THE REASON FOR THE BATTLE FOR ENGLAND;
THE HISTORY BEHIND THE BATTLE IN AD-1066
The main problem caused at the death of Edward-the-Confessor - arose from the main conditions, which traditionally governed the selection of an English king. That he should be of Royal Blood (notice no females here): - that, if the dying king was respected, named his successor, then, that person be favourably considered, and that he should have the strength, both of character and position, to rule the kingdom justly and wisely. This then ensured that, although only members of the royal house were eligible, the best man was then chosen from amongst them.
In January AD-1066 there was no one man that met all these requirements, but there were several who claimed at least one of these requirements, and this inevitably caused a number of rivals to come forward, all eager to gain control of such a rich kingdom. That a variety of candidates should exist at all stems from close links between England and Normandy at the end of the 10th-century and the conquest of England between the years AD-1013-to-AD-1016 by King Sven Forkbeard of Denmark and his son Cnut. Therefore, it is we who must look back to the turn of the century to understand fully the position in January AD-1066.
The key to the succession was Emma, sister of Richard, Duke-of-Normandy, who in AD-1002 became the second wife of Ãthelred-of-England. England and Normandy already linked commercially by a thriving trade between Rouen and London, and politically by the great Viking incursions of the 10th-century, which had created a Scandinavian aristocracy in both Normandy and the Danelaw in England. The Kings of England, faced with the problem of maintaining authority over their Scandinavian subjects. Being continually threatened with invasion, perhaps even conquest by the Danes, Naturally sought the full support of the Norman Dukes, the closest and strongest of allies, an the mutual interests of the two dynasties had been recognised as early as AD-991, when a pact between them was ratified at Rouen under Papal sponsorship. Indeed, the Danes had a fair proportion of French territory in their grasp in the 10th century, from which they took advantage of raiding from.
What the Danes did, was to use the occupied French territory to over winter in, and from there, they would, in the spring, land, and use the Isle-of-White as a convenient jumping off point for their raids into the south and south west of England. But unlike Duke William, they knew more about tides and winds than ever the French could ever hope to know. The marriage of Ãthelred and Emma was therefore an important dynastic alliance, which both Ãthelred and Richard-of-Normandy must have foreseen would have far reaching consequences that they both desired. Emma had two sons by Ãthelred, Edward (later Edward-I of England) and Alfred, who were thus cousins of William the Bastard, grandson of Richard-II of Normandy. It was natural therefore, that, when in AD-1013, Sven Forkbeard launched his last great invasion of England, Ãthelred, Emma, and their two sons fled across the channel to the court of Emma's brother Richard-II, Duke-of-Normandy for safety.
Ãthelred returned to England in AD-1014 to fight his last unavailing war against Sven, and his son Cnut; but unfortunately, Ãthelred and died early in AD-1016. The struggle was continued by his son of his first marriage, Edmund-II (known as "Ironside"), and England was divided between Edmund (in the south) and Cnut (the Danelaw) until Edmund was murdered in the same year. Cnut was now king of all England, and took a number of steps to secure the throne and his line of succession. First, Edmund Eadwig was murdered. Next Edmund's sons, Edmund and Edward were sent abroad, possibly with the intention that they be murdered once out of the country. Edmund was a baby of but a few months, and possibly because of their extreme youth, both boys survived to live in exile at the court of the king of Hungary, where Edmund subsequently died.
Edward-the-Ãtheling, (Ãtheling being the eldest legitimate male in line to the throne) married a Hungarian princess and achieved a high position at the Hungarian court. To make sure of the succession, Cnut then had Ãthelweard, descended from King Alfred-the-Great's elder brother and a member of the royal house, murdered, together with prominent noblemen. And finally, in AD-1017, he married Ãthelred's widow Emma, despite the fact that he already had a common-law wife by the name of Ãlgifu, daughter of the former Earl-of-Northumbria, and had two sons by her. (Pronunciation of Ãlfgifu should be as "Ethlfgif") (The sons of Scandinavian nobles frequently took common-law wives in their youth, and neither the wife's status, nor that of any sons by her seems to have been affected by any later marriage entered into for purely political purposes).
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Emma’s family belonged to the Viking aristocracy of Norway, so Cnut’s marriage to her was a most astute move, for she was acceptable both to his Danish followers and to the English, who’s queen she had been, while any sons he had by her would supplant Ãthelred sons, Edward and Alfred, who remained in exile in Normandy. This move was confirmed by Emma herself, who made only one condition to the marriage-: that any son she would have by Cnut would be his lawful successor.
This condition was probably made to ensure that Cnut’s sons by Ãlgifu did not gain the throne of England, but also had the effect of pushing her own sons by Ãthelred’s father back in the succession order. Cnut had died in AD-1035, and should have been succeeded by Hardacanute, his son by Emma, but Hardacnute was in Denmark, opposing a northern leader, Magnus, who was threatening to take Norway out of Cnut’s Empire. England was at once split into two factions, the shires south of the Thames under the leadership of the Queen supporting Hardacnute, and the shires north of the Thames wanting to wait and see what happened in Scandinavia, with regency in the meantime under king Cnut’s son by Ãlgifu, who is Harold Harefoot.
It was at this time that Godwin came to the fore. Godwin had risen to power under Cnut, and he was of English birth and ancestry. He married the sister of Cnut’s brother-in-law, and been granted the Earldom-of-Wessex. He had become Cnut’s chief adviser in England, and now the queen looked to him for support. An emergency meeting of the “witan” was held at Oxford, and it was decided the kingdom should be temporary partitioned, the queen to remain at Winchester with Hardacnute’s housecarl’s, with Godwin in control of his own Earldom and the whole of the south; and Harold Harefoot to control the rest of the realm. (Harold Harefoot was Harold-I. Harold-II was of AD-1066 fame, was the second eldest of Godwin’s sons; the eldest dying young.)
With a vast Earldom and it’s accompanying riches at stake, Godwin appears to have played both sides, and remaining with the queen in-case Hardacnute was successful, yet perhaps already Harold Harefoot’s man for when, soon after the “witan” broke up, Harold had sent a band of housecarl’s to Winchester to seize the royal treasure, Godwin avoided confrontation. The passing of the treasure to Harold without any resistance from Godwin, did much to sway the waverers to Harold’s cause. In AD-1036 Ãthelred’s sons crossed the channel to land on the south coast with a strong bodyguard of Norman mercenaries. Ostensibly they had come to visit their mother at Winchester, but also they may possibly have intended making an attempt on the crown while Cnut’s sons were at variance. Leaving Edward at Winchester, Alfred set for London to meet Harold.
There, he was met en-rout by Earl Godwin, who escorted him to Guildford for an overnight stop; and here, Alfred’s followers were billeted in small groups about the town. Godwin then discreetly faded from the scene, and during the night Harold’s men arrived to arrest Alfred and his men. Some managed to escape, but most were put in irons and afterwards sold as slaves or blinded, scalped, or had their hands and feet cut off.
Some 600 men were also put to death in Guildford and this suggests that Alfred had gained many followers in England. Queen Emma at once shipped Edward back to Normandy, where the previous year William-the-Bastard had become Duke of Normandy (in name only, but in de-facto, as his father had gone to fight a Crusade from which he was never to return, and the king of France allowed the bastard William to be heir to the duchy of Normandy, and William was to be looked after by the king, and William was to pay fealty to the king) at the age of seven years. She was unable to save Alfred, however, and he was taken by ship to the Isle of Ely, where his eyes were torn out! He was left in the care of the monks, where he died in agony shortly afterwards. Without Godwin’s active support, Queen Emma was now powerless, so in the year AD-1037, Harold Harefoot became King Harold-I of England, Hardacnute then being abandoned by the last of his supporters (because he was too long in Denmark). King Harold at once drove Emma from England and she found asylum in Flanders, where she died in AD-1052-. King Harold Harefoot died 27th March AD-1040. Hardacnute arrived that summer with a fleet of sixty ships and was at once accepted as king.
He then ordered an enquiry into the death of his half brother Alfred, at which Godwin was found innocent of complicity in the crime, but Godwin’s gift to King Hardacnute of a most magnificent warship manned by a crew of eighty, each of the oarsman bearing a specially wrought battle-axe and wearing twelve ounces of gold in the form of bracelet’s throws suspicion on the verdict.
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Hardacnut’s reign was brief and unpopular: he died (was he poisoned?) in June AD-1042 of convulsions, at the age of only twenty-five, while attending a wedding feast; he was standing when the convulsions started during a drunken binge; and his death was welcomed by all who knew him! Between them Cnute and Ãthelred had four wives, and from these four separate unions has sprung seventeen known children! In AD-1042 there was only one male child surviving from these four families, Edward, son of Emma and Ãthelred, still in exile at the Norman court. He was accepted at once by the “Witan” and by the English people, and crowned Edward-I at Winchester on the first day of Easter AD-1043. He was then almost 40 years of age, and had been in exile for thirty years. Edward could have little or no expectation of becoming king of England, particularly after his abortive visit to that country in AD-1036, and he came to the throne a stranger to the kingdom and a complete foreigner by his upbringing: he spoke Norman-French with more ease than his native tongue, and had ideals, concepts, obligations and friendships which were all alien to the English. He so loved the Norman’s, and brought those with him who made him feel at home, but it went deeper than this, and then resentment began to set in.
Yet because of his parents, and his royal blood, he was welcomed as king by both the Saxon and Scandinavian factions in England, and at the same time bore the good will of Normandy. His father had forged the first dynastic link with Normandy, and if ever an 11th-century king of England had a chance to bring peace and prosperity to a realm it was Edward. Yet his success was no mean feat; in the long run, Edward survived his enemies and kept the kingdom intact by diplomacy and compromise, and his reign was notable for its lasting peacefulness in an era when both were unusual. But Edward was dependent on the support of his Earls, and chief among these was Godwin Earl-of-Wessex, controller of the richest and most heavily populated Earldom. It came as no surprise therefore, when in AD-1045 he married Godwin’s daughter Edith, even though Edward probably regarded Godwin as the murderer of his brother. Both sides benefited by the marriage, the king by the support of Godwin and his sons, the Godwin family by the granting of more lands: Sweyn, the eldest son, receiving an Earldom which include a sizeable portion of southern Mercia; Harold, his second son, receiving the Earldom of East-Anglia; and Beorn Estrithson, a nephew of Godwin receiving an Earldom in the East-Midlands.
The Godwin family now controlled the whole of southern England as far north of Bristol and Oxford, the Mercian shires of Oxford, Hereford and Gloucester, the whole of East Anglia and probably the shires of Cambridge and Huntingdon. Nor should it have any surprise to the English Earls that Edward should wish to maintain strong links with Normandy. He owed much to the Dukes-of-Normandy and, with constant possibility of an invasion from Denmark to re-establish Scandinavian rule, it was natural that he should turn, like his father, to a close alliance with Normandy as a common defence against the northern threat. However, at this date Duke William of Normandy was still only a pawn in the power game and in AD-1047 (at the age of twenty) he was faced by the revolt of his barons: it was to be another three years before he could be sure of his dukedom. Although he must inevitably have felt committed to some extent to supporting Edward, he was too busy maintaining his own position to be able to do anything constructive at this time. Therefore, in the first eight years of Edward’s reign, his court remained much like those of his immediate predecessor’s, strongly Scandinavian in composition. Although he did introduce a number of Norman’s into the kingdom, as had his mother in AD-1003, few of them were men of the first rank. In fact almost all were his personal household officers and clerics, or fighting men, the latter were employed on the terms which English kings had been giving to Scandinavians for almost half a century. Such men were the Norman Richard-Fitz-Scrob, who was a housecarl who probably had lands granted to him in the West-Midlands as a reward for good service: the Frenchman, Alfred, Edward’s Marshal, who had estates in the county of Herefordshire and Worcestershire: the Norman Osbern Pentecost, a soldier of fortune who built a castle in the Hereford marches, which he subsequently surrendered on going north to take service with Macbeth, king of the Scots:
Ralph, a nephew of Edward who had large estates in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, and was Earl before AD-1051, Odda, who was made Earl-of-Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall in AD-1051: the Breton Ralph-of-Gael, who settled in East-Anglia: Robert-Fitz-Wimarc, who may perhaps have been half Breton but was related to William and Edward and also had lands in East-Anglia: and the brother of William’s steward (William-Fitz-Osbern), who became one of Edward’s priest scribes and held part of the lands of the great Church-of-Bosham, in Godwin’s own Earldom. No church post’s were free to the Norman’s, for the English priest’s had this water tight for a very long time, but as deaths in the English clergy left gaps, they were filled with such as Robert, Abbot-of-Jumieges, and to Ulf, a Norman priest in his household was given the Bishopric of Dorchester in AD-1049. But the next ten offices that became vacant were filled by Englishmen, and no where is there evidence of a build up in Edwards court of Norman Favouritism. The Archbishop-of-Canterbury died in October AD-1050, and there seem to have been a struggle between Edward, who wished to appoint a one Robert-of-Jumieges, and Godwin was overruled and Robert-of-Jumieges elected.
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This caused an almighty uproar at court, and at the “witan” held in March AD-1051, Godwin was overruled and Robert-of-Jumieges elected. The Norman already had considerable influence in the royal council and was the principal opponent of Godwin. His elevation caused much resentment amongst the Saxons. The “Vita Edwardi Regis” tell's us that the new Archbishop began to provoke and to oppose the Earl with all his strength and might and accused him of invading the lands of Canterbury. Godwin might well have been guilty of such a charge, and would certainly have had a grudge against the new Archbishop, but it would seem that greater events were already astir that caused Godwin to fear for his future. Godwin was a man of conviction, he loved his country, but had no chance unless he could out-draw the or out manoeuvre the Norman’s.
There is reason to believe that Edward had about this time promised the crown at the time of the elevation of Robert-of-Jumieges to the post of Archbishop. Now if the succession had been promised to William, Duke-of-Normandy; then this would have upset Harold Godwin’s plans to gain the post he dearly wanted; namely, “The Crown-of-England”. (This I believe to be true, but if correct, he was doing it for the right reasons).
Such a move would not have been extraordinary. Edward’s five-year marriage to Edith had not produced any children, and the king would naturally want to ensure succession. All his sympathies would lead towards William, who by now was achieving great stature in Western Europe and attracting a number of the leading magnates to his support. Normandy was England’s Natural Alley against the Scandinavians, and William could unite the two lands to prevent any likelihood of another Scandinavian conquest of England in the future. Edward may have been prejudiced in favour of William, but he may also have been choosing the best path for England.
But how much he distrusted Godwin is (if he did indeed distrust him) any ones guess. Did he fear that Godwin was out for the crown of England? Or did he just like the strong up and coming young duke William, to whom he knew well, and respected? The murder of Alfred was (I suspect) the deciding factor, but Godwin was doing the kings bidding; what else could he have done? He was ordered to do his duty that is all. When the king of the day say’s “jump”, you jump; right or wrong.
Assuming that Edward had decided early in AD-1051 to promise the throne to his Norman ally William; the opportunity to convey this decision to Normandy then occurred shortly afterwards, when Robert-of-Jumieges set off for Rome to receive his Archbishop’s Pallium the symbol of his jurisdiction delegated to him by the Holy See, from the Pope. (In fact one suspects that Edward’s decision, and the Archbishops appointment may well have been part of the same political manoeuvre).
The Archbishop journeyed to Rome and back between mid April and June, AD-1051; passing through Normandy en-route. If such a promise had been made to William at all, it is most likely to have been made at this time, and this interpretation of the various chronicles is the one now accepted by most historians.
This makes the next incident most significant: the visit some time in July of Count Eustace-II of Boulogne to his brother-in-law, King Edward. Florence of Worcester and the E version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the latter written at Canterbury and the best informed about affairs in the south-east, though it is pro-Godwin, both state that Eustace visited the king at that time in the town of Gloucester, then journeyed to Dover to embark for Normandy. We cannot now tell what transpired between Eustace and Edward, but it is not unreasonable to suppose that if Edward had promised the throne to William, an embassy would have been sent to formally acknowledge such a dramatic development.
It has been suggested that Edward had promised the city and port of Dover to William as a sign of good faith, and certainly this does make more understandable the prominence given to Dover in Harold’s Oath to William in AD-1064. His mission fulfilled, Eustace headed for Dover, and here we do know what happened. Seeking overnight accommodation for his men, Eustace seems to have adopted a rather arrogant attitude in the choosing of billets, and a fracas ensued in which at least seven and possibly as many as nineteen Norman’s were killed, together with about twenty townsmen. The people of Dover crowded into the streets and Eustace fled for his life, with only a few of his followers, returning to the king’s court to seek Edward’s protection. The remainder of Eustace’s men appears to have occupied Dover Castle, an Anglo-Saxon burgh within the Iron-age earthworks on the cliff above the town.
If Edward had promised Dover, and if Eustace had occupied the castle and tried to claim the town, or at least acted as if he owned the town (which he appears to have done) this do much to explain the townspeople’s reaction. It would also explain completely the reaction of the Earl responsible for Dover “Godwin”.
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Edward is reported to have been furious with the action of the people of Dover, as well he might have been, if Eustace had instructions to take over the port and town, and without waiting for the towns people’s version of the incident (this would be an unreasonable thing for a king) he summoned Godwin to him and ordered the Earl to carry out a “harrying” of Dover and Kent; a normal sort of punishment of the time. Godwin refused, (because it was abhorrent to him to injure the people of his own province) and (he was very indignant that such things should happen in his earldom), began to gather forces together over all his earldom, and Earl Swein, his son, over his, and Harold, his second son, over to his earldom: and they all assembled in Gloucester at Longtree, a great army, and so many as to be almost uncountable; all ready for war against the king, unless Eustace and his men were handed over to them, as well as the Frenchmen who were in the castle.))
By refusing the king’s orders to harry Dover, Godwin had already laid himself open to a charge of rebellion. The assembly of his son’s forces in the county of Gloucestershire was a direct threat to the crown; it could only be construed as an act of open rebellion. Was Godwin justified in creating such a crisis over a small incident, or was he himself infuriated at Edward’s connivance with William of Normandy at the gift of one of his towns to the Norman’s, and seeking only to prevent Edward passing the Succession (and Dover) to Normandy?
Now, Godwin had been manoeuvring in English politics for over thirty years, and had been powerful under three kings before Edward, and survived each change of king. He had remained the most powerful earl in Edward’s reign and was not the sort of man to risk all for the sake of Dover; but he might at least have been ready and willing to risk all in order to save his own Earldom, and those of his son’s, and to save England for the English.
By 1st September Godwin and his two eldest Son’s had massed their forces near Tetbury in the Cotswolds: Below them lay Gloucester, the king and Eustace. But Edward hastily summoned an emergency meeting of at least part of the “witan” on 8th September, this being attended by the Earl Leofric-of-Mercia and Earl Siward-of-Northumbria, accompanied by small forces. Both men supported the king and sent for reinforcements from their Earldoms. These were joined by the troops of the Norman Earl Ralph. At first it appeared there would be civil war, but then some of the kings Party considered it would be great folly if they joined battle, because well-nigh all the noblest in England were present in those two companies, and they were convinced they would be leaving the country open to invasion of our enemies, and bringing utter ruin upon ourselves.
Hostages were exchanged and it was agreed a more complete “witan” should meet in London later that month to seek a peaceful settlement. This compromise spelled doom for Godwin’s party, for in the breathing space thus obtained, the king summoned the National militia, which obliged all thegns and freemen to join the king’s forces irrespective of their earldom in which they lived.
Consequently, when the two parties assembled again at Southwark, many troops of Godwin’s had been compelled to join the king, and those who remained with him were far from enthusiastic for his cause. Godwin refused to face the king and “witan” without a promise of safe conduct, but each day saw his forces diminish, but the king remained adamant that Godwin attended with no more than twelve followers, and that all the Wessex thegns should first come over to him. Godwin was getting out of his depth? To a point yes, as he was being out manoeuvred by king, but by the very nature that the king commanded and the people obeyed, and indeed, the other earls had no gripe with the king as such; for they had not the same information that Earl Godwin had.
He knew only too well, that to give up the kingdom without a fight, to the young (well, he was 35 years of age by this time) bully William, Duke-of-Normandy, was tantamount to this island becoming an off shore Normandy! The peoples of this island were English for God sake, not French! Godwin needed to collect his thoughts, and he needed time to take account of the situation that he was beginning to find himself in. He, who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day. Though he did not fight the king, nevertheless, King Edward knew full well that if he were to die, the Scandinavians might come in force to claim the throne of England! William could not hope to defend England without the English earls, especially Godwin. He needed Godwin, but he needed to punish him also.
Finally Godwin was forced to flee to Bosham with his sons Swein, Tostig and Gyrth, and from there they sailed to seek refuge in Flanders: his two other sons, Harold and Leofwine headed for Bristol, eluded a force sent in pursuit, survived a storm in the Bristol Channel, and found refuge in Ireland. No mention in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles is made of Godwin’s youngest son by name of Wulfnorth (born about AD-1045), and it is possible he was one of the hostages given at Gloucester, along with Godwin’s grandson Hakon, bastard of Swein. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, D.
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Edward sent his Queen, Godwin’s daughter, to a nunnery and strengthened the Norman element in his kingdom by appointments, which included that of his chaplain William to the See-of-London at the expense of the English-Bishop elect. He was at last free of Godwin’s dominance, and wasted no time filling with his own men, all those parts left vacant by the flight of Godwin’s family.
In Normandy William had suppressed his barons, founded a strong ducal authority and was seeking a powerful alliance by marriage to Mathilda, daughter of the count of Flanders and niece of Henry of France. But fresh troubles erupted in AD-1051 in the form of an ambitious neighbour, Geoffrey Martel of Anjou. Nevertheless, at some time during the winter of AD-1051-to-AD-1052, either William himself, or an embassy sent by him, arrived in England to confirm the Norman succession to the English throne.
The “D” version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Florence of Worcester tells us that William himself made this visit, with a great retinue of Frenchmen, and there was an exchange of rich gifts. Although it is possible that William did visit England, it is difficult to see how he could afford to absent from his Duchy at such a crucial time in his life; though the crown of England was surely worth a quick trip, perhaps in early spring before the campaigning season started? There is doubt that he did come, perhaps he was not too keen after the rough treatment of Eustace’s embassy, and to bring a large force would have been provocative to the local populace especially after the Eustace fiasco?
William Pointers, giving the Norman side of the story, confirms that Edward promised the throne to William in early AD-1051, in William’s absence; and that the promise was made with the accent of great magnates of the kingdom, including the Earls Godwin, Leofric (incidentally, Leofric was married to a lady who’s name was “Godgifu”, or Lady Godiva, who rode naked through the city of Coventry) and Siward; and that the son and grandson of Godwin (Wulfnoth and Hakon) were taken as hostages and sent to Normandy (probably with Robert-of-Jumieges). The implication is that Godwin was opposed to the odd nomination of the Norman William as heir, was overruled by other members of the “witan”, and was compelled to give hostages to ensure he conformed to the decision, and those hostages were given to William, not Edward.
If William Poitiers is correct, then Edward’s promise was made at the March “witan”, then this would do much to explain Godwin’s dilemma and his most uncharacteristic rebellion. Edward’s freedom from Godwin was short-lived however. Once the king had realised the threat from Scandinavia was now grave, he needed Godwin to co-ordinate a defence against such an attack. William would lose Normandy if he left it, and he did not know England, where as Godwin did, and was THE man for the job. Time for a compromise...
In June AD-1052 Godwin sailed from Bruges with a small fleet and made a number of armed landings along the south coast of England to test the feeling of his former subjects. He found a wave of resentment sweeping the southern shires at the ascendancy of the Norman’s in Edward’s court, and much support for his own cause in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. Meanwhile, Harold, with nine hired ships and a force of Irish-Scandinavian mercenaries, had landed at Porlock, burnt a royal manor there, and defeated the Devon and Somerset levies called out to oppose him, killing more than thirty thegns in the process.
Edward sent out a fleet of forty ships under the Norman Earls Ralph and Oddo to sweep Godwin out of the channel, but a storm enabled Godwin to escape and the fleet returned to London. Godwin and Harold now united their forces at the Isle-of-White and sailed eastwards along the coast gaining followers as they went. They took the naval base at Sandwich and early in September entered the Thames estuary and sailed up to London to confront Edward. London was the largest and the richest city in the kingdom, with an estimated population of 15,000 to 20,000. Godwin had a hard core of mercenaries in his force, eager for pillage and plunder: the Londoners appeared to have agreed secretly to take his side, or at least give no assistance to King Edward.
Edward at once sent reinforcements, and his Norman advisers urged him to make another stand against Godwin and his family, but the bishop Stigand intervened. He stated that with God’s help, and with wise men both inside and outside the city, he advised that hostages should be given as surety on either side, and so it was done. Many Norman’s at once fled from London, some seeking the safety of the Norman castles in the Welsh marches, others, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop Ulf-of-Dorchester, taking a ship for Normandy. (Typical !)
A meeting was held of the “Witan” and Godwin’s Earldom restored to him, as were the lands of his son’s with the exception of Swein, Godwin’s eldest son, who died whilst on a pilgrimage. The queen was also reinstated, yet Godwin does not appear to have had it all his own way, and forced to concede something in return. Godwin appeared before the king as a supplicant, and was granted the Kiss-of-Peace. Godwin made no gains, as one would have.
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Expected from such a clash, and he was compelled to reaffirm, or give for the first time his assent to William’s succession, in for the reinstatement of lands; short of civil war he would have no other option. The “witan” also made a promise of good laws. “For the whole nation, and they outlawed the Frenchmen who had promoted injustice and pronounced unjust judgements. They counselled evil within the realm, with the exception of as many of those whom decided that the king was pleased to have about him, who were loyal to him and to all his people”. (What a mouthful!)
Amongst those allowed to stay here were Earl Ralph, William, Bishop-of-London and Richard-Fitz-Scrob in Hertfordshire. So, we have a sort of compromise? At least Godwin was back in his own back yard, and he at last began to feel he and England were safe; at least for the time being, and he could work on consolidating his position.
Shortly after this, Bishop Stigand, a close associate of Godwin’s was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, a post he was to hold, in spite of anathema (curse) of successive Popes, until after the Norman conquest of England. Edward never fully recovered from his confrontation with Godwin, and although he continued to discharge all his formal duties as king. He then was to concentrate his mind more and more on his religious interests. Godwin could now at last relax.
Earl Godwin died in AD-1053, to be succeeded as Earl of Wessex by his favourite son and heir Harold Godwinson. With a king whose grip on his realm was already weakening, Harold slowly rose to a position of absolute power. Some would say that Harold was plotting to secure the throne for himself, or at least remain in a position of keeping power from behind the throne, and staying there right from the day of his fathers death; for if the dynamic William-of-Normandy was allowed to succeed the crown of England from Edward, the Harold’s power would be sharply curbed. His father’s gains and grip must, at all costs be maintained!
Certainly Harold’s manipulation of the Earldoms over the next few years pointed to such an aim. He removed any dangerous rivals to his family, and advancing his own fortunes, made England a force to be reckoned with. In AD-1055 Tostig Godwinson, received the Earldom of Northumbria as a result of the death of Siward, whose heir had been killed in an expedition against the Scot Macbeth the previous year. (His other son, Waltheof, was only nine) Tostig was the Queens favourite brother, and appears to have become a great favourite of the king also, so perhaps did not need Harold’s help to obtain his promotion, but about the same time Earl Elfgar of East Anglia (Leofric-of-Mercia’s and Lady Godiva’s son) was outlawed and Harold attempted to gain that Earldom for his brother Gyrth.
There seems to be no apparent reason for Elfgar’s outlawing, but it’s generally believed Edward took the action because of pressure from Harold: it is possible Elfgar opposed Tostig’s appointment. Elfgar raised an army in Ireland, allied himself with Gruffydd-ap-Llewellyn, King-of-Gwynedd and Powys, and did so much damage to Herefordshire that Edward had him reinstated.
Leofric died in AD-1057, and Elfgar became Earl-of-Mercia. Harold now took the opportunity to slip his good friend Gyrth into the vacant title of the Earl-of-East-Anglia. Ralph-of-Hereford also died in AD-1057, and Harold himself took over these lands: not long afterwards Leofwin Godwinson was given a new earldom embracing Kent, Essex, Bedford, Hertford and Surrey.
In AD-1058 Elgar was again outlawed: Elfgar was driven out of the Country, but he soon returned with violence through the help of Gruffydd. This year came the pirates from Norway; it is tedious to tell how it all happened.
The fighting was far more serious than the Chronicle Implies. According to Irish and Welsh sources, it was in fact devastation of a large area of England carried out by Magnus, son of Harald Hardrada of Norway, with the help of Gruffydd-ap-Llewllyn, and the Norwegian fleet was a full scale invasion attempt by men gathered from the Orkneys, Hebrides and Dublin.
