While the king may have been wishy-washy, his son & heir, Edmund, was not. In 1015 he raised an army, in defiance of his father & much of England's nobility, and went to war with the Danes. He shored up the country's defenses in Mercia — central England — and became popular. When his father died in April 1016, the people of London acclaimed him King; however, the Witangemot — the council of nobles with the power to elect kings — wanted to accommodate the Danes by naming their leader, Cnut, king of England.
Having an army with him, though, Edmund effectively trumped the Witangemot, & assumed the office of King of England. He led a counter-assault against the Danes. In a series of battles that lasted most of the year, he earned the epithet "Ironside." Although he was an able leader & an effective commander, he could not prevail over the Danes' superior numbers. He was defeated at the Battle of Ashingdon, & died in November of that year, at which time Cnut finally was named King of England.
Cnut was a brutal leader who crushed all opposition, however, he allowed the English feudal structure to remain as it was. He installed as earls (the chief vassals of the king) men sympathetic to him; a few were Danes, but most were native Englishmen. He went on to lead raids into western France & briefly attempted an invasion of Ireland.
Cnut was succeeded by his sons, Harold I "Harefoot" & Hardacnut. These two were half-brothers, Hardacnut being the son of Cnut by Emma of Normandy, Æthelred's widow.
Hardacnut died young, & was succeeded by the son of Æthelred & Emma, Edward (he was also Edmund "Ironside"'s half-brother, Edmund having been Æthelred's son by his first wife).
A key to his coming to power had been Godwine, an Englishman who had been an earl under Cnut. Godwine was, by this time, Earl of Wessex, & as such had a great deal of influence & power in his own right. Edward considered Godwine to be his chief advisor, his "right-hand-man," if you will. To cement their friendship, Edward married Godwine's daughter Eadgitha (Edith).
Edward "the Confessor" was an eccentric character, though this was not immediately apparent when he came to power. He hated his mother with a passion, because Emma had set him aside — shipping him off to Normandy & all but forgetting about him — after marrying Cnut. Edward's first act was to seize all her property & all but imprison her. His rough treatment of his mother seemed out of character for him — for he was otherwise known as a pious & humble man. His epithet "the Confessor" indicated his devout Christianity. Earlier in his life, he had taken a vow of celibacy, & he apparently stuck with this vow, even after he had gotten married — so he & Eadgitha never had any children.
Edward could be rather mercurial, & turn on a dime, as the saying goes. In 1051 a company of Norman nobles, acquaintances of Edward, arrived in Dover, England on their way to visit him. There they got into a brawl with some locals. Edward ordered Earl Godwine to punish the people of Dover for this. But Godwine, incensed that Normans were getting preferential treatment, & the fact that the grievances of native Englishmen hadn't been heard before Edward had given his order — refused to do so. Edward angrily turned on his most trusted advisor, sending the earls of Mercia and Northumberland — who'd been loyal to him — to discipline both Godwine & the people of Dover. Godwine rallied his forces, & a civil war threatened to break out; but Godwine thought better of it (likely because his forces were slightly outnumbered) & he and his family went into exile.
As if to spite Godwine, Edward then invited a number of Normans into England, some of whom took Godwine's place as his advisors. This was wildly unpopular, both among the common folk of London & among the English nobility, but Edward refused to relent. Godwine & his sons, Harold & Tostig, returned to England the next year. They were able to undermine the king's authority, due to Edward's unpopular move, & many men flocked to their banner. This time Earl Godwine had the upper hand; Edward finally relented, sending the Normans home & restoring Godwine & his family to their titles and lands.
From here the fortunes of the Godwine family continued to rise. His oldest surviving son Harold became Earl of East Anglia, and Tostig became Earl of Northumberland. Tostig & Edward were great friends, spending a great deal of their time together, & some surmised that Edward might even name Tostig his heir — but this never happened. Harold & Tostig had had an older brother, Swegen, who had died while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. When Godwine died, Harold succeeded him as Earl of Wessex, & another of his brothers, Gyrth, became Earl of East Anglia.
Thus, three of England's four earldoms belonged to the Godwinessons, giving them immense power. Together their personal holdings exceeded even those of King Edward himself. The fourth earl (of Mercia), Ælfgar, had once been a friend of Godwine, but they had a falling-out shortly before the latter's death. Furthermore, Ælfgar appears to have gotten himself into some trouble — he was accused of some crime, and exiled by the king. Ælfgar's son Edwine succeeded him as Earl of Mercia. Many claimed that Ælfgar had been exiled at the insistence of the Godwinessons, but this is not certain, especially in light of the fact that they allowed the earldom of Mercia to remain in Ælfgar's family. Even so, the Godwinessons now controlled almost all of England. Edward capped their achievement by naming Harold Dux Anglorum, or "leader of the English." His intention in doing this is not clear, nor was it clear at the time; but most people took it as an indication that Harold was his chief deputy — & some of those (including Harold) inferred from this that Edward wanted him to be his heir. He was also known as Subregulus, or "under-king," though this was not a title formally bestowed on him. In any event, by the early 1060's, Harold was the de facto ruler of England.
Among Harold's achievements was the defeat of the Welsh. He proved so successful in putting down Welsh revolts, that the Welsh prince Gryffydd's own men killed him & sent Harold his head, begging for mercy.
While the Godwinessons enjoyed some popularity among the people of England, helping them rise to immense power, Tostig — the King's favorite — was an exception to this rule. He imposed high taxes on Northumberland & meddled frequently in the affairs of the thegns or nobles of that earldom. In 1065, while he was visiting with Edward (he was frequently absent from his domain, on such visits), his thegns rose up against him, & assembled at York to name a new earl, much more to their liking — Morkere, another young son of the disgraced Ælfgar, brother of Edwine, Earl of Mercia.
Edward was as incensed at this as Tostig was — perhaps moreso. He sent Harold at the head of an army to put down this revolt against Tostig & restore his earldom. Harold headed to York, however, he took only a small force, just his houscarls or household warriors, a small elite group. There he negotiated an agreement with the Northumbrian thegns — which didn't include Tostig's restoration as Earl. Harold could not convince them to take him back, without a war, which he thought wouldn't be in England's best interests. Rather than do that, he simply agreed to allow Morkere to remain Earl.
Edward was furious — and Tostig was beside himself with rage. Harold seems to have convinced Edward that this was the only reasonable move, but the angry Tostig left England, going first to the Continent, then to Norway (I'll get back to Tostig a little later).
During this journey, Harold's ship was wrecked. He came ashore in the lands Roger de Montgomery, a Norman who was a cousin of William Duke of Normandy. Under the custom of the day, someone who was shipwrecked was "in jeopardy," or at the mercy of the lord at whose land he arrived. Harold being a great noble, Roger demanded a ransom for his release. While the king, and Harold's family could easily afford to do this, William, Roger's overlord, intervened. He graciously offered to pay the ransom; Roger brought Harold to see him. At this time, William asked Harold for something in return: an oath. Harold agreed, & soon was on his way back to England.
The nature of the oath that Harold took, is debated. Normans claim that Harold swore not to accept the crown of England & to support William as King Edward's heir. (Edward's mother Emma was the sister-in-law of William's mother, making them cousins by marriage.) Harold's supporters contend that he swore merely not to ask for the crown of England, implying that he could still accept it, if it was offered to him without his request. Chronicles of the time have conflicting reports about this oath — and in any event, they were all recorded after the events of 1066, making them all a bit suspect.
Very likely the truth is a bit closer to Harold's version of things. He certainly didn't need William to pay his ransom for him, so it's unlikely he would have taken as stringent & restrictive an oath as the Normans claim, in order to secure his own release from Roger's custody.
On January 6, 1066, then, the Witangemot met in London, & chose Edward's brother-in-law & chief deputy, Harold Godwinesson, as the new King. The swiftness of their meeting & the fact that no other candidates were discussed, indicates the certainty they had at the time, that Edward had intended Harold to follow him as King.
The Northumbrian thegns balked at this, however, and began to gather their forces for an offensive (it's unclear who they supported for the crown, rather than Harold). Once again Harold took only his houscarls to York, & again smoothed the thegns' ruffled feathers. This time, he did it by marrying the older sister of Edwine and Morkere, Eadgitha of York, promising them a strong voice in England.
In any event, Harold had already been de facto king for quite some time — Edward having ceded more & more royal duties to him, over his last few years — so he eased into the position quite easily.
William of Normandy was also incensed. He too had a claim to the crown of England, being Edward's cousin, & sent emissaries to England demanding that Harold forfeit the crown. Harold politely declined. William took some time to consider his options.
Tostig was the first to act, & the first to lobby outside England for his claim. He first traveled to Flanders, & met with Baldwin Marquis de Bruges, another cousin of Edward the Confessor. He urged Baldwin to take up a claim of his own to England's crown, promising to aid him in this endeavor from within England (Tostig believed he could gather some support for himself among the English). Baldwin wisely demurred, realizing that claiming the crown of England would require him to go to war, & he had no wish to do so.
