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Harold Godwinsson[1, 2, 3, 4]

Male 1022 - 1066  (44 years)


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  • Name Harold Godwinsson 
    Nickname Harold II 
    Christening 1019  England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Born 1022 
    Address:
    England United Kingdom
    England
    United Kingdom 
    Christened Also Of, Isle Of Thanet, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Christening Also Of, Isle Of Thanet, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening Also Of, Isle Of Thanet, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening Also Of, Isle Of Thanet, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening 1022  Isle of Thanet Kent England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Occupation Comte, d'East-Anglie, d'Essex, de Cambridgeshire, d'Huntingdonshire, Roi, d'Angleterre 
    Occupation Earl of Wessex, Earl of Hereford, King of England 
    Occupation King of England, EARL OF THE EAST ANGLES AND THE WEST SAXONS, Comte, d'East-Anglie, d'Essex, de Cambridgeshire, d'Huntingdonshire, Roi, d'Angleterre, Konge av England i 1066, Earl of East Anglia, Earl of Wessex 
    Occupation Konge 
    Occupation Konge 
    Occupation Earl of East Anglia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    unknown 
    Occupation 1066 
    unknown 
    Occupation 1066 
    unknown 
    Occupation Oct 1066  King of England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    unknown 
    Died 14 Oct 1066  Senlac Hill Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Hastings
    Hastings
    England 
    Buried 14 Oct 1066  Waltham Abbey Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Waltham
    Waltham
    England 
    Notes 
    • {geni:about_me} Harold Godwinson (c. 1022 – 14 October 1066) also known as Harold II, was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England before the Norman Conquest.

      Married: Ealdgyth, Gryffydd's widow, they had one son Harold

      Mistress: Eadgyth Swanneshals (Edith Swan-neck), seven children by her or another mistress (see below)

      LINKS

      * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Godwinson
      * http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Godwinson
      * http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_II_av_England
      * http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLAND,%20AngloSaxon%20nobility.htm#HaroldIIdied1066A
      * http://www.walthamabbeychurch.co.uk/history.htm
      * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6veaHrbV804 Time Team, Harolds Field Portskewett, South Wales.


      MEDIEVAL LANDS

      HAROLD Godwinson, son of GODWIN Earl of Wessex & his wife Gytha of Denmark ([1022/25]-killed in battle Hastings 14 Oct 1066, bur [Waltham Abbey]). His parentage is confirmed in several places in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle[2030]. He was created Earl of the East Angles, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in 1044 by King Edward "the Confessor". King Edward granted him part of the earldom of his brother Svein, after the latter was outlawed following his seduction of the Abbess of Leominster. After joining his father's threatened armed rebellion against the king in 1051, he fled to Ireland with his brother Leofwine[2031]. He returned from Ireland the following year and joined forces with his father[2032]. Harold was appointed to succeed his father as Earl of Wessex in 1053, his own earldom of the East Angles passing to Ælfgar son of Leofric Earl of Mercia[2033]. He led the counter-offensive against Gruffydd ap Llywellyn Prince of Wales in 1063, in reprisal for Welsh raids[2034]. On a mission to France in [1064], he was captured by Guy [de Ponthieu] Comte d'Abbeville and imprisoned at Beaurain. Guillaume II Duke of Normandy, Guy's suzerain, secured Harold's release, possibly in return for the latter's acknowledgement of Duke Guillaume as successor to the English throne, the event being recorded in the Bayeux tapestry. Harold Godwinsson's visit to Normandy, and swearing allegiance to Duke William, is recorded by William of Jumièges[2035]. According to Eadmer[2036], the reason for Harold's visit to Normandy was to negotiate the release of his brother Wulfnoth and nephew Haakon, both of whom had been held hostage there since 1051. In spite of earlier promises to Duke Guillaume, on his deathbed King Edward "the Confessor" bequeathed the kingdom to Harold. The choice was unopposed at court and Harold succeeded as HAROLD II King of England, crowned 6 Jan 1066. It is unclear whether there was a meeting, formal or informal, of a council to consider the matter, or whether members of such council took part in some form of election as it might be recognised today. There would probably have been little need for formality as the succession was presumably a foregone conclusion. Duke Guillaume branded Harold a perjurer and appealed to Pope Alexander II for support. After receiving a papal banner in response to this request, the duke gathered a sizable army during Summer 1066 ready for invasion. In response to the invasion by his brother Tostig and Harald III "Hardråde" King of Norway (who also claimed the throne of England), King Harold marched northwards and defeated the invaders at Stamford Bridge 25 Sep 1066. Harold returned south, but meanwhile Duke William's army had set sail from Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme 28 Sep. King Harold hastily reassembled his army to meet this second invasion at Hastings 14 Oct 1066, where he was killed. According to the Waltham Chronicle written some time after 1177, King Harold's body was identified on the battlefield by his mistress Eadgyth Swanneshals and taken to Waltham for burial[2037]. William of Malmesbury also says that King Harold was buried at Waltham, though by his mother[2038].

      Betrothed ([1064]) to ADELISA de Normandie, daughter of GUILLAUME II Duke of Normandy & his wife Mathilde de Flandre ([1055]-7 Dec, 1066 or after). Orderic Vitalis records the betrothal of Adelaide and Harold Godwinson, listing her after Agatha and before Constance in his description of the careers of the daughters of King William[2039]. The sources are contradictory concerning the name of the daughter betrothed to Harold Godwinson, as well as the timing of her death. The only near certainty is that it would presumably have been the oldest available daughter who was betrothed to Harold. Matthew of Paris does not name her but lists her fourth among the daughters of King William, while distinguishing her from the fifth daughter betrothed to "Aldefonso Galiciæ regi"[2040]. Guillaume de Jumièges records that Duke Guillaume betrothed his daughter Adelise to Harold, in a later passage (in which he does not repeat her name) stating that she was the third daughter and that she died a virgin although she was of an age to marry[2041]. Chibnall specifies[2042] that this reference is contained in the interpolations written by Orderic Vitalis, the latter chronicler therefore contradicting his statement in his own work that Agatha was the name of the daughter who was betrothed to King Harold. Orderic Vitalis says that Adelaide "a most fair maiden vowed herself to God when she reached marriageable age and made a pious end under the protection of Roger of Beaumont"[2043]. The daughter betrothed to Harold was alive in early 1066, according to Eadmer of Canterbury[2044] who says that Duke Guillaume requested King Harold, soon after his accession, to keep his promise to marry his daughter. This is contradicted by William of Malmesbury[2045], who says that her death before that of Edward "the Confessor" was taken by King Harold II as marking absolution from his oath to Duke Guillaume. She died as a nun at Préaux[2046]. The necrology of Chartres cathedral records the death "VII Id Dec" of "Adeliza filia regis Anglorum", stating that her father made a donation for her soul[2047]. The necrology of Saint-Nicaise de Meulan records the death of "Adelina filia regis Anglorum", undated but listed among deaths at the end of the calendar year[2048].

      m ([1064/early 1066]) as her second husband, EALDGYTH of Mercia, widow of GRUFFYDD ap Llywellyn Prince of Gwynedd and Powys, daughter of ÆLFGAR Earl of Mercia & his first wife Ælfgifu. Florence of Worcester´s genealogies name "regina Aldgitha, comitis Ælfgari filia" as mother of King Harold´s son "Haroldum"[2049]. Orderic Vitalis records that "Edwinus…et Morcarus comites, filii Algari…Edgivam sororem eorum" married firstly "Gritfridi…regis Guallorum" and secondly "Heraldo"[2050]. Her parentage and marriage with King Harold is confirmed by Florence of Worcester who records that "earls Edwin and Morcar…sent off their sister Queen Elgitha to Chester" after the battle of Hastings[2051].

      Mistress (1): EADGYTH "Swanneshals [Swan-neck]", [daughter of --- & his wife Wulfgyth] (-after 1066). A mid-12th century manuscript concerning the foundation of Waltham abbey names "Editham cognomento Swanneshals" as "cubicularia" of King Harold when recording that she recovered the king´s body for burial after the battle of Hastings[2052]. The later Vita Haroldi records that "a certain woman of a shrewd intelligence, Edith by name" recovered the king´s body from the battlefield, chosen to do so "because she loved him exceedingly…[and] had been frequently present in the secret places of his chamber"[2053]. The only source so far identified which refers to an earlier document which names Eadgyth is the history of the abbey of St Benet, Holme, written by John of Oxnead in 1292, which records donations to the abbey, confirmed by King Edward in 1046, including the donation by "Edgyue Swanneshals" of "Thurgertone" (Thurgarton, Norfolk)[2054]. The fact of this donation is confirmed by the corresponding charter of King Edward, reproduced in Dugdale´s Monasticon[2055], which refers to the donation of "ecclesiam de Thurgartun cum tota villa" but omits the name of the donor. Barlow suggests that Eadgyth may have been "Ealdgyth" named in the will of her mother "Wulfgyth", dated to [1042/53], who bequeathed land "at Stisted, Essex to her sons Ælfketel and Ketel…at Saxlingham, Norfolk and Somerton, Suffolk to her daughters Gode and Bote, at Chadacre, Suffolk and Ashford to her daughter Ealdgyth, and at Fritton to Earl Godwin and Earl Harold"[2056]. The connection between Wulfgyth´s family and St Benet´s, Hulme is confirmed by the testament of "Ketel" (named in his mother´s will quoted above), dated to [1052/66], which includes bequests of land to the abbey[2057]. However, Ketel´s testament names his two sisters Gode and Bote, who are also named in their mother´s will, but does not name "Ealdgyth", suggesting that the latter may have predeceased her brother. None of the sources so far identified suggests, even indirectly, that Eadgyth "Swanneshals" was the mother of the seven illegitimate children of King Harold who are shown below, but this has been assumed to be the case in secondary sources.

      [Mistress (2): --- (-after 1086). Domesday Book records "quædam concubina Heraldi" as holding three houses in Canterbury[2058]. It is not known whether this unnamed person was the same as Eadgyth "Swanneshals".]

      King Harold II & his wife had one son:

      1. HAROLD (posthumously Chester Dec 1066-after 1098). Florence of Worcester´s genealogies name "regina Aldgitha, comitis Ælfgari filia" as mother of King Harold´s son "Haroldum"[2059]. He settled at the court of Magnus II Haraldsen King of Norway. William of Malmesbury records that "Harold the son of Harold" accompanied Magnus III King of Norway when the latter invaded Orkney in 1098, captured the Isle of Man and Anglesey, forced the flight of Hugh Earl of Chester and killed Hugh Earl of Shrewsbury[2060].

      King Harold & [Mistress (1)] had [seven] illegitimate children:

      2. GODWIN ([1045/55]-after 1069). Florence of Worcester records that "Haroldi regis filii Godwinus, Eadmundus, Magnus" returned from Ireland and landed in Somerset where they were defeated, in a passage which deals with events in mid-1068[2061]. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that "the sons of King Harold" (unnamed, and without specifying how many sons there were) came from Ireland and landed in "the mouth of the Taw", where they were defeated by "Earl Brian", before returning to Ireland[2062]. Florence of Worcester records that "duo Haroldi filiis" sailed from Ireland 24 Jun [1069] and landed "in Ostio flumis Tavi"[2063]. He and his brothers may later have taken refuge with Svend II Estrithsen King of Denmark.

      3. EDMUND ([1047/55]-after 1069). Florence of Worcester records that "Haroldi regis filii Godwinus, Eadmundus, Magnus" returned from Ireland and landed in Somerset where they were defeated, in a passage which deals with events in mid-1068[2064]. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that "the sons of King Harold" (unnamed, and without specifying how many sons there were) came from Ireland and landed in "the mouth of the Taw", where they were defeated by "Earl Brian", before returning to Ireland[2065]. Florence of Worcester records that "duo Haroldi filiis" sailed from Ireland 24 Jun [1069] and landed "in Ostio flumis Tavi"[2066].

      4. MAGNUS ([1050/55]-after [1069]). Florence of Worcester records that "Haroldi regis filii Godwinus, Eadmundus, Magnus" returned from Ireland and landed in Somerset where they were defeated, in a passage which deals with events in mid-1068[2067]. He may also have taken part in their raids in south-west England.

      5. GYTHA ([1050/55]-). Gytha is named as King Harold's daughter in Fagrskinna, which also states that she married "Valldimar Konongr sun Iarozlæifs konongs I Holmgarde". Morkinskinna records that the mother of “Haraldr Valdimarsson”, father of Malmfrid who married Sigurd King of Norway, was “Edith the daughter of Harold Godwinson” and that her husband was “the son of King Yaroslav and Ingigerdr, the daughter of Óláfr the Swede” (although this skips a generation in the generally accepted genealogy of the Rurikids)[2068]. According to Saxo Grammaticus, after her father's death she and her two brothers "immediately emigrated to Denmark" where Svend II Estrithsen King of Denmark "received them in a spirit of family duty" and arranged her marriage to "Waldemarus King of the Russians"[2069]. Her estimated birth date range is based on the birth dates of her supposed children and the estimated date of her husband's second marriage. The husband of Gytha has generally been identified as Grand Prince Vladimir "Monomach"[2070], but Morkinskinna appears to be the only source which suggests that this is correct. Baumgarten cites no Russian source which corroborates the marriage[2071], although his work is particularly thorough in its source citations. In addition, it is surprising that no single name from Gytha's family was used among the known descendants of Grand Prince Vladimir. While it is true that the Rurikid dynasty rarely imported foreign names for the male descendants, it was not unusual for females to bear names which are recognisable from the families of foreign princesses who married into the family, the obvious example being the Scandinavian name Ingeborg used by Vladimir's son Mstislav for his daughter by Christina of Sweden. It is probable that Gytha herself would not have been considered a good marriage prospect at the time: her mother was obscure, she herself was illegitimate, her father had been killed ignominiously, her family lived in exile without influential connections, and her brothers had fallen into complete obscurity. If a Russian marriage was arranged for her, it is more likely that her husband was one of the lesser princes of the dynasty. The fact that the Scandinavian sources consistently propose a name similar to Vladimir should not be viewed as conclusive, as the difficult Russian first names were frequently transcribed into contemporary western sources with more creativity than accuracy. The inevitable, if disappointing, conclusion is that this Russian marriage of Gytha's should be viewed with caution. [m ([1070]) as his first wife, VLADIMIR Vsevolodich of Pereiaslavl and Suzdal, son of VSEVOLOD Iaroslavich Prince of Pereiaslavl and Suzdal [later VSEVOLOD I Grand Prince of Kiev] & his first wife Maria [Irina] of Byzantium (1053-19 May 1125). He succeeded 1077 as Prince of Smolensk, 1078 as Prince of Chernigov, and 1113 as VLADIMIR "Monomach" Grand Prince of Kiev.]

      6. [ULF (-after 1087). His parentage is confirmed by Florence of Worcester who records that Robert III "Curthose" Duke of Normandy released "Ulfam Haroldi quondam regis Anglorum filium, Dunechaldumque regis Scottorum Malcolmi filium" from custody after his father's death in Sep 1087, knighted them and allowed them to leave Normandy[2072]. Freeman ascribes Ulf to Harold's legitimate marriage[2073]. If this is correct, the chronology dictates that he must have been twin with his brother Harold. Freeman appears to base his hypothesis firstly on the assumption that Ulf was younger than his brothers, and secondly on the unlikelihood of his having been held hostage in Normandy if he had been illegitimate. However, the first point indicates nothing about the identity of his mother, and the second point does not appear to be a valid supposition considering the general acceptance of illegitimate birth at the time especially if the children were born from a semi-formal "marriage" of the type practised among the Norman ducal family. Barlow is dubious about Freeman´s hypothesis[2074].]

