: In 1052.] [Footnote 11: Benoit de Sainte-More thus describes Edward: