Harold Godwinson

Harold Godwinson was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England, and he reigned for nine months in 1066. He was the son of Godwin, earl of Wessex, from a family Cnut had raised to be the most powerful in England below the crown. He was earl of East Anglia before succeeding to his father's earldom, and by the 1060s he was effectively running the kingdom for his childless brother-in-law Edward the Confessor. At some point in the early 1060s he was shipwrecked in Normandy and, according to Norman sources and the Bayeux Tapestry, swore an oath to support William's claim to the English throne. English sources do not mention it. Edward died on 5 January 1066 and the Witenagemot chose Harold, who was crowned the next day. Three claimants then converged on him. He held the south coast against William through the summer until supplies ran out and he stood the fleet down. In September Harald Hardrada of Norway landed in Yorkshire with Harold's exiled brother Tostig. Harold marched north at extraordinary speed and destroyed them at Stamford Bridge on 25 September. Three days later William landed at Pevensey. Harold marched back and met him near Hastings on 14 October, where his shield wall held most of the day before breaking, and he was killed. The tapestry shows a figure with an arrow in the eye, though whether that figure is Harold has been argued for two centuries. England had a Norman ruling class within a generation. His body was reportedly so mutilated that his mistress Edith Swanneck was brought to identify it by marks only she knew. His brothers Gyrth and Leofwine died beside him. Two of his sons attempted raids from Ireland for several years afterwards and achieved nothing.

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