A reexamination of Harold Godwinson explores his life, reign, and legacy, challenging Norman propaganda and historical myths.
The Man Who Would be KingHarold Godwinson had risen to that noble echelon of earlship when he was still in the flower of his youth. Born around 1025, he would not have been older than eighteen or nineteen when he took on his first major official role in King Edward the Confessor’s administration, that of Earl of East Anglia. Almost a decade later he progressed to the Earldom of Wessex rising to the dizzy heights of sub regulas, (meaning underking), a position that was second only to the king.
Another decade and more, Harold found himself in the running for the position of king itself. Edward, the man that Harold had served faithfully for more than twenty years was dying. His only heir, Edgar, was still a child. You might ask, so what? There had been many boy kings before. Edgar would not be the first. However, the previous boy kings in recent years, Edwig, Edgar the Peaceable, and Æthelred II, had not been faced with two invasions on their ascendancy imminently on the horizon.
For the nobles of England attending the Christmastide celebrations in the great hall of King Edward’s palace at Westminster, it must have come as a surprise that this monarch who had lived for over sixty years and had reigned for a third of that, was about to die. Despite his current age, he had always been a robust creature in his lifetime. A man who loved the outdoors and lived for the thrill of the hunt. Unlike many of his predecessors, he had not been a warrior king; he left that side of things in the very capable hands of his brother-in-law and second in command, Harold Godwinson.
Edward had rarely shown signs of ill health until that Autumn of 1065, when a series of strokes afflicted him, possibly caused by the trauma of having lost his favourite Godwinson, Tostig, earl of Northumbria, to an enforced exile. He had begun to rally and had managed to attend some of the Nativity celebrations but took to his bed after boxing day insisting that the consecration of his beautiful church of St Peter should go ahead without him. This was a great blow to the king, who had suffered many disappointments in the past few weeks. This was a moment he had been waiting for many years, to see his life’s work gifted to the glory of God, and now even that was taken away from him.
Harold Hunting (from the Bayeux Tapestry)
The process of finding an appropriate heir for the childless Edward, married to Harold’s sister, Edith, had begun in 1054, when it was accepted that the royal couple were barren. Bishop Ealdred was sent on a fact-finding mission to Europe to investigate the existence and whereabouts of Edward’s half nephew, known as the Exile. The mission finally came to fruition in 1057, when the lost son of Edward’s half-brother, King Edmund II, otherwise known as Ironside, was located, and he and his family were brought back to the country of his origin from a long exile in Hungary. Sadly though, fortune was against him. Imagine having waited all your life to be received back into the country you were exiled from as a baby, then you find yourself dying three days after landing on home soil.
The Exile’s death so soon after arriving in England was not a good look, though no one seems to have been suspected of orchestrating his death. Most consensus is that Harold had been part of a mission to literally bring him home, though there is only circumstantial evidence that he was. If it had been in his thoughts to get rid of the Exile so that he could remove an obstacle in his path to the crown, then it would probably have been better to have done so before he had returned. One of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles hints that no one knew why it was that the Exile was unable to meet with his uncle the king before he died, but there was never a contemporary accusation made at anyone, so we can only conject he was either slain, or he wasn’t.
As for Harold, the idea that he had motive is flimsy for at that time there is no firm evidence that he wanted to be king. However, there is as much evidence to say that he had something to do with his murder, as there is to say that he didn’t. We cannot say for sure that Edward the Exile was not a very well man when he set out on his journey to England. Still, he must have been born between the April 1015 and November 1016, making him an ‘old man’ at the time he died in 1057. And illnesses could take a medieval person at any time, especially the older they were. But the mystery of his death will continue to plague us and if he was murdered, the secret has been lost with time.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that writes in no uncertain terms that this was a tragedy for England, the only heir of Edward’s blood fit to be throneworthy had died. But all was not lost for Edgar, only five years old at the time, was adopted by Edward and was referred to as ætheling, but now, as the king lay dying, Edgar was a mere adolescent of thirteen years old. His inexperience in matters of warfare and statesmanship, would not have put him in good stead for what was going to come. The Norman regime was not desired by England’s leadership, and neither was an invasion from a vengeful Tostig and his comrade, the Norwegian king, Harald Hardrada.
William of Normandy – Bayeux Tapestry
At that time, the wider English administration would not have known the brutal nature of the terrible events that were about to befall them. Harold’s inner circle, though, probably knew the tale of Harold’s trip to Normandy a little more than a year ago, and his unfortunate time as a ‘guest’ at Duke William's court. Harold had gone there against the king’s advice, to try to secure the release of his nephew and brother, who had been held hostage there for 12 years.
The duke was a man with his eye on the English throne and it seems was willing to manipulate the situation to his advantage and make it all about himself, rather than the two boys Harold wanted to bring home. According to Eadmer of Canterbury, writing in the late eleventh century, whilst in Normandy, Harold's liberty had been on the line. He had been made to swear an oath on holy relics, that he would advocate for the duke as his vassal in England, suggesting that he had already considered himself in line to the throne on the say so that he had been promised the throne by Edward himself.
William arms Harold and makes him his vassal - Bayeux Tapestry
If we are to believe Eadmer’s version of what occurred on that visit, Harold had not gone to Normandy to offer William the crown of England as scribes such as Guy d'Amiens, William of Jumièges and Poitiers had claimed, but to secure the release of his younger brother and his even younger nephew who had been secreted away by Edward's Norman archbishop of Canterbury and close friend, the Robert Champart, who had fled England during the tumultuous time during the falling out of Harold’s father, Earl Godwin and the king.
