William of Malmesbury, after saying that the body was given to Gytha, adds acceptum itaque apud Waltham sepelivit.... Wace had evidently heard two or three stories, and, with his usual discretion, he avoided committing himself, but he distinctly asserts a burial at Waltham.[42]
This, then, is another coincidence between the two writers, while, as before, Wace found himself in the presence of a conflict of authorities. On yet another difficult point, the accession of Harold, I see a marked agreement, though Mr Freeman did not. Harold, according to William of Malmesbury, extorta a principibus fide, arripuit diadema, and diademate fastigiatus, nihil de pactis inter se et Willelmum cogitabat. Wace's version runs:
Heraut ki ert manant è forz
Se fist énoindre è coroner;
Unkes al duc n'en volt parler,
Homages prist è féeltez
Des plus riches è des ainz nes.
Not only is the attitude of Wace and William towards Harold's action here virtually identical, but the mention of his exaction of homage seems special to them both.
The passages, however, on which I would specially rest my case are those in which these two writers describe the visit of Harold's spies to the Norman camp before the battle of Hastings. This legend is peculiar to William of Malmesbury and Wace, and though it may be suggested that they had heard it independently, the correspondence—it will, I think, be admitted—is too close to admit of that solution.