Tostig then went to Norway. There, he met with King Harald Hardraða, a distant relation of the late King Cnut. Tostig reminded Harald of an old pact that Cnut had made with Harald's father, that whichever of them survived the other, would inherit all of the former's property. At the time of Cnut's death, Harald's father could not press his claim to Cnut's diverse holdings — there was still a great deal of internal strife among the Vikings & Danes & he hadn't the opportunity to do so. Nor had Harald's father even wanted England — he just hadn't been interested in trying to take it over. But since he was more ambitious, Harald considered this, & at last agreed to work with Tostig to lay claim to England.
Harald Hardraða's preparations took longer — he needed a massive fleet in order to cross the North Sea all at once — but he set out sooner, near the end of September. Meanwhile, Harold had gathered his forces in southern England, for he knew that William, with the Norman cavalry in his command, would be the tougher foe.
But the Norwegian fleet landed in Northumberland, & reluctantly, Harold set out northward to stop them. He left about half of his army behind in the south; the rest marched in just 4 days' time (an amazing feat) into Northumberland, where they rendezvoused with local forces & with forces from Mercia. (His earlier agreement with the sons of the former Earl Ælfgar thus turned out to be quite fortuitous; without their support, he would not have had so many forces at his disposal, upon his arrival in the north.)
Harold led the English army to victory in the Battle of Stamford Bridge, not far from York. Harald Hardraða & Tostig were both killed in that battle. Demoralized, the Norwegians took flight; some sought refuge in Scotland, where they were defeated by locals, while others got back in their ships and fled altogether. The support from local Englishmen, which Tostig had promised to Harald Hardraða & which they had counted on, never materialized — which was another reason why they were defeated.
Harold's departure to the north signaled William that it was time for him to move, regardless of the weather. He couldn't possibly ask for a more ideal time to strike. Whichever of the two kings prevailed in Northumberland, would be weakened by their fighting, giving him a distinct adavantage. At the same time that Harold was marching north, William began ferrying his army across the Channel. The weather had broken & he suffered few losses, however, he had only a few ships, which had to make several trips & it would take a week or more for him to get all his forces across.
Word that William had seized a foothold on the southern English coast & was ferrying his army across, reached Harold in York, even as he started fighting the Norwegians. So, immediately after winning the day at Stamford Bridge, Harold and his most loyal forces marched back south — another very fast 4-day march, two amazing feats in a row! — and arrived in southern England before William had finished ferrying his army over.
Thus, the two commanders faced each other, neither with as large a force as they had wanted. But neither of them could afford to wait. William had to move against Harold or be hemmed in along the coast, virtually under siege; Harold had to move lest William get reinforcements.
So, the battle began in this way, & for a long time — most of it, in fact — it was a stalemate. William finally ordered his cavalry to charge in close, regardless of the long weapons of the English, and attempt to break the shield-wall. He had the cavalry form up in several "wings," small groups of them going in, one after the other, swiftly pecking away at the English shield-wall.
His tactic finally worked. Some of the English troops, the cavalry bearing down on them, moved back a bit, creating a "pocket" in the shield-wall. The English troops on either side of the pocket decided — fatefully — to go in & demolish the cavalry wing which happened to be inside the pocket. In doing so, they breached the shield-wall, and several subsequent wings of the Norman cavalry broke through.
In short order the shield-wall totally collapsed & a general melée ensued. At this point the better-armed and -armored Normans, with a large contingent of cavalry, had a distinct advantage, and they won the day.
Harold Godwinesson himself was killed by a Norman archer's arrow that pierced him in the eye. Chronicles state that me managed to fight on — blinded but in a berserk fury — for some time, before he finally fell and died.
Eventually, though, whether through intimidation or persuasion, William managed to force the Witangemot to name him King of England, & he was crowned by Christmas. Within a few years he had supplanted all the native nobility of England, replacing them all with Normans in his service. Unlike England's previous conqueror, Cnut, he changed the feudal structure of England to be more in line with French practice.
The Norman Conquest fundamentally changed all of Britain. Within a couple of centuries the entire island would fall under the control of William's descendants, & they would attempt to establish a strong monarchy, in place of the simple Anglo-Saxon structure which was based on the tribal Germanic comitatus. England's kings would no longer be elected by the Witangemot, but instead, they simply inherited their titles & assumed control all on their own.
Still, William and his descendants never entirely succeeded in wiping out the notion of elected kingship. King John, for example, would be forced to share power with the nobility of the land, when he signed the Magna Carta, the medieval basis for what would later become England's constitutional monarchy, & the model for the Congress of the United States, & many other republics which came after.
William's conquest of England created a synergy of sorts, blending a little bit from many different traditions — Anglo-Saxon, Frankish, Roman, Viking — to create a nation quite different from any other. This nation would go on to become, really, the world's first superpower — the British Empire in its heyday spanned the globe, & in fact, its modern remnant, the Commonwealth, still exists.
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