      7. child (stillborn or died young, bur Christ Church, Canterbury[2075]). The Memorials of St Dunstan record that "filium comitis Haraldi" had been buried in Christ Church, Canterbury, next to the tomb of St Dunstan, recording that this had caused offence[2076].

      8. GUNHILD (-after 1093). The primary source which confirms her parentage has not yet been identified. Nun at Wilton Abbey. She was abducted from the abbey in 1093 by Alain "Rufus/the Red" Lord of Richmond. She lived with him until he died soon afterwards, subsequently living with his brother and successor Alain "Niger/the Black"[2077].

      Mistress (1) of: ALAN "Rufus/the Red" Lord of Richmond, son of EUDES de Bretagne Comte de Penthièvre & his wife Orguen [Agnes] de Cornouaïlle (-4 Aug 1089[2078], bur Bury St Edmunds).

      Mistress (2) of: ALAN "Niger/the Black" Lord of Richmond, son of EUDES de Bretagne Comte de Penthièvre & his wife Orguen [Agnes] de Cornouaïlle (-1098[2079]).

      ---------------------

      Harold reigned from 5 January 1066, until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October of that same year, fighting the Norman invaders, led by William the Conqueror. Harold and Richard III are the only English monarchs to have died in battle.

      ---------------

      Info from walthamabbeychurch.co.uk:

      There are possibly six accounts of what happened to Harold's body after the battle of Hastings. Assuming he was buried at his church at Waltham, and there is strong anecdotal evidence for this, his coffin would have been moved at least three times during the re-building of the church and abbey during the late 11thC through 13thC. After the dissolution of the abbey in 1540 a house was built in the abbey grounds by Lord Edward Denny. There is a report that at some time Harold's coffin was found in, or put in, the cellar of this house. The house suffered from a fire and was pulled down in 1770. It is assumed that, if it was in the house, the coffin was destroyed at that time. There is, however, a marker outside the east end of the church where his remains would have been buried at one time.



      King Harold is commemorated in Waltham Abbey with a ‘King Harold Day’ usually on the nearest Saturday before the 14th October, when the marker stone is decorated with flowers and a short ceremony takes place.



      -----

      Fra Wikipedia, den frie encyklopedi

      Harald II av England

      Harald II Godwinson (engelsk: Harold Godwinson) (født 1022, død 14. oktober 1066) var den siste saksiske kongen av England. Han regjerte bare fra 5. januar 1066 til oktober samme året, da han ble drept i slaget ved Hastings.

      Harald var sønn av Godwin, den mektige jarlen av Wessex, og Gyða Þorkelsdóttir, som var barnebarn til den legendariske svenske vikingen Styrbjørn Sterke og tippoldebarn til Harald Blåtann.

      Da faren døde i 1053 ble Harald Godwinson jarl av Wessex, et område som på den tiden dekket en tredjedel av England, helt sør i landet. Dette gjorde han til den mektigste mannen i landet, bortsett fra kongen.

      Samling av makt

      Harald fortsette farens rolle som samlingspunkt for motstandskampen mot økende normannisk innflytelse i England. Han gikk også i strid mot Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, som hadde erobret hele Wales. Han seiret over Gruffydd, som deretter ble drept av sine egne menn, i 1063. Noe senere giftet Harald seg med enken hans, Edith, som var datter av jarlen av Mercia. De fikk to sønner, Harald og Ulf. Harald fikk og flere barn med sin elskerinne, Ealdgyth (Edith) Svanehals.

      I 1065 gav Harald støtte til opprørere fra Northumbria mot sin bror, Tostig eller Toste, som på grunn av dette allierte seg med Harald Hardråde.

      Da Edvard bekjenneren døde den 5. januar 1066, hevdet Harald at han var blitt lovet tronen på dødsleiet til den engelske kongen. Han fikk witenagemotet, rådet til kongen, til å godkjenne han, og ble kronet alt neste dag.

      Ytre trusler

      Det tok ikke lang tid før landet ble invadert. Harald Hardråde gikk i land i det som nå er Yorkshire i september. De vant slaget ved Fulford nær York, men fem dager etter ble de slått av den engelske hæren til Harald Godwinsson i slaget ved Stamford Bridge.

      Men i sør truet en ny fare. Hertugen Guillaume (senere kjent som Wilhelm Erobreren) av Normandie mente han var blitt lovet tronen, både av den forrige kongen og den nåværende. Harald Godwinson skulle ha sverget at den engelske kronen skulle gå til Guillaume da skipet hans grunnstøtte i Normandie i 1064 eller 1065.

      Etter å ha seiret over den norske invasjonen måtte Harald nå avverge den normanniske. Han tvang hæren sin til å marsjere til Sussex, der Guillaume og en hær på rundt sju hundre var gått i land. De to hærene møttes ved Hastings den 14. oktober. Etter en hard kamp ble Harald drept. Tradisjonen, og Bayeuxteppet, sier han fikk en pil i øyet, noe som var en vanlig straff for de som begikk mened. Ansiktet hans var så skadet at Edit Svanehals måtte identifisere kroppen hans.

      Etter døden

      En normannisk kilde hevder at Harald ble gravlagt med utsyn over sakserkysten, men det er mer sannsynlig at han ble stedt til hvile i kirken sin i i Waltham i Essex.

      En av Haralds døtre, Gytha av Wessex, ble stammor til flere østeuropeiske dynasti, og på grunn av dette blir Harald regnet som martyr av den russiske ortodokse kirken med minnedag den 14. oktober.

      Den drepte kongen ble også heltedyrket i hjemlandet. En legende fra ellevehundretallet sier at han ikke ble drept, men bodde i Winchester i to år, til han var blitt frisk fra skadene sine, og deretter vandret rundt i Tyskland som en pilgrim ved navn Kristian. Da han ble gammel kom han tilbake til England, og ble en eneboer i en hule ved Dover. På dødsleiet forklarte han at navnet hans ikke var Kristian, men Harald Godwinsson.

      På attenhundretallet blomstret interessen for sakserkongen opp igjen. Han ble emnet for et skuespill, Harold, av Alfred Tennyson, og romanen Last of the Saxon Kings av Edward Bulwer-Lytton. I The tree of justice skriver Rudyard Kipling om en gammel mann som kommer til Henry I og viser seg å være Harald Godwinson. Og i sitt historieverk History of the Norman Conquest of England gjorde E. A. Freeman kongen til den store engelske helten.

      --------------------

      From 1902 Encyclopedia Brittanica (http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/H/HAR/harold-ii-of-england.html):

      Harold II of England

      King of England and the last of the Saxon rulers

      (c. 1022 - 1066)

      HAROLD II., king of the English, was the second son of Earl Godwine and his Danish wife Gytha, the sister of Earl Ulf. The year of his birth is not accurately fixed, but it must have been about 1022. The choice of his name, like that of some others of his brothers and sisters (see GODWINE), witnesses to the influence of his Danish mother. Both he and his elder brother Swegen were appointed to earldoms while still very young, seemingly about 1045. Harold's earldom was that of the East-Angles. In 1046 Swegen, having carried off Eadgifu, abbess of Leominster, and not being allowed to marry her, threw up his earldom in disgust, and his possessions were divided between his brother Harold and his cousin Earl Beorn, the nephew of Gytha. In 1049 Swegen came back and sought the recovery of his lands, which was refused by Harold and Beorn. Harold now appears for the first time in command, holding a ship in the fleet commanded by his father. For some unknown cause his ship was transferred to Beorn, which most likely saved Harold's life ; for Swegen presently came and entrapped and slew Beorn, who was buried by Harold. We next hear of Harold in 1051 as accompanying Godwine when he appeared in arms in Gloucestershire. He shared his father's outlawry and banishment in that year, but he chose a different place of shelter, going with his brother Leofwine to Ireland, while Godwine went to Flanders. In 1052 Harold and Leofwine came back. They were opposed by the men of Somerset and Devonshire, whom they defeated at Porlock, and plundered the country. Then they joined their father, and were with him at the assembly which decreed the restoration of the whole family. Harold was now restored to his earldom of the East-Angles, and, on his father's death in 1053, he succeeded him in the greater earldom of the West-Saxons.

      Harold was now the chief man in the kingdom, and when the older earls Leofric and Siward died, his power increased yet more, and the latter part of Ead ward's reign was virtually the reign of Harold. But he was the minister of the king rather than his personal favourite. This last place rather belonged to his younger brother Tostig, who on the death of Siward in 1055 received the earldom of the Northumbrians. Two other of Godwine's younger sons, Gyrth and Leofwine, also received earldoms in 1057. This last date would seem to have been about the time when the prospect of the crown began to open to Harold. The iEtheling Eadward, the son of Eadmund Ironside, who had been brought home from Hungary as the intended successor, died that year. So did Eadward's nephew Balph, who, though not really of the kingly house, might possibly have been looked to for lack of a nearer candidate. There was now no one of the old stock but Eadgar son of Eadward and his sisters. If then the king should die while Eadgar was still a child, there would be no qualified candidate in the royal house. It would seem as if, from this time, men began to look to Earl Harold as a possible successor to the crown. He is spoken of in a way, and his name is joined with that of the king in a way, which is unusual in the case of an ordinary earl.

      The chief events in which Harold appears personally during this time are the wars with the Welsh under their king Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. In 1055, in alliance with the banished Earl iElfgar of Mercia, Gruffydd defeated Earl Ralph and burned Hereford. Harold now drove back the Welsh and restored Hereford, but allowed the restoration of ^Elfgar to his earldom. In 1058 he made the pilgrimage to Rome : in 1060 he completed the building of his church at Waltham, and completed the foundation of the college in 1062. In 1063 came the great Welsh war, in which Harold, with the help of his brother Tostig, crushed the power of Gruffydd, who was killed by his own people. Harold now gave Wales to two vassal kings, Bleddyn and Rhiwallon. Both of his wars were accompanied by an extension of the English frontier toward Wales. In 1065 the Northumbrians revolted against their earl Tostig, and chose in his place Morkere, the son of iElfgar. Harold now acted as mediator between the king and the insurgents, and at last, as the Northumbrians were fully prepared not to receive Tostig agaiu, he agreed to their choice of Morkere and to the banishment of his brother.

      Besides these there is one very important event in Harold's life the date of which can only be guessed at. At some time or other between William's visit to England in 1051 and Eadward's death at the beginning of 1066, Harold was the guest of Duke William in Normandy, and took some kind of oath to him. This oath the Normans represented as an act of homage, with a further oath to procure William's succession to the English crown. The tale is told only by the Norman writers, and it is told by them with such contradictions of every kind that no reliance can be placed on any detail. But that there is some truth in the story is proved by the strongest negative evidence. While the contemporary English writers take care, directly or indirectly, to deny all those Norman charges against Harold which were sheer invention, they say not a word as to his alleged oath to William. It seems on the whole most likely that Harold was wrecked on the shore of Ponthieu, imprisoned by its Count Guy, and released by the interference of William. He then helped William in a war with the Bretons, and promised to marry one of his daughters. This was most likely accompanied by an act of homage, such as was often made to any superior or benefactor. Such an oath might, in the ideas of the times, be made to mean a great deal or very little, according to circumstances. The most likely date is 1064. But there is a remarkable statement that Harold took a journey in Gaul with a political object, seemingly that of making alliances with some of the princes of the country, most likely William's enemies in France, Anjou, and Aquitaine. This was in the year of his Roman pilgrimage. And, as there is no direct evidence for the date of the oath, it is open to any one to put the two things together.

      At the beginning of 1066 Eadward died. His last act was to recommend Harold for election to the crown. He was accordingly chosen on the day of Eadward's death, January 5th, and crowned the next day by Ealdred, archbishop of York. But, though he was crowned by the Northumbrian primate, the men of Northumberland at first refused to acknowledge him. They were won over by the new king, who went to York, accompanied by Saint Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester. To secure Eadwine and Morkere, he married their sister Ealdgyth, the widow of the Welsh king Gruffydd. He thus put it out of his power to comply with that part of his engagement to William which is best attested, namely, to marry one of William's daughters. The rest of Harold's reign was taken up with preparations against the attacks of twro enemies at once. William challenged the crown, alleging both a bequest of Eadward in his favour and the personal engagement which Harold had contracted towards him. This was of course a mere matter of form, and William began to make ready for the invasion of England. Meanwhile the banished Tostig was trying all means to bring about his own restoration. He first, seemingly in concert with William, came in May, and attacked first the Isle of Wight and then Lindesey, but was driven to take shelter in Scotland. From May to September the king kept the coasts with a great force by sea and land; but at last provisions failed, and the land army wras dispersed. Harold then went to London, ready to meet whichever enemy came first. By this time Tostig had engaged Harold Hardrada of Norway to invade England. He accordingly sailed up the Humber, defeated Eadwine and Morkere (September 20th), and received the submission of York (September 24th). Harold of England was now on his march northward; on September 25th he came on the Northmen at Stamfordbridge beyond York, and won a complete victory, in which Tostig and Harold Hardrada were slain. But twro days later (September 27th) William of Normandy landed at Pevensey and (September 29 th) occupied Hastings, and laid waste the land. Harold had then to march southward as fast as possible. He gathered his army in London from all southern and eastern England, but Eadwine and Morkere kept back the forces of the north. The king then marched into Sussex, occupied the hill of Senlac, now Battle, and awaited the Norman attack. After a vain exchange of messages, the decisive battle was fought on October j 14th. As the English were wholly infantry, while the I Normans were strongest in cavalry and archers, Harold's object was simply to hold the hill against all attack. As long as he was obeyed, his tactics were completely successful. But a part of his troops, disobeying his orders, left the hill to pursue, and the English array was broken. The Normans could now get up the hill, and, after a fight which lasted from morning till evening, they had the victory. The king and his brothers Gyrthand Leofwinewere killed. As Harold was condemned by the pope, William at first refused him Christian burial, and caused him to be buried on the rocks at Hastings. But it seems most likely that he afterwards allowed the body to be removed to Harold's own church at Waltham. The tale which represents Harold as escaping from the battle, living a life of penitence, and at last dying at Chester, is a mere romance.

      Harold left several children, but there is a good deal of uncertainty as to his marriage or marriages. He had two sons by Ealdgyth, Harold and Wulf; but they must have j been twins born after their father's death. He had also three sons, Godwine, Eadmund, and Magnus, and two daughters, Gytha and Gunhild. It will be seen how strong the Scandinavian element is in these names. These five were not children of Ealdgyth, and the sons were grown up, or nearly so, when their father died. They may have been the children of an unrecorded first wife. But the local history of Waltham represented Harold's body as being found after the battle by a former mistress of his, Eadgyth Swanneshals (Swansneck). Some have thought that this Eadgyth is the " Eddeva pulcra" of Domesday, who appears as the former holder of great estates in the east of England. This, though not unlikely, is quite uncertain ; but there seems evidence enough to show that Eadgyth Swanneshals is a real person, and to connect her with j Harold's East-Anglian earldom. It seems most likely that she was the mother of Harold's earlier children, and that the connexion between them was that intermediate state between marriage and concubinage called the Danish marriage, of which we not uncommonly hear in those days.

