son of thine handmaid, that I am in great dread. I lift up my heart to thee, beseeching thee that art my Lord, and thy mother, my sweetest Lady, to help me now in this most need, that I may so receive the sacrament of wedlock that I fall not in peril of my chastity.’ And with this condition in his heart, he consented to matrimony.
Then was all the council right glad, and searched for a virgin that were according to his estate. And among all the virgins of the land Edith, daughter of Earl Godwin, was found most according to him by her virtuous conditions. And her father made great means to the king's council for to accomplish this marriage, by which he might come in the king's conceit. And by his wisdom, for his great might and power, he had his intent. And when the marriage was solemnised and accomplished by the holy sacrament, he and the queen vowed to live together chaste secretly, that no man knew it but God alone. Afterward, some of the realm grudged, saying he had taken a wife by compulsion against his will of an unkind lineage, and would not know his wife because he would not bring forth more tyrants. And thus none knew the very truth of his chaste life whilst he lived, but the very cleanness of his mind was sffiucient witness of his chastity.
It happened on a Whitsunday, as the king was crowned at Westminster in his estate, and kneeling, made his prayers devoutly for the tranquillity and peace of his land before the alter of the blessed Trinity, at the elevation of the blessed sacrament he fell in a soft and demure laughing, so that the lords
