Harold Godwinson

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.

Related Topics:
1022 - October 14 - 1066 - Anglo-Saxon - England - January 5 - Battle of Hastings

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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 Sveinsdóttir (994 — 1018), a daughter of Sweyn I who was King of Denmark, Norway and England. His second wife was Gytha Thorkelsdóttir who was a granddaughter to the legendary Swedish viking Styrbjörn 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.

Related Topics:
Godwin - Earl of Wessex - Wulfnoth Cild - Thegn - Sussex - Thyra Sveinsdóttir - 994 - 1018 - Sweyn I - King of Denmark - Norway - England - Gytha Thorkelsdóttir - Swedish - Styrbjörn Starke - Harold Bluetooth - Denmark - Norway - Tostig Godwinson - Edith of Wessex - 1020 - 1075 - Queen consort - Edward the Confessor

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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.

Related Topics:
Earl of East Anglia - 1045 - 1051 - 1053 - Wessex

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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.

Related Topics:
1058 - Hereford - Norman - 1042 - 1066 - Edward the Confessor

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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".

Related Topics:
1062 - 1063 - Gwynedd - Gruffydd ap Llywelyn - Wales - 1064 - Earl of Mercia - Danish - Ealdgyth Swan-neck

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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?"

Related Topics:
1064 - Ponthieu - William of Normandy - Orderic Vitalis

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In 1065 Harold supported Northumbrian rebels against his brother Tostig who 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.

Related Topics:
1065 - Northumbria - Tostig - Morcar - Harald Hardrada - Norway

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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.

Related Topics:
January 5 - 1066 - Witenagemot

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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.

Related Topics:
William - Duke of Normandy - 1052 - Ponthieu - 1064 - 1065 - Henry of Huntingdon

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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).

Related Topics:
Yorkshire - September - 1066 - Edwin - Mercia - Battle of Fulford - York - September 20 - Battle of Stamford Bridge - September 25

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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.

Related Topics:
Sussex - September 28 - Earthworks - Hastings - Battle of Hastings - Battle - October 14 - Bayeux Tapestry - Gyrth - Leofwine - Waltham Holy Cross - Essex - 1060

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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 dissapered from history. Two of his elder half-brothers, Godwine and Magnus, made a number of attmpts 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.

Related Topics:
Gytha of Wessex - Vladimir Monomakh - Grand Duke - Velikii Kniaz - Kievan Rus' - Galicia - Smolensk - Yaroslavl - Modest Mussorgsky - Peter Kropotkin - Russian Orthodox Church - Martyr - October 14 - Feast day - Morcar - Robert Curthose - 1068 - 1069 - Diarmait mac Mail na mBo - 1082

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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 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 Godwineson. Various versions of this story persisted throughout the Middle Ages, and have little claim to fact.

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Literary interest in Harold revived in the 19th century with the play Harold by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1876) and the novel Last of the Saxon Kings by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (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. By the 21st century Harold's reputation remains tied, as it has always been, with subjective views of the rightness or wrongness of the Norman conquest.

Related Topics:
Alfred, Lord Tennyson - Edward Bulwer-Lytton - Rudyard Kipling - Henry I - E. A. Freeman

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