Elfgar was reinstated but died in AD-1062 and the Earldom-of-Mercia passed to his eldest son Edwin, who was, however, too young to make use of the military resources of his Earldom. Harold seized the opportunity to end the troublesome Mercian and Welsh alliance by breaking the power of Gruffydd. In the two lightning campaigns of AD-1062 and AD-1063, Harold and Tostig at last succeeded in stabilising the precious Hereford border, extending effective English overlordship to the lands between the rivers Wye and Usk, and ruining all the attempts by Gruffydd to unite the Welsh. Ten, in AD-1063 the Welsh princes brought Harold the head of Gruffydd, Surrendered hostages to him and Edward, and he swore oaths of fealty and Homage to the king.
(Page 147)
Godwinson’s behind him Harold was now at the peak of his power and was henceforth referred to as the Duke Harold: No subject of the English crown had ever been at once so powerful in relation to other noblemen and so great a figure in the country at large. However, it is possible that Harold had no personal aspirations to the throne itself, but rather sought to supplant William’s claim by other means. In AD-1054, the Anglo-Saxon chronicle states that Bishop Ealdred-of-Worcester went overseas to Cologne on a mission for the king, and was received with great ceremony by the Emperor. He stayed there almost a year. Was this a last chance to bring back the last surviving member of the House of Cedric, Edward the Ãtheling, Edward Ironside’s son, back from Hungary to become the king’s heir? This was the sensible thing to do, and would have thrown a spanner into the works of Duke William’s ambitions, and even the Pope could not have denied his place as the rightful heir to the throne. Let us see how it unfolded...
This at first may seem not to make sense as it was told that Edward had promised that William Duke of Normandy was to be the heir to the English throne. But it may have been Harold who sent the Bishop on this mission on the chance that Edward-the-Ãtheling was still alive and that if dead, he has an heir. The king had no heir, and nor, we are told, did Edward-the-Ãtheling, and there was no other claimants to the throne except Harold Hardrada and William, Duke-of-Normandy. Edward-the-Ãtheling was married to a Hungarian Princess, and held a high position in court. He had lived in Hungary for thirty seven years since the age of one year, and spoke Magyar as their native tongue: there was no reason on earth why he should for sake such a position for the uncertainty of a trip to England, where one day he “might” become king, or just as likely he may be murdered.
Yet he did come to England in AD-1057, which suggests either further pressure was applied, or applied for the first time at a later date if Ealdred had been merely seeking news of the Ãtheling’s survival. Harold went on a pilgrimage to Rome sometime before AD-1060 and was at St-Omer on the 13th November AD-1056, when he placed his signature on a document for Count Baldwin-V of Flanders. He also travelled through France, and St-Omer was one of the Pilgrim and trade routes taken by the English. Direct communication was not possible between the English and Hungarian courts in the 11th century, but on the 6th December Baldwin was in Cologne to see Pope Victor-II (AD-1055 -to- AD-1057, the 148th pontiff), and it maybe that Harold accompanied him, for the Pope was the one man in Europe who could be of effective assistance in securing the return of the Ãtheling to England.
Prior to his election as Pope in AD-1054, Pope Victor had been governor of Bavaria for Henry-III and was certainly in a position to help any one wishing to open negotiations with Hungary. In addition, the Pope moved to Bavaria for a cool Christmas, remaining there until February. If Harold went to Bavaria, he would have been a reasonable distance from Hungary and stood a better chance of persuading the Ãtheling where his real responsibilities lay. It is even possible that Harold might have visited the Ãtheling in person. What ever happened, Harold would probably have accompanied the papal party on Pope Victor’s pilgrimage to Rome before returning to England, perhaps even accompanied by the Ãtheling. Edward the Ãtheling arrived in London in the first half of AD-1057; although his arrival is the first entry in the Chronicle for that year. King Edward did not see the Prince, either because the Norman faction at his court objected or because the king himself found the situation extremely embarrassing, which was the most likely cause, in view of his promise to William: to allow the Ãtheling into his court might have been interpreted as recognition of his claim to the throne. But Harold was strong, and had no cause to have been worried about a military invasion by William, as he would not have been able to have been allowed a beachhead; no, William would have to sweat.
The Prince was kept waiting in the background, and died suddenly and without ever seeing his uncle the king. No cause of death is recorded and no accusations made. The king is likely to have instigated the prince’s death, but there must have been Norman’s at the court that wished him dead and had the means to ensure his quiet removal from the scene. Edward-the-Ãtheling had after all given his life for a country called England, which he cannot have loved, and almost certainly did not want.
The Prince’s death ruined Harold’s hopes of supplanting William; but Harold seems to have now been content to play the waiting game. The Prince’s son and two daughters had been taken into the kings household, the son Edgar, could have been no more than five years old in AD-1057: the king was about fifty-four. Edward might be expected to live another ten years and that was the time Edgar needed. If the king died in AD-1067 or even later, as he might well do, Edgar would be of an age to take the throne with the.
(Page 147)
Godwinson’s behind him Harold was now at the peak of his power and was henceforth referred to as the Duke Harold: No subject of the English crown had ever been at once so powerful in relation to other noblemen and so great a figure in the country at large. However, it is possible that Harold had no personal aspirations to the throne itself, but rather sought to supplant William’s claim by other means. In AD-1054, the Anglo-Saxon chronicle states that Bishop Ealdred-of-Worcester went overseas to Cologne on a mission for the king, and was received with great ceremony by the Emperor. He stayed there almost a year. Was this a last chance to bring back the last surviving member of the House of Cedric, Edward the Ãtheling, Edward Ironside’s son, back from Hungary to become the king’s heir? This was the sensible thing to do, and would have thrown a spanner into the works of Duke William’s ambitions, and even the Pope could not have denied his place as the rightful heir to the throne. Let us see how it unfolded...
This at first may seem not to make sense as it was told that Edward had promised that William Duke of Normandy was to be the heir to the English throne. But it may have been Harold who sent the Bishop on this mission on the chance that Edward-the-Ãtheling was still alive and that if dead, he has an heir. The king had no heir, and nor, we are told, did Edward-the-Ãtheling, and there was no other claimants to the throne except Harold Hardrada and William, Duke-of-Normandy. Edward-the-Ãtheling was married to a Hungarian Princess, and held a high position in court. He had lived in Hungary for thirty seven years since the age of one year, and spoke Magyar as their native tongue: there was no reason on earth why he should for sake such a position for the uncertainty of a trip to England, where one day he “might” become king, or just as likely he may be murdered.
Yet he did come to England in AD-1057, which suggests either further pressure was applied, or applied for the first time at a later date if Ealdred had been merely seeking news of the Ãtheling’s survival. Harold went on a pilgrimage to Rome sometime before AD-1060 and was at St-Omer on the 13th November AD-1056, when he placed his signature on a document for Count Baldwin-V of Flanders. He also travelled through France, and St-Omer was one of the Pilgrim and trade routes taken by the English. Direct communication was not possible between the English and Hungarian courts in the 11th century, but on the 6th December Baldwin was in Cologne to see Pope Victor-II (AD-1055 -to- AD-1057, the 148th pontiff), and it maybe that Harold accompanied him, for the Pope was the one man in Europe who could be of effective assistance in securing the return of the Ãtheling to England.
Prior to his election as Pope in AD-1054, Pope Victor had been governor of Bavaria for Henry-III and was certainly in a position to help any one wishing to open negotiations with Hungary. In addition, the Pope moved to Bavaria for a cool Christmas, remaining there until February. If Harold went to Bavaria, he would have been a reasonable distance from Hungary and stood a better chance of persuading the Ãtheling where his real responsibilities lay. It is even possible that Harold might have visited the Ãtheling in person. What ever happened, Harold would probably have accompanied the papal party on Pope Victor’s pilgrimage to Rome before returning to England, perhaps even accompanied by the Ãtheling. Edward the Ãtheling arrived in London in the first half of AD-1057; although his arrival is the first entry in the Chronicle for that year. King Edward did not see the Prince, either because the Norman faction at his court objected or because the king himself found the situation extremely embarrassing, which was the most likely cause, in view of his promise to William: to allow the Ãtheling into his court might have been interpreted as recognition of his claim to the throne. But Harold was strong, and had no cause to have been worried about a military invasion by William, as he would not have been able to have been allowed a beachhead; no, William would have to sweat.
The Prince was kept waiting in the background, and died suddenly and without ever seeing his uncle the king. No cause of death is recorded and no accusations made. The king is likely to have instigated the prince’s death, but there must have been Norman’s at the court that wished him dead and had the means to ensure his quiet removal from the scene. Edward-the-Ãtheling had after all given his life for a country called England, which he cannot have loved, and almost certainly did not want.
The Prince’s death ruined Harold’s hopes of supplanting William; but Harold seems to have now been content to play the waiting game. The Prince’s son and two daughters had been taken into the kings household, the son Edgar, could have been no more than five years old in AD-1057: the king was about fifty-four. Edward might be expected to live another ten years and that was the time Edgar needed. If the king died in AD-1067 or even later, as he might well do, Edgar would be of an age to take the throne with the.
(page 48)
An extra-ordinary set of events occurred, and unfolded the nature of events to set the scene for the next two years. Harold’s Brother Tostig became a tyrant in his earldom, and Harold was sent to quell a threat of rebellion, but it would seem that Tostig was becoming psychotic; showing his unpopularity by attacking his own people and his neighbour’s. He was declared an outlaw, and left the country, but more on this later...
Harold quashed his rebelliousness. Tostig was resentful of Harold, as no automatic support came from Harold as he would have expected, and now his resentment of Harold’s interfering in his earldom, and planed revenge on his brother; he became more than friendly with the Norwegians, too friendly in fact, but I will come back to this later. A month later, Harold was sent to William’s court in Normandy. Was this was planed by Edward to have Harold confirm an oath of fealty to William? Was he forced to sign documents full of legal Jargon as witnessed by others and reliable men? This is what it said...
(1). That he would be “vicarious” (deputy or, a legal sense, executor) of Duke William at the court of his lord, Kind Edward, as long as he shall live.
(2). That Harold would employ his influence and resources to assure him (William) the possession of the English kingdom after the death of Edward.
(3). That Harold would hand over to him (William) the custody of HIS castle’s to William’s knights. (In his mind Harold was blowing a blew a fuse at this, but bit his lip for a while).
(4). That Harold should hand these over amply supplied and fortified at Harold’s expense! In addition, Harold was to pay homage to William, and in return was confirmed by the Duke in all his lands and dignities. Harold then returned to England, loaded with gifts, and accompanied by his nephew Hákon specially released in his honour, although Harold’s younger brother Wulfnorth was held by William until the conqueror’s death in AD-1087.
I can’t find any evidence to discredit this account, while the accusation that Harold was tricked into this oath on sacred relics, just may have some kind of foundation, but it maybe that Harold was still playing the waiting game. But Harold was no fool, he knew full well that if he did not play along with William, he could well loose his life while he was at the court of William, if William so wished. The account of Harold being captured while fishing, and taken to William’s court at this time is a gross misinterpretation of events. Tostig, across the channel, was fuming and plotting still, and he was still plotting to regain his earldom, while Edward began a physical and mental decline. The clock had started to tick its way to doomsday! Edward was sixty-three at the time of Tostig’s rebellion. There was never any suggestion at this or any previous time that he suffered ill health, and it maybe that his being forced to submit to Harold Godwinson and by his father Harold Godwin before that; but my own gut feeling is that he knew that he had made a grave error in promising the English thrown to William, who was not an Englishman, and to whom it was promised on a whim some time many years before, when he lived in Normandy with William, and William, being strong willed, took him at his word; William was about sixteen at this time, and this then obviously stuck with him. All this must have at last taken its toll on Edward’s mental ability to cope with such grievous and ill-timed judgements. He knew full well that England was to be in a state of upheaval on his death, but it was too late to try to tinker with seeds already sown in fertile ground! In the weeks following Tostig’s rebellion, the king’s depression worsened into a state of morbidity. Perhaps he felt he had done enough for England, that the Godwinson’s were balanced now by Edwin and Morcar, and the succession was guaranteed to pass into the hands of a strong ruler who would be able to control all the earls. By December he was grievously ill and the date for the consecration of his beloved Westminster Abbey was brought forward to the 28th so that he might attend. But he was too ill by then, and remained bedridden in Westminster Palace; from the 28th growing weaker and weaker, developing a raging fever and finally lapsing into a coma. On the 15th January he died, only ten weeks after his surrender to Tostig’s rebels.
There were many lay and ecclesiastical magnets of the realm in London for the consecration of Westminster Abbey and the Christmas feast. This gave a chance for a meeting of the “witan”; as Edward’s death drew near, and his successor was named on the very day that the king died. It was now so very clear that Edward had always intended that William of Normandy should be his heir. He had been constant in his aim, and twice stood up to the Godwin’s to achieve it. But a king of England had no right to promise the throne to anyone, for at a king’s death the final decision rested with the “Witan” (the high council of England). It was customary for the “witan” to organise the successor nominated by the dying king, normally the king’s eldest son, so as to avoid the dangers of a disputed succession. Where there was no such heir, the most eligible member of the royal family was chosen on a selection basis, whereby the candidate sought to secure the support of the leading magnates. When Edward died he left no heir and the only surviving member of the royal house was Edgar, who was still too young (about fourteen) to control the country. But there were several foreign candidates. William-of-Normandy was Edward's choice and therefore prime candidate, but there were also two Scandinavian kings to be considered.
(Page. 49)
Their claim stemmed from King Cnut’s reign, for on his death, the Scandinavian Empire had split into Norway under Magnus, and Denmark and England under Hardacnute. Magnus attacked Denmark and in AD-1038-to-1039 a treaty was made between him and Hardacnute that in the event of the death of either of them without heirs their dominions should pass to the other. Hardacnut died without an heir in AD-1042, and thereafter Magnus endeavoured to claim both Denmark and England. He was on the verge of success in Denmark when he died in AD-1047, and his claims were inherited by his father’s half-brother, Harald Hardrada. For all of nineteen years the mighty Harald Hardrada fought his contemporary, Sven Estrithson, who claimed to have been named as successor by Magnus, for control of Denmark, and had it not been for endemic wars it is likely that England would have reverted back to being part of Scandinavia.
Sven and Harold signed a peace treaty in AD-1064, leaving both free to pursue their claims to England in AD-1066; Harold through the contract made between Magnus and Hardacnute, Sven as son of Cnut’s sister and grandson of Sven Forkbeard, king of England from AD-1013-to-AD-1014. However, Sven, as his cousin and friend of Harold Godwinson, was to stand aside in AD-1066, and did not press his claim until after the conquest. In fact the “witan” passed over all three candidates and chose Harold Godwinson, although we do not fully know why.
