Harold Godwinson

Harold Godwinson “Harold II” redirects here. For other uses, see Harald II. ing to secure the English throne for Edward the Confes- sor. In 1045, Godwin was at the height of his power, when his daughter Edith was married to the king.[8] Harold II (or Harold Godwinson)(Old English: Harold Godƿinson; c. 1022 – 14 October 1066) was the last Godwin and Gytha had several children. The sons were Anglo-Saxon King of England.[lower-alpha 1] Harold reigned Sweyn, Harold, Tostig, Gyrth, Leofwine and Wulfnoth. from 6 January 1066[1] until his death at the Battle of There were also three daughters: Edith of Wessex, origi- Hastings on 14 October, fighting the Norman invaders led nally named Gytha but renamed Ealdgyth (or Edith) when by William the Conqueror during the Norman conquest she married King Edward the Confessor; Gunhild; and of England. His death marked the end of Anglo-Saxon Ælfgifu. The birthdates of the children are unknown, but rule over England. Sweyn was the eldest and Harold was the second son.[9] Harold was aged about 25 in 1045, which makes his birth Harold was a powerful earl and member of a promi- [10] nent Anglo-Saxon family with ties to King Cnut. Upon date around 1020. the death of Edward the Confessor in January 1066, the Witenagemot convened and chose Harold to succeed; he was crowned in Westminster Abbey. In late Septem- ber he successfully repelled an invasion by rival claimant 2 Powerful nobleman Harald Hardrada of Norway, before marching his army back south to meet William the Conqueror at Hastings Edith married Edward on 23 January 1045, and around some two weeks later. that time Harold became Earl of East Anglia. Harold is called “earl” when he appears as a witness in a will, that may date to 1044, but by 1045 Harold regularly appears as an earl in documents. One reason for his ap- 1 Family background pointment to East Anglia may have been a need to de- fend against the threat from King Magnus the Good of See also: Ancestry of the Godwins Norway. It is possible that Harold led some of the ships from his earldom that were sent to Sandwich in 1045 against Magnus.[11] Sweyn, Harold’s elder brother, had Harold was a son of Godwin, the powerful Earl of Wes- [12] sex, and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, sister-in-law of King Cnut been named an earl in 1043. It was also around the the Great of England and Denmark. Gytha’s brother was time that Harold was named an earl that he began a rela- Ulf Jarl, who was married to Cnut’s sister Estrith. This tionship with Edith, who appears to have been the heiress [2] to lands in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Essex, lands in made Ulf the son-in-law of King Sweyn Forkbeard, and [13] the father of King Sweyn II of Denmark.[3] Godwin was Harold’s new earldom. The relationship was a form the son of Wulfnoth, probably a thegn and a native of of marriage that was not blessed or sanctioned by the Sussex.<ref name= Godwin began his political career by Church, known as more Danico, or “in the Danish man- supporting King Edmund Ironside, but switched to sup- ner”, and was accepted by most laypeople in England at porting King Cnut by 1018, when he was named Earl of the time. Any children of such a union were considered [4] legitimate. Harold likely entered the relationship in part Wessex by Cnut. Godwin remained an earl through- [14] out Cnut’s reign, one of only two earls to survive to the to secure support in his new earldom. end of Cnut’s reign.[5] On Cnut’s death, Godwin originally In 1047 Harold’s elder brother Sweyn was exiled after supported Harthacnut instead of Cnut’s initial successor abducting the abbess of Leominster. Sweyn’s lands were Harold Harefoot, but managed to switch sides in 1037, divided between Harold and a cousin, Beorn.[15] In 1049, although not without becoming involved in the murder of Harold was in command of a ship or ships that were sent Alfred Aetheling, half brother of Harthacnut and younger with a fleet to aid the German Emperor Henry III against brother of the later King Edward the Confessor.[6] When Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, who was in revolt against Harold Harefoot died, Harthacnut became king and God- Henry. During this campaign, Sweyn returned to Eng- win’s power was imperiled by his earlier involvement in land and attempted to secure a pardon from the king, but Alfred’s murder, but an oath and large gift secured the Harold and Beorn refused to return any of their lands, and new king’s favour for Godwin.[7] Harthacnut’s death in Sweyn, after leaving the royal court, took Beorn hostage 1042 likely involved Godwin in a role as kingmaker, help- and later killed him.[16] 1 2 3 MARRIAGES AND CHILDREN When in 1051 Earl Godwin was sent into exile, Harold of members of his family who had been held hostage since accompanied his father and helped him to regain his po- Godwin’s exile in 1051, or even that he had simply been sition a year later. Then Godwin died in 1053, and Harold travelling along the English coast on a hunting and fish- succeeded him as Earl of Wessex (the southern third of ing expedition and had been driven across the Channel England). This arguably made him the most powerful fig- by an unexpected storm. There is general agreement that ure in England after the king. he left from Bosham, and was blown off course, land- In 1058, Harold also became Earl of Hereford and re- ing at Ponthieu. He was captured by Guy I, Count of placed his late father as the focus of opposition to growing Ponthieu, and was then taken as a hostage to the count’s castle at Beaurain,[18] 24.5 km up the River Canche from Norman influence in England under the restored monar- chy (1042–66) of Edward the Confessor, who had spent its mouth at what is now Le Touquet. Duke William ar- rived soon afterward and ordered Guy to turn Harold over more than 25 years in exile in Normandy. He led a series [19] of successful campaigns (1062–63) against Gruffydd ap to him. Harold then apparently accompanied William to battle against William’s enemy, Conan II, Duke of Llywelyn of Gwynedd, the ruler of Wales. This conflict ended with Gruffydd’s defeat and death in 1063. Brittany. While crossing into Brittany past the fortified abbey of Mont Saint-Michel, Harold is recorded as res- cuing two of William’s soldiers from quicksand. They 2.1 Harold in northern France pursued Conan from Dol-de-Bretagne to Rennes, and fi- nally to Dinan, where he surrendered the fortress’s keys at 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 Edward’s death, the Normans were quick to point out that in accepting the crown of England, Harold had broken this alleged oath. The chronicler Orderic Vitalis wrote of Harold that he “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 a doubling of taxation by Tostig in 1065 that HAROLD SACRAMENTUM FECIT WILLELMO DUCI threatened to plunge England into civil war, Harold sup- (“Harold made an oath to Duke William”). (Bayeux Tapestry) ported Northumbrian rebels against his brother, Tostig, This scene is stated in the previous scene on the Tapestry to have and replaced him with Morcar. This strengthened his taken place at Bagia (Bayeux, probably in Bayeux Cathedral). It acceptability as Edward’s successor, but fatally split his shows Harold touching two altars with the enthroned Duke look- own family, driving Tostig into alliance with King Harald ing on, and is central to the Norman Invasion of England. Hardrada (“Hard Ruler”) of Norway. In 1064, Harold apparently was shipwrecked at Ponthieu. There is much speculation about this voyage. The ear- liest post-conquest Norman chroniclers report that King 3 Marriages and children Edward had previously sent Robert, Archbishop of Can- terbury, to appoint as his heir Edward’s maternal kins- For some twenty years Harold was married More dan- man, William of Normandy, and that at this later date ico (Latin: “in the Danish manner”) to Edith the Fair Harold was sent to swear fealty.[17] Scholars disagree as (Edith Swannesha) and had at least six children with to the reliability of this story. William, at least, seems her. The marriage was widely accepted by the laity, al- to have believed he had been offered the succession, but though Edith was considered Harold’s mistress by the there must have been some confusion either on William’s clergy.[lower-alpha 3] part or perhaps by both men, since the English succession was neither inherited nor determined by the reigning According to Orderic Vitalis, Harold was at some time monarch. Instead the Witenagemot, the assembly of the betrothed to Adeliza, a daughter of William, Duke of Normandy, later William the Conqueror; if so, the be- kingdom’s leading notables, would convene after a king’s [20] death to select a successor.

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