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Conquest, Part II: Three Kings and a Conqueror
by Melissa Snell
Edward the Confessor
Edward's position as king was somewhat unusual. By blood he was royal and English, a combination that pleased the Anglo-Saxon nobility by returning the crown from the Danes to one of their own countrymen. But he was also half-Norman, had been raised in Normandy, and preferred to speak French, so in a sense he was a foreigner as well. In order to strengthen his hold on the crown, he installed friends into positions of power; but those friends were Norman, and their presence at court--to say nothing of their appointments--could not fail to provoke some resentment in the nobility.
The king had to contend with several Saxon earls, the most powerful being Earl Godwin ("Godwine") of Wessex. Godwin not only managed to maneuver some of his sons into other earldoms, he got Edward to marry his daughter, Edith. Unfortunately for the dynastic line, this marriage produced no children, a result that was put down to Edward's desire to remain chaste. Evidently deeming it necessary to secure the succession, the childless monarch allegedly named his relative, Duke William of Normandy, as his heir.
If this was the case it may explain the break in the early 1050's between Edward and Godwin, who would have seen William as a dangerous rival. The split was brief; after being compelled to leave the country, Godwin and his clan returned in force and cowed Edward into reinstating them and sending most of his Norman supporters home. This included ousting Robert of Jumièges from the Archbishopric of Canterbury and installing Stigand in his place--a move that did not sit well with the Church. From then on, Edward was close to being the puppet of Godwin and, after Godwin's death, that of his son Harold.
Edward remained a pious individual and spent much of his energies in overseeing the construction of a new church at the site of a Benedictine monastery. Westminster Abbey was completed and consecrated on December 28, 1065, but Edward was too ill to attend, and died only a few days later.
Harold Godwinson
From the time of his father's death in 1053 onward, Harold Godwinson played a significant role in the leadership of England. While Edward spent his time hunting and churchgoing, Harold oversaw events in the kingdom. When the Welsh participated in raids on Mercia, Harold conducted a successful campaign to subjugate Wales. In 1065 the Northumbrians rebelled, and Harold kept the peace by allowing them to replace the earl with a man of their own choice: Morcar, brother of Earl Edwin of Mercia. Unfortunately, the displaced earl was Harold's own brother Tostig, who left England for Flanders and never forgave Harold. Yet through all this, the kingdom flourished.
As a member of the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy and someone who had displayed considerable leadership skills, Harold Godwinson made a reasonable choice for Edward's successor. On his deathbed, the old king supposedly bequeathed the kingdom to this loyal and powerful English magnate, passing over his own teenaged grandnephew Edgar. So quickly did Harold assemble a Witangemot to approve his succession that one might suspect he was deliberately blocking opposition; or perhaps he did not want to leave the throne empty and vulnerable for a moment. Whatever his motives, Godwinson was immediately crowned King of England.
Harold's crown did not rest easy, for he could not help but be aware of threats to his claim. One such threat was posed by Duke William of Normandy, who in addition to supposedly having been named by Edward as his successor was related by blood to the late king. Furthermore, according to Norman sources, Harold had sworn an oath to support William as the next king of England. This oath was given (or extorted) when Harold was a guest (or a prisoner) of the Normans in 1064. By taking the crown Harold broke this oath, a serious breach of ethics in the eyes of medieval society.
And then there was the king of Norway.
Harald Hardrada
As the Norwegian king, Harald Hardrada could conceivably lay claim to the English throne as heir to Cnut, who had not only ruled England and Denmark but, eventually, Norway as well. This was an extremely thin claim and in itself would have gotten Hardrada nowhere; but in additi0n he was a warrior of great renown with a considerable army. Godwinson knew that if Hardrada was serious about pressing his claim, he'd have to battle to keep his crown.
And, indeed, in the months ahead Hardrada would choose to invade England--a move that would have a significant impact on the future of the kingdom.
A Conqueror
The illegitimate son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, and Arlette (or "Herleva"), daughter of a Falaise burgher, William was about seven years old when his father died on pilgrimage. Since Robert had no legitimate children and had designated his young son as his heir, the Norman magnates and King Henry I of France accepted William as the next duke. But this made his childhood neither easy nor safe. One of his tutors was murdered and three guardians died violently. The duchy was plunged into chaos. No help was to be found from his father's family, who could see advantages if William was out of the picture.
It was somewhat miraculous that William made it to his 15th year, but he did, was knighted, and began to take direct action in the affairs of his duchy. With occasional help from the king, he put down baronial rebellions (often led by his relatives) and defeated a coalition of Norman rebels. He worked fairly successfully toward restoring the ducal rights and revenues he had lost during his minority. It was at this time that William learned how to fight, how to lead, and when to cut his losses.
In 1049 William sought an alliance with Baldwin V of Flanders, who was rebelling against the Emperor Henry III, by negotiating for the hand of his daughter Matilda. The emperor's friend Pope Leo IX condemned the proposed marriage as incestuous, although any blood relationship between the two was a distant one. But William and Baldwin, at least, were anxious for the alliance, and the marriage had taken place by 1053. Several years later the couple made peace with the next pope, Victor II, and did penance for their "sin" by building monasteries in Caen.
From early on there had been a tie to Edward the Confessor and the English crown. Edward's mother, Emma, had been the sister of William's grandfather, Duke Richard II of Normandy. This made the two men cousins, once removed. While still in his teens, William had known and associated with Edward before the older man went back to England to take the throne. They shared a bond of family and perhaps even of friendship, and as Edward grew older and remained childless, William saw an opportunity to increase his holdings by acquiring England.
Norman sources indicate that Edward designated William as his heir in the early 1050's, and although there is no Anglo-Saxon record of it, it is entirely possible. It is also possible that having done so, Edward then chose Godwinson as his successor while he lay in his deathbed in 1066. In either case, the Witangemot was unlikely to choose William over an Englishman, although Harold Godwinson may not have been a unanimous choice. For William to press his claim would require force of arms.
This is exactly what William had in mind.
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Please return for Part Three of Conquest, or check out our Table of Contents. And be sure to test your knowledge at our Quest for Conquest Quiz. |
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Conquest, Part I: Oft-Invaded England is copyright © 1999-2003 Melissa Snell. Permission is granted to reproduce this article for personal or classroom use only, provided that the URL below is included. For reprint permission, please contact Melissa Snell.
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