      The character of Harold is blackened with many, but mostly very vague, charges by the Norman writers. The English, on the other hand, paint him as the perfect model of a ruler. With regard to his accession to the crown, the common charge of usurpation springs from ignorance of the English law of the time. Harold was beyond all doubt regularly nominated by Eadwai'd, regularly chosen by the witan, and regularly crowned by Ealdred. This last point is of importance in those days, when the rite of coronation was deemed of such moment. The Normans try to represent the ceremony as invalid, by saying that Harold was crowned by Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury, whose canonical position was doubtful. That Harold crowned himself, instead of receiving the ecclesiastical consecration, is a mere fable, arising from a misunderstanding of some of the rhetorical invectives of the Norman writers, ft should be noticed that those contemporary writers who speak of Harold as an usurper do so wholly on the ground of the alleged right of William, and of Harold's oath to William. That Harold's accession was. a wrong done to young Eadgar is an idea which we first hear of in the next century, when the doctrine of hereditary right had taken firmer root. In Domesday the reign of Harold is passed by ; he is regularly spoken of as earl; the doctrine of the Norman lawyers was that William, though of course not full king till his coronation, had the sole right to the crown from the moment of Eadward's death.

      The military skill of Harold is plain, both from the Welsh war, when he overcame the mountaineers by making his English soldiers adopt the Welsh tactics, and from his conduct both at Stamfordbridge and at Senlac. He clearly understood the difference between his two enemies, when it was wise to attack and when it was wise to await the attack. At Stamfordbridge his strategy was perfectly successful; it failed at Senlac only because of the disobedience of part of his army. The best witness to his civil government is the general peace and good order of England during that part of the reign of Eadward which was virtually his reign. When the peace is broken, it is always by the act of others, and Harold is always called on to make the settlement. He appears throughout as singularly mild and conciliating, never pressing hard upon any enemy. The later Norman writers indeed have an elaborate tale which represents Harold and Tostig as enemies from their childhood. But this is mere romance, with no ground in any contemporary writer.

      The relations of Harold to the church, always an important feature in the character of a prince of that age, suggest several questions. He is charged in Domesday with several encroachments on ecclesiastical property, chiefly in Herefordshire, and the like charge is brought against him in a deed of Leofric, bishop of Exeter. But it must be remembered that this kind of charge is brought against every leading man of the time, and that we very seldom hear more than one side. The most distinct and detailed charge, that which represents Harold as a wholesale spoiler of the church of Wells, can be refuted, not by hearing the other side, but by going back to the charge as brought by the original complainant, Bishop Gisa. We here find that Harold took nothing from the church, but simply hindered the bishopric from receiving a bequest to which there is some reason for thinking that he may have had a right as earl. On the other hand, Harold appears as the friend and protector of several ecclesiastical bodies, and above all as the founder of Waltham. Here we may remark that, when monks were all the fashion, he preferred the secular clergy. He was the firm friend of the best prelate of his time, Bishop Wulfstan, and he appeared on good terms with most of the leading churchmen.

      The contemporary authorities are the English Chronicles, the Latin biographer of Eadward in Dr Luard's collection (he gives a splendid panegyric on Harold), and Florence of Worcester, on the English side. On the Norman side are the Bayeux Tapestry, William of Poitiers, William of Jumieges, Guy of Amiens (Carmen de Bella Hastingcnsi). In the next century the book Be Inventions Sanctce Crucis Walthamensis gives Harold's picture as drawn in his own foundation. The book called Vita Haroldi is a mere romance, but contains one or two scraps of authentic tradition; Orderic, Eadmer, William of Malmesbury, and the writers of the 12th century generally, often prove particular facts, and especially show how the estimate of the events of the 11th century gradually changed. The French life of Eadward in the 13th is very bitter against Harold. Of the Scandinavian writers, Saxo Grammaticus is violent against him, while the biographer of Olaf Tryggvesson counts him for a saint. All the statements are brought together and examined in Freeman's History of the Norman Conquest, vols, ii. and iii. The opposite pictures of the earlier writers, Thierry and Palgrave, are also worth comparing. (E. A. F.)

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      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Godwinson

      http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_II_av_England

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      Stupad vid Hastings 14.10.1066.

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      Killed with an arrow through the eye, Battle of Hastings

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      Harold Godwinson or Harold II (Old English: Harold Gōdwines sunu; c. 1022 – 14 October 1066) was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England before the Norman Conquest.[1]

      Harold reigned from 5 January 1066, until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October of that same year, fighting the Norman invaders led by William the Conqueror. Harold is one of only three Kings of England to have died as a result of battle, alongside Richard the Lionheart and Richard III.

      Harold was a son of Godwin, the powerful Earl of Wessex, and his wife Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, whose supposed brother Ulf Jarl was the son-in-law of Sweyn I and the father of Sweyn II of Denmark.

      Godwin and Gytha had several children, notably sons Sweyn, Harold, Tostig, Gyrth and Leofwine and a daughter, Edith of Wessex (1029–75), who became Queen consort of Edward the Confessor.

      As a result of his sister's marriage to the king, Godwin's second son, Harold, became Earl of East Anglia in 1045. Harold accompanied his father into exile in 1051, but helped him to regain his position a year later. When Godwin died in 1053, Harold succeeded him as Earl of Wessex (a province at that time covering the southernmost third of England). This arguably made him the most powerful figure in England after the king.

      In 1058, Harold also became Earl of Hereford, and replaced his late father as the focus of opposition to growing Norman influence in England under the restored monarchy (1042–66) of Edward the Confessor, who had spent over twenty-five years in exile in Normandy.

      He gained glory in a series of campaigns (1062–63) against Gruffydd ap Llywelyn of Gwynedd, the ruler of Wales. This conflict ended with Gruffydd's defeat, and death at the hands of his own troops, in 1063.

      In 1064, Harold was apparently shipwrecked in Ponthieu. There is much speculation about this voyage. The earliest post-conquest Norman chroniclers report that at some prior time, Robert, Archbishop of Canterbury had been sent by the childless king to appoint as his heir Edward's maternal kinsman, William of Normandy, and that at this later date Harold was sent to swear fealty.[2] Scholars disagree as to the reliability of this story. William, at least, seems to have believed he had been offered the succession, but there must have been some confusion either on William's part or perhaps by both men, since the English succession was neither inherited nor determined by the sitting monarch. Instead the Witenagemot, the assembly of the kingdom's leading notables, would convene after a king's death to select a successor. Other acts of Edward are inconsistent with his having made such a promise, such as his efforts to return his nephew Edward the Exile, son of king Edmund Ironside, from Hungary in 1057.[3] Later Norman chroniclers suggest alternative explanations for Harold's journey, that he was seeking the release of members of his family who had been held hostage since Godwin's exile in 1051, or even that he had simply been travelling along the English coast on a hunting and fishing expedition and had been driven across the channel by an unexpected storm. There is general agreement that he left from Bosham, and was blown off course, landing on the coast of Ponthieu, where he was held hostage by Count Guy. Duke William arrived soon after and ordered Guy to turn Harold over to him.[4] Harold then apparently accompanied William to battle against William's enemy, Conan II, Duke of Brittany. While crossing into Brittany past the fortified abbey of Mont St Michel, Harold is recorded as rescuing two of William's soldiers from the quicksand. They pursued Conan from Dol de Bretagne to Rennes, and finally to Dinan, where he surrendered the fortress's keys on the point of a lance. William presented Harold with weapons and arms, knighting him. The Bayeux Tapestry, and other Norman sources, then record that Harold swore an oath on sacred relics to William to support his claim to the English throne. After Harold's death, the Normans were quick to point out that in accepting the crown of England, Harold had perjured himself of this alleged oath.

      The chronicler Orderic Vitalis wrote: "This Englishman was very tall and handsome, remarkable for his physical strength, his courage and eloquence, his ready jests and acts of valour. But what were these gifts to him without honour, which is the root of all good?".

      Due to an unjust doubling of taxation instituted by Tostig in 1065 that threatened to plunge England into civil war, Harold supported Northumbrian rebels against his brother, Tostig, and replaced him with Morcar. This strengthened his acceptability as Edward's successor, but fatally divided his own family, driving Tostig into alliance with King Harald Hardrada ("Hard Reign") of Norway.

      For some twenty years Harold was married More danico (Latin: "in the Danish manner") to Edith Swannesha and had at least six children by her. The marriage was widely accepted by the laity, although Edith was considered Harold's mistress by the clergy. Their children were not treated as illegitimate. Among them was a daughter Gytha, later wife of the Kievan Rus prince Vladimir Monomakh. Through descendants of this Anglo-Rus marriage, she was a progenitor of English Queen Isabella of France, and hence Harold is the ancestor of subsequent English monarchs.

      According to Orderic Vitalis, Harold was at some time betrothed to Adeliza, a daughter of William, Duke of Normandy, later William the Conqueror; if so, the betrothal never led to marriage.[5]

      About January 1066, Harold married Edith (or Ealdgyth), daughter of Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia, and widow of the Welsh prince Gruffydd ap Llywelyn an enemy of the English. Edith had two sons — possibly twins — named Harold and Ulf (born c. November 1066), both of whom survived into adulthood and probably lived out their lives in exile.

      After her husband's death, the queen is said[by whom?] to have fled for refuge to her brothers Edwin, Earl of Mercia and Morcar of Northumbria but both men made their peace with the Conqueror initially before rebelling and losing their lands and lives. Aldith may have fled abroad (possibly with Harold's mother, Gytha, or with Harold's daughter, Gytha).

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Godwinson

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      Harald II av England eller Harald Godwinson, född ca 1022, död 14 oktober 1066, var Englands siste saxiske kung från 5 januari till 14 oktober 1066, då han dödades i slaget vid Hastings.

      Haralds far var Godwin, den mäktige earlen av Wessex. Godwin var son till Wulfnoth Cild, thegn i Sussex och hade varit gift två gånger. Först med Thyra Sveinsdóttir (994 — 1018), en dotter till Sven Tveskägg kung av Danmark, Norge och England. Hans andra hustru var Gytha Thorkelsdóttir som var barnbarn till den legendariske svenske vikingen Styrbjörn Starke och genom mödernet barnbarn till Harald Blåtand, kung av Danmark och Norge och Svens far. Detta andra äktenskap resulterade i de två sönernas Harald och Tostig Godwinsons födelse samt deras systers Edith av Wessex (1020 - 1075) som blev Edvard Bekännarens drottning.

      Harald blev earl av East Anglia 1045 och följde sin far i landsflykt 1051, men hjälpte honom att återfå sin position följande år. Då Godwin dog 1053 efterträdde Harald honom som earl av Wessex (en landsdel som vid denna tid täckte den södra delen av England). Detta gjorde honom den näst mäktigaste personen i England, näst efter kungen.

      1058 blev Harald även earl av Hereford, och han efterträdde fadern som företrädare för oppositionen mot det växande normandiska inflytandet i England under Edvard Bekännaren som tillbringat mer än ett kvarts sekel i landsflykt i Normandie.

      Han vann ära genom en rad fälttåg (1062 - 1063) mot härskaren av Gwynedd, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, som hade erövrat hela Wales; denna konflikt slutade med Gruffydds nederlag (och död i händerna på sina egna trupper) 1063. Omkring 1064 gifte sig Harald med Edith, dotter till earlen av Mercia, Gruffydd ap Llywelyns änka. Med Harald fick hon två söner - möjligen tvillingar - Harald och Ulf, vilka båda överlevde till vuxen ålder och troligen slutade sina liv i landsflykt. Harald hade även flera illegitima barn med sin berömda älskarinna (eller hustru enligt dansk lag) "Ealdgyth Swan-neck" eller "Edit Svannacke".

      1065 stödde Harald northumbriska rebeller mot brodern Tostig som ersatte honom med Morcar. Detta stärkte hans position som Edvards efterträdare, men splittrade familjen, då Tostig allierade sig med kung Harald Hårdråde.

      Vid Edvard Bekännarens död 6 januari 1066 hävdade Harald att Edvard på sin dödsbädd lovat honom kronan och fick Witenagemot (rådet av rikets betydande män) att godkänna honom för kröning, något som ägde rum följande dag.

      Landet invaderades av både Harald Hårdråde och Vilhelm av Normandie som hävdade att han lovats kronan av både Edvard (troligtvis 1052) och Harald Godwinson som hade lidit skeppsbrott i Ponthieu, Normandie 1064 eller 1065. Det sades att, under det senare tillfället, att Vilhelm hade tvingat Harald att svära en ed att stödja hans krav på tronen på en låda med heliga reliker. Vid Haralds död var normanderna noga med att påpeka att genom att acceptera Englands krona hade Harald begått mened.

      Genom att invadera vad som nu är Yorkshire i september 1066 besegrade Harald Hårdråde och Tostig de engelska earlerna Edwin av Mercia och Morcar av Northumbria vid slaget vid Fulford nära York (20 september), men besegrades i sin tur av Haralds armé fem dagar senare vid slaget vid Stamford Bridge (25 september).

      Harald tvingade nu sin armé att marschera 386 km för att genskjuta Vilhelm som hade landstigit med kanske 7000 man i Sussex, i södra England tre dagar senare, 28 september. Haralds armé etablerade sig i en hastigt byggd befästning i närheten av Hastings. De båda arméerna drabbade samman 14 oktober, i slaget vid Hastings. Efter en hård strid dödades Harald, enligt traditionen och så som det avbildas på Bayeuxtapeten, genom en pil genom ögat. Om han dödades på detta vis (en dödsstraff som under medeltiden förknippades med personer som hade begått mened) eller om han dödades med svärd, kommer aldrig att bli känt. Haralds hustru Edith Swanneck, skulle identifiera liket, vilket hon gjorde genom märken på kroppen som bara hon kände till, ansiktet var helt förstört. Trots att en normandisk redogörelse menar att Haralds lik begravdes i en grav med utsikt över den saxiska kusten, är det mer troligt att han begravdes i kyrkan Waltham Holy Cross i Essex. Haralds illegitima dotter Gytha av Wessex gifte sig med en storhertig av Kievriket, därför erkände nyligen den rysk-ortodoxa kyrkan Harald som martyr med 14 oktober som festdag.

      En hjältedyrkan uppstod kring Harald och genom en legend från 1300-talet skulle Harald ha överlevt striden och läkt sina sår i Wincester under två år och reste sedan till Tyskland där han vandrade omkring som pilgrim. Som gammal skulle han ha återvänt till England och blivit eremit i en grotta nära Dover. På sin dödsbädd ska mannen ha erkänt att trots att han gick under namnet Christian hette han egentligen Harald Godwinson. Olika varianter på denna historia levde kvar genom medeltiden, men saknar faktagrund.

      Litteraturintresset kring Harald fick nytt liv under 1800-talet genom pjäsen Harold av Alfred Tennyson (1876) och genom romanen Last of the Saxon Kings av Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1848). Rudyard Kipling skrev historien The tree of justice (1910), som beskrev hur en gammal man som visar sig vara Harald ställs inför Henrik I. E. A. Freeman skrev en allvarlig historia i History of the Norman Conquest of England (1870-79) i vilken Harald ses som en stor engelsk hjälte. Under 2000-talet förknippas Haralds rykte, så som det alltid gjort, med subjektiva åsikter om huruvida den normandiska erövringen var rätt eller fel.

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      Died in the Battle of Hastings

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      Harold Godwinson

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      Please improve this article if you can. (December 2007)

      Harold II Godwinson

      King of England (more...)



