When he was not away campaigning, Harold found time to get married. He married Eadgyth Swanneck and they had five children. He also wanted to create a place of learning which is why he funded the creation of a large church in Waltham which had a chancellor, a dean and twelve canons.
The chancellor, Adelard of Liege, was famed for his lectures. In , Harold was shipwrecked on the coast of Ponthieu. Harold went to Rouen with William and accompanied William into battle.
If he had not made it, he would have spent the rest of his life as a captive in Normandy. Edward died on January 5th On January 6th, the Witan met to decide who should succeed Edward as he left no heir to the throne of England. There is a popular belief that Harold somehow seized the English throne.
In fact, it was offered to him by the Witan. Out of the four, Harold was chosen. After his coronation, Harold did expect some form of reaction from William.
Harold placed a large number of troops along the south coast to the Isle of Wight. By September, Harold decided that the threat had been reduced and he allowed his part-time troops the fyrds to disperse. Upon hearing that William had crossed the Channel, Harold swiftly marched his army down the length of England, reaching London by around 6 October.
He would have covered around 30 miles a day on his way south. Harold is killed by an arrow through the eye. On the Bayeux Tapestry. A figure is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry as being killed at the Battle of Hastings by an arrow in the eye. Although some scholars dispute whether this is Harold, the writing above the figure states Harold Rex interfectus est ,.
TV A new online only channel for history lovers. Sign Me Up. Here are 10 facts about King Harold Godwinson. Harold claimed that Edward promised him the throne just before he died on 5th January, The Witan was made up of a group of about sixty lords and bishops and they considered the merits of four main candidates: William, Harold, Edgar Etheling and Harald Hardrada.
On 6th January , the Witan decided that Harold was to be the next king of England. King Harold was fully aware that both King Hardrada of Norway and William of Normandy might try to take the throne from him.
Harold recognised that his country was likely to be invaded both in the south and in the north. He returned to London in time for Easter. In early , Harold's brother Tostig , with a fleet of sixty ships, attacked the Isle of Wight , occupied Sandwich , and then sailed up the east coast to the mouth of the Humber.
During this period he also made contact with William of Normandy. According to Frank McLynn , the author of The Year of The Three Battles , the "steady military build-up did not suit the impatient Tostig, for soon he was off on a mission to find a ruler who would give him more immediate aid".
He then went to see Svein Estrithson the king of Denmark. However, he told Tostig that he lacked the resources for an invasion. Harold fully expected a Norman invasion. It was claimed by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that by June he had "gathered such a great naval force, and a land force also, as no other king in the land had gathered before.
The rest of his soldiers were spread along the Sussex and Kent coast. The reason for this is that the prevailing wind, particularly during the summer months, is from the south-west. His soldiers were made up of housecarls and the fyrd.
Housecarls were well-trained, full-time soldiers who were paid for their services. The fyrd were working men who were called up to fight for the king in times of danger. All earls had their own housecarls and Harold had a substantial force at his disposal. They were paid mercenaries and were equally adept in land and maritime warfare. Meanwhile, Tostig was negotiating with King Harald Hardrada about a possible invasion.
Eventually the reached an agreement to attack Harold. After appointing his son, Magnus as regent he formed alliances with warriors from Iceland and Ireland. Tostig also convinced Hardrada that Harold was extremely unpopular in the north of England and that people living in this region would join them in their attempt to overthrow the king of England. Harold waited all summer but the Normans did not arrive.
Never before had any of Harold's fyrd been away from their homes for so long. But the men's supplies had run out and they could not be kept away from their homes any longer. Members of the fyrd were also keen to harvest their own fields and so in the first week of September , Harold sent them home. The sailing season was also drawing to a close for the year. Harold therefore decided to arrange for his navy to travel along the Thames to London to enable essential repairs to be carried out.
Harold, after a short stay at his home in Bosham , rode to the capital with his housecarls. William's attack on England had been delayed. To make sure he had enough soldiers to defeat Harold, he asked the men of Poitou, Burgundy, Brittany and Flanders to help.
William also arranged for soldiers from Germany, Denmark and Italy to join his army. In exchange for their services, William promised them a share of the land and wealth of England. These negotiations took all summer. William also had to arrange the building of the ships to take his large army to England. About ships were ready to sail in August but William had to wait a further month for a change in the direction of the wind.
