Norman and Medieval (1001-1500)

Edward The Confessor

In 1049AD, Sweyn was back in England seeking forgiveness. He gained the support of his brother Harold and his cousin Beorn and it was while travelling to meet the king that Sweyn reportedly had Beorn murdered for reasons unknown. He was again exiled and named as a niding, a man with no honour. Surprisingly, he was again forgiven, possibly due to the power and influence of his father and restored to his Earldom. He did not stay long in his position and, as explained earlier, was again exiled in 1051AD, together with his father and brothers, following their quarrel with the king.

On April the 15th 1053AD, Godwin collapsed and died at a banquet in Winchester. Legend has it that he choked on a piece of bread while swearing loyalty to the king, but contemporary accounts suggest that he suffered a stroke. Harold succeeded to the earldom of Wessex and his brother Gyrth took over the earldoms of East Anglia and Cambridgeshire, while another brother, Leofwine became Earl of Kent, Essex, Middlesex and Surrey, allowing Harold’s family to retain their position as the most powerful in the land. This position was further strengthened when, in 1055AD, Siward, Earl of Northumbria died and Harold’s brother Tostig was given the earldom. His appointment did not sit well with the Northumbrian ruling class, a mixture of Danish invaders and Anglo Saxon survivors of the last Norse invasion, who resented his high handed ways and heavy taxation. Tostig was so hated that he needed a bodyguard of 200 men to protect him, spending much of his time on his estates in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire and leaving his equally detested deputy Copsige in charge.

Despite his high position, Harold continued his father’s opposition to Norman influence in Edward’s court. Matters worsened when, according to the chronicle and some Norman sources, the childless King Edward sent Robert, Archbishop of Canterbury to Normandy to appoint his kinsman Duke William as his heir although this is not substantiated. It seems strange that Edward would make such an appointment when the English succession was neither inherited nor determined by the sitting monarch, but was decided by the Witenagemot, the assembly of nobles who would convene to select a successor following the death of the King. It is also known that Edward, in an attempt to maintain Anglo Saxon succession, sought to nominate Edward the Exile, son of Edmund Ironside as his heir.

In August 1057AD, Edward arrived in England from exile in Hungary, but died within two days of arrival, generally thought to have been poisoned, either by supporters of Harold or Duke William. The unfortunate Edward himself had a son named Edgar and the king caused further unrest by naming him as his successor, naming him Atheling, or king to be. This choice was not popular with the English nobles, partly due to Edgar’s youth and their preference for a strong leader such as Harold.

In the west, Gruffydd ap Llewlynn, King of Deuhebarth continued to seek new territory, expanding his rule until he controlled all of Wales. He also occupied large areas on the English border and defeated an English army at Glasbury when they tried to stem his expansion. The English historian John Davies states that “Wales was one, under one ruler, a feat with neither precedent nor successor”.  Peace prevailed until the death of Gruffydd’s ally Elfgar of Mercia in 1062AD when fighting again broke out. Harold Godwinson led a force to attack the Welsh king’s base at Rhuddlan, but failed to capture Gruffydd who had been warned of the attack and had fled. In 1063AD, Harold’s brother Tostig led an English force into North Wales while Harold led his fleet first to South Wales and then north to link up with Tostig. A series of battles and skirmishes resulted in Gruffydd retreating into Snowdonia where he was killed on the 5th of August by his own men shamed by their defeat. His head and the figurehead of his ship were sent to Harold as tokens of the Welsh surrender. Harold was by now, the most powerful magnate in England with Edward practically leaving the running of the country to him while he continued to absorb himself in the building of his great abbey in Westminster.

It was in 1064AD that Harold travelled to France, embarking from Bosham on a visit said to attempt the release of his youngest brother Wulfnoth who had been kidnapped in 1051AD by the ousted Archbishop Robert. Other sources claim that Harold was simply on hunting and fishing trip and was blown of course by a storm and shipwrecked on the coast at Ponthieu where he was taken prisoner by the local Count. Duke William, hearing of the capture, travelled to Ponthieu and ordered the handover of this important English noble to himself.