Harold cannot have expected to be king, or indeed neither plotted such an elevation, prior to AD-1064. It is possible he may have determined to seize the throne then, due to the king forcing him to recognise William as the successor, but not probable, for at this date he still had Edgar to secure the throne for the English royal house. Edward’s illness was unexpected and sudden, and in late November AD-1065 (at the earliest) Harold must for the first time have known for certain that the king was going to die before Edgar was old enough to succeed to the throne. Only then is Harold likely to have begun to campaign to secure the throne for himself. If he did conduct such a campaign, he faced enormous difficulties. He had not a drop of royal blood in his veins (his mother was a sister of Cnut’s brother-in-law, but this was hardly a qualification) and was the son of a self made man. But William was the Bastard son of a Tanner!
You have your choices, and then you take your pick; whom would you have chosen? The choice of a commoner was unprecedented, politically dangerous in the eleventh century. By introducing elective, rather than selective means, would create a precedent which in future generations might enable the throne to pass to the man with the greatest army, (rule by might alone was as proved to be the case).
Such a step was revolutionary, but if Harold was not chosen, who else was there? The “Witan” had such a limited choice: a Scandinavian king, once more, either the mercenary Harald Hardrada, who had no hereditary claim, or Sven Estrithson; or Duke William of Normandy, the illegitimate off spring of the Duke of a duchy considerably smaller and poorer than England, whose only hereditary claim to the throne was that his great aunt Emma had married two kings of England and was King Edward’s mother; or Harold Godwinson.
The “witan” would have recognised Harold’s personal attributes: he was an astute and experienced statesman, a strong administrator yet admired for his tolerance and understanding, and had guided the king and kingdom for the past thirteen years. He was popular with the people Wessex and East Anglia (his old Earldom) and also in Hereford and elsewhere along the Welsh boarder, where his role as scourge of the Welsh had secured him a special place in the hearts of the once harassed people of the marches.
Edgar was the natural choice, not William or Harold. But Edgar could not hold the country together or defend it against the wrath of a frustrated Duke William-of-Normandy: Harold Godwinson could. The other possible influence on his election was; as Edward lay dying, the king is reported to have said, stretching his hands towards Harold: “I commend this woman (the Queen) and all the kingdom to your protection.” This was confirmed by those that attended the king’s death, notably the Queen, who commissioned, Bishop Stigand to record “Vita Edwardi Regis” and was written immediately after the conquest.
Did Edward mean that “Harold” was to be his successor, or only that he should be regent (vicarious as in Harold’s oath of AD-1064)? Until William could arrive to be crowned; as Godwin had been regent between the death of Hardacnute and the coronation of Edward himself? Unfortunately the truth will always stay hidden. But though the truth may never come out, what we do know is that Harold was pronounced king the very same day that the old king died, and crowned the next. Harold was crowned with what has always been termed in the history -books, as indecent haste on the 6th January AD-1066, the day Edward was buried in Westminster Abbey.
(Page 50)
On the face of it, Harold was grabbing the crown, for he became king before any one outside of London knew that Edward was dead, and fate accompli must have done much to influence contemporary opinion. But great state occasions were normally held on feast days of the Church. Edward’s funeral took place on Epiphany: the next great feast day was Easter. To wait three months for the coronation, knowing that William was bound to make some attempt to claim the throne was to court disaster, and Harold was never one to hang back when one swift move might decide the issue. It was a bold trait he inherited from his Viking ancestors. For better or worse he was now king of England, although his position was precarious.
Across the channel was William, who had been named heir to the throne by King Edward, and whom the great earls of England, and in particular Harold himself only some eighteen months previously had recognised as the next king of England. Harold’s accession to the throne would be a slap in the face to William when the news reached Normandy, and the duke could not afford such a tremendous loss of prestige: he would have to make some move against the usurper Harold.
Across the northern seas, were Harald Hardrada and Sven Estrithson, either of whom might invade England to seize the throne or to regain control of the Danelaw: after all, it was only thirty years since England had been part of Cnut’s Scandinavian Empire. In the west was the possibility of a renewed Welsh attack; if the English were engaged elsewhere, and similarly the Scots could be expected to raid south of the river Tweed. And in Flanders remained Tostig, who could not be expected to support Harold, but who might support another in order to regain his earldom. Harold began his reign with sure knowledge that he would have to fight to keep the crown: the only real questions were, from which direction would the first attack come, and would the whole of England support him?
William was at a hunt when news of the accession of Harold Godwinson reached him, and he blew a fuse! The hunt was ended at once, and what to do about the usurper of his throne? William had risen to his present position by pursuing a chosen path with cautious, clear-thinking thoroughness, not by impulsive reactions to events. Whatever his long-term plans might be have been at this stage, he began his counter moves slowly and with great care.
His first step was to open a diplomatic offensive in order to gain for his cause the moral approval and political acquiescence of Western Europe. An official protest was at once sent to Harold, demanding that he renounce the throne in William’s favour. The exact terms of his protest are unknown, but are not really important, as they would certainly have been recorded.
Harold refused; for William is unlikely to have been satisfied with the distant prospect of a grandson becoming king of England one day; again his aim was to create for himself a feudal European image of a Prince who is determined to pursue his rights at the point of the sword, but only after fair warning to his adversary, and at the same time warn the English people that supporting Harold could lead them to war.
Harold replied that, as king of England, he could not enter into political marriage (or betrothal, as William had only been married about fourteen years, and his eldest daughter could not have been more than twelve) without the “Witan’s” permission, and that body was opposed to a foreign queen. With this refusal of a generous compromise William was free to begin his second manoeuvre. Harold should have taken William’s the offer, but with the “witan” against any foreign influence, Harold would have been seen to betray their confidence in them. It would have shown a weakness that the English were in effect worried about possible a successful invasion. They were not going to give any one the slightest idea that to invade England by the front or the back door was a sensible idea. Harold was known to be brave and strong and so too was his well-trained Fryd (Militia, Army), who could well see off any possible invader.
Some time in the spring - an embassy was dispatched to Rome to appeal for the judgement of the Pope against Harold, as a self perjured, sacrilegious and a false executioner, guilty of profaning the relics of the saints of the Holy Church, and of usurping the throne of England promised by Edward to his kinsman William and of complicity with his father Earl Godwin in the murder of Edward’s brother Alfred, and the expulsion from his see and from England of the true Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert-of-Jumieges. William really laid it on!
No record of the resulting proceedings at Rome has survived but there is no evidence that Harold was ever summoned to appear at Rome to answer the charges; they were clearly a matter of expediency for Rome and William, rather then a true hearing. William played all his cards - plus the joker, his race was on. Normandy, under William, had been exceedingly generous to the Church, and William could be expected to be even more generous as king of England, but the real importance of his embassy was that it presented to the Pope an opportunity to bring the erring Church in England firmly back into the fold.
(page 51)
Harold and England were adamant that William’s claim was to be ignored, and sat and waited for William to make his move. For William it was not that easy to muster troops and ships, for that would take a great deal of money, money William did not have. He therefore made it known throughout Europe that Harold had usurped his crown and England’s usurper was to be thrown out on his ear. All were offered great rewards if they were to come forward with troops and ships, and stores for an invasion. William would have sent representatives to each of the magnets who he thought would not have dared to say no to helping his cause, for William was known to dislike being refused, and the fear of being invaded themselves, or at least harried for their none co-operation, if and when a successful invasion of England was completed, so there was no real option for pitching in with William. It was a great risk indeed, as a failure would have then spelled disaster, then risk invasion by England in reprisal of all concerned.
William had but 80 ships of his own and 250 ships that he could hire from other sources, but he knew that he would need at least 800 ships to carry his men, horses, equipment, and stores, and he needed help to retreat if it were to become necessary. Normandy was not a rich dukedom, nor was it large, in fact it was very small compared with his planned country of invasion. But William was astute and clever, he knew how to talk to people and how to use their own hatred of England (this hatred was jealousy of English trade advantages, and they knew how to trade to their advantage too) trade to his advantage.
He gathered about 780 ships, with an army of 7,000 men, 2,000 cavalryman, 260 knights, (400 ships for just the horses alone) and 500 attendants. To this figure were added another 650 ships of all sizes to carry other types of supplies and mercenaries to had to be included in the list of this flotilla. Great numbers of seamen and none-combatants who could be used to guard the fleet once it was dragged ashore and who could form part of the garrisons which would be needed at the bases established in England. No one in Europe had tried to take a mounted army across the North Sea before, although such expeditions to the Byzantine’s and Norman’s in the Mediterranean, while the Danes had often transported horses to England as early as AD-892. In AD-1066 William had no other alternative but to take horses across the channel, for he would need all the cavalry he could muster to defeat the strong English army, and his knight’s needed their trained war horses. Unlike the Danes, they could not rely on capturing the undersized ponies of England once ashore.
It’s interesting to note that the quantities of food for the horses alone would have been enormous. Weather this was transported with the fleet, or if they were to plunder the locals for such fodder is unknown, but the food for the troops, once ashore, were indeed plundered by the invading troops, as provision was made only for the upper echelons, the common soldier fending in groups for them selves.
Knight’s came from all over Europe in the hope of the promised treasure that William was to give them on their glorious victory, and their horses would be the best stallions supplied by William’s own stables. These would be loaded at Dives-sur-mer where special ramps would be used to load horses onto ships. Unloading of horses would have presented no problem, as boats and ships would merely be beached, and the horses would need little encouragement to leap to the shore. The Bayeux Tapestry shows precisely such a scene, with two horses, led by one man, jumping into shallow water from a beached ship. A maximum of six horses would be carried on each ship, as these ships were very small if you would compare them to today’s ships; a thirty-foot ship would be considered a good-sized ship in those days. William’s invasion fleet was ready and fully assembled at Dives-sur-mer by mid August, but since ships of this period could not sail against the wind, and only half the fleet had oars, there was nothing to do but wait and pray for a favourable wind that could carry his fleet to the south of England in a short space of twelve hours. But these winds never came as William had hoped, and days turned to weeks, and moral was dropping accordingly (boredom?) Then on the 12th of September the wind was blowing from the south, and there was a frantic scramble to embark.
Stopping off on their way at a floating McDonald’s for take-away hamburgers with loads of relish, cost William more money than he had on him, so had to write an I.O.U. This done, they again set off for the shores of England. But disaster struck, as gales forced William and his “armada” in to port at St-Valery, in the mouth of the Somme, to refit and again await a southerly wind. This would be his last chance, as the Equinoctial gales would soon sound the oncoming of the winter in the English Channel. The troops could not be fed for ever, as they could not plunder for food there, as they would in England; so William just had to hope and pray for a fair wind from the south. It was now the 26th September, and William’s army retired to tents, and after continuous rain and bad sailing weather, William was realising that it may now be too late to land his “armada” on English soil. In England however; Harold had made a significant start to his reign by his insistence that he be crowned by the Archbishop-of-York in stead of the unrecognised "Stigand", who had received his post through the personal influence of Godwin, and who must now have been an intense embarrassment too.
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By this gesture Harold turned back on all past political and private manoeuvring of the Godwin family, but gestures were not enough. With rival claimants to the throne to both the North and South; with all his people not yet reconciled to his rapid elevation from commoner to successor to the ancient house of Cedric, he had to show that he was an effective ruler, and he had to do it quickly. He intimately began to abolish unjust laws and to make good ones; to patronise Churches and monasteries; to pay particular reverence to his bishops, abbots, monks and clerk’s; and to show himself pious, humble and be affable to all good men. But he treated malefactors with great severity, and gave general orders to earls, ealdormen, sheriffs and thegns to imprison all thieves, robbers, and disturbers of the kingdom. He laboured in his own person by sea and by land for the protection of his realm.
Harold’s overriding concern now was to prepare the country for war that was now inevitable. He made sure that throughout the land his officers new all the dangers that beset the realm, and what would be expected of them in the coming months ahead. All armouries were checked and made ready and placed at appropriate points, and none perishable provisions stockpiled at strategic points. His ships were refitted ready for the spring. All was made ready for the forthcoming attack. What Harold needed to know, was from where the first attack would come?
It was most certain that William, if he risked an armed invasion, would attack the prosperous and heavily populated south, while any Norwegian attack would be expected in the Northeast. If Harold Hardrada were to seize Northumbria, or even Northumbria and Mercia, the richer and more populous south could still resist it, and the north and midlands could eventually be regained.
But if the duke William, established himself on the south coast and gained control of the south by defeating the king’s army there, then Mercia and Northumbria could not be expected to stand alone and must inevitably fall to him. All this would have come to mind when Harold made his plans for the defence of England. William was of secondary importance, a by far the most dangerous was Harald Hardrada, who, if joined by Tostig, would have been a force to be reckoned with indeed; this was his first priority. Harold also realised that whilst he could rely on his brother’s support to hold the south and East Anglia, he needed guarantees that Edwin and Morcar would remain loyal to him if their Earldoms, with their strong Scandinavian links, were invaded by Harold Hardrada. Neither of these two young earls, and few of their lay or ecclesiastical magnates, had been present in the “witan” that had chosen Harold as king, and he could not be sure that they were willing to support him.
It was many years since a king of England had set foot in the north. Seizing the bull by the horns with characteristic boldness. In the February Harold rode to York to meet his earls and their followers, taking with him only a bodyguard of housecarl’s and Wulfstan, Bishop-of-Worcester, the most venerated Churchman in England. The northern people gave their allegiance to Harold, and both Edwin and Morcar realised that they needed Harold as much as he needed them at this time if impending crisis. They pledged to support each other so that in the event that Both Harald Hardrada and Tostig or that William should attack, they were allied. Harold then married Ealdgyth, sister of the two earls, and this step sealed their alliance. There was nothing but fetherence of the monarchy in this act; the private feelings of Ealdgyth, whose former husband was “Gruffydd-ap-Llywelyn” (whose head was presented to Harold only three years previously), and of Harold, who’s common law marriage to Edith Swanneck was both happy and fruitful, would not have been considered in such a match. Though marriage contracts were often made, it may not actually have happened.
Harold returned to Westminster for the Easter feast, abandoning the traditional custom of holding it at Winchester, for the new London venue, and Easter then fell on 16th April that year. At that time a great such as men had never seen before filled the sky, and some said that it was a comet that they called the “long haired star”, and it shone every night from the 24th April for a week. Today we know it as Hayley’s Comet, but to the uninformed and superstitious people of that time, and appeared as an omen of evil. Soon after the Earl Tostig came from across the sea. Tostig had been in fretting in Flanders since the previous year, and he now knew for sure that Harold would never restore his old Earldom to him, and because his mind was so bitter that he gave his fealty to William. This spelt the death knell for Harold as will be seen later. Sven Estrithson of Denmark offered an Earldom in Denmark Tostig, but Tostig rejected this generous offer and the two men did not part friendly terms. This shows that Sven was indeed concerned that a major battle would do no side any good.
