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Claims to the throne

It all began with the death of Edward the Confessor, in January 1066. The Bayeux tapestry depicts Edward on his deathbed, offering the English crown to Harold, and this event is reflected in most of the chronicles of the time.

Edward's corpse was eventually borne in state to his own new cathedral church at Westminster, and the tapestry shows Harold there, being offered the crown by the magnates of England, among whom must have been Edwin and Morcar.

Harold was crowned at Westminster Abbey by Archbishop Stigand of Canterbury and Archbishop Ealdred of York. It is significant that only the former is depicted (and actually named) on the Bayeux tapestry, as his appointment had never been recognised by the Pope, allowing the Norman propaganda machine to portray Harold's coronation as illegal.

On the tapestry, the members of the congregation shown as witnessing the event are facing Harold, but their eyes are turned towards Halley's Comet, which is depicted in the sky as a portent of the doom to come. Harold is seen receiving news of the Comet with fear in his eyes.

These bad omens for Harold were important to William of Normandy, who was set on claiming the English crown for himself - omens as important as the 'promise' of 1051 and the 'oath' of 1064. This was because, despite his pre-eminent position, he required the active co-operation of his nobles for the great venture he was planning - the venture to invade England and become the English king.

William could not just demand support from his nobles, he had to convince them of his case. He needed to show his followers that his claim was a lawful one, and that he had God on his side. So when he decided on invasion, he took elaborate measures to ensure he had strong support, and even sent an envoy to the Pope asking for his blessing.

William did not move immediately. He only began plans for an invasion after Tostig arrived in neighbouring Flanders, looking for support against Harold in a projected invasion of Northumbria. This was the lever that William needed: with Harold occupied in the north, William could invade in the south. Whether or not he thought God was on his side, William's preparations were very down to earth.

Harold becomes king

Westminster Abbey, the site of Harold's coronation  © On top of anything else, William must have been painfully aware that his claim to England's throne was actually the least legitimate of all the putative contenders. It rested entirely on a spurious promise, made over 15 years previously, and on the fact that William's great-grandfather was Edward's maternal grandfather.

Harold had an equally weak blood claim, through the brother-in-law of King Cnut, although it was he who was Edward's last nominated heir. There were others with much stronger blood claims, among them Swegn Estrithson, King of Denmark, who was the nephew of King Cnut; and Edgar the Aetheling, grandson of Edmund Ironside, from whom Cnut had wrested the kingdom in 1016.

Aetheling actually means 'throneworthy' and was the title given to the most legitimate heir; but a legitimate blood claim was only part of the issue. The crown would go to the claimant who could muster most support amongst the 'great and the good' of England. In January 1066, Edgar Aetheling was a minor, and with the wolves breathing at the door, the English magnates could not afford to risk the kingdom in such inexperienced hands. So they turned to Harold, the obvious power behind the throne, who, as we have seen, had prepared his ground well.

Immediately after Edward's death, the cards were flying and everyone was gambling madly. Tostig enlisted the help of a powerful Joker in the pack, the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada, an adventurer who had fought for the Byzantines in the Varangian Guard and was now trying to recreate the Viking kingdom of Northumbria.

William had the other Joker, the Pope, in his pocket, and was drawing his Aces around him. He toured Normandy, visiting each of his most powerful barons in person, and also made deals with neighbouring magnates like Eustace of Boulogne and the exiled Count Alan of Brittany. He promised them land and positions within his new kingdom, which they in turn could grant to their followers in return for loyal service.

In May 1066, Tostig made his first, abortive, attempt to invade England. Harold called out the English levy (the fyrd), which was an army of English peasant farmers obliged to fight for their king when required to do so, and kept it out. He wanted to be ready to face the invasion fleet that William had built and mustered at Rennes on the Norman coast. But William did not come.

Instead, William watched, and he waited, and he made his meticulous preparations. These included the gathering of all the great magnates of Normandy, called to attend the dedication of his wife Matilda's new abbey at St Etienne, in Caen, on 18 June 1066. There William asked for the blessing of God on his invasion plan, and ensured that he also had the backing of man.

Stamford Bridge

Stamford Bridge, the site where Harold defeated Tostig  © In July, William's invasion fleet moved north to Dives, but still it did not cross the Channel. The sources say that the leader was waiting for fair weather, but he may equally have been awaiting news that Tostig had made his move. Either way, it was a perfect strategy. The English fyrd was a levy of peasant farmers, who by August were clamouring to be released so that they could take in their harvest. Harold had no option but to let them go.

On 20 September 1066, Harald Hardrada and Tostig sailed up the Ouse, with more than 10,000 men in 200 longships, to launch their long-awaited invasion of Northumbria. Earls Edwin and Morcar came out to meet them with a hastily assembled levy that consisted mainly of their own personal retainers. They were defeated at Fulford outside York, and their forces were so decimated that they were unable to play any further part in the campaigns of that year.

Harold reacted by scraping together a scratch force of his own, made up largely of his own housecarls and his 'thegns'. He raced north, calling up all the shire levies he could muster on the way. In four days he marched 180 miles - to surprise Hardrada and Tostig, east of York, at Stamford Bridge, on 25 September.

Before the battle began, Harold offered Tostig his earldom back if he would change sides, but Tostig threw the offer back in the king's face. The Norwegians held a strong position, defending the bridge on the north-eastern shore of the River Derwent. Legend has it that a lone axeman held the bridge against all-comers for hours, until a sneaky Englishman paddled under the bridge in a barrel and thrust a spear up through the wooden slats.