      Reign 5 January — 20 October 1066

      Coronation 6 January 1066

      Predecessor Edward the Confessor

      Successor Edgar Ætheling

      Spouse Ealdgyth Swan-neck

      Issue

      Godwin

      Edmund

      Magnus

      Gunhild

      Gytha

      Harold

      Ulf

      Full name

      Harold Godwinson

      Royal house House of Godwin

      Father Godwin, Earl of Wessex

      Mother Gytha Thorkelsdóttir

      Born Circa 1022

      Wessex, England

      Died 14 October 1066

      Battle, East Sussex

      Burial Waltham Abbey, Waltham Abbey, England

      Harold Godwinson, or Harold II (c. 1022 – October 14, 1066) was the last of the Anglo-Saxons to be crowned King of England - Edgar Ætheling (c. 1051 – c. 1126) was to be his successor after the Battle of Hastings, by the proclaimation of the Witan, but was not crowned. His reign was from January 5 to October 14, 1066. His death was at the Battle of Hastings, by the lances of Norman knights under William the Conqueror.

      Contents [hide]

      1 Lineage

      2 Powerful nobleman

      3 Marriages and children

      4 Reign as King

      5 Legacy and Legend

      6 See also

      7 References

      8 Bibliography

      9 External links

      10 Literature





      [edit] Lineage

      Harold's father was Godwin, the powerful Earl of Wessex believed to be a son to Wulfnoth Cild, Thegn of west Sussex.

      Godwin married twice, both times to Danish women of high rank. His first wife was the Danish princess Thyra Sveinsdóttir, a daughter of Sweyn I, who was King of Denmark, Norway and England. His second wife was Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, whose brother or cousin Ulf Jarl was the son-in-law of Sweyn I and the father of Sweyn II. Gytha and Ulf were allegedly grandchildren to the legendary Swedish Viking Styrbjörn the Strong (a disinherited prince of Sweden) and great-grandchildren to Harold Bluetooth, King of Denmark and Norway. This second marriage resulted in the birth of several children, notably two sons, Harold and Tostig Godwinson (who played a prominent role in 1066) and a daughter Edith of Wessex (1020–75), who was Queen consort of Edward the Confessor.



      [edit] Powerful nobleman

      When Godwin died in 1053, his son Harold took over. It was he, rather than Edward, who subjugated Wales in 1063 and negotiated with the rebellious Northumbrians in 1065. Consequently, shortly before his death, Edward named Harold as his successor even though he may already have promised the crown to a distant cousin, William, Duke of Normandy. He died on 4 January 1066 and was buried in the Abbey he had constructed at Westminster.

      As a result of his sister's marriage to the king, Godwin's second son Harold was made Earl of East Anglia in 1045. Harold accompanied Godwin into exile in 1051, but helped him to regain his position a year later. When Godwin died in 1053, Harold succeeded him as Earl of Wessex (a province at that time covering the southernmost third of England). This made him the second most powerful figure in England after the king.

      In 1058 Harold also became Earl of Hereford, and replaced his late father as the focus of opposition to growing Norman influence in England under the restored English monarchy (1042–66) of Edward the Confessor, who had spent more than a quarter of a century in exile in Normandy.

      He gained glory in a series of campaigns (1062–63) against the ruler of Gwynedd, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, who had conquered all of Wales; this conflict ended with Gruffydd's defeat (and death at the hands of his own troops) in 1063.

      In 1064, Harold was apparently shipwrecked in Ponthieu. There is much speculation about the reason for this, with Norman sources saying that his journey was to give William King Edward's offer of the throne. One explanation was that Harold was seeking the release of members of his family who had been held hostage since Godwin's exile in 1051. Another is that he was on his way for a meeting with allies. According to the Norman version, his vessel was blown off course, and he was held hostage by Count Guy of Ponthieu. Duke William arrived soon after and ordered Guy to turn Harold over to him. The source of much of this information can be found in the writings of William of Poitiers, whose veracity has been called into question.

      Harold then accompanied William to battle against William's enemy, Conan II, Duke of Brittany. While crossing into Brittany past the fortified abbey of Mont St Michel, Harold rescued two of William's soldiers, Baron Ian De La Goldfinch and Friar Paul Le Keen from the quicksand. They pursued Conan from Dol de Bretagne, then to Rennes, and finally to Dinan, where he surrendered the fortress' keys on the point of a lance. William presented Harold with weapons and arms, knighting him. The Bayeux Tapestry, and other Norman sources, then record that Harold swore an oath to William to support his claim to the English throne.

      By this time, William considered himself to be the successor of the childless Edward the Confessor, but the only sources we have for this are Norman ones from after the conquest, as the contemporary English sources such as the Anglo Saxon Chronicle are silent on the matter, referring to Edward's grand-nephew, Edgar Ætheling, son of Edward the Exile, as Ætheling, or princely heir. It is unlikely that King Edward had ever made such as an offer[citation needed], especially after the efforts of Harold to get the return of Edward the Exile, son of Edmund Ironside from Hungary, in 1057. During his supposed captivity, William of Poitiers claims that William obtained from Harold an oath to support William as the future king of England. After Harold's death, the Normans were quick to point out that in accepting the crown of England, Harold had perjured himself of this oath.

      The chronicler Orderic Vitalis wrote: "This Englishman was very tall and handsome, remarkable for his physical strength, his courage and eloquence, his ready jests and acts of valour. But what were these gifts to him without honour, which is the root of all good?".

      In 1065 Harold supported Northumbrian rebels against his brother Tostig, due to unjust taxation instituted by Tostig, and replaced him with Morcar. This strengthened his acceptability as Edward's successor, but fatally divided his own family, driving Tostig into alliance with King Harald Hardrada ("Hard Reign") of Norway.



      [edit] Marriages and children

      For some twenty years Harold was married mōre Danicō (in the Danish manner) to Ealdgyth Swan-neck (also known as Edith Swanneschals or Edith Swanneck) and had at least six children by her. The marriage was widely accepted by the laity, although Edith was considered Harold's mistress by the clergy. Their children were not treated as illegitimate. Among them was a daughter Gytha, later wife of the Russian prince Vladimir Monomachus, or Vladimir Monomakh. Through descendants of this Anglo-Russian marriage, Harold is thus the ancestor of later English kings.

      About January 1064, Harold married Aldith (or Aldgyth), daughter of Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia, and widow of the Welsh prince Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Aldith had two sons — possibly twins — named Harold and Ulf (born circa November 1066), both of whom survived into adulthood and probably ended their lives in exile.

      After her husband's death, the queen is said to have fled for refuge to her brothers Edwin, Earl of Mercia and Morcar of Northumbria but both men made their peace with the Conqueror initially before rebelling and losing their lands and lives. Aldith may have fled abroad (possibly with Harold's mother, Gytha, or with Harold's daughter, Gytha).



      [edit] Reign as King

      Edward the Confessor was on his deathbed and pointed to Harold. This sign was taken, by the other present noblemen, to mean that Edward chose Harold as his successor, though some say it was merely a curse. On January 5, 1066, the Witenagemot (the assembly of the kingdom's leading notables) approved him for coronation, which took place the following day. It was the first coronation in Westminster Abbey. Although later Norman sources point to the suddenness of this coronation, it is possible that it took place whilst all the nobles of the land were present at Westminster for the feast of Epiphany and not because of any usurpation of the throne on Harold's part.

      England was then invaded by both Harald Hardrada of Norway and William, Duke of Normandy, both of whom claimed the English crown. William claimed that he had been promised the English crown by Edward, and that Harold had sworn to support his claim after having been shipwrecked in Ponthieu. Harald Hardrada formed an alliance with Harold's rebellious brother Tostig. Harold offered his brother a third of the kingdom if he joined him, and Tostig asked what Harold would offer the king of Norway. "Six feet of ground or as much more as he needs, as he is taller than most men," was Harold's response according to Henry of Huntingdon. It is, however, unknown whether this conversation ever took place.

      Invading what is now Yorkshire in September 1066, Harald Hardrada and Tostig defeated the English earls Edwin of Mercia and Morcar of Northumbria at the Battle of Fulford near York on (September 20). They were in turn defeated and slain by Harold's army five days later at the Battle of Stamford Bridge (September 25), Harold having led his army north on a forced march from London in four days and caught them by surprise.



      The spot where Harold died, Battle AbbeyHarold now again forced his army to march 241 miles (386 kilometres) to intercept William, who had landed perhaps 7000 men in Sussex, southern England three days later on September 28. Harold established his army in hastily built earthworks near Hastings. The two armies clashed at the Battle of Hastings, near the present town of Battle close by Hastings on October 14, where after a hard fight Harold was killed and his forces routed. His brothers Gyrth and Leofwine were also killed in the battle. According to tradition, Harold was killed by an arrow in the eye, but it is unclear if the victim depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry is intended to be Harold, or whether indeed the tapestry's scene depicts that particular type of wound. Whether he did, indeed, die in this manner (a death associated in the Middle Ages with perjurers[citation needed]), or was killed by the sword, will never be known. Harold's first wife, Edith Swanneck, was called to identify the body (the face being destroyed), which she did by the tattoos pricked into his chest which read "Edith" and "England".[citation needed]



      Tomb of King Harold II at Waltham Abbey, EssexHarold's body was buried in a grave of stones overlooking the shore, and was only given a proper funeral years later in his church of Waltham Holy Cross in Essex, which he had refounded in 1060.[1]

      Harold's strong association with Bosham and the discovery of an Anglo-Saxon coffin in the church in the 1950s has led some to speculate that King Harold was buried there. A recent bid to exhume a grave in Bosham church was refused by the Diocese of Chichester in December 2004, the Chancellor ruling that the chances of establishing the identity of the body as Harold II were too slim to justify disturbing a burial place.[2] A prior exhumation had revealed the remains of a middle-aged man lacking one leg, a description which fits the fate of the king according to certain chroniclers.



      [edit] Legacy and Legend

      Harold's daughter Gytha of Wessex married Vladimir Monomakh Grand Duke (Velikii Kniaz) of Kievan Rus' and is ancestor to dynasties of Galicia, Smolensk and Yaroslavl, whose scions include Modest Mussorgsky and Peter Kropotkin. Isabella of France (consort of Edward II) was also a direct descendant of Harold via Gytha, and thus the bloodline of Harold was re-introduced to the Royal Line. Subsequently, undocumented allegations that the Russian Orthodox Church has recently recognised Harold as a martyr have been made. Ulf, along with Morcar and two others, were released from prison by King William as he lay dying in 1087. He threw his lot in with Robert Curthose, who knighted him, and disappeared from history. Two of his elder half-brothers, Godwine and Magnus, made a number of attempts at invading England in 1068 and 1069 with the aid of Diarmait mac Mail na mBo. They raided Cornwall as late as 1082, but died in obscurity in Ireland.

      A cult of hero-worship rose around Harold, and by the 12th century, legend says that Harold had indeed survived the battle, had spent two years in Winchester after the battle recovering from his wounds, and then traveled to Germany, where he spent years wandering as a pilgrim. As an old man, he supposedly returned to England, and lived as a hermit in a cave near Dover. As he lay dying, he confessed that although he went by the name of Christian, he had been born Harold Godwinson. Various versions of this story persisted throughout the Middle Ages, but have little basis in fact.Harold's wife was pregnant with a son when he died, whom she named "Harold" and he became a monk at Waltham Abbey and is said to have met Henry I, leading to the idea that Harold Godwinsson had survived, instead of Harold Haroldsson.

      Literary interest in Harold revived in the 19th century, with the play Harold, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in 1876; and the novel Last of the Saxon Kings, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in 1848. Rudyard Kipling wrote a story, The Tree of Justice (1910), describing how an old man who turns out to be Harold is brought before Henry I. E. A. Freeman wrote a serious history in History of the Norman Conquest of England (1870–79), in which Harold is seen as a great English hero. Fictional accounts based on the events surrounding Harold's struggle for and brief reign as king of England have been published, notably "The Interim King" by James McMilla and "The Last English King" by Julian Rathbone.



      [edit] See also

      House of Wessex family tree

      [edit] References

      ^ Hilliam, Paul (2005). William the Conqueror: First Norman King of England. New York City, New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 57. ISBN 1-4042-0166-1.

      ^ In re Holy Trinity, Bosham [2004] Fam 124 — decision of the Chichester Consistory Court regarding opening King Harold's proposed grave.

      [edit] Bibliography

      Biography by P. Compton (1961); F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (3d ed. 1971).

      Biography by Ian W. Walker: Harold: The Last Anglo-Saxon King. Sutton Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 1997. ISBN 0-7509-1388-6

      [edit] External links

      Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

      Harold GodwinsonGenealogy page — Reliability unknown

      Profile of Harold Godwinson

      Descendants of King Cerdic of Wessex chart

      In the footsteps of King Harold A timeline of Harold Godwinson's life, includes information about places significant to Harold II's story.

      King Harold II ca.1021-1066 Extensive and useful site, graphics-heavy, can be a little slow loading.

      Geoff Boxell Harold Godwinson — the last king of the English The rise and fall of King
    • _P_CCINFO 1-2782
    • GODWINSON;
      (while prisoner of Williams of Normandy, he agreed Guillaume was the heir to England, but despite his lack of royal blood Harold was made King on the death of Edward Confessor; in 1066 defeated a large Norse Army at Battle of Stamford Bridge, but his weakened army was then no match for the Normans invading from the other direction)
    • [large-G675.FTW]

      Last Anglo-Saxon King of England, reputedly named heir by the duringEdward (his brother-in-law). After becoming King, he crushed the forcesof his brother Tostig & Harold III Hardraade of Norway, who claimed thethrone, at Stamford Bridge. He was killed in the Battle of Hastings bythe army of a successful claimant to the throne, William the Conqueror ofNormandy.

      REF: British Monarchy Official Website: On Edward's death in 1066, theking's council elected his brother-in-law, Harold Godwinson (Jan-Oct1066), king. In September, Harald of Norway invaded England and wasdefeated by Harold at the Battle of Stamford Bridge near York. Meanwhile,William, Duke of Normandy (whom Harold had acknowledged in 1065 as EdwardIII's successor and who was also related to Edward by marriage) hadlanded in Sussex. Harold rushed south and on 14 October 1066 his army wasdefeated near Hastings and Harold was killed.

      David Humiston Kelley's explication of a possible descent of Harold IIfrom Aethelred II appears in the Festchrift for Charles Evans edited byNeil Thompson. Kelley's paper, which is an enlargement of evidencepresented by Lundie W. Barlow in the New Eng. Hist. & Gen. Register inthe 1950s, shows the descent of land from a son of Aethelred to EarlGodwin, Harold's father. The argument is strong, especially since it is agroup of manors that descended together. Bierbrier, however, in theGenealogists' Magazine, denies the lineage and indicates that Godwinreceived this land as a unit from the Danish conquerors. I have not seenany contemporary evidence that would take settle this question eitherway. The key article on the proposed descent of Harold II from AethelredI is David H. Kelley, "The House of Aethelred," in Lindsay S. Brooke,ed., Studies in Genealogy and Family History in Tribute to Charles Evanson the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday_ (Association for the Promotionof Scholarship in Genealogy, Ltd., Occasional Publication No. Two, 1989).As I posted earlier, the descent of land provides strong evidence for thedescent of Harold II's father, Earl Godwine, from Aethelred I (not II),but it is also possible that the land was expropriated and presented toGodwine and his possession of it does not indicate genealogical descent.
      Acceded Jan 1066-Oct 1066.Acceded Jan 1066 - Oct 1066.

      Harold II
      On Edward's death, the King's Council (the Witenagemot) confirmedEdward's brother-in-law Harold, Earl of Wessex, as King. With no royalblood, and fearing rival claims from William Duke of Normandy and theKing of Norway, Harold had himself crowned in Westminster Abbey on 6January 1066, the day after Edward's death. During his brief reign,Harold showed he was an outstanding commander.