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Tostig sailed from Normandy early in may with between 30 and 35 ships of various sizes, and some 1,200 men of various nationalities. He landed on the Isle-of-Wight were he was met by bewilderment, as the locals had been told to watch for Norman invaders, not the kings brother. Then, by embarrassment. The islanders gave him provisions and money to speed him on his way. This was of course because there were no telephones or news papers on the island at that time, and news of any kind was by proclamation, thus the above information was all they had, and no inkling that Tostig was now the enemy, and even the island would have had a fryd for local defence, and seeing the kings brother landing would have amongst them strengthened any hope they had that an invasion may not be on!
Tostig made exploratory landings on the Sussex coast, and up towards the Kent coastline where his troops were all but animals, killing all they saw and pillaging what they could. So why did they not pillage and plunder the Isle of Wight? Could it have been they were planning to retreat there, and in the hope that they would be suckled, telling of the defence they were bringing from raiders? It is plausible they could have taken in the islanders in this way. Nevertheless off the sailed until they reached Sandwich and took the port. Tostig now held the main base of the English Navy and the gateway to the Southeast of England. Harold now had to make a decision as to weather Tostig was just raiding or conducting some sort of a reconnaissance in force to test England’s defences for William, or he might be a lure to draw his forces into the wrong area, and thus distract attention from William’s main offensive. Harold mustered his fleet and the southern English fryd to be on full alert.
But by the time Harold reached Sandwich, Tostig had gone, continuing round the south-east and up toward the Norfolk coast; they harried the people of Norfolk, then sailed on up toward the River Humber where they disembarked on the south bank. Tostig’s men ravaged the surrounding area as cruelly as any Viking’s in the past, but were caught scattered and unprepared by the swift reaction of Edwin and the Lindsey fryd. Returning hastily to their ships, the depleted raiders continued northwards, but found the Yorkshire coast stoutly defended by Morcar’s men, altered by the raids on the Mercian coast. Tostigs men and the mercenaries had now all but deserted, leaving Tostig with no loot and just twelve small ships. Tostig then made his way towards Scotland landing in the Firth-of-Forth on 8th June.
Malcolm-of-Scotland offered Tostig protection but not aid: The king of Scotland allowed Tostig to stay until summer was over, then sailed for Norway to enlist the aid of Harold Hardrada. Harold was keen to attack on the promise of great fortune if he helped to make Tostig king of England, and had made him believe this would not be too hard to accomplish. Harold new his winds and his seas, and he took the opportunity to use the winds from the north (the vary same winds that prevented Harold’s fleet from chasing him, and William from leaving port.
No Norman fleet followed in the wake of Tostig’s raids, while messages from Edwin and Morcar informed Harold that the raiders had been driven off and retreated northwards. Harold cold now draw reassurance from Tostig’s defeat at the hands of the northern Earls, and showed that the north was alert and capable of protecting itself, but he had committed all his forces by summoning the fleet and the fryd, with no sign of the Norman invaders. His spies must have informed him that William could not be ready before July at the earliest. Rather than dismiss his troops for a break, he kept them together just in case they might be needed sooner than he may have expected, and a wise move it was. There were 150-miles of coastline to be defended, so Harold placed force’s at strategic points along the coast, one of which was the Hastings-Pevensey area, and held the elite housecarl (equivalent to Japanese Samurai) and part of the select fryd of the south coast as his mobile reserve, using the fleet for their transport.
The housecarl was a full time professional soldier, but the fryd on the other hand was an ordinary farmer, who was to serve in the army reserve for two months of every year; they were well fed and clothed, indeed, few other men in other countries were as well looked after by their earls as these men of arms. In AD-1066 the equinox commenced on 16th September. No invasion would be feasible after that date and the watch along the coast could be relaxed, just as it was relaxed at this date in the times of Philip of Spain, Napoleon and Hitler. But medieval people lived by the Church calendar, and Ember Week, which marks the transition from summer to winter in the Church’s year, began on the 14th September. The seamen would need several days to sail home, beach their ships and secure them for the season of gales and winter: so the 8th September the Nativity of St-Mary was more likely the traditional date for the dispersal of the English fleet.
On the 15th September, Harold had returned from the south coast counties and arrived back in London just in time to hear that his brother Tostig and Harold Hardrada had invaded the north with 200 warships and other craft, and with over 7,000 man assembled at the Orkneys at Scapa Flow, and on the first day of September, he set sail with his whole fleet to land in Cleveland, between the Tees and the Esk, where the landings were made. Time for mobilisation of the army, and Harold set apace his carefully laid plans for this event.
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On putting ashore no resistance was encountered, and the Norwegians were able to subjugate the whole area, plundering at will. It is likely that a force was left there to hold the district for Harald Hardrada. Continuing southwards, the fleet stopped at Scarborough, where the towns-people seem to have been alerted, withdrew into the town, and refused to yield. Harald Hardrada sent men up on the cliff which looms over the town and a huge pyre was built. Then burning ******* were then hurled down into the town. One after another the houses caught fire, until the town was completely destroyed.
The Norwegians killed a great number of the people there, and then seized all the booty they could lay their hands on. Now the English had no choice, if they wanted to stay alive, but to submit to King Harald Hardrada!
Harold Hardrada then sailed to make another landing at Holderness. Here for the first time he encountered some English troops, either select or great fyrd or both. There was a brief battle, the Fryd was crushed without trouble by the superior Norwegian forces, and made another landing at the district of Holderness, that was plundered as others were before. They then made for the Humber, where they felt they could spend the winter, and this they did, and they could take York while they were about it, and thus separate the north from the rest of England, just as his forefathers did before him. But he wondered where was England’s new king? His answer was soon to come, as Harold Godwinson was fully aware of the situation, and new that Morcar would hold until he arrived with his forces do battle with the mightiest warrior in Europe.
The first landing was made on the Right Bank, but this area was heavily forested, and the next day the fleet moved up stream close to Riccall, where the country was more open. They could not go farther upstream as the river was too narrow for the ships to turn round, but Riccall was only some ten miles from York and about the same distance from Tadcaster, where the great Roman road from London to York crossed the Wharf. Earl Morcar of Northumbria had now had about a week to muster his select Fryd and call out the great Fryd to deal with the emergency, and there was just time enough for Edwin to join his brother at York, accompanied by his best housecarl, the select Fryd, and a large Mercian select Fryd, while the Earl Wealth of had also arrived with men from the Huntingdon area. (Waltheof was the younger brother of Siward, was given the small Earldom of Huntingdon by King Edward, when Waltheof was 20 years old on the 1st January 1066).
The English were about 8,000 strong with another 4,000 on their way to reinforce the Mercian’s from the southern counties. Edwin was just eighteen years old, Morcar even younger, and although had experienced warriors to advise them, neither had fought in a major battle before. Harold had been fighting for over twenty years and fought in Byzantium, and new a thing or two about tactics. Harald Hardrada marched 6,000 men to York, leaving the remainder to guard his ships under the Earls Paul and Island-of-Shetland and Orkney. London had been alerted of this attack, and the northern Earls had just needed to hold tight at York and all would be well, as they were well equipped to hold off an attack from Hardrada’s forces, as he had no siege equipment to use on York’s fortifications. They were confident that their new English King, Harold would come to their aid. But they then felt that to risk defeat in the fields would save York from being burned to the ground in the event of being over-run. And this was a very sensible thing, and it is obvious that Edwin and Mortars’ advisors advised well.
They led their forces out to open ground where they may in the event of their being defeated, be able to negotiate peace terms. This they did, and the two armies met two miles south of York, at a place called Fulford, in those days a village but now a suburb of York. Harald Hardrada’s army was approaching Fulford when the English came in sight. With years of experience behind him Harald saw that Edwin and Morcar did not, and ordered his army to deploy at once across the bridge. On the left flank, by the river Ouse, Hardrada’s’ concentrated his main force under his own command, with his son Olaf and his loyal lieutenant Eystein Orri. Down by the dyke were Tostig and his force of 2,000 men who’s force contained both English and Scots plus a few Flemings together with a smattering of a few Norwegians. Edwin now deployed into battle order and advanced slowly against this position, their forces in close formation.
Edwin appears to have commanded the English right, Morcar left, and Tostig’s men gave way; and thinking the Norwegians would flee also, but when Harald Hardrada saw that the English flank was advancing down into the dyke, and was now opposite him, Harald Hardrada sounded the attack. The Norwegian armies’ onslaught was fierce and everything gave way before it, and many English were killed. The English army broke into flight and many went into the swamp to avoid being caught. But this was not a good move, as the Norwegians were hiding in the swamp to cut off any flight, and many more English were killed.
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Earl Waltheof had fled with the survivors towards the town of York, and there was such great carnage amongst the townspeople. It was a classic manoeuvre, executed by an experienced military commander who was quick to perceive an enemy’s weakness and to exploit it to any advantage. Morcar’s men were forced to fight with their backs against the dyke, and all but a few died fighting; that day was lost to Harald Hardrada.
Edwin and Morcar survived, but only just. King Harold, had just a few days to get ready for the long march; his East-Anglian troops were mustering ready to meet Harold for the 190 mile march to Tadcaster; they set off on the 2nd September with at that time no more than 2,000 men when he left London, as he could not afford to take troops off the coast. If William were to attack a sparsely defended south coast, all would be lost at a stroke; he had to take Hardrada to task before irreparable damage was caused to the northern provinces. Harold’s march north, ranks amongst the greatest military movements in history: in distance, speed and the number of troops involved it was without parallel in his time. Travelling by both day and night, with only brief stops for tea and buns on the way. His rapidly growing army covered 190 miles to Tadcaster in five days, arriving at this village on the Wharf on the evening of the 24th September.
Here King Harold was to receive the news of the battle and of the dreadful defeat at Fulford from a number of survivors of the battle who fled southwards, and heard that York had capitulated (surrendered). If Harald Hardrada knew of Harold’s approach, now would be the time to strike, before the English could recover from their march or be reinforced by stragglers. At dawn on Sunday, 25th September, Harold arrayed (drawn into battle order), his troops at this point, firstly in case of attack from York, only nine miles away, and secondly to organise the confused conglomeration of shire levies, housecarl’s and lithmen into some semblance of order, so as to be able to deploy them quickly in the future.
At last, King Harold could gather his forces’, and then he could plan a strategic strike right into the heart of Harald Hardrada’s’ invasion force. They would, if their luck held have a great advantage, of both surprise and chosen position from which to launch either an attack or a defence, as the case may be. The troops were well rested, and they were fed, and when the situation had been assessed, King Harold gave his orders as to what he wanted his earls to do, and in what order. He gave them visual signals to look out for, so that they may change their formation, for attack or defence as needed. Planing went well.
It would also have been a good opportunity to count heads and make an inspiring speech. The count was just above 6,000 men, and most had marched with Harold from either London or East Anglia, and needing a cuppa-tea and a rest before battle commenced. But the very swiftness of Harold’s reaction and march North, had given him the tactical advantage of complete surprise, and at dawn the next morning (Sunday), he advanced unopposed and undetected upon York, Almost as important was the fact that his speed was to result in the Norwegians being brought to battle before an alliance was formed between them and York, or possibly the whole of the north: a few hours delay in London or on the march could easily have cost Harold the loyalty of the north, with incalculable effects on subsequent events. Harold had made sure that no one could escape to warn Hardrada of his approach, by sending teams of men on horse to catch any of Hardradas’ fleeing militia. Harold needed complete and utter surprise. Harald Hardrada had left no garrison at York (possibly he felt that he could not trust his men in the city) and when Harold’s forces arrived there early in the morning, their entry into the city must have been watched with mixed feelings. King Harold obviously did not trust the citizens, and had all the city gates guarded to prevent word of his arrival being sent to the Norwegians. After a brief rest, after which he had Hardrada’s forces numbered, Harold’s forces marched to meet Hardradas’ forces at the village of Gate Hemsley. After covering the eight miles to Gate Helmsey, Hardrada asked Tostig what the shining shields on the ridge above them were. Tostig replied that it could be a hostile force, although it was possibly that they were Northumbria’s seeking mercy and protection from the Norwegian king in exchange for homage to him. Hardrada decided to wait until he could see more of this army and the closer this army came, the greater it grew, and their glittering shields sparkled like a field of broken ice.
Harald Hardrada was very silly, he had not posted lookouts’, and it is no wonder that he was taken by surprise. He was obviously sure that Harold could not have arrived so quickly, or that Harold would not come at all, faced as he was with the threat from William’s’ Norman forces to the south. Then at last Hardrada concluded that the approaching army could only be that of King Harold, and however unlikely as that must have been, he was obviously flabbergasted at such a sight, and turned to Tostig to ask what he thought there next move ought to be? Tostig suggested that they should retreat to Riccall and the fleet as soon as possible. Hardrada rejected the idea as unworthy of a Viking warrior.
It is doubtful if all Norwegians and their allies could have escaped pursuit, for only a small number were mounted, where as many of the English were on horseback, and may have made short shift of a fleeing army.
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Hardrada decided to accept battle (he had little option), and despatched three of his best men on the fastest horses available to summon Eystein Orri and the ship guard to Stamford Bridge. Then he ordered his banner to be raised and began issuing orders for a rather late deployment. The river Derwent is narrow until it enters the small valley where now stands the village of Stamford Bridge: here it then broadens suddenly into shallows. It was 12 meters (39 feet) wide with steep banks and a muddy bottom.
There was no road bridge here in AD-1066, just a wooden bridge, wide enough for two men to cross at a time, and resting on the stone pillars of an earlier bridge, that was thought to have been built by the Romans for the Bridlington road, which follows the old Roman highway to the coast, just 400 metres (437 yards) up stream from the present hump-backed road bridge. The land rises to 15 metres from the river. To the west of the river this slope is gradual, rising to the brow of the ridge whereon sits Gat Helmsley, a mile away. To the east the land rises more rapidly in a succession of hedged pastures which are now called the Battle flats. Despite the passage of time, the fields and river are much as they were in AD-1066. When the English army appeared at Gat Helmsey the main force of the Norwegian’s and their allies were scattered along the banks of the river, mostly on the east bank, but some were on the West Bank also. Those on the West Bank were ordered to hold the bridge and delay the English advance, while the main army formed up on the east bank to give battle.