Once the bridge fell, the battle was a foregone conclusion. Both Hardrada and Tostig fell beneath the Raven Banner in a last, desperate stand. Harold had won the day, but at a price. His army was tired and badly mauled, and he had lost the forces of both the Earl of Northumbria and the Earl of Mercia.

Pevensey landings

William built the first castle of the Conquest at Pevensey  © This was the point at which William acted. Having sailed his fleet to St Valéry sur Somme, he waited for the wind to be in the right direction, and two days after Stamford Bridge, he sailed. His fleet consisted of almost 700 ships of classic Norse design, headed by the Mora, which is depicted on the Bayeux tapestry with a carved dragon figurehead on its prow, and a trumpeter sounding signals at its stern.

Most sources claim that William's forces made landfall at Pevensey, but this may just be because Pevensey was the best-known port on the southern English shore. Recent work by amateur archaeologist Nick Austin suggests he may have found the actual site of William's landing, and first encampments, at Wilting Manor, outside Hastings. Once ashore, William ordered that some of his boats be symbolically burnt, while the rest were dismantled and pulled ashore.

An earth embankment was built across the harbour mouth to protect the ships from the weather, and a castle was constructed at the top of the hill. The remnants of these may still be seen today. Then the Normans pillaged and burned the surrounding area, in order to force Harold to come south and defend his people.

Harold did not hesitate. Having heard of William's landing while at York, he raced his army down the old Roman road of Ermine Street, stopping on the way at his foundation of Waltham Abbey, to pray for victory. By 12 October, he was back in London and gathering what forces he could to face William. By the 14th, he was on the way to Hastings.

William received news of Harold's approach from Vitalis - a prominent vassal of Odo of Bayeux, who is depicted on the Bayeux tapestry bringing the message - and marched out to face the English king.

The Battle of Hastings

Battle, the site of the Battle of Hastings  © The Battle of Hastings took place at a site now known as Battle on 14 October 1066. Harold drew up his army in three wedges on Senlac Ridge, overlooking the battlefield. With him he had little more than 5,000 footsore and weary men, ranged against a Norman force of up to 15,000 infantry, archers and cavalry.

Facing such odds, Harold had no choice but to fight a defensive battle. He was forced to rely on the much-vaunted English shield-wall, behind which his men could stand and let the Norman attacks break themselves.

The tactic was a great success. Again and again, the Norman knights hurled themselves against the English shields, but as the Bayeux tapestry shows, they were unable to make any headway. Then, on the Norman left, the Bretons under Count Alan began to give way. Orderic Vitalis takes up the story:

The whole incident is portrayed on the Bayeux tapestry. It was the turning point of the battle. Now the English wall had broken, and the Normans were able to lever open the cracks. Exhaustion and weight of numbers also took their toll. Gyrth and Leofwine, the two remaining brothers of Harold are depicted being cut down on the tapestry, and Harold was soon to follow.

We see him on the Bayeux tapestry taking an arrow in the eye and then being ridden down by a Norman cavalryman, one of four who managed to break through the English line and trample Harold into the ground. Though the English still fought on bravely after their king had fallen, their cause was lost, and eventually they fled into the night.

Tradition has it that William gave thanks to God for his victory and ordered that all in his army should do penance for the souls that they had killed that day. He himself paid for the foundation of Battle Abbey on the spot where Harold fell.

The body of Harold was eventually recovered after a long search, but its face was so badly disfigured that they had to bring it to his concubine, Edith Swan-neck, to identify by the intimate marks upon his body. Initially, William had the body buried next to the battlefield, with a headstone reading, 'Here lies Harold, King of the English', but after Harold's name was blackened by later Norman propaganda, the headstone was removed, and the body was disinterred and taken to Harold's abbey at Waltham.

King William

The Abbé-aux-Dames, where William prayed before embarking for England  © The contest for England was not yet over, however. William kept his army in Hastings for about a week, then he marched through south-eastern England, via Dover and Canterbury, to London Bridge.

Finding this too heavily defended, he continued along the southern bank of the Thames to Wallingford, sending a detachment to take Winchester on the way. Wallingford was the easternmost ford of the Thames, and was defended by an ancient Anglo-Saxon burh (a fortified town) under the command of the king's thegn Wigot of Wallingford.

By now it was December, and the long campaign had sapped the English will to resist. Dover and Southwark had been razed to the ground, and William now had control of Canterbury, the religious centre of England, and Winchester, the ceremonial seat of the English kings.

At Wallingford, the first English submissions occurred. Archbishop Stigand of Canterbury led a delegation of important English bishops and thegns, who surrendered to William, and Wigot opened the gates of Wallingford to him. By Christmas, the earls Edwin, Morcar and Waltheof, along with Archbishop Ealdred of York, had also surrendered, having ensured that their positions would be secure under the new régime.

William was crowned by Archbishop Ealdred on Christmas Day, in Edward's new abbey cathedral at Westminster. This is significant, because the new king chose to be crowned in the same location as King Harold, deliberately stressing the continuity between himself and Edward's old régime. He also ensured that he was not crowned by Stigand, whose legitimacy was questioned by the Pope.

During the ceremony, the assembled magnates (both Norman and English) shouted their acclamation of the new king; but their shouts startled the guards outside the cathedral who, fearing an English uprising, promptly set fire to the neighbouring city of London. Orderic Vitalis paints a vivid picture of the terrified congregation fleeing from the smoke-filled church whilst the remaining Bishops hastily completed the ceremony, with the new king trembling from head to foot. It was an interesting start to a completely new era.

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About the author

Dr Mike Ibeji is a Roman military historian who was an associate producer on Simon Schama's A History of Britain.