      In September, Harald Hardrada of Norway (aided by Harold's alienatedbrother Tostig, Earl of Northumbria) invaded England and was defeated byHarold at the Battle of Stamford Bridge near York. Hardrada's army hadinvaded using over 300 ships; so many were killed that only 25 ships wereneeded to transport the survivors home.

      Meanwhile, William Duke of Normandy (who claimed Harold had acknowledgedhim in 1064 as Edward's successor) had landed in Sussex. Harold rushedsouth and, on 14 October 1066, his army of some 7,000 infantry wasdefeated on the field of Senlac near Hastings. Harold was hit in the eyeby an arrow and cut down by Norman swords.

      An abbey was later built, in 1070, to fulfil a vow made by William I, andits high altar was placed on the spot where Harold fell. The ruins ofBattle Abbey still remain with a stone slab marking where Harold died.
    • --Other Fields

      Ref Number: 1383
    • SOURCE NOTES:
      Bu557 http://home.sol.no/~torsolhe/valjerd.htm
      http://home.att.net/~a.junkins/kiev.html#V10
    • Last Saxson king of England. Killed trying to do battle against the Norman invaders at the battle of Hastings.
    • Dog i slaget vid Hastings 1066.
    • Harald II Godwinson (engelsk: Harold Godwinson) (født 1022, død 14. oktober 1066) var den siste saksiske kongen av England. Han regjerte bare fra 5. januar 1066 til oktober samme året, da han ble drept i slaget ved Hastings.

      Harald var sønn av Godwin, den mektige jarlen av Wessex, og Gyða Þorkelsdóttir, som var barnebarn til den legendariske svenske vikingen Styrbjørn Sterke og tippoldebarn til Harald Blåtann.

      Da faren døde i 1053 ble Harald Godwinson jarl av Wessex, et område som på den tiden dekket en tredjedel av England, helt sør i landet. Dette gjorde han til den mektigste mannen i landet, bortsett fra kongen.

      Samling av makt
      Harald fortsette farens rolle som samlingspunkt for motstandskampen mot økende normannisk innflytelse i England. Han gikk også i strid mot Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, som hadde erobret hele Wales. Han seiret over Gruffydd, som deretter ble drept av sine egne menn, i 1063. Noe senere giftet Harald seg med enken hans, Edith, som var datter av jarlen av Mercia. De fikk to sønner, Harald og Ulf. Harald fikk og flere barn med sin elskerinne, Ealdgyth (Edith) Svanehals.

      I 1065 gav Harald støtte til opprørere fra Northumbria mot sin bror, Tostig eller Toste, som på grunn av dette allierte seg med Harald Hardråde.

      Da Edvard bekjenneren døde den 5. januar 1066, hevdet Harald at han var blitt lovet tronen på dødsleiet til den engelske kongen. Han fikk witenagemotet, rådet til kongen, til å godkjenne han, og ble kronet alt neste dag.

      Ytre trusler
      Det tok ikke lang tid før landet ble invadert. Harald Hardråde gikk i land i det som nå er Yorkshire i september. De vant slaget ved Fulford nær York, men fem dager etter ble de slått av den engelske hæren til Harald Godwinsson i slaget ved Stamford Bridge.

      Men i sør truet en ny fare. Hertugen Guillaume (senere kjent som Wilhelm Erobreren) av Normandie mente han var blitt lovet tronen, både av den forrige kongen og den nåværende. Harald Godwinson skulle ha sverget at den engelske kronen skulle gå til Guillaume da skipet hans grunnstøtte i Normandie i 1064 eller 1065.

      Etter å ha seiret over den norske invasjonen måtte Harald nå avverge den normanniske. Han tvang hæren sin til å marsjere til Sussex, der Guillaume og en hær på rundt sju hundre var gått i land. De to hærene møttes ved Hastings den 14. oktober. Etter en hard kamp ble Harald drept. Tradisjonen, og Bayeuxteppet, sier han fikk en pil i øyet, noe som var en vanlig straff for de som begikk mened. Ansiktet hans var så skadet at Edit Svanehals måtte identifisere kroppen hans.

      Etter døden
      En normannisk kilde hevder at Harald ble gravlagt med utsyn over sakserkysten, men det er mer sannsynlig at han ble stedt til hvile i kirken sin i i Waltham i Essex.

      En av Haralds døtre, Gytha av Wessex, ble stammor til flere østeuropeiske dynasti, og på grunn av dette blir Harald regnet som martyr av den russiske ortodokse kirken med minnedag den 14. oktober.

      Den drepte kongen ble også heltedyrket i hjemlandet. En legende fra ellevehundretallet sier at han ikke ble drept, men bodde i Winchester i to år, til han var blitt frisk fra skadene sine, og deretter vandret rundt i Tyskland som en pilgrim ved navn Kristian. Da han ble gammel kom han tilbake til England, og ble en eneboer i en hule ved Dover. På dødsleiet forklarte han at navnet hans ikke var Kristian, men Harald Godwinsson.

      På attenhundretallet blomstret interessen for sakserkongen opp igjen. Han ble emnet for et skuespill, Harold, av Alfred Tennyson, og romanen Last of the Saxon Kings av Edward Bulwer-Lytton. I The tree of justice skriver Rudyard Kipling om en gammel mann som kommer til Henry I og viser seg å være Harald Godwinson. Og i sitt historieverk History of the Norman Conquest of England gjorde E. A. Freeman kongen til den store engelske helten.
    • KNOWN ALSO AS "GODWINSON"; EARL OF WESSEX; ACCEDED 1/6/1066 (CROWNED
      WESTMINSTER); RULED TO 10/1066; LAST SAXON KING; KILLED IN BATTLE
    • 545px-Coa_King_Harold_Godwinson
      http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=9b96e12f-b18c-48b2-9349-8abd5e78f7e5&tid=10145763&pid=-269456348
    • 867789458. Kong Harald GODWINSON av England (20600) was born in 1022. (20601) He was a Konge in 1066 in England. (20602) Han var densiste angelsaksiske konge av England. Edvard Confessoren overlot ham riket døende 5.1.1066. He died on 14 Oct 1066 in Hastings. (20603) Harald lot sig belge til konge, men bannlystes av Paven for brudd på ed. Hans bror Toste, jarl av Torthumberland, drog straks mot ham med skib, som hertug Wilhelm hadde overlat ham, og herjet hans kyster. Sammen med Harald Hårfagre møtes Toste med Harald G. i det blodige slag ved Stamford Bro 25.9.1066, hvor begge de førstnevnte falt, men Wilhelm Bastard landet i Sydengland. Det kom til lag ved Hastings 14.101066, hvor Harlas ramtes av en pol i Øiet og vlev nedhugget, liket gjenkjendtes av hans elskede Edgyth Svanehals og blev jordet mensenere flyttet til Waltham Kloster. Hun var sansynligvis mor til Gyda. He was married to Edgyth SVANEHALS.
    • He was the last of the Saxon rulers, and a capable military leader.

      Harold was made earl of East Anglia in 1045. In 1051 Godwin lost the favor
      of King Edward the Confessor and was exiled with his sons, but the
      following year the lands and titles of the family were restored in order
      to strengthen the security of the country. In 1053 Harold succeeded his
      father as earl of Wessex, becoming chief minister to King Edward and the
      most powerful man in the realm. Through his efforts, the warlike Welsh
      were subdued in 1063. After a revolt against Harold's brother Tostig, earl
      of Northumbria, Harold was forced to banish Tostig, an action that managed
      to restore peace but created a bitter enmity between the two brothers.

      Probably in 1064, Harold was shipwrecked off the coast of Normandy and
      captured by William, duke of Normandy. In order to secure his release,
      Harold was forced to swear that he would support William's claim to the
      crown of England. King Edward had generally favored the Normans during his
      lifetime, but when he was dying, he recommended that the throne be awarded
      to Harold, whom the witenagemot (royal council) elected and crowned.
      William immediately asserted his claim, which was supported by the
      dispossessed Tostig and Harold III (Hard Ruler) of Norway. Tostig and his
      Norwegian ally invaded Yorkshire and, after several military successes,
      were routed by the English forces at Stamford Bridge on September 25,
      1066; both were killed. Three days later, William landed in Sussex with
      his army, forcing Harold to rush southward to meet him. The armies engaged
      at Senlac Hill on October 14, 1066, in the Battle of Hastings; the defeat
      and death of Harold made William, thereafter called The Conqueror, ruler
      of England as King William I.
    • Harold Godwinsson
      http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=464e2fec-8b14-4e2b-a225-13c994443368&tid=10145763&pid=-269456348
    • Bio
      http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=b28946a4-69fc-423a-a79b-78f122aefe19&tid=10145763&pid=-269456348
    • Harold Godwinsson
      http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=464e2fec-8b14-4e2b-a225-13c994443368&tid=10145763&pid=-269456348
    • Bio
      http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=b28946a4-69fc-423a-a79b-78f122aefe19&tid=10145763&pid=-269456348
    • 545px-Coa_King_Harold_Godwinson
      http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=9b96e12f-b18c-48b2-9349-8abd5e78f7e5&tid=10145763&pid=-269456348
    • Harold II, Godwinsson was King of England for a short time in the memorable year,1066. He had become the Earl of East Anglia in 1044. Upon his father's death in April, 1053, he succeeded to the Earldom of Wessex and from then on, was at the right hand of the king. In 1063, supported by his brother, Tostig, Earl of Northumbria, he commanded a brilliantly conducted campaign against the Welsh. He was successful in bringing them into submission, and by doing so, solidified his reputation as an able general.
      Harold acted as an emissary from Edward the Confessor to the court of William of Normandy in 1064, during which time he allegedly swore an oath of fealty to William, relinquishing any personal claim to the throne. This oath, which may have been given lightly, or possibly under duress, would figure directly in William's own claim, two years later. He would claim that the promise Harold made to him had been broken, giving William the right to challenge Harold in the battle for the crown.
      While on his deathbed, the Confessor named Harold as his successor, overlooking his grandson, the rightful heir, Edgar the Ætheling, and ignoring a promise that he allegedly made (according to French sources) to William of Normandy. Upon Edward's death, Harold wasted no time securing ecclesiastical blessing on his claim by having himself crowned immediately.
      Harold's brother, Tostig, had been exiled since the autumn of 1065 and had joined together with Harald Hardrada of Norway. A combined force landed in Yorkshire in September of 1066. Until this time, Harold's attention had been directed toward the south and the invasion that he knew would come from Normandy. But, now, Harold had to break away and march north to meet the new threat that had come. He defeated the forces of his traitorous brother and the King of Norway decisively at the battle of Stamford Bridge on the 25th of September.
      Meanwhile, the favorable winds that the Normans had been waiting for had come and they had set sail across the channel, landing at Pevensey on the 28th. As soon as Harold heard this distressing news, he marched his force at top speed to the south. He reached London on October 5, and stopped to give his weary troops a rest and to gather reinforcements for the battle which lay ahead.
      The story of these events and the decisive Battle of Hastings has been presented exquisitely in the Bayeux Tapestry and it need not be repeated, here. Suffice it to say that William won the day, and with it, the kingdom. The English fought fiercely and well, since they understood that not only their lives were at stake, but their country, also. Perhaps, if the English had been fresh and at full strength, they might have won easily, but they were tired and depleted after Stamford Bridge and the subsequent march south.
      During his brief reign, the government continued to function as before, but there is no reliable way to judge what Harold might have been like as a king. He was certainly a capable field commander and a leader who inspired loyalty and confidence. His death has been recorded as coming in the midst of the final battle by way of a Norman arrow that penetrated his eye. Whether or not that is true, his memory lingers on as the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and the last monarch of England to suffer defeat at the hands of a foreign invader.
    • RESEARCH NOTES:
      King of England
      Slo first Harald Hardraade ved Stamford bro. Killed in battle of Hastings,
      der han falt in kamp mot Vilhelm Erobreren.
    • Harold II (?1022-1066), king of the English, second son of Earl Godwin, shared in his father�s banishment (1051) and restoration, and on Godwin�s death (1053) became earl of Wessex. In 1066 he was nominated by the English King as his successor, and on the King�s death was elected by the nobles. Thereupon William of Normandy invaded England. Harold, first defeating Harold of Norway and his own brother Tostig at Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire, marched against William, and at the Battle of Hastings was overthrown and slain. [World Wide Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1935]

      Notes on King Harold II
      Appointed Earl of the East Angles before 1045; succeeded his father as Earl of the West SAXONS in 1053. The Witan confirmed the choice of Edward II as his successor, he was crowned Jan 1066. In Sep 1066, England was invaded north of the Humber by Harold HARDRADA, King of Norway. On 25 Sep 1066, he destroyed the Norwegian Army at Stamford Bridge. Harold then hurried South to meet the invasion of William, Duke of Normandy, and gave battle on Senlac, a hill near Battle (described by chroniclers as Hastings, near where William came ashore). Harold�s army fell fighting gloriously against the Norman invaders. Harold was reputedly killed by an arrow through his eye. Harold�s body was buried under a cairn on the sea-shore and thence taken to Waltham Abbey. {Burke�s Peerage and Chamber�s Biographical Dictionary} [GADD.GED]

      Additional information: Britannia.com http://britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon21.html
    • Harold II, Godwinsson was King of England for a short time in the memorable year,1066. He had become the Earl of East Anglia in 1044. Upon his father's death in April, 1053, he succeeded to the Earldom of Wessex and from then on, was at the right hand of the king. In 1063, supported by his brother, Tostig, Earl of Northumbria, he commanded a brilliantly conducted campaign against the Welsh. He was successful in bringing them into submission, and by doing so, solidified his reputation as an able general.
      Harold acted as an emissary from Edward the Confessor to the court of William of Normandy in 1064, during which time he allegedly swore an oath of fealty to William, relinquishing any personal claim to the throne. This oath, which may have been given lightly, or possibly under duress, would figure directly in William's own claim, two years later. He would claim that the promise Harold made to him had been broken, giving William the right to challenge Harold in the battle for the crown.
      While on his deathbed, the Confessor named Harold as his successor, overlooking his grandson, the rightful heir, Edgar the Ætheling, and ignoring a promise that he allegedly made (according to French sources) to William of Normandy. Upon Edward's death, Harold wasted no time securing ecclesiastical blessing on his claim by having himself crowned immediately.
      Harold's brother, Tostig, had been exiled since the autumn of 1065 and had joined together with Harald Hardrada of Norway. A combined force landed in Yorkshire in September of 1066. Until this time, Harold's attention had been directed toward the south and the invasion that he knew would come from Normandy. But, now, Harold had to break away and march north to meet the new threat that had come. He defeated the forces of his traitorous brother and the King of Norway decisively at the battle of Stamford Bridge on the 25th of September.
      Meanwhile, the favorable winds that the Normans had been waiting for had come and they had set sail across the channel, landing at Pevensey on the 28th. As soon as Harold heard this distressing news, he marched his force at top speed to the south. He reached London on October 5, and stopped to give his weary troops a rest and to gather reinforcements for the battle which lay ahead.
      The story of these events and the decisive Battle of Hastings has been presented exquisitely in the Bayeux Tapestry and it need not be repeated, here. Suffice it to say that William won the day, and with it, the kingdom. The English fought fiercely and well, since they understood that not only their lives were at stake, but their country, also. Perhaps, if the English had been fresh and at full strength, they might have won easily, but they were tired and depleted after Stamford Bridge and the subsequent march south.
      During his brief reign, the government continued to function as before, but there is no reliable way to judge what Harold might have been like as a king. He was certainly a capable field commander and a leader who inspired loyalty and confidence. His death has been recorded as coming in the midst of the final battle by way of a Norman arrow that penetrated his eye. Whether or not that is true, his memory lingers on as the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and the last monarch of England to suffer defeat at the hands of a foreign invader.
    • It is impossible to state exactly the date of Harold's visit to Duke William in Normandy, although it is put at 1064. Probably Harold did make some kind of oath to William, most likely under compulsion. It is certain, however, that Harold helped William in a war with the Bretons.