In the first week of September, , Hardrada's men raided Scarborough and slaughtered most of its inhabitants. Sailing on, the fleet entered the Humber estuary. Morcar , the Earl of Northumbria, and Eadwine , Earl of Mercia, were not willing to engage the enemy and retreated before him up the Ouse, before turning into the inland waters of the Wharfe to Tadcaster.
Hardrada anchored at Riccall. After leaving a substantial force to guard the fleet, Hardrada, Tostig and about 6, men marched on York. It has been estimated that the Norwegians had about 6, troops and the defenders 5, According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle "many of the English were slain, drowned or put to flight and the Northmen had possession of the place of slaughter". Other sources say casualties were high on both sides but it is clear that the invaders had a clear victory. Soon the marsh and the ditches were clogged with human bodies, to the point where the Norwegians waded in blood and marched over the impacted corpses as if on a solid causeway.
Hardrada then moved onto York , which formally surrendered on 24th September. Hardrada took children hostage from prominent families in Yorkshire as surety for their loyalty. Morcar and Edwin and the remnants of their army escaped into the countryside. The Norwegians now withdrew to Stamford Bridge , a place where several Roman roads met. The bridge would have been quite large by eleventh-century standards.
It has been claimed that a messenger told Harold about the Norwegian victory at Fulford Gate he said that Hardrada had come to conquer all of England.
Apparently Harold replied: "I will give him just six feet of English soil; or, since they say he is a tall man, I will give him seven feet. Having gathered as many of his men as he could he started for the north on about the 19th September.
Harold and his English army had to travel from London to York. The mile km journey usually took two weeks, or more depending if the roads were passable. They were also expected to have at least two horses, riding one and allowing the other to proceed unburdened.
Harold no doubt could also expect, as king, to commandeer fresh horses along the way. If he did literally ride day and night he could have made Tadcaster in four days, although that would mean without sleep. On 25th September Harold's army arrived at Stamford Bridge. Harold and twenty of his housecarls rode up to the foot of the bridge on the left bank of the Derwent and had a meeting with Tostig.
Harold promised his brother that if he changed sides he would be rewarded with the return of his earldom and one-third of all England. Tostig answered that it would never be said of him that he brought the king of Norway to England only to betray him. He turned on his horse and rode away. Tostig said they should retreat back to his boats.
Hardrada rejected this as being unworthy of a Viking warrior. Aware he was outnumbered he sent a message to his men with his fleet at Ricall to come as soon as possible. He gave orders that his men should stop Harold's army from taking the bridge. He was only defeated when he was stabbed from below by a man who was floated down the river under the bridge with a spear. Once Harold's men had crossed the bridge they engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand combat with swords and axes.
The Norsemen were soon being "cut down in their hundreds". The shield-wall was breached and Hardrada was killed by an arrow in the windpipe. His men hesitated about what to do next. Tostig stepped forward and urged them to continue fighting.
Tostig was also killed and the rest were forced into the River Derwent, where large numbers drowned. Harold and his men were left in possession of the battlefield for only a matter of minutes before the rest of the Viking army, fully armed and armoured, appeared on the scene.
The Norwegians immediately delivered a ferocious charge which nearly succeeded in breaking the English, but Harold's army stood firm and by the end of the day, those Vikings still alive, under cover of darkness, retreated. Harold chased them back to Riccall. The twenty-year-old Olaf Haraldsson , now in command of the Norwegians, asked for a peace settlement. Harold agreed and allowed the Vikings to return home. The Norwegian losses were considerable.
Of the ships that arrived, less than 25 returned to Norway. Despite the victory, Harold had suffered heavy casualties and his army was severely depleted. However, the battle had shown Harold was a general of great talent. While celebrating his victory at a banquet in York, Harold heard that William of Normandy had landed at Pevensey Bay on 28th September. Harold's brother, Gyrth , offered to lead the army against William, pointing out that as king he should not risk the chance of being killed.
David Armine Howarth , the author of the Year of the Conquest argues that the suggestion was that while Gyrth did battle with William, "Harold should empty the whole of the countryside behind him, block the roads, burn the villages and destroy the food.
So, even if Gyrth was beaten, William's army would starve in the wasted countryside as winter closed in and would be forced either to move upon London, where the rest of the English forces would be waiting, or return to their ships.
Harold rejected the advice and immediately assembled the housecarls who had survived the fighting against Hardrada and marched south. Harold travelled at such a pace that many of his troops failed to keep up with him. When Harold arrived in London he waited for the local fyrd to assemble and for the troops of the earls of Mercia and Northumbria to arrive from the north.
After five days they had not arrived and so Harold decided to head for the south coast without his northern troops.
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