Vita Haroldi. The romance of the life of Harold, king of England.
From the unique manuscript in the British museum
Mss. (Harleian 3776);
Edited by Birch, Walter de Gray, 1842-1924,
Publication date 1885
https://archive.org/details/vitaharoldiroma00musegoog/page/n134/mode/2up
Introduction page ix
Of the authorship of this early tale (whether true or legendary we may never know) nothing is known for certain. Internal evidences point to the probability that it was composed about a hundred and ftfty years after the battle of Hastings. Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy (whose account of the Codex is given in his " Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts relating to the Early History of Great Britain,” vol. i., pp. 668-671) states that in his opinion “there is probably some truth in this curious narrative, but its errors are great and numerous. It is, however, known from good evidence that there was a report in circulation at an early period that Harold had escaped from the slaughter at Hastings.”
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