      On his return he married Ealdgyth, Griffith's widow, even though Edith Swan-neck, who had borne him five children, was still alive. In 1065 the Northumbrians rebelled against Tostig and Harold acquiesced in their choice of Morcar and Tostig's banishment. In January 1066 King Edward died. Harold, his nominee, was chosen king and crowned in Westminster Abbey.

      Duke William lost no time in preparing for the invasion of England; and Tostig, after trying the Normans and the Scots, succeeded in drawing Harold Hardrada, King of Norway, to his side. In September the two reached the Humber and Harold marched to meet them. At Stamford Bridge he won a complete victory on 25 September 1066, Tostig and Harald Hardrada being among the slain. But four days later William landed at Pevensey. Harold marched southwards with the utmost dispatch and the two armies met at Senlac, about nine miles from Hastings. From nine in the morning, 14 November 1066, the English fought stubbornly until nightfall, when the pretended flight of the Normans drew them from their impregnable position and gave the Normans victory. Harold himself fell pierced through the eye with an arrow. His body was recognised by Edith Swan-neck and he was buried at Waltham.
    • Name Prefix: King Name Suffix: Ii, Of England born c. 1020 diedOct. 14, 1066, near Hastings, Sussex, Eng. King of England (1066). known as Harold Godwineson The son of the politically powerful Godwine, earl of Wessex, he inherited his father's earldom and power in 1053. When Edward the Confessor died in January 1066, Harold's supporters dominated the witan (king's council) and chose him as king. He was opposed by King Harald III Sigurdsson of Norway,whom he defeated on Sept. 25, 1066, at Stamford Bridge near York. He then marched south to meet William, duke of Normandy, and was killed at the Battle of Hastings.
    • Konge. Født ca. 1022. Død 14.10.1066 ved Hastings.
      Haralds angelsaksiske navn var Godwinson, han var konge av England i 1066.
      Det var mange liebhabere til den engelske kronen. I sør satt hertug Vilhelm av Normandie og hevdet at han hadde Edvards tilsagn om å få overta hans rike, og paven støttet hans krav. Den som i første omgang gikk av med seieren, var likevel en innfødt jarl, Harald Gudinesson. Kong Edvard Confessoren overlot ham riket 05.01.1066, da han var døende. Harald ble umiddelbart kronet i Westminster. Paven bannlyste nå Harald for brudd på ed.
      Harald hadde en misunnelig bror, Tostig eller Toste, som syntes at han hadde like stor rett til kronen. Han søkte nå hjelp hos den norske kongen, og tilbød å støtte ham. Harald Hardråde hadde aldri glemt de arvekrav som også han kunne gjøre gjeldende på Englands trone. Og det var fristende å gripe sjansen. Danmark hadde han - iallfall tilsynelatende - oppgitt; han hadde fred med kong Svein, og inten farer truet derfra. Men ble han herre over både England og Norge, ville ikke Svein Estridsson ha store mulighetene for å stå seg. Da ville kong Knuts gamle nordsjørike kunne gjenoppstå under norskekongens scepter. Og utsiktene til at en ekspedisjon til England skulle kunne føre fram, var slett ikke dårlige. Arvekravet ga toget et anstrøk av legitimitet, som nok kunne vinne endel tvilere for hans sak. Han kunne regne med en viss tilslutning i England, særlig i de nordøstlige områdene, der det nordiske islettet var sterkt. Riktignok viste Toste seg her som en upålitelig informatør, oppslutningen om Harald ble langt dårligere enn det han forespeilet. Men Harald Gudinnesson kunne ikke mobilisere fullt ut mot Harald, han måtte holde et våkent øye med hertugen av Normandie, som gjorde åpenlyse forberedelser til en landgang.
      Harald på sin side gjorde også omfattende forberedelser som viser at han regnet med et stort felttog. Han satte seg først fast på Orknøyene, noe som ble desto lettere fordi den mektige Torfinn jarl nylig var død. Her trakk han sammen folk, og her plasserte han sin dronning, den russiske Ellisiv, og hennes to døtre. Så gikk han i land på kysten av Northumbria og vant flere seire i mindre slag, byen York var i ferd med å åpne sine porter for ham, da hanselv nådde fram. Harald Hardråde lot seg overraske med en mindre avdeling og falt på jordene et stykke utenfor byen, ved Stanford bro den 25.09.1066. Harald Gudinesson selv fulgte ham i døden et par uker senere. Straks etter Harald Hardrådes fall måtte han dra i ilmarsj med sine menn sørover for å ta imot normannerne på kanalkysten. Det kom til slag ved Hastings den 14. oktober. Harald ble rammet av en pil i øyet og nedhugget. Liket kjentes igjen av hans elskede Edgyth Svanehals. Han ble jordet der, men senere flyttet til Waltham kloster.
      Edgyth var Haralds konkubine. Han ble ca. 1064 gift med Ealdgyth, datter til Elfgar og enke etter Griffits. Dette var et politisk ekteskap.
      Harald var den siste anglosaksiske konge av England. Normannerhertugen ble hans arvtager.
    • Haralds angelsaksiske navn var Godwinson, han var konge av England i 1066.
      Det var mange liebhabere til den engelske kronen. I sør satt hertug Vilhelm av Normandie og
      hevdet at han hadde Edvards tilsagn om å få overta hans rike, og paven støttet hans krav.
      Den som i første omgang gikk av med seieren, var likevel en innfødt jarl, Harald Gudinesson.
      Kong Edvard Confessoren overlot ham riket 05.01.1066, da han var døende. Harald ble
      umiddelbart kronet i Westminster. Paven bannlyste nå Harald for brudd på ed.
      Harald hadde en misunnelig bror, Tostig eller Toste, som syntes at han hadde like stor rett til
      kronen. Han søkte nå hjelp hos den norske kongen, og tilbød å støtte ham. Harald Hardråde
      hadde aldri glemt de arvekrav som også han kunne gjøre gjeldende på Englands trone. Og
      det var fristende å gripe sjansen. Danmark hadde han - iallfall tilsynelatende - oppgitt;
      han hadde fred med kong Svein, og inten farer truet derfra. Men ble han herre over både
      England og Norge, ville ikke Svein Estridsson ha store mulighetene for å stå seg. Da ville
      kong Knuts gamle nordsjørike kunne gjenoppstå under norskekongens scepter. Og utsiktene
      til at en ekspedisjon til England skulle kunne føre fram, var slett ikke dårlige. Arvekravet ga
      toget et anstrøk av legitimitet, som nok kunne vinne endel tvilere for hans sak. Han kunne
      regne med en viss tilslutning i England, særlig i de nordøstlige områdene, der det nordiske
      islettet var sterkt. Riktignok viste Toste seg her som en upålitelig informatør, oppslutningen om
      Harald ble langt dårligere enn det han forespeilet. Men Harald Gudinnesson kunne ikke
      mobilisere fullt ut mot Harald, han måtte holde et våkent øye med hertugen av Normandie,
      som gjorde åpenlyse forberedelser til en landgang.
      Harald på sin side gjorde også omfattende forberedelser som viser at han regnet med et stort
      felttog. Han satte seg først fast på Orknøyene, noe som ble desto lettere fordi den mektige
      Torfinn jarl nylig var død. Her trakk han sammen folk, og her plasserte han sin dronning, den
      russiske Ellisiv, og hennes to døtre. Så gikk han i land på kysten av Northumbria og vant flere
      seire i mindre slag, byen York var i ferd med å åpne sine porter for ham, da han selv nådde
      fram. Harald Hardråde lot seg overraske med en mindre avdeling og falt på jordene et stykke
      utenfor byen, ved Stamford bro den 25.09.1066. Harald Gudinesson selv fulgte ham i
      døden et par uker senere. Straks etter Harald Hardrådes fall måtte han dra i ilmarsj med sine
      menn sørover for å ta imot normannerne på kanalkysten. Det kom til slag ved Hastings den
      14. oktober. Harald ble rammet av en pil i øyet og nedhugget. Liket kjentes igjen av hans
      elskede Edgyth Svanehals. Han ble jordet der, men senere flyttet til Waltham kloster.
      Edgyth var Haralds konkubine. Han ble ca. 1064 gift med Ealdgyth, datter til Elfgar og enke
      etter Griffits. Dette var et politisk ekteskap.
      Harald var den siste anglosaksiske konge av England. Normannerhertugen ble hans
      arvtager.
    • [Velma.FTW]

      Harold was killed by an arrow through his eye at the battle of Hastings in 1066
      when William the Conqueror (from Normandy) took over England.
    • Harold Godwinson
      From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

      Harold Godwinson
      King of England
      Reign January 5 — October 14 (1066)
      Born c. 1022
      Wessex, England
      Died October 14, 1066
      Battle of Hastings
      Buried Waltham Abbey (unconfirmed)
      Married Ealdgyth Swan-neck
      Parents Godwin, Earl of Wessex
      Gytha Thorkelsdættir

      Harold Godwinson, or Harold II of England (c. 1022 – October 14, 1066) was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England. He ruled from January 5 to October 14, 1066 when he was killed at the Battle of Hastings.

      Contents [hide]
      1 Early Life
      2 Powerful Nobleman
      3 Brief but Eventful Reign as King
      4 Legacy and Legend
      5 Family Tree
      6 See also
      7 Bibliography
      8 External links



      [edit]
      Early Life
      Harold's father was Godwin, the powerful Earl of Wessex. Godwin was himself a son to Wulfnoth Cild, Thegn of Sussex and had married twice. First to Thyra Sveinsdættir (994 - 1018), a daughter of Sweyn I who was King of Denmark, Norway and England. His second wife was Gytha Thorkelsdættir who was a granddaughter to the legendary Swedish viking Styrbjærn Starke and great-granddaughter to Harold Bluetooth, King of Denmark and Norway, father of Sweyn I. This second marriage resulted in the birth of two sons Harold and Tostig Godwinson, and a sister Edith of Wessex (1020 - 1075) who was Queen consort of Edward the Confessor.

      Created Earl of East Anglia in 1045, Harold accompanied Godwin into exile in 1051 but helped him to regain his position a year later. When Godwin died in 1053, Harold succeeded him as Earl of Wessex (a province at that time covering the southernmost third of England). This made him the second most powerful figure in England after the king.

      [edit]
      Powerful Nobleman
      In 1058 Harold also became Earl of Hereford, and he replaced his late father as the focus of opposition to growing Norman influence in England under the restored Saxon monarchy (1042 - 1066) of Edward the Confessor, who had spent more than a quarter of a century in exile in Normandy.

      He gained glory in a series of campaigns (1062 - 1063) against the ruler of Gwynedd, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, who had conquered all of Wales; this conflict ended with Gruffydd's defeat (and death at the hands of his own troops) in 1063. About 1064, Harold married Aldith, daughter of the Earl of Mercia, and former wife of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. By Harold, Aldith had two sons - possibly twins - named Harold and Ulf, both of whom survived into adulthood and probably ended their lives in exile. Harold also had several illegitimate children by his famous mistress (or wife, according to Danish law), "Ealdgyth Swan-neck" or "Edith Swan-neck" or "Edith Swanneck".

      In 1064, Harold was shipwrecked in Ponthieu and was turned over to the court of Duke William of Normandy. William considered himself to be the successor of the childless Edward the Confessor, and obtained from Harold an oath to support William as the future king of England. It was alleged that William forced Harold to swear to support his claim to the throne, only revealing after the event that the box on which he had made his oath contained holy relics. After Harold's death, Normans were quick to point out that in accepting the crown of England, Harold had perjured himself of this oath. The chronicler Orderic Vitalis wrote: "This Englishman was very tall and handsome, remarkable for his physical strength, his courage and eloquence, his ready jests and acts of valor. But what were these gifts to him without honor, which is the root of all good?"

      In 1065 Harold supported Northumbrian rebels against his brother Tostig who replaced him with Morcar, due to unjust taxation instituted by Tostig. This strengthened his acceptability as Edward's successor, but fatally divided his own family, driving Tostig into alliance with King Harald Hardrada ("Hard Reign") of Norway.

      [edit]
      Brief but Eventful Reign as King
      Upon Edward the Confessor's death in (January 5, 1066), Harold claimed that Edward had promised him the crown on his deathbed, and the Witenagemot (the assembly of the kingdom's leading notables) approved him for coronation, which took place the following day.

      However, the country was invaded, by both Harald Hardrada of Norway and William, Duke of Normandy, who claimed that he had been promised the English crown by both Edward (probably in 1052) and Harold, who had been shipwrecked in Ponthieu, Normandy in 1064 or 1065. Harold offered his brother Tostig a third of the kingdom, and Tostig asked what Harold would offer the king of Norway. "Six feet of ground or as much more as he needs, as he is taller than most men," was Harold's response according to Henry of Huntingdon.

      Invading what is now Yorkshire in September, 1066, Harald Hardrada and Tostig defeated the English earls Edwin of Mercia and Morcar of Northumbria at the Battle of Fulford near York (September 20), but were in turn defeated and slain by Harold's army five days later at the Battle of Stamford Bridge (September 25).

      Harold now forced his army to march 240 miles to intercept William, who had landed perhaps 7000 men in Sussex, southern England three days later on September 28. Harold established his army in hastily built earthworks near Hastings. The two armies clashed at the Battle of Hastings, near the present town of Battle close by Hastings on October 14, where after a hard fight Harold was killed and his forces routed. According to tradition, and as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, Harold was killed by an arrow in the eye. His brothers Gyrth and Leofwine were also killed in the battle. Whether he did, indeed, die in this manner (a death associated in the middle ages with perjurers), or was killed by the sword, will never be known. Harold's mistress, Edith Swanneck, was called to identify the body, which she did by some private mark (the face being destroyed) known only to herself. Although one Norman account claims that Harold's body was buried in a grave overlooking the Saxon shore, it is more likely that he was buried in his church of Waltham Holy Cross in Essex, which he had refounded in 1060.

      Harold's strong association with Bosham and the discovery of a Saxon coffin in the church in the 1950s has led some to speculate that King Harold was buried here. A recent bid to exhume a grave in Bosham church was refused by the Diocese of Chichester in December 2004, the Chancellor ruling that the chances of establishing the identity of the body as Harold II were too slim to justify disturbing a burial place.




      [edit]
      Legacy and Legend
      Harold's illegitimate daughter Gytha of Wessex married Vladimir Monomakh Grand Duke (Velikii Kniaz) of Kievan Rus' and is ancestor to dynasties of Galicia, Smolensk and Yaroslavl, whose scions include Modest Mussorgsky and Peter Kropotkin. Consequently, the Russian Orthodox Church recently recognised Harold as a martyr with October 14 as his feast day. Ulf, along with Morcar and two others, were released from prison by King William as he lay dying in 1087. He threw his lot in with Robert Curthose, who knighted him, and disappeared from history. Two of his elder half-brothers, Godwine and Magnus, made a number of attempts at invading England in 1068 and 1069 with the aid of Diarmait mac Mail na mBo. They raided Cornwall as late as 1082, but died in obscurity in Ireland.