The Norwegians were hopelessly out numbered at the bridge, but as many crossed as they could before the English cavalry reached the bridge and seized it. Those Norwegians who stood fast to cover their comrade’s withdrawal may have had time to form a crude semicircle before the bridge, their flanks resting on the river bank; but too late, and it was a rout. But one very brave Norwegian stood at the bridge wearing chain-mail and a two handed battle axe, struck down all who came near the bridge, it was only when a man in a small boat floated down and under the bridge and stabbed the man from underneath with his spear was the bridge finally taken. A brave man indeed.
Slowly, the English filed across the bridge unopposed by the Norwegian army waiting some 200 metres back from the east bank, until they had formed a line of battle on that bank. Hardrada needed Stamford-Bridge to be another Fulford. If he allowed the English to cross the bridge, they would have to attack up hill, then he could counter attack down hill, and it would be the turn of the English to fight with their backs to an unfordable river. King Harold also knew this, and accepted the challenge. The great battle for Stamford-Bridge was fought for the control of all England, and both knew this full well. A group of about twenty horsemen now road forward from the English lines to offer Tostig the opportunity to return to natural allegiance, when his brother the king would give him a third of the realm (possibly Wessex, or Edwin’s and Morcar’s Earldoms). Tostig could not have hoped to gain more under Harold Hardrada, but how could he possibly extract himself and his followers from the mist of the Norwegian army? Tostig asked what terms he would give to the Norwegian king? And the reply was “7 feet of ground, or as much more as he is taller than other men!” (7 feet = 2.133 Metres) Tostig foolishly stood by the Norwegian king. I have often wondered how much of this story was to be allowed by the Normans? It would give credit to William the Conqueror to show the world that he was fighting someone who was his equal in battle, and who was equal in intelligence, to show that he, being the victor at the Battle of Hastings fought an even greater battle than historians would otherwise suppose? Worth some more investigation.
The Englishmen returned to their lines, and the battle began. King Harald Hardrada drew up his array, and then formed a long thin line; the wings bent back until they met, thus forming a wide circle of even depth all the way round, with shields overlapping in front and above. The king himself was inside the circle with his standard and his own retinue of hand picked men. Earl Tostig was also stationed inside the circle with his own company, and had his own banner. The army was formed in this way because Hardrada knew that cavalry always-attacked in small detachment then wheeled away at once. Hardrada said that his own retinue and Earl Tostig’s company would make sorties to wherever the need was greatest. The English made a cavalry charge against the Norwegians, who met it without flinching. It was no easy matter for the English to ride against the Norwegians because of their arrows, so they rode around them in a circle. There was only skirmishing to begin with, so long as the Norwegians kept their formation. The English cavalry kept charging them and falling back at once when they could make no headway. The Norwegian’s thought these were rather half-hearted attempts, so they launched an attack them selves on the retreating cavalry. But as soon as they had broken their shield wall, the English rode down on them from all sides, showering spears and arrows on them. This tactic was to be repeated in some way later by William at the Battle of Hastings.
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When King Harold Sigurdson saw this, he led a charge into the thickest of the fighting. The battle soon became very fierce, and great numbers were killed on both sides. Sigurdson now fell onto such a fury of battle that he rushed forward ahead of his troops, fighting two handed. Neither helmets nor coats of mail could withstand him, and every one in his path gave way before him. It looked as if the English were on the point of being routed. But now Sigurdson was struck in the throat by an arrow, and this was his death wound. He fell, and with him fell all those who had advanced with him, except for those who retreated with the royal standard. The Norwegians’ had lost a great warrior, and as always, human nature, being what it is, the heart of the enemy began to wane, but they were under attack, and it was live or die, so the battle still raged fiercely, and Earl Tostig was now fighting under the royal standard. Both sides drew back to form up again, and there was a long lull in fighting while the hamburger van passed selling its pre-packed lunches. Before fighting resumed, England’s King Harold offered quarter (mercy) to his brother Earl Tostig and all the surviving Norwegians. But the Norwegians then shouted back with one voice that every one of them would rather die than accept quarter from the English; they roared their war cry, and battle started again. About this time, Eystein Orii arrived
From the ships with all the men he had and they were wearing coats of mail. Eystein took Hardrada’s banner “Land-Waster” and once more the fighting began in earnest, more fiercely than ever. The English fell in great numbers, and once more were on the point of being routed. This stage of fighting was called “Orii’s Battle”. I mentioned that their heart was waning, it was, but the text shows other wise, but you must now remember, the Norwegians were with their back to the wall, their retreat was almost cut off, and if they were going to die, they were going to die fighting! Their last stand, and just as it was in WW-II, in one field, the battle for Briton was now on.
The historian “Snorri” states thus...Eystein and his men ran from the ships (for two miles and wearing mail!) so that they were tired out and almost unable to fight (mail weighs roughly 20kg) before they arrived at the battle scene. But they fell into battle with such fury that they did not bother to ware their armour and fought unprotected; so that the English could lands blows on them, and kill them. But some of the Norwegian’s fell dead of exhaustion and died unwounded. Nearly all the leading Norwegian’s were killed here. We must remember that these mercenaries had ploughed in all their personal cash into this venture (they get paid, but chain-mail armour is very, very, expensive indeed) and their gains would have been (for them) great indeed. The Anglo-Saxon chronicle “D” describes in detail who were killed here... There were included slain; Harald Hardrada and Earl Tostig. The remaining, such as were left standing Norwegians were put to flight, while the English fiercely assailed their rear until some reach their ships: some were drowned, others burned to death. So there were few survivors, and the English had taken possession of the field, and won the day and the battle, but it could well have gone the other way. The English King Harold, seeing how brave the Norwegians fought, gave quarter to Olaf, son of the king of the Norwegians, to their Bishop, to the Earl of Orkney, and to all that were left aboard the ships. They then all went inland and swore oaths that they would ever maintain peace and friendship with this land; and the king let them sail home with twenty-four ships.
Of Harald Hardrada’s 10,000 men there were some 1,000 that have escaped death by being stationed at Cleveland, Scarborough and Holerness, and these 1000 sailed from the Humber back to their homes. Harold could not afford to have further trouble from either the Norwegians or the Northumbrians, and so he pressed home his victory to the utmost limits to ensure the Norwegians would not return, and to show the northern Lords that his victory was complete. AND IT WAS!
The English casualties are unknown, but although heavy cannot have been half of those of the Norwegian army, which was so annihilated that it was to be an entire generation before a Norwegian king could undertake another foreign expedition. The power of the Norwegians’ had gone, but they had fought so valiantly, and though their claim to the English throne was tenuous, they may have had some right to do so. Harold’s claim was that he was now king de-facto.
Six days after Stamford Bridge, on the 1st October, Harold received news that caused him to postpone dealings with all other problems until later.. William Duke of Normandy had landed on the south coast on 28th September. Harold was almost 200 miles from the nerve centre of his realm; three times farther from London than William. Harald Hardrada’s treasure and booty (the troops wages) were placed in the charge of the Archbishop of York, and Maerleswein, Sheriff of Lincoln, was appointed to govern Northumbria, as Harold hurriedly gathered his few elite warriors to him. Edwin and Morcar gathered their troops also, and on the 6th October, King Harold Godwinson left York accompanied by the tired remnants of his royal housecarl’s, lithmen, and others loyal to the king, to re-enact the role that Harald Hardrada’s men had just been forced to play.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS (page 58)
On the night of 26th-to-27th September AD-1066, following the parading of the body of St-Valery around the Norman campsite beside the Somme, the adverse winds miraculously died away and the wind began to blow from the south. As dawn broke on the 27th, the sun shone from a clear blue sky and the sea was calm. William could have been excused for showing caution at this moment, after his experience on the 12th almost forty-five days of continuously contrary winds, but he knew his army was at the end of it’s tether; it had to be now or never. He gave the order to embark. We are told that it took over 6 hours to get the horses on the ships, this was really the tricky bit, as they had to make sure that they did not try to bolt, whilst on the ships, as this would have spelt disaster, and it certainly would have put the whole exposition in jeopardy. The horses dung would have been a bit smelly too! They sailed at 4:00 p.m. The moon (six days old) set at about 9:15 p.m., and it was therefore necessary for William to have his armada on the open sea by about 6:30 p.m. to avoid the perilous situation of having hundreds of ships crowded together in the vicinity of land in the darkness. Navigation was by the moon and the stars, and a crude compass. As each ship was ready, it moved down stream to the mouth of the river Somme and anchored to await the others; by nightfall this was accomplished and the fleet hove-to on the open sea, with each ship bearing a small light at the mast head to assist in keeping the fleet together. On a trumpet sound, the fleet set up sail to the wind, and the fleet were at last on their way to a battle that was to be remembered for a thousand years. There was a full moon, and there was not a cloud in the sky, and the swell was less than was to be expected for this time of the year.
It began to get light at about 5:00 a.m., and the sun rose an hour later. If the English navy were to appear now, then the game would be over, as the Norman fleet was not equipped for a battle at sea, and in any case, their ships were too over-loaded to turn and flee against the southerly wind without the risk of capsizing. As luck would have it, the English fleet were elsewhere dealing with the Norwegians in the north. All but a few English were unable to patrol as few rowing vessels were in that area at this time, but even so, if there had been any, much damage would have been done to William’s fleet. This was a gamble that William had to take, and was likened to carrying ones grandmother across the Atlantic on ones shoulders whilst paddling a canoe! All expeditions rely on three factors;
Timing, planning, and above all LUCK!
William had all the luck any leader could wish for; if he had written the story for himself, it could not have been a better start to a story of embarkation and trepidation, courage and that faith all men aspire to in time of fear. .Luck. The fleet entered Pevensey haven and completed disembarkation by 9:00 a.m. At this point and time, high water was at 4:35 am., and was on ebb tide until 11:20 a.m. So the landings may have been against ebb tide, and in that case the chroniclers may have been a little off on this point, so the disembarkation may have taken a few hours longer than the times stated in the chronicles. (A good computer program would confirm this as fact in no time). William set off inland with not more than 25 knights, all mounted. Tracks they found were difficult to negotiate, and the party had to dismount, and when they returned, they were not wearing their hauberks, as it was too exhausting to wear them when struggling over difficult countryside. William was looking for the road to Hastings were his army could establish a base. This may at first glance seem an odd state of affairs, but William had never been to these shores as a warrior, so had to find his way about, all be it in an ad-hock way. William ordered the carpenters to land, and then to cut trees to be used build a fortification, and they had also brought with them the elements of a prefab-prefabricated fort; there were three such forts, and one such fort was placed within the walls of the old Roman fort; before sundown, they had completed one fort on English soil, and there they placed their stores. Every one then of ate and drank well, right glad they were ashore.
The Norman army now had a secure base from which they could come and go and defend in a last ditch stand if necessary. Pevensey was limited in many ways, and William found the route to Hastings, were he took the main body of his troops. Near here, William made another fortification and set up two more pre-fabricated strongholds. The foragers, and those on the lookout for booty, seized all the clothing and provisions they find in case their ship-borne supplies should fail them. And the English could be seen fleeing before them, driving off cattle and quitting their houses. Many took shelter in graveyards, and even there they were in great alarm. Their alarm was justified: the Beaux Tapestry portrays the invaders burning a house of some note, capturing and killing the livestock, and seizing other foodstuffs; at best many of the local inhabitants could now expect death by starvation or exposure in the coming winter. The sheer numbers of the invaders must also have reduced even the burghers of an important port like Hastings into shocked impotence, that in particular as most of the fighting men would have sailed to London with the English fleet.
(page 59)
William thought Hastings was a much better place for the troops to set a Permanent beachhead and indeed they would have been very hard to move had they been attacked. Hastings was located at the bottom corner of an isolated, inverted triangle of land approximately ten miles long by six miles wide. It had a large harbour and was a more prosperous community, which was able to and fully capable of yielding enough booty and sustenance for the invaders. The road to Hastings was the old Roman road, running from Petersfield in Hampshire to Ashford in Kent; this road led to Maidstone, where it joined the London to Dover road, and crossed the river Brede at Sedlescombe most probably by ferry. A great army could not cross by a ferry and this meant the only way out of the Hastings Peninsula was a prehistoric track, which followed the high ground between the Brede and the Bulverhythe, heading Northwest to Caldbec-Hill, on the northern outskirts of modern Battle. William found that by simply just blocking this road (track), he would deny any attacking army. On the other hand, blocking that same track to the English would effectively isolate William’s army in an area, which could not feed it for long.
While the fortifications were being built at Hastings, William held a council of war with his half brother’s Robert-of-Mortain and Odo-of-Beaux. What William must have asked is just where was Harold? He must have known that Harold was either dead, and in that case would he now have to fight Harold Hardrada, or split England in two, with William taking the south and Hardrada the north? What strength was his army? What were the Norwegians up to? My own speculation is, that William and Harald Hardrada may have been collaborating; in that they may have wanted to split Harold’s forces; the deal being that King Harold Sigurdsson would hold the north and the Norman Duke William would be controlling the south (but how much trust there would have been between these two parties can only be speculation). There again, if news of William’s landing on the south coast came to Harold, then it may have been that news of Harold’s victory had reached William? It was all too academic, as William was all two soon to find out. It may have been a shock to William that such a force as Harald Hardrada’s was routed, and in this case, he would need to steady his forces' fears of such a great warrior as the English King Harold routing them also.
On the other hand, if my hypothesis is incorrect, and the case was not, that they were in any way connected in a conspiracy to divide the country’s forces and thus no longer had to beat King Harold Godwinson; then it may be the case that William may have been in debate with his council of the probability that Harold may have been defeated, and that William may have to face going into battle with King Harald Hardrada, with the possibility of the division of England, defeat or William’s victory? Until firm news either was given, William was in the dark.
There was certainly a lot to think about. London was open to attack, and if William advanced from the Hastings Peninsula, he might lose contact with his supply fleet and risk battle on the enemies terms, for the farther he advanced from his base the more the strength of his army would diminish due to the many stragglers and garrisons left to guard the strategic lines of communication, for he must at all costs maintain links with Normandy, and his hopes of winning a decisive battle must shrink in proportion to his decrease in strength. So long as he kept his army at Hastings, he was safe; the peninsula could be defended against an attacking army and if the worst happened there was a sizeable fleet waiting in the harbour to effect a very rapid withdrawal back to Normandy; it was all a very big gamble indeed.