Champart hated Godwin and was said to have spoken ill will into the king’s ears. When Godwin returned from exile, Champart, knowing he was in danger from Godwin’s wrath, took the hostages to cover his escape. The boys fell into the hands of William of Normandy who believed that they had been sent by his cousin, Edward, to ensure the succession would go to him. A practice which was quite common in these days. Champart may have given William the impression that Edward was in agreement that he should be his successor. may have been hoping to use the boys as leverage. At this time, it was unlikely that Edward would have agreed to this, as soon after his old friend Champart had fled, he set the ball rolling to find another successor of the royal House of Wessex blood, Edward the Exile. Robert was probably acting independently from Edward.
In any case, this was not how the English succession worked, and it was not in Edward’s gift to offer the crown independently of the witan, the king’s council. Edward would have known this and would not have offered the crown to William without consulting the English nobles. Harold’s status as dux Anglorum, which was considered the highest designation before the king, meant he could not possibly become William of Normandy’s liegeman.
William’s arrogance and the fact that Harold was far from home on dangerous turf, made it difficult for the English earl to assert himself and contend the request without endangering himself and that of his retainers who were with him. We see here that when the duke of Normandy made up his mind, nothing, no reasoning at all, would dissuade him. Harold was given arms, and made to bend the knee to the duke, and with the subtle and intimated threat that he would never see his brother again, the English earl was coerced into submission against his will. William's deadly reputation for ridding himself of those who had previously stood in his way may have deeply troubled Harold and he did what he had to do to get himself and his men and at least one of the hostages, Hakon, his nephew, home.
The Witan, the king's council - Public domain
Thus, when Edward was about to die, all of the important men in the land were informed that the Norman duke was not going to give up what he thought was his right to the throne. They may also have known that Tostig, Harold Godwinson’s recalcitrant brother, who had been driven into exile by the men of his earldom, was plotting trouble with Harald, King of Norway, another with his sights set on England’s throne. The men of this anxious country were now looking to the only man they knew who could save them from the coming storm. The man who, by acting in his own interests, had unknowingly gone to Normandy and caused the predicament in the first place: Harold Godwinson.
Harold Swearing an oath on the Bayeux Tapestry
At the last moment of the king’s life, everyone must have known already who it was that had been chosen. It was, surely, a forgone conclusion, given that only one man was powerful enough to keep peace among the earldoms and stave off any would-be attackers. All that was needed was the final endorsement to make the procedure complete – the king’s approval, the necessary detail that would fortify the decision against other claimants. One can imagine how tense they were, straining their ears every time Edward made a noise; waiting in anticipation for the words to utter from his chapped lips. The king drifted in and out of sleep, with periods of restless delirium.
On the day of his impending death, which was the 4th day of January, he awoke after many attempts to arouse him and asked his servants to assemble his household. Imagine the air of expectation that must have filled the room. He raved on about a dream first, much to their desperation until he was suddenly restored to sanity and spoke his last words, according to the Vita Edwardi: “Do not mourn for me but pray for my soul and give me leave to go to God. He who allowed himself to die, will not allow me not to.” Queen Edith was weeping, and he spoke words of comfort to her, and he said, “May God reward my wife for her devoted loving service. For she has been a devoted servant to me, always by my side like a beloved daughter.”
Edward being supported on his deathbed as he announces Harold as his successor - Bayeux Tapestry
It was then, we are told, that he offered his hand to Harold and spoke the words that everyone was waiting to hear: I “I commend this woman and all the kingdom to your protection… and do not deprive her… of any honour she has received from me. I also commend to you all those men who have left their native land for love of me and served me faithfully. Take an oath of fealty from them, if they wish… or send them with safe conduct across the Channel to their own homes with all they have acquired in their service from me.”
After giving his instructions for his burial, he became unconscious once more and passed later that night, somewhere between or on the 4th or 5th of January 1066. The next day, however, with irreverent haste it was said, Edward was buried, and the English crowned the only man who was worthy of the job, Harold Godwinson.
Paula Lofting
Paula Lofting was born in the ancient Saxon county of Middlesex in 1961. She grew up in Australia hearing stories from her dad of her homeland and its history. As a youngster she read books by Rosemary Sutcliff and Leon Garfield and her love of English history grew. At 16 her family decided to travel back to England and resettle. She was able to visit the places she'd dreamt about as a child, bringing the stories of her childhood to life. It wasn't until later in life that Paula realised her dream to write and publish her own books. Her debut historical novel Sons of the Wolf was first published in 2012 and then revised and republished in 2016 along with the sequel, The Wolf Banner, in 2017. The third in the series, Wolf's Bane, will be ready for publishing later this year. In this midst of all this, Paula acquired contracts for nonfiction books with the prestigious Pen & Sword publishers. Searching for the Last Anglo-Saxon King, Harold Godwinson, England’s golden Warrior is now available to buy in all good book outlets, and she is now working on the next non-fiction book about King Edmund Ironside. She has also written a short essay about Edmund for Iain Dale's Kings and Queens, articles for historical magazines. When she is not writing, she is a psychiatric nurse, mother of three grown up kids and grandmother of two and also re-enacts the Anglo-Saxon/Viking period with the awesome Regia Anglorum. Find out mo9re from Paula's website
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