      A cult of hero-worship rose around Harold, and by the 12th century, legend says that Harold had indeed survived the battle, had spent two years in Winchester after the battle recovering from his wounds, and then traveled to Germany, where he spent years wandering as a pilgrim. As an old man, he supposedly returned to England, and lived as a hermit in a cave near Dover. As he lay dying, he confessed that although he went by the name of Christian, he had been born Harold Godwinson. Various versions of this story persisted throughout the Middle Ages, and have little claim to fact.

      Literary interest in Harold revived in the 19th century, with the play Harold, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in (1876); and the novel Last of the Saxon Kings, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in (1848). Rudyard Kipling wrote a story, The Tree of Justice (1910), describing how an old man who turns out to be Harold is brought before Henry I. E. A. Freeman wrote a serious history in History of the Norman Conquest of England (1870-79), in which Harold is seen as a great English hero. A fictional account based on the events surrounding Harold's struggle for and brief reign as king of England titled "The Interim King" has been published and is written by James McMillan. By the 21st century, Harold's reputation remains tied as it has always been, with subjective views of the "right-ness" or "wrong-ness" of the Norman conquest.

      [edit]
      Family Tree



      Ealhmund of Kent, King of Kent AD 784. Ancestry unknown.
      =?
      |
      |
      Egbert of Wessex, c.770-839. Paternity uncertin.
      =Redburga
      |
      |
      Ethelwulf of Wessex, c.795-858
      =Osburga daughter of Oslac of Isle of Wight =Judith of France daughter of [[Charles the
      | Bald]]
      |_________________________________________________________
      | | | | | |
      | | | | | |
      Athelstan Athelbald Aethelberht EthelredAethelswith Alfred the Great
      d.851? d.860 d.862 =Wulfrida d.888 =Ealhswith
      | |
      ____________________________________| |
      | | |
      | | |
      Aethelwald Aethelhelm, Earldorman of Wiltshire |
      k.899 =Elswitha |
      |
      | |
      ___________________|_______________
      | | |
      | | |
      Aethelfrith of Wessex (d.927) Elfleda of Wessex (d.918)+Edward the Elder
      =?
      |
      | Ethelweard
      Eadric of Washington, Wessex
      =?
      |
      |
      Athelward "the historian" (d.998)
      =?
      |
      |
      Athelmar Cild (d.1015)
      =?
      |
      |
      Wulfnoth Cild, Thegn of Sussex
      =?
      |
      |
      Godwin, Earl of Wessex
      =Gytha Thorgilsdottir
      |
      |___________________________________________________________________________
      | | | | | | | | | | |
      | | | | | | | | | | |
      | Sven Tostig Gyrth Leofwine Wulfnoth Waeltheow Morcar Edwin Herbert Alfgar
      | & sisters Edith (who married Edward the Confessor), Elgiva, Gunhilda, Gytha
      |
      |
      Harold Godwinson
      +Ealdgyth Swan-neck =Aldith (married 1064)
      | |
      | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |_________
      | | | | | | |
      | | | | | | |
      Godwine Edmund Magnus Gunhild Gytha of Wessex Harold Ulf
      b.1049 b.1049 b.1051 1055-97 1053-1098 fl.1098 fl.1087
      two sons died in exile in Ireland lived in Normandy?
      issue & fate unknown

      Sources: http://www.mathematical.com/englandharold1019.html http://www.draftymanor.com/bart/GenBrit/b0002537.htm

      [edit]
      See also
      Edgar Ætheling (c. 1051–c. 1126) was proclaimed king after the Battle of Hastings by the Witan but was never crowned.
      [edit]
      Bibliography
      Biography by P. Compton (1961); F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (3d ed. 1971).
      Biography by Ian W. Walker: Harold: The Last Anglo-Saxon King. Sutton Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 1997. ISBN 0-7509-1388-6
      In re Holy Trinity, Bosham [2004] Fam 124 - decision of the Chichester Consistory Court regarding opening King Harold's proposed grave.
    • Harold was a short-lived King of England; ruled from January 6, 1066 to
      October 14, 1066, when he died in battle during the Norman conquest at the
      Battle of Hastings in 1066 having succeeded Edward the Confessor who had
      died in January. Harold had earlier been made the Earl of Anglia in 1045 and
      was to be the last Anglo-Saxon King of England. William I, the Conqueror,
      would succeed him as King of England. Still earlier, Harold became Earl of
      Wessex when his father, Godwin, died in 1053.
    • Became King upon the death of Edward the Confessor in 1066. Was challenged by his brother Tosti and the Norwegian army, led by Harald Hardrade, in September of 1066 at Stamford Bridge, at which time both Tosti and Harald Hardrade are slain. However, he was defeated and killed 4 days later at the Battle of Hastings by another of Norse descent, William the Conqueror of Normandy.

      Source: Snorre Sturlason (1179-1241), Heimskringla or the Lives of the Norse Kings (NY: Dover, 1932, 1990) 554-555.

      The following from: http://www.camelotintl.com/royal/cgi/person?p=148:

      Harold
      Title(s):
      Earl of East Anglia (1044 cr)
      King of the English (1066 , Jan - Oct)
      Date of birth:
      About 1022
      Place of birth:
      Unknown
      Date of death:
      October 14, 1066
      Age at death:
      45
      Place of death:
      Hastings, East Sussex, England
      Cause of death:
      Killed in Battle
      Burried at:
      Waltham Abbey, Essex, England
      Father:
      Godwin, Earl of Wessex
      Mother:
      Gytha
      Other Information:
      Biography

      Marriages:
      Unknown date:
      Agatha
      January 1066:
      At age 44 married Edith

      Events
      January 6, 1066
      Coronation
      Westminster Abbey, London
      England

      Notes:
      1. According to some sources, Harold had a mistress (or she may have been his
      first wife) named Edith Swanneshals, who bore him six children: Godwin,
      Edmund, Magnus, Ulf, Gytha and Gunhild.
      2. Harold was crowned by Ealdred, Archbishop of York.
      3. Killed by an arrow (possibly in the eye) at the battle of Hastings.

      ******
      Royal Database
      Edith (wife of King Harold II)

      Personal Details:
      Name:
      Edith
      Date of birth:
      Unknown
      Place of birth:
      Unknown
      Date of death:
      Unknown
      Place of death:
      Unknown
      Cause of death:
      Unknown
      Father:
      Unknown
      Mother:
      Unknown

      Marriages:
      January 1066:
      Harold II, King of the English, age 44

      Notes:
      1
      Daughter of Elfgar, Earl of Mercia.
      2
      Before marrying Harold, Edith had been married to Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, Ruler
      of All Wales, who was killed in 1063.

      ********
      Harold II "Harold Godwinson" 1066

      Although on Edward the Confessor's bequest William of Normandy was to be his successor the Saxon council or Witanagemot would not follow his wishes. Upon Edward's death the son of that arch-meddler in the politics of the time, Earl Godwin of Wessex and Kent, was elected the new King of England.

      Harold had become a close ally to Edward and had helped his predecessor rule in the capacity of an under-king.

      As with many of the successions to the throne in these times there were of course more than one claimant to the crown. With an almost indecent haste Harold had himself crowned at the newly built Westminster Abbey just one day after the death of Edward. His coronation led to his immediate priority in ruling his nation being its defence. He faced not only the Normans from the south but also the Norwegians, under Harold Hardrada in alliance with the exiled Earl of Northumbria, to the north.

      The Norwegians struck first, with their King throwing back his claim to the throne to the days of Magnus and Harthacnut. Harold may have been ambitious in the extreme but he was no less a warrior and at the Battle of Stamford Bridge despatched the Norwegian claims along with the lives of King Magnus and the Earl of Northumbria.

      It was while he and his army celebrated their victory that they learned of William's landing along the Sussex coast, many miles from their present position in York. It took a full fourteen days for the Saxons to march south and prepare for the Battle of Hastings, time used wisely by the Normans to
      organise their order of battle. October 14, was a long and bloody day. The Normans and the Saxons exchanging fortunes at every turn. The bloodshed finally ended at sunset when Harold was cut down by a Norman arrow and killed by the heavily armoured Norman foot soldiers.

      If Harold had won the battle and had survived on the throne he would have altered the course of British history.

      Harold was married twice. His first wife, Eadgyth Swan-neck presented him with six children; Godwine, Eadmund, Magnus, Ulf, Gytha and Gunhild. His second wife, Ealdgyrth ap Llywelyn, (Widow of the Ruler of All Wales) produced one son, Harold. It is thought that Harold II was in his early forties when he died.

      Another account: "Harold was about 45 years old at his death. William is said to have had his body buried on the sea shore, but there is a tradition that Harold's mistress Edith Swan-neck sought it out and took it to Waltham Abbey for burial. Harold had lived happily with Edith for many years and she had borne him many children, including a daughter Gytha, named after Harold's mother, who was to
      seek refuge abroad after the Conquest and eventually to marry Vladimir Monomakh, Grand Duke of Kiev. In 1065 Harold married Ealdgyth, the widow of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, King of Gwynedd and Powys, and dau of Alfgar, Earl of Mercia. She bore him at least one son, Harold, whose fate is unknown. There is much confusion between Ealdgyth and Edith Swan-neck. With such spelling, is
      there any wonder?" From http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/~saw/royal/r32.html#I1540.
    • Harold was a short-lived King of England; ruled from January 6, 1066 to
      October 14, 1066, when he died in battle during the Norman conquest at the
      Battle of Hastings in 1066 having succeeded Edward the Confessor who had
      died in January. Harold had earlier been made the Earl of Anglia in 1045 and
      was to be the last Anglo-Saxon King of England. William I, the Conqueror,
      would succeed him as King of England. Still earlier, Harold became Earl of
      Wessex when his father, Godwin, died in 1053.
    • Harold was a short-lived King of England; ruled from January 6, 1066 to
      October 14, 1066, when he died in battle during the Norman conquest at the
      Battle of Hastings in 1066 having succeeded Edward the Confessor who had
      died in January. Harold had earlier been made the Earl of Anglia in 1045 and
      was to be the last Anglo-Saxon King of England. William I, the Conqueror,
      would succeed him as King of England. Still earlier, Harold became Earl of
      Wessex when his father, Godwin, died in 1053.
    • [Weis 6] Ealdorman of East Anglia, succ. father 1053 Ealdorman of Wessex.
    • Harold II, also called HAROLD GODWINESON or GODWINSON (b. c 1020 - d. 14 Oct 1066, near Hastings, Sussex, England), last Anglo-Saxon king of England. A strong ruler and a skilled general, he held the crown for nine months in 1066 before he was killed at the Battle of Hastings by Norman invaders under William the Conqueror.
      Harold's father, Godwine, Earl of Wessex and Kent, was the most powerful man in the kingdom early in the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066). About 1044 Godwine, obtained for Harold the earldom of East Anglia. In 1051 Edward banished Godwine and his sons for defying royal authority, but Harold led the forces that in 1052 invaded England and forced the king to restore the family.
      Upon Godwine's death in 1053, Harold succeeded to his father's earldoms and became the chief power in the land. By 1057 he had obtained earldoms for his three brothers, Tostig, Gyrth, and Lefowine. His only rival was the house of Leofric of Mercia. Leofric's outlawed son, Aelfgar, raided Mercia with help from the Welsh, and in retaliation Harold and Tostig subjugated Wales in 1063. In 1065 the Northumbrians revolted against Tostig, their earl. Bowing to rebel demands against Tostig, Harold gave Tostig's earldom to Morcar of the house of Mercia, but by doing so he made Tostig his bitterest enemy. Nevertheless, Harold's postiion remained unshaken.
      On his deathbed Edward the Confessor had supposedly designated Harold the royal heir. Earlier, Edward had, however, promised the crown to William, Duke of Normandy. Moreover, Harold himself, when shipwrecked on the coast of Normandy, had been forced to promise to support William's claim. Hence, when Harold assumed power on the death of Edward (5 Jan 1066), he was immediately threatened with the rivalry of William and another royal claimant, Haral III Hardraade, king of Norway, as well as with the enmity of Tostig. In May, Harold mobilized his fleet and army against an expected invasion by William. Instead, he had to use his forces to repel Tostig's raids on the south and east coasts of England. He dismissed his men in early September because he had run short of supplies. Thus, William was free to cross the English Channel unopposed. Tostig and Harald III Hardraade joined forces and were defeated near York, on 25 Sep 1066. Three days later William landed near Hastings on October 14, and in an all-day battle the king, Gyrth, and Leofwine were killed. The accession of William to the English throne as King William I ended the Anglo-Saxon phase of English history. [Encyclopaedia Britannica]
    • From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
      Harold II

      Name Harold Godwinson

      Lived c. 1022—October 14, 1066

      Reigned 1066

      Parents Godwin, Earl of Wessex

      Gytha Thorkelsdóttir

      Predecessor Edward the Confessor

      Successor Edgar Ætheling

      Wives Ealdgyth Swan-neck

      ("handfast" marriage, not approved by the Church)

      Edith

      Place of Birth Wessex, England

      Buried Waltham Abbey, body now lost

      Harold Godwinson, or Harold II (c. 1022 - October 14, 1066) wasEngland's last Saxon king who ruled from January 5 to October 14, 1066when he was killed at the Battle of Hastings.

      Harold's father was Godwin, the powerful Earl of Wessex. Godwin washimself a son to Wulfnoth Cild, Thegn of Sussex and had married twice.First to Thyra Sveinsdóttir (994 - 1018), a daughter of Sweyn I whowas King of Denmark, Norway and England. His second wife was GythaThorkelsdóttir who was a granddaughter to the legendary Swedish vikingStyrbjörn Starke and great-granddaughter to Harold Bluetooth, King ofDenmark and Norway, father of Sweyn I. This second marriage resultedin the birth of two sons Harold and Tostig Godwinson, and a sisterEdith of Wessex (1020 - 1075) who was Queen consort of Edward theConfessor.

      Created Earl of East Anglia in 1045, Harold accompanied Godwin intoexile in 1051 but helped him to regain his position a year later. WhenGodwin died in 1053, Harold succeeded him as Earl of Wessex (aprovince at that time covering the southernmost third of England).This made him the second most powerful figure in England after theking.

      In 1058 Harold also became Earl of Hereford, and he replaced his latefather as the focus of opposition to growing Norman influence inEngland under the restored Saxon monarchy (1042 - 1066) of Edward theConfessor, who had spent more than a quarter of a century in exile inNormandy.

      He gained glory in a series of campaigns (1062 - 1063) against theruler of Gwynedd, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, who had conquered all ofWales; this conflict ended with Gruffydd's defeat (and death at thehands of his own troops) in 1063. About 1064, Harold married Edith,daughter of the Earl of Mercia, and former wife of Gruffydd apLlywelyn. By Harold, Edith had two sons - possibly twins - namedHarold and Ulf, both of whom survived into adulthood and probablyended their lives in exile. Harold also had several illegitimatechildren by his famous mistress (or wife, according to Danish law),"Ealdgyth Swan-neck" or "Edith Swan-neck" or "Edith Swanneck".

      In 1065 Harold supported Northumbrian rebels against his brotherTostig who replaced him with Morcar. This strengthened hisacceptability as Edward's successor, but fatally divided his ownfamily, driving Tostig into alliance with King Harald Hardrada ("HardReign") of Norway.