Harold accompanied William in an attack on William’s enemy Conan II, the Duke of Brittany, where it is said Harold bravely rescued two of William’s men from quicksand near Mont St Michel. They pursued their quarry from Dol de Bretagne to Rennes and finally to Dinan where Conan surrendered, handing over the keys to his castle on the point of a lance. In gratitude for his services, William knighted Harold, giving him gifts of weapons and armour. It was at this time that Harold is said to have made an oath to William, swearing his support for William’s accession to England’s throne. It is difficult to imagine why Harold would make such an oath unless it was under some duress, or, perhaps it was made in return for the release of his brother with the intent of recanting it at a later date. The cunning William had however, placed certain holy relics under the cloth over which the oath was made, thus making it a sacred and more serious undertaking. It was the breaking of this oath when Harold took the throne that perhaps influenced William to invade two years later.

There is little on record of Edward’s life in the last ten years of his reign. His great passion was now the building of his abbey on which it is said he spent a tenth of his annual income. Harold was the effective ruler and his loyalty to the crown was severely tested in 1065AD, when the people of Northumbria rose in revolt over their harsh treatment and heavy taxation by Harold’s brother Tostig, accusing the earl of having, “despoiled of life and land all those over whom he could tyrannise” and robbing churches of their lands. He was also accused of procuring the deaths of the thegnes Gamel and Ulf, the sons of two Northumbrian nobles. The writer Florence of Worcester records that “he had them treachously slain in his own chamber” at York when they were under safe conduct. They demanded that Morcar, the younger brother of Edwin, Earl of Mercia, be the new Earl. With the support of troops from these two huge earldoms, Edwin and Morcar marched on London. Harold surprisingly, supported their claim and Tostig plus his family were exiled, travelling to Norway where he joined the household of Harald Hardrada “Hard Reign”, King of Norway.

All these events caused much distress to the ailing king whose health deteriorated and was unable to attend the consecration of his beloved abbey at Westminster on December the 28th 1065AD. He fell into a coma and died on the 5th of January 1066AD after briefly regaining consciousness and reportedly commending his widow and the kingdom to Harold’s “protection.”, taken by Harold to mean that he should take the throne. The Bayeux Tapestry shows the incident with Edward on his deathbed, pointing his finger at a figure thought to be Harold.

The Witamegot briefly considered Edgar the Atheling as the true successor, but Harold’s claim was stronger. He was already “sub regius” or underking and had the support of Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria. Moreover he was seen as a strong leader and proven warrior at a time when England was beset by enemies in Normandy and Norway. He was crowned in Westminster Abbey on the 6th of January 1066AD, suggested by some sources as being in some haste although a more probable explanation is that the timing was due to most of the nobility being already in London for the feasting of Epiphany.

For some twenty years, Harold had been married “mora Danico” (in the Danish fashion) to Edith Swannesha (swan neck) of Mercia in a union known as “handfast”. The marriage, while not being recognised by the Church, was widely accepted as normal at the time and the six children of the union were not considered illegitimate.

In March 1066AD, Harold married Ealdgyth or Edith, daughter of the Earl of Mercia and widow of the Welsh King Gruffydd, killed by his own men after Harold’s successful campaigning three years earlier. The couple had two sons, Harold and Ulf, born around November 1066AD. Both grew to maturity in exile.

With the threat of invasion from north and south, the kingdom was uneasy but was now united under a powerful ruler. The coming year would change the face of England forever.

Jim Keys
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Jim Keys

Since his retirement Jim Keys has indulged his passion for history, writing two books on Britain’s past: The Dark Ages and The Bloody Crown. He is currently writing the last of the trilogy, Fighting Brits which covers Britain’s military struggles from the Armada to Afghanistan.

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