Note 1069 — Chapter IX · THE REIGN OF EADWARD FROM THE RETURN OF GODWINE TO THE DEATH OF EADWARD THE ÆTHELING.[921] 1052–1057.

I do not ground this belief on the well-known saying of the false Ingulf (Gale, i. 62), how in Eadward’s days “Gallicum idioma omnes magnates in suis curiis tamquam magnum gentilitium [linguam gentilitiam?] loqui [cœperunt].” Harold’s foreign travels, and his sojourn at the Norman court, seem to imply a knowledge of French, and I can well believe that at home King Eadward looked more favourably on a counsellor who could frame his lips to the beloved speech.