      Upon Edward the Confessor's death in (January 5, 1066), Harold claimedthat Edward had promised him the crown on his deathbed, and made theWitenagemot (the assembly of the kingdom's leading notables) approvehim for coronation as king, which took place the following day.

      However, the country was invaded, by both Harald of Norway andWilliam, Duke of Normandy, who claimed that he had been promised theEnglish crown by both Edward (probably in 1052) and Harold, who hadbeen shipwrecked in Ponthieu, Normandy in 1064 or 1065. It was allegedthat, on the latter occasion, William forced Harold to swear tosupport his claim to the throne, only revealing after the event thatthe box on which he had made his oath contained holy relics. AfterHarold's death, Normans were quick to point out that in accepting thecrown of England, Harold had perjured himself of this oath.

      Invading what is now Yorkshire in September, 1066, Harald Hardrada andTostig defeated the English earls Edwin of Mercia and Morcar ofNorthumbria at the Battle of Fulford near York (September 20), butwere in turn defeated and slain by Harold's army five days later atthe Battle of Stamford Bridge (September 25).

      Harold now forced his army to march 240 miles to intercept William,who had landed perhaps 7000 men in Sussex, southern England three dayslater on September 28. Harold established his army in hastily builtearthworks near Hastings. The two armies clashed near Hastings onOctober 14, where after a hard fight Harold was killed and his forcesrouted. According to tradition, and as depicted in the BayeuxTapestry, Harold was killed by an arrow in the eye. Whether he did,indeed, die in this manner (a death associated in the middle ages withperjurers), or was killed by the sword, will never be known. Harold'swife, Edith Swanneck, was called to identify the body, which she didby some private mark (the face being destroyed) known only to herself.Although one Norman account claims that Harold's body was buried in agrave overlooking the Saxon shore, it is more likely that he wasburied in his church of Waltham Holy Cross in Essex.

      Harold's illegitimate daughter Gytha of Wessex married VladimirMonomakh Grand Duke (Velikii Kniaz) of Kievan Rus' and is ancestor todynasties of Galicia, Smolensk and Yaroslavl, whose scions includeModest Mussorgsky and Peter Kropotkin. Consequently the RussianOrthodox Church recently recognised Harold as a martyr with October 14as his feast day.

      A cult of hero worship rose around Harold and by the 12th centurylegend says that Harold had indeed survived the battle, had spent twoyears in Winchester after the battle recovering from his wounds, andthen traveled to Germany where he spent years wandering as a pilgrim.As an old man he returned to England and lived as a hermit in a cavenear Dover. As he lay dying, he confessed that although he went by thename of Christian, he had been born Harold Godwineson. Variousversions of this story persisted throughout the Middle Ages, and havelittle claim to fact.

      Literary interest in Harold revived in the 19th century with the playHarold by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1876) and the novel Last of the SaxonKings by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1848). Rudyard Kipling wrote a story,The tree of justice(1910), describing how an old man who turns out tobe Harold is brought before Henry I. E. A. Freeman wrote a serioushistory in History of the Norman Conquest of England (1870-79) inwhich Harold is seen as a great English hero. By the 21st centuryHarold's reputation remains tied, as it has always been, withsubjective views of the rightness or wrongness of the Norman conquest.
    • [Brit. Enc.] king of England 1066.
    • Harold was a short-lived King of England; ruled from January 6, 1066 to
      October 14, 1066, when he died in battle during the Norman conquest at the
      Battle of Hastings in 1066 having succeeded Edward the Confessor who had
      died in January. Harold had earlier been made the Earl of Anglia in 1045 and
      was to be the last Anglo-Saxon King of England. William I, the Conqueror,
      would succeed him as King of England. Still earlier, Harold became Earl of
      Wessex when his father, Godwin, died in 1053.
    • Expelled
      Harold was the son of Godwine, the Earl of Wessex and was expelled from E ngland with the rest of his family in 1051 by the King, Edward the Confes sor. A year later the King was forced to accept the family back when the y sailed up the Thames to London with a large force of men. In 1053, Haro ld's father died and as the eldest son, Harold inherited the title of Ear l of Wessex. The king, Edward the Confessor concentrated on the affairs o f the church which left Harold to run the affairs of the country, which i ncluded fighting the Welsh. Harold had two wives, both called Edith. Hi s second wife was the widow of the Welsh Prince who Harold had defeated i n 1063.
      Question of succession
      Edward the Confessor had no children and an heir to the English throne ne eded to be found. When it was discovered that Edward the Exile who was th e son of Edmund II (Ironside) was still alive, the problem of successio n to the throne seemed to be solved and Edward the Exile was invited bac k to England. Shortly after Edward arrived in England he mysteriously die d. Harold may have had something to do with the death as without a nomina ted heir to the throne, Harold himself could win approval of the Englis h people to be elected King. Edward the Exile brought his family with hi m to England, including his eldest son, Edgar the Aetheling. After Edwar d the Exile's death, his family were cared for by Edward the Confessor wh o nominated Edgar the Aetheling as heir the English throne.
      Tostig
      Tostig was Harold's younger brother and Earl of Northumbria. In 1065 he e scaped to Flanders after a rebellion against him lead by Morcar forced hi m out of England.
      Mysterious events in Normandy
      A mysterious meeting is reported to have taken place in Normany between W illiam the Conqueror and Harold in 1065. In the meeting it was claimed th at Harold agreed that William should become King of England when Edward t he Confessor died. From what is known of Harold it seems unlikely that h e would agree to something like this. Even if the agreement was made, w e know that he went against it when assumed the role as King after Edward 's death.
      As King of England
      Edward the Confessor died in early January of 1066. Edgar the Aetheling w as too young to rule and Harold was crowned King at Westminster Abbey o n January 6th.
      Invasions
      Tostig was the first to take advantage of King's death and in May invade d England. Tostig was unsuccessful and he had to escape to Scotland wher e he found refuge. He then travelled to Norway to the court of the Harol d Hardrada where he pursuaded the Viking leader to assist him with his in vasion plans. in September 1066, Tostig and Harold attacked Yorkshire wit h a huge army of men. At Fulford Gate on September 20th the invaders wer e met by an English army lead by earls Morcar and Edwin and a battle comm enced. The invaders won this battle, but on September 25th after marchin g from the south coast, an English army lead by Harold II defeated the in vaders in Yorkshire at Stamford Bridge. Tostig and Harold Hardrada were k illed in the battle. Shortly after the victory, news that William the Con queror had landed on the south coast of England meant Harold had to marc h his army back down the country to fight off another invasion force. O n a hill near Hastings, the two armies met. Harold's men fought hard an d could have won but after the long marches north and south it may have b een to much to ask. William's army was victorious and Harold was killed i n the battle. Probably not by an arrow in the eye as hinted at in the Bay eux Tapestry. By December 1066, William, now know as the Conqueror had th e support of enough English earls and churchmen to become King of England.
      HAROLD II (r. Jan-Oct 1066)
      On Edward's death, the King's Council (the Witenagemot) confirmed Edward' s brother-in-law Harold, Earl of Wessex, as King. With no royal blood, an d fearing rival claims from William Duke of Normandy and the King of Norw ay, Harold had himself crowned in Westminster Abbey on 6 January 1066, th e day after Edward's death. During his brief reign, Harold showed he wa s an outstanding commander.
      In September, Harald Hardrada of Norway (aided by Harold's alienated brot her Tostig, Earl of Northumbria) invaded England and was defeated by Haro ld at the Battle of Stamford Bridge near York. Hardrada's army had invade d using over 300 ships; so many were killed that only 25 ships were neede d to transport the survivors home.
      Meanwhile, William, Duke of Normandy (who claimed that Harold had acknowl edged him in 1064 as Edward's successor) had landed in Sussex. Harold rus hed south and, on 14 October 1066, his army of some 7,000 infantry was de feated on the field of Senlac near Hastings. Harold was hit in the eye b y an arrow and cut down by Norman swords.
      An abbey was later built, in 1070, to fulfil a vow made by William I, an d its high altar was placed on the spot where Harold fell. The ruins of B attle Abbey still remain with a stone slab marking where Harold died.
    • The last Anglo-Saxon King of England. After becoming King, he crushed the forces of his brother Tostig and Harold III Hardraade of Norway, at Stamford Bridge (1066) who claimed the throne. Harold was killed in the battle of Hastings by the army of another successful claimant to the throne, William the Conqueror.

      Harold had been the power behind Edward's throne since 1055 and was elected King of the English by most of the English noble classes.
      Harold II (1066 AD)

      King of England for a short time in the memorable year, 1066. He had become the Earl of East Anglia in 1044. Upon his father's death in April 1053, he succeeded to the Earldom of Wessex and from then on, was at the right hand of the king. In 1063, supported by his brother, Tostig, Earl of Northumbria, he commanded a brilliantly conducted campaign against the Welsh. He was successful in bringing them into submission, and by doing so, solidified his reputation as an able general.
      Harold acted as an emissary from Edward the Confessor to the court of William of Normandy in 1064, during which time he allegedly swore an oath of fealty to William, relinquishing any personal claim to the throne. This oath, which may have been given lightly, or possibly under duress, would figure directly in William's own claim, two years later. He would claim that the promise Harold made to him had been broken, giving William the right to challenge Harold in a battle for the crown.
      While on his deathbed, the Confessor named Harold as his successor, overlooking his grandson, the rightful heir, Edgar the Ætheling and ignoring a promise that he allegedly made (according to French sources) to William of Normandy. Upon Edward's death, Harold wasted no time securing ecclesiastical blessing on his claim by having himself crowned immediately.

      Harold's brother, Tostig, had been exiled since the autumn of 1065 and had joined with Harald Hardrada of Norway. A combined force landed in Yorkshire in September 1066. Until this time, Harold's attention had been directed toward the south and the invasion that he knew would come from Normandy. But, now, Harold had to break away and march north to meet the new threat that had come. He defeated the forces of his traitorous brother and the King of Norway decisively at the battle of Stamford Bridge on the 25th of September.

      Meanwhile, the favorable winds that the Normans had been waiting for had come and they had set sail across the channel, landing at Pevensey on the 28th. As soon as Harold heard this distressing news, he marched his force at top speed to the south. He reached London on October 5 and stopped to give his weary troops a rest and to gather reinforcements for the battle which lay ahead.

      The story of these events and the decisive Battle of Hastings has been presented exquisitely in the Bayeux Tapestry <http://blah.bsuvc.bsu.edu/bt> and it need not be repeated, here. Suffice it to say that William won the day, and with it, the kingdom. The English fought fiercely and well, since they understood that not only their lives were at stake, but their country, also. Perhaps, if the English had been fresh and at full strength, they might have won easily, but they were tired and depleted after Stamford Bridge and the subsequent march south.

      During his brief reign, the government continued to function as before, but there is no reliable way to judge what Harold might have been like as a king. He was certainly a capable field commander and a leader who inspired loyalty and confidence. His death has been recorded as coming in the midst of the final battle by way of a Norman arrow that penetrated his eye. Whether or not that is true, his memory lingers on as the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings and the last monarch of England to suffer defeat at the hands of a foreign invader.

      He advanced into Wales to counteract the frequent incursions by the Welsh on his domain, raped the Abbess of Leominster. For this act, he was exiled abroad. Three years later, he was allowed to return. Expecting to be reinstated as Earl, he was to be disappointed. Harold informed Edward of other crimes that he had supposedly committed. Edward hearing this, refused his reinstatement.
    • The last Anglo-Saxon King of England. After becoming King, he crushed the forces of his brother Tostig and Harold III Hardraade of Norway, at Stamford Bridge (1066) who claimed the throne. Harold was killed in the battle of Hastings by the army of another successful claimant to the throne, William the Conqueror.

      Harold had been the power behind Edward's throne since 1055 and was elected King of the English by most of the English noble classes.
      Harold II (1066 AD)

      King of England for a short time in the memorable year, 1066. He had become the Earl of East Anglia in 1044. Upon his father's death in April 1053, he succeeded to the Earldom of Wessex and from then on, was at the right hand of the king. In 1063, supported by his brother, Tostig, Earl of Northumbria, he commanded a brilliantly conducted campaign against the Welsh. He was successful in bringing them into submission, and by doing so, solidified his reputation as an able general.
      Harold acted as an emissary from Edward the Confessor to the court of William of Normandy in 1064, during which time he allegedly swore an oath of fealty to William, relinquishing any personal claim to the throne. This oath, which may have been given lightly, or possibly under duress, would figure directly in William's own claim, two years later. He would claim that the promise Harold made to him had been broken, giving William the right to challenge Harold in a battle for the crown.
      While on his deathbed, the Confessor named Harold as his successor, overlooking his grandson, the rightful heir, Edgar the Ætheling and ignoring a promise that he allegedly made (according to French sources) to William of Normandy. Upon Edward's death, Harold wasted no time securing ecclesiastical blessing on his claim by having himself crowned immediately.

      Harold's brother, Tostig, had been exiled since the autumn of 1065 and had joined with Harald Hardrada of Norway. A combined force landed in Yorkshire in September 1066. Until this time, Harold's attention had been directed toward the south and the invasion that he knew would come from Normandy. But, now, Harold had to break away and march north to meet the new threat that had come. He defeated the forces of his traitorous brother and the King of Norway decisively at the battle of Stamford Bridge on the 25th of September.

      Meanwhile, the favorable winds that the Normans had been waiting for had come and they had set sail across the channel, landing at Pevensey on the 28th. As soon as Harold heard this distressing news, he marched his force at top speed to the south. He reached London on October 5 and stopped to give his weary troops a rest and to gather reinforcements for the battle which lay ahead.

      The story of these events and the decisive Battle of Hastings has been presented exquisitely in the Bayeux Tapestry <http://blah.bsuvc.bsu.edu/bt> and it need not be repeated, here. Suffice it to say that William won the day, and with it, the kingdom. The English fought fiercely and well, since they understood that not only their lives were at stake, but their country, also. Perhaps, if the English had been fresh and at full strength, they might have won easily, but they were tired and depleted after Stamford Bridge and the subsequent march south.

      During his brief reign, the government continued to function as before, but there is no reliable way to judge what Harold might have been like as a king. He was certainly a capable field commander and a leader who inspired loyalty and confidence. His death has been recorded as coming in the midst of the final battle by way of a Norman arrow that penetrated his eye. Whether or not that is true, his memory lingers on as the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings and the last monarch of England to suffer defeat at the hands of a foreign invader.

      He advanced into Wales to counteract the frequent incursions by the Welsh on his domain, raped the Abbess of Leominster. For this act, he was exiled abroad. Three years later, he was allowed to return. Expecting to be reinstated as Earl, he was to be disappointed. Harold informed Edward of other crimes that he had supposedly committed. Edward hearing this, refused his reinstatement.
    Person ID I6000000001156149953  Ancestors of Donald Ross
    Last Modified 3 Jun 2020 

    Father Gōdwine Wulfnothsson, Earl of Wessex,   b. 987,   d. 15 Apr 1053  (Age 66 years) 
    Mother Gytha Thorkelsdóttir,   c. Denmark - aka Eadgytha Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Married 1019 
    Family ID F6000000003479800202  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Ealdgȳð "Swann hnesce",   b. Abt 1025,   d. Abt 1086  (Age ~ 61 years) 
    Children 
     1. Gytha Haraldsdóttir, Grand Princess consort of Kievan Rus,   b. Abt 1053, London, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 5 Feb 1107, Kiev, Ukraine Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 54 years)
    Last Modified 14 Mar 2021 
    Family ID F6000000001391805339  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart