The King might possibly have made such a will; or, having always been fond of the Normans, he might have encouraged Norman William to aspire to the English crown, by something that he said to him when he was staying at the English court.
But, certainly William did now aspire to it; and knowing that Harold would be a powerful rival, he called together a great assembly of his nobles, offered Harold his daughter ADELE in marriage, informed him that he meant on King Edward's death to claim the English crown as his own inheritance, and required Harold then and there to swear to aid him.
Harold, being in the Duke's power, took this oath upon the Missal, or Prayer-book.

It is a good example of the superstitions of the monks, that this Missal, instead of being placed upon a table, was placed upon a tub; which, when Harold had sworn, was uncovered, and shown to be full of dead men's bones--bones, as the monks pretended, of saints.

This was supposed to make Harold's oath a great deal more impressive and binding.
As if the great name of the Creator of Heaven and earth could be made more solemn by a knuckle-bone, or a double-tooth, or a finger-nail, of Dunstan! Within a week or two after Harold's return to England, the dreary old Confessor was found to be dying.

After wandering in his mind like a very weak old man, he died.

As he had put himself entirely in the hands of the monks when he was alive, they praised him lustily when he was dead.
They had gone so far, already, as to persuade him that he could work miracles; and had brought people afflicted with a bad disorder of the skin, to him, to be touched and cured.