- The leadership of England had been a matter of conquest and struggle, as native kings fought first each other, then invaders. Now that the Danish kings had essentially died out in England, the successorship was destined to remain uncertain, and three ambitious men set their sights on the crown...
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 addition 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.
Continued on page two.
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Guide note: This feature was first posted in November, 1999 and was updated in October, 2007.
