
Today on JANUARY 6th 1066 – Harold Godwinson is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
King Harold has gone down in history as the last Anglo-Saxon King of England. He is also one of the unluckiest and one of the most capable men to wear the crown in his era.
He would only reign for eight months.
And what an eight months...
First… a little background.
In the 1060’s, England was ruled by King Edward (later to be deified as Saint Edward the Confessor). We remember Edward the Confessor for two things – he commissioned Westminster Abbey and he was frustratingly vague on who he wanted to succeed him as King.
There were two men with strong claims to the throne.
One was Harold Godwinson who served as the King’s right-hand man (similar role to a Prime Minister in later centuries) and ran the country for him. The Godwin’s (Harold's family) had no direct royal blood, but they were a powerful and rich family and King Edward was married to Harold’s sister.
The other claimant was William the Duke of Normandy – a cousin of King Edward who believed he had been promised the throne by Edward years earlier when Edward was exiled to Normandy (modern day northern France) during a Viking invasion of Britain.

Duke William of Normandy was also known as William the Bastard on account of his being an illegitimate child (his parents were't married). Although there are a lot of other reasons why that nickname might suit....
What we do know is that King Edward died without having children (there are stories that he was forced into marrying Harold’s sister and just to spite the Godwin’s he refused to consummate the marriage - meaning he didn’t sleep with his wife and as a result didn’t conceive children).
Either way, when Edward slipped into a coma and died on January 5th 1066, the question of who would succeed him as King was less than certain.
In those days all the most powerful Earls in England formed a council (called the Witan) who would meet to proclaim the next King. Sometimes that was a straightforward process as there was a logical heir. This was NOT one of those times. What there was however was Harold, Earl Godwin – a powerful and influential noble who told the Witan that the King had promised him the crown.
And since he had already been effectively running the country anyway (and he was a good leader in wartime – a crucial criteria for being King in those days) – the Witan decided to take the easy option and proclaim Harold as King.
He was crowned in Westminster Abbey the same day – January 6th 1066.

The original Westminster Abbey is not the same building where King Charles was crowned in London in May last year. The current Abbey was rebuilt in the 13th Century.
And the rest of the year was peaceful and prosperous for England, right?
Well no, not exactly. Harold was actually a very effective and by all accounts a well loved King. But pretty much his entire reign would be occupied by having to defend England from invasion.
Rough.
The first invasion came from the Viking King Harold Hardrada who had teamed up with Harold’s estranged younger brother Tostig (families hey?) in an effort to seize the crown.
The Viking invasion fleet landed on the North East coast and marched inland. Harold responded by marching his army up from London, surprising Harold’s force early in the morning at a place called Stanford Bridge and soundly defeating them.

King Harold Hardrada looking considerably tougher than he turned out to be.
Killing both Harold Hardrada and Tostig in the process.
You would think Harold would get a chance to enjoy that victory, right? After all he had just successfully defended his Kingdom from invasion.
Nope.
Literally within a week, William of Normandy’s invasion fleet landed on the South Coast of England. So Harold had to force march his weary army hundreds of miles South to a field near the city of Hastings where he would battle William’s army.
Now even with the massive disadvantage of just having fought another battle and then marched hundreds of miles, Harold’s army was remarkably effective and almost won the battle of Hastings.
But when Harold was felled, with an arrow to the eye, the English army no longer had the strong leadership needed to win the battle.

The Bayeux tapestry tells the story of Harold's reign and the Norman invasion. On this panel you can see Harold, in the centre of the picture, copping an arrow to the eye.
Ouch.
The Normans won.
And the reign of Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon King of England came to a gruesome end on a battlefield where the town of ‘Battle’ now stands.
Of course, there’s a lot more story to tell about 1066. But today’s post is just about the brave, unfortunate King Harold who tried in vain to defend England during his brief reign which began almost a thousand years ago today on January 6th 1066.
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