Whatever the situation in England, William decided to remain in Hastings and let the enemy come to him. But to do this William needed great quantities of food for his troops, and to this end he despatched foragers to seek out the supplies of the foodstuffs necessary to feed his murderous bands of cut-throat adventurers and mercenaries. This inevitably meant looting, murder rape and pillage thrown in. When you have 10,000 men to feed, you don’t hang about. Twenty years later the Doomsday Book states that the country’s devastation caused by this need for provisions still had not recovered from William’s raids. The first reliable news to reach William of the situation in England appears to have come from Robert-fitz-Wimarc, a member of Edward-the-Confessor’s household and an English landowner of Breton & Norman parentage.
A messenger sent from Wimarc reached William’s camp either on the 30th September or very soon after and Wimarc’s aim seems to have been to prevent bloodshed between the men of his own blood and those of his adopted country. But his messenger gave William precisely the information he needed: that Harold had marched north to fight and then overwhelmed a great Norwegian army, killing Harald Hardrada, Tostig and an immense number of their men. Wirmac warned William that the Normans could not stand a chance against an army, which had just defeated the greatest warrior king in northern Europe, and advised him to either withdraw from England or at least avoid open battle by remaining within his fortifications. William was a brave man, he knew that his withdrawal would see him defeated by his own troops, and after all, they had been promised great gifts if they threw their lot in with him. It was now too late, he and his army were there, and he was not going to risk mutiny. In for a groat, in for a pound. Time to face King Harold of England, time to take his rightful inheritance from the usurper Harold Godwinson! Hate seethed from William's heart and from every pore in his body; and England was to be his at any cost, or he would die in the attempt.
MESSAGE'S ARE EXCHANGED (Page 60)
Monks were really the most reliable way of posting messages from source to any destination with out being molested. So it was a monk who took the following written message from King Harold to the invader Duke William.
King Harold's message to William
“You have come into this land with I know not what temerity. I recall that King Edward at first appointed you as heir to the Kingdom-of-England, and I well remember that I was sent by the king to Normandy to give you assurance of the succession. But that the same kings, my Lord, acting fully within his rights bestowed on me the kingdom when dying. Moreover, ever since the time when the blessed Augustin came to these shores, it has been the unbroken custom of the English to treat deathbed bequests as inviolable. It is, therefore with justice that I bid you return with your followers to your own country. Otherwise I will have to break the friendship and the pacts I made with you in Normandy. And I leave the choice to you.”
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Duke Williams’ reply
“It is not with temerity, nor unjustly, but after deliberation and in defence of right that I have crossed the sea into this country. My Lord and kinsman King Edward, made Me the Heir of this Kingdom, even as you, Harold have been the witness to this; and he did so because amongst all his acquaintances he held me to be the best capable of supporting him during his lifetime and of giving just rule to the kingdom after his death. Moreover, his choice was not made without the consent of his magnates since Archbishop Stigand, Earl Godwin, Earl Leofric, and Earl Siward confirmed it, swearing in his hands that after King Edwards’s death they would serve “ME” as their lord. Will you submit your army to such bloodshed? It could be decided that we fight, and I risk my life in single combat with you to decide whether the Kingdom-of-England should by right be yours or mine.”
Upon receipt of this lengthy reply, the monk delivering the message waited.
King Harold said. “We march at once, we march into BATTLE!”
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William, on hearing the monk tell (Duke William could neither read nor write) of King Harold's reply, at once mustered his army and off to the “Grey Apple-tree” to meet in battle with the usurper Harold. King Harold’s’ army arrived at the battle site (now called Battle) at 2:00 am on the morning of the battle with duke William; but the troops were so tired that nothing could awaken them before 9:am! In the meantime, duke William set his 8,000 troops to three ranks with the knights at rear and the Breton’s to the left and the Flemish to his right side, set in a slight semi-circle facing up the hill to where King Harold, who had the commanding view and the advantage of the high ground.
Harold’s army, numbered 8,500, but many were really too tired to fight, when one considers they marched 190 miles after a fight with King Harald Hardrada, and then had to turn round within a couple of days and march yet another 190 miles to fight Duke William-of-Normandy on the battle field near Hastings at 9:am the next day! Duke William’s’ men moved forward to a small hillock that opposed King Harold, and could clearly see King Harold’s army on the next hill that was never more than 1,200 metres away, and with the wind to his back, duke William ordered an immediate attack on King Harold’s position, but though King Harold’s half asleep army were never really ready for any attack, but they had the foresight to see what was happening when they saw clearly duke William’s army approaching. They made a makeshift shield defence, and managed to fend off the first attack from Duke Williams’ cavalry.
The position selected by Harold was ideal one for infantry to hold against an enemy strong in cavalry and archers, the perfect defensive position for any army famous throughout western Europe for it’s steadfast foot soldiers. King Harold’s army was not quite set to order, but it was 10 to 12 sets deep by the time Duke Williams’ cavalry had reached the hill that King Harold was defending, and was repulsed with ease. Duke Williams’ archers were shooting uphill, and those arrows with a flat trajectory were stopped by the English side-shield wall, while those with a high trajectory must have passed over the head of defenders.
(Page 61)
The Norman archer’s on the other hand suffered at the hands of the English spear throwers due to their exposed position, and were withdrawn soon after. As duke William’s infantry made its approach, it was met by a murderous storm of missiles of all sorts; and this is interesting, because it would show that the English were not ready with their weaponry, and that stones etc. were used by some due to their not being fully awake, so that when the first attack came, they had to think on their feet until such time as they got their act together. The Normans, on the other hand, despite heavy losses, from this mad bombardment from the English. Their infantry closed with the English line, only to receive even heavier losses from the huscarls' and lithsmen, the two handled axes in particular wreaking havoc, for there was no defence strong enough to withstand them. Again, time tables in battles don’t exist, so again, one has to think on ones feet, and duke William had to do just this. Duke William had once fought with Harold as his guest, and would have known just how brave King Harold was, so he was wise enough to be cautious, in his poking and his probing of King Harold’s defence. William sent in his cavalry to support his infantry, and indeed, this time they made headway, but never the less the Normans were ever frightened of the two handed axe that sent them to the ground or fleeing from the battle in terror. The English loved (and still do!) hand-to-hand fighting, but the French would rather use a javelin or bow. I have often wondered why the French have never been keen on hand-to-hand fighting, and can only assume that their experience of being on the wrong end of an enemy wielding such a device close too; I could not blame them. Then on the west flank the Breton knights began to give way, and this movement turned into a rout...The English charged in pursuit. The Normans in the centre also gave ground until the whole flank was exposed and was in retreat. Was this a practised ploy? Was it a genuine retreat? The Saxons did not follow. William was thought to have been killed? But he had fallen from his horse but remounted again and pulling his helmet off and shouting to his men that he was indeed alive and ready to carry the fight to the English again. He shouted “Look at me, with Gods help I will be the victor! ...What madness leads you to flight?” He may have reminded them that there was no where to flee to, only the sea lay behind them.
The battle continued apace. Duke William succeeded in rallying part of his Norman Cavalry and struck the flank of the English who had rushed down the western slope in pursuit of the Breton division. The result was disaster for the English and salvation for William. There is reason to believe that the pursuit of the Bretons' was a deliberate counter attack by both Leofwine and Gyrth, who were killed in this foolhardy pursuit of a near spent force. What ever happened, duke William maintained a relentless series of mounted assaults against the English, and slowly and imperceptibly, yet inevitably, the English huscarls died and the shield-wall therefore either shortened or became too weakened by the insertion of select men who did not have hauberks and who were no substitutes for veteran huscarls wielding towheaded axes. By mid afternoon, perhaps about 3:30 p.m., the fog of war was beginning to fall on the combatants.
The battle had lasted twice as long as any battle ever before, and both sides were exhausted; yet there was no sign of a decision. The English shield wall was weaker, the Normans were suffering heavy losses, and the pubs were shut. William had lost many precious horses, and he knew he would not be able to fight another day, when Harold would have been reinforced. It had to be today or never. In a final bid for victory, William ordered a general attack by all three arms: no matter that all were weakened, together they might now achieve what they had failed to achieve in the first hours of the battle. The vital point in the final assault is not that the archers for the first time used trajectory shooting, but is most unlikely that they had done this before. He now used all three arms simultaneously, and now the archers were to shoot all their arrows high into the air. No matter what, William used all three arms together only because each was too weak to attack on it’s own, the result was the same whatever his reason. For the first time the Normans were able to obtain a foothold on top of the ridge at the western end, where they were at last able to engage the English on equal terms and, outflanking the shield wall, soon began to carve a way into the English right flank, the same began to occur on the opposite flank too, but dusk was approaching now and the English had only to hold to win: no matter what the cost, so long as they could stand firm the Normans could not win in the long run. But at last the Norman knight was coming into his own, using the advantage of height and weight of his horse to force the English line back, the shield wall broke, and after another two hours of hand to hand combat and savage slaughter on the ridge, a band of twenty five knights broke down the last line of defence, although at tremendous cost to themselves. They gained access at last to King Harold’s position, charging headlong towards him and taking blows from all sides from huscarls until they reached King Harold. King Harold-II fell dead, struck down by the four mounted survivors, Guy-of-Ponthieu, Walter Giffard, Hugh-of-Montford and Eustace-of-Boulogne. The dragon of Wessex and the golden fighting man of the house of Godwin had tumbled to the bloody ground, only to be trodden into the blood and mud, never to be raised again.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS WAS OVER
After Alfred-the-Great, the greatest warrior that England ever knew was slain, and his molested body, that had one leg cut off, his head severed, and his genitalia cut off by a bloodied, battle crazed warrior; and his body was recognised only from tattoo marks on his shoulder by his wife Edith Swanneck. He was buried at Waltham Abbey. England was still to become the greatest nation on this planet, dwarfing even those of Charlemagne and Rome.
VICTORY FOR WILLIAM (Page 63)
The time at Harold’s death was not recorded precisely, but we do know that it was dusk, and the date was 14th October AD-1066. We know from our own experiences, that, on that day, dusk would have been about 4:30 p.m.; and after this time, the light would have disappeared very quickly, so that by about 5:00 p.m., there would be all but moonlight. We know that the battle was over by 4:45 p.m.; so that Harold would have been killed within a few minuets after 4:30 p.m. The English would have seen that the knights had entered the ring of huscarls’ that protected Harold, and it would have been obvious that Harold had been killed, by the moans and other visual indications. Those who were left fled in the covering darkness, some were pursued and killed, many others escaped to become guerrilla fighters such as the legendary Hereward-the-Wake, a Lincolnshire thane, who fought, William’s army at the Isle-of-Ely about AD-1070-71. Guerrilla fighting against the Norman’s lasted well over 50 years; with dead Norman’s found strung in trees like so many moles on a fence! As time past, the conquest was just a fading memory, remembered only by surviving grand parents, whose fathers fought in the great battle. The Norman’s spent the entire day after the battle of Hastings burying their dead and treating their wounded. It’s interesting to note some of the ways that wounds were treated her.
Wounds were bandaged, and broken arms were set as they are today, but anaesthesia was that of the faint, when the mere shock of the knowledge that ones limb was about to be taken off or bone set! Cauterising of the wound was common; and here we see that the well-paid apothecary would come on the scene. Many wounds would, due to poor hygiene, have been susceptible to infection, and if not treated, could and would have turned gangrenous. The use of maggots was well known, and these would be applied to the green, gangrenous wound, the maggots would only eat dead flesh, leaving the healthy flesh to knit and heal normally. The use also of sugar and honey were equally well known to have antiseptic properties, as too were blueberries and elderberries, each, in their own way, were well able to act as none ionic surfactants when applied to the wound. To this day, though we know of their use, we still do not fully understand why they act as such; and I believe that research is now underway to discover these secrets. Such cures and medicines would have been used for many hundreds or years, and indeed, may well have been known and used for many thousands of years, though various plant extracts around various parts of the world would have been peculiar to that region, but the effects may well have been similar. The use of such methods including the use of maggots to help the healing process, is still use in the twentieth century in remote regions in the Far East.
We will now return to those English dead. The English dead, apart from Harold and (possibly) his two brothers were left where they had fallen, this was ordered by William, as he had gained a morbid hatred for all Saxons; and Orderic, who was a young lad at the time, had reported seeing bones on the battlefield when he visited it seventy years later. The following day William withdrew to his fortified base at Hastings.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle “D” say’s of Duke William’s movements; Duke William returned to Hastings, and waited there to see if there would be any surrender. There was none, nor could William have seriously expected any. Harold and his two brothers had died on the battlefields above Hastings, and with them had died almost all the huscarls'. Three of the five great Earldoms were without Earls, but it was obvious to William that he had defeated only part of the military forces available to the realm. Neither of the two northern Earls had been at Hastings, they were mopping up and securing the northern capital York, and were unaware of Harold and England’s fate.
There was also the Ãtheling, Edgar. And still a new leader could emerge to stop William, so he had to move with speed to consolidate his victory if he was to move out to take his next two objectives. William’s losses were about 30% of his total forces, including both dead and wounded; and in view of the length and bloodlines of the battle, it would seem logical that he did see and indeed knew that if attacked by any fresh English troops, he and his army would be soon routed, as Harald Hardrada, was after fighting two battles in five days. William had about 5,000 troops left, and this was hardly enough to occupy or conquer a kingdom the size of England; unless the English could be caught off balance immediately after the defeat at Hastings and the death of there King. According to Half-English Eadmer, who was born in AD-1060 and who questioned men who had fought at Hastings, the Norman losses were so heavy, that the survivors concluded that their victory was without doubt entirely due to a miracle of God.
It was clear though that the battle was a close run thing, and that William would have lost the battle if it were not that Harold’s army had to march 250 miles after a major and “bloody” battle with Harold Hardrada and to fight William’s fresh and well rested army after barely a few hours rest.
William concluded that he needed to take both London (the centre of commerce) and Winchester the seat of the treasury. William’s army marched and harried the countryside to feed the troops and to scare shitless the people into submission on the way. William’s forces need to capture both London and Winchester before the English forces mustering near Dover could attack. William made straight for the city of Winchester, as he who has the cash, pay’s the piper and calls the tune. On the way, he harried the towns of Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Redhill, Guildford and many others that left a swage of devastation (ethnic cleansing?) that took 45 years to recover from. His long march to Winchester was consistent only with that found necessary to feed an army marching through enemy territory. Winchester took eighteen days to fall and William took Harold’s sister Edith, Edward the old kings wife, in to his protection, and with this he also took the old seat of power and the treasury, and there can have been little doubt in the minds of William that this signalled the end to any resistance from the English and any potential resistance in many parts of the south of England, and individual lords (the Fryd army), both lay and ecclesiastical, began to submit to William in the hope of retaining their lands and property under him.
Four nights after the capitulation of Winchester by the southern Fyrd, William marched on to London, where the Thegns were ready to throw in the towel and join William. Whilst on the journey the Archbishop Stigand came to meet William and he too submitted to him and swore fealty, at the same time denying Edgar the Ãtheling.
It is strange considering the circumstances that it should be Stigand of all people who approached William at this time, though Stigand could have seen it as neck saving time for him if he acted now?
It took another twenty years before England finally was in the Norman grip and this only with the aid of the southern Thegns and the southern English Fyrd. In mid December the William was met by the Bishop Ealdred, Prince Edgar, Earls Edwin, Morcar and all the best men of London, who submitted from force; they gave him hostages and swore oaths of fealty... England was now NORMAN!
Huscarls’ = equivalent to Japanese Samurai: Fryd = the English militia:
Thegns (or thanes) = Barons: The Thegns spent four weeks on call-up with their troops for the king each year. The guerrillas, who hid, and came out from the shadows to fight the Norman’s, killed at will, any they found, either in groups or alone, and there were many hundreds of Norman’s whom went missing, never to be heard of again. The most famous guerrilla fighter being Hereward-the-Wake, who, for over 20 years, harassed the Norman rulers to distraction?
HEREWARD
[THE WAKE]
Hereward, as we shall see, was a tough, strong eighteen-year-old at the time of his banishment from the shores of England. He was not alone in his banishment, but what is uncertain is just why? Many youths were unruly, just as they can be today, and he was no less a rough, tough teenager, except that it was known that he disliked the effete Norman males that were part of Edward’s (the confessor’s) court, and was often caught battering these youths, as they disgusted him so. Was King Edward an effeminate homosexual also? From what we have read so far, it would point toward this, and that it is highly likely to be the case. Hereward was the son of a Lincolnshire thane, who was related to the Godwin family by marriage (was his father Leofric earl of Mercia?); and was it court intrigue that found Hereward exiled to continental Europe in AD-1063? To both questions the answer must be ‘yes’, but whatever the reasons, he found his manhood, and he returned, as we shall see, to bloody the noses of William’s troops for many years.
He had been through the usual squires training, that included both jumping on and off a horse with full armour, fighting with both axe and sword; he was indeed a very brave young man who feared little. With his large athletic frame and yellow hair, he would have been a formidable sight to any enemy, and indeed, he did show his fearlessness while fighting in Ireland. He may have considered joining the Varanger guard in old Constantinople as did many others, the Greeks openly welcomed these young men too. In the post conquest period, many Anglo-Saxon youths escaped to search mainland Europe in the vain hope that the Norwegians would gather a force to persuade them again to try to regain the lost crown of England. Some fled to Scotland, again in the vain hope that King Malcolm Canmore would arrange a defence against William’s still small occupation force. The persecution by William’s forces of Hereward’s Lincolnshire homeland had such an effect on Hereward, that he at once returned to his homeland to organise a resistance to the Conqueror’s ruthless harrying of the English populous.
Hereward did not necessarily forfeit his lands there, as the writ confirming that all those who fought against William at Hastings were to forfeit their lands immediately, so it maybe that he could have returned without being harassed by William, and he may well have claimed his birthright in this case; this is of course only speculation, but judging form the writ, he may have felt safe to return. I found no evidence that Hereward and William never met face to face, but they may have become within earshot or bow shot of each other on the Isle of Ely. On his return, Hereward hears that William’s men killed his young brother, beheading him and staking his head above his house in retaliation for his attempt at defending his widowed mother, killing all who had handled her discourteously. Hereward, clearly stunned, and now raging and grief stricken prepare his thoughts for revenge. Each and every Norman will be systematically exterminated Kingsley, in his book ‘Hereward the Wake, Last of the English’, tells of Hereward’s return, and I see he uses poetic licence when he tells us of Hereward, and of how, like a whirl-wind, he stormed the Lincolnshire mashes, killing all Norman’s before him. If only that were true, but as ever, truth will out, and we return to normality, knowing that he would have had to make contact with many who were willing and above all, able to join forces with him, and then there would be the question of supply, for no matter how brave an army, they need feeding and weapons.
Nevertheless, he brought together a small band of huscarls’’ that was remnants from the Hastings battle. This well organised band of worriers took themselves to the estate Hereward was master of, and one thing only was in the mind of them all ‘revenge’. Each and every Norman they came upon was killed on sight, and groups of Norman’s were taken no matter their size; but what was noticeable was the many Norman’s left strung up in trees for all to see, and there were places that were literally NO-GO from the fens to Nottingham. He became such a thorn in William’s side, that he took on the task of eradicating Hereward, with himself leading the hunt, such was the urgency to remove Hereward, but this task was to prove little more than impossible, such was the case, that castle building began with all urgency, or the conquest of the rest of England would be fail.
The Norman nights were longing for their wives who did not want to join their menfolk, and many did return home, losing their fiefs in the bargain. England was a place of blood for so many, but the relentless pursuit by William went on nevertheless; adding a town here, and the city there, until at last he felt able to sit on his laurels and regard himself as ‘KING’. He did leave some six months after the conquest, but returned to find that squabbling for land and privilege by his trusted lords was worse than any English uprising, and he set about rectifying his misjudgements. It was just this sort of squabbling and lack of discipline that may have led to Hereward’s family being at the brunt end of Norman atrocities.
Hereward had gathered with a force of Danes off the Lincolnshire coast, and moved in to take back Lincoln and the Abby where the corrupt Abbot Turbold had been given charge of the Abby. Turbold arrived to find that the Abby and the town had been sacked by Hereward and the Danes. The gold and silver were taken, and nothing was left to the Norman abbot and his band of thugs. The date was 2nd of June AD-1069.
The prior Ãthelwold, who had been taken by the Danes, led the Danes to believe that he was one with them and would be glad to be their bishop. The Danes foolishly had him installed as their man of god, and placed him in a position of trust. What happened then is left to the imagination, but the Danes allowed Ãthelwold to look after their booty, and while the Danes were in a wild and drunken stupor, he opened the feretory that contained the arm of St: Oswald king and martyr. He then appointed his accompanied monks to look out while he hid the relic under his straw bed. As we shall see, it was these monks who betrayed Hereward and others to the Norman soldiers at a later date, but for now my story continues.
William felt that he was able to compromise, even if this showed loss of face, for he had to allow the Danes to depart with what booty they had. The main reason was that he could not afford Hereward outside help, especially from the Danes, who were excellent worrier’s, and he know that an attack from the Danes at this stage in the conquest would again spell disaster. It was not lack of courage on the part of William, but a case of expediency, he had to have control, and to lose control for the want of a band of villains would, for William have sent a big message to others, that they may take some advantage. What was more to the point, he had to show that he was more the man then Hereward. To this he had to personally take charge, as Hereward was an embarrassment, a thorn that must be pulled.
It is interesting to note, that had the Norman’s retaliated in the same way as reprisals against the Northumbrians and those in Yorkshire, in which the devastation that they left, took many generations to regenerate a population and their way of life. This could have happened, but it did not, and I feel that William learned one thing from the northern provinces; and that was to devastate an area, did no good to any one, in that the army had need to feed off the land just as much as the punished people, and to deny both people and army of food was not just vindictive, but stupid, as it served no useful purpose except to tell all about that the earth was now baron, stupidity indeed. It was estimated that the largest number of men at any one time under Hereward’s command was in the region of 4000, including his own personal following. Not an insubstantial number in any ones book; and the supply for these troops would have needed as many again to fit, and repair, re-supply, and treat injury.
Lincolnshire was not having Norman’s on its county, and any found were killed on sight. And this did prompt William to issue a decree that... ‘If any one is slain, his lord shall arrest the slayer within five days if he can. If not, however, he shall begin to pay me forty-six marks of silver from the property of that lord as long as it lasts out. When however, the property of the lord fails, the whole hundred in which the murder is committed shall pay in common what remains’. Any one found who could not be identified was assumed to be Norman, so all were to suffer weather he be guilty or not of such a crime. A Norman could kill a Norman, and leave his body for any one to find, and knowing the decree, could rub his hands in delight, knowing he had both the satisfaction of a rivals death and of Saxons fined! Rough justice indeed. The English were well aware of their situation, and took it all on the chin. With Hereward were other men of note, and the names of a few have been recorded. Godwin Gille, so-called because not unlike Godwin the son of Guthlac who is celebrated in stories of the ancients; and Duti and Outi, twin brothers, alike in character and in person, and of repute as soldiers’.
There too was Wluricus the Black, again so called because he used to stain his face and go amongst his enemies unrecognised, and overcame ten of them with a single spear! Not all at once I may add. His friend was Wluricus Rahere, or The Heron, who once at Wroxham Bridge, saved four men (presumably Saxons) from execution and slew the executioners (who we presume were Norman). The more notable of the Knights who were to fight with Hereward were Godricus-of- Corby, a nephew of the earl of Warwick, and Tosti of Davenesse, Acere Vasus, Lewinus Mone (known as the ‘Sickle’), also Turbentius the great grandson of the Earl Edwin and Lewinus Prat. Others were Leofric the Deacon, Villicus of Drayton, Turkillys and Utlamhe, Hogor (Hereward’s cook), his kinsman, Winter and Liveret, Radenaldus the steward of Ramsey; these were standard bearers. Two knights by the name of Siward, who were Hereward’s nephews. There were many more who are not named in the chronicles, but who no doubt were of great importance to the English resistance movement. The end was near for the resistance fighters though, for William was determined that this pocket of resistance would be but down once and for all. The Isle of Ely at that time was an island as such, with the wet marsh subject to the tide from the North Sea.
Hereward’s band of brave fighters new the fenland well enough, but the Norman’s did not, and this gave the English fighters a distinct advantage of the Norman’s. William ordered a causeway to be built over the treacherous fen marshes from the hamlet of Haddenham to Aldreth, some mile and a quarter in length, so that his troops may cross the sodden fen into the Isle of Ely. Made of wood and sheepskin for buoyancy, it collapsed under the weight of the horse’s hooves, and many Norman troops were drowned in the marsh. The chink in the English armour was the clergy; they betrayed Hereward’s resistance fighters, and led the Norman’s through the secret tracks to their various encampments. Whether this treacherous deed was through pragmatism, or greed, or to save their own skin, we may never discover; but the outcome was the same, as the Norman’s stormed the English encampments, many flew, only to be caught in the trap. De Gestis describes the events.... Abbot Thurstan, not wanting to lose his lands forever to the Norman gentry, fled from Hereward’s camp unseen, and made his way to the Norman high command. He asked William for conditions of peace, and the restoration of the church lands, and in return, he would arrange for the secret ways to Hereward’s encampments to be shown to the Norman’s, and the sacrificial lambs would be ready and waiting for there for their unknown fate. But one monk named Alwinus took off to warn Hereward that church had betrayed the English nation leaving brave Englishmen to their horrendous fate! Hereward and a few others were elsewhere at this time, and were lucky to not to have been on the Eley side of the fens. Those who were captured were not executed, but suffered a fate that many would have deemed worse...They either were blinded with a red-hot poker, and set free, or they had their hands cut off and were then set free to fend as best they could. William was a compassionate man indeed! Hereward and his followers who had been spared by the good fortune of being out of harms way at the time of the assault, were deemed as outlaws by William, and as such could be killed on sight by any one so wishing, without fear from the law courts. They spent their days in the forests of Northamptonshire, and it would seem that the local people took good care to keep them well safe from being betrayed.
HEREWARD’S LINEAGE
Leofric-I, Earl of Leicester (AD 745 - AD-757)
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Algar-I, Earl of Lincoln and Leicester (AD 757 - AD 839)
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Algar-II, Earl of Lincoln and Leicester (AD 839 - AD 872)
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Leofric-II, earl of Lincoln (AD 872 - AD 925)
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Leowine, Earl of Leicester Edric Edwin (killed by the Welsh) Norman (killed by Cnut)
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(AD 925 - AD 975)
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Loefric-III, Earl of Mercia (AD 975 - AD 1057)
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Ãlfgar-III, Earl of East Anglia Hereward (had issue) A son ? and Mercia (AD 1057 - AD 1062)
Edwin, Earl of Mercia Morcar, Earl of Lucia
Northumberland
As one can see, Hereward was indeed the son of Earl Leofric-III of Mercia and of Lady Godiva of Coventry, who came to fame when she protested on behalf of a tax imposed unjustly by her husband, by riding nude through the streets of Coventry! The tax was soon withdrawn. And that is as far as we are going with our friend Hereward (the Wake).
The Conquest was hardly over when the struggle between the baronage and the crown began. William destroyed the Saxon earldoms which overshadowed the English throne, and was an attempt to at their restoration by Roger, the son of his minister William Fitz-Osbern, and by an ally, a Bretton, by the name of Ralph de-Guader, whom William had rewarded after the battle at Senlac Hill (the name Senlac being Field of Blood) with the lands and the earldom of Norfolk. This rising was quickly suppressed, with Roger being thrown into prison, and Ralph being driven into exile. But strangely too, William’s half brother Odo, who was Bishop of Bayeux took to gathering an army and arms in the pretence of aspiring arms to the papacy, Bishop Odo collected money and men, but William saw through this plan, and sized the treasure, and after arresting Odo personally (his officers were afraid to arrest a bishop of such high office in the church) allegedly using the words. ”I arrest not the bishop, but the earl of Kent”. Odo was sent to prison, and remained there until William’s death in AD-1087. Odd though, as William had indeed made many changes in England, abolishing the slave trade that was carried on in Bristol at this time, and though one execution did take place, it was made unlawful, and replaced with the most inhumane tortures, and trial by battle and combat, and trial by ordeal took the place of the Saxon custom of payment of a fine for a death of another’s family member. Peace was eventually brought to the land, but not until those did pay a terrible price in the north of England for their alleged intransigence toward William.
EDGAR - THE - ÃTHLING
Edgar-the-Ãtheling, we are told, fled to Scotland (where his sister, Margaret, became the wife of King Malcolm), then to the Continent where he was to lead an unenviable existence as a vassal of William who offered him terms, including a modest landholding and a pension on a pound of silver a day. He lived at the Norman Court ‘quite, contented and despised; in the main, this was because of his failure to attempt to win back the crown of his grandfather, Edmund Ironside. Edgar spent his early adulthood in search of a cause, a ‘knight errant par excellence’, with a lance for hire. His warrior-like career saw him in many lands espousing many different causes, a sad Don Quixote figure that eventually retired to spend his days in quiet contemplation on his Hertfordshire estate. Edgar was said to be still living there in AD-1125, an old man of seventy-two years, if a reference of William of Malmesbury is to be believed.
Dr Antony Bradbury © 1991
THE END