HAROLD II
He was killed on 14 October, 1066, at the Battle of Senlac (now known as the Battle of Hastings, although it took place eleven miles away at Battle in Sussex). Harold may have been felled by an arrow between his eyes, although this theory may be based upon a misinterpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry, in which case he was probably struck down by a sword stroke dealt by a mounted Norman knight. Harold was buried either on the battlefield or, less probably, on the seashore at Hastings. Later on, his remains were removed to Waltham Abbey, Essex.
He was succeeded by William, Duke of Normandy, the victor of Hastings.
CHAPTER TWO
The Norman Kings of England
Harold II was the last of the Saxon Kings of England. His successor, William I, based his claim to the English throne upon a promise made to him more than a decade before 1066 by Edward the Confessor, who is said to have told William that he, Edward, would make him his successor.
In 1064, Earl Harold was shipwrecked upon the coast of Normandy. William kept him in honourable captivity until he had sworn upon holy relics to do all in his power to enforce William’s claim to the English throne. William knew very well that at that time it seemed that Harold, the most powerful man in England next to the king, would be designated Edward’s successor, which was what in fact happened. When, in the autumn of 1065, Edward was seen to be dying, the Witan considered all the claimants and decided that Harold, as the only man with the strength and maturity that befitted him to rule England, was the natural choice. Edward, on his deathbed, accordingly left his crown to Harold, who seized power in defiance of his oath to William.
William thereupon gathered an army, sailed to England, and defeated Harold on 14 October, 1066, at the Battle of Hastings.
At that time, there was only one living male representative of the ancient line of the Kings of Wessex, and that was the child Edgar the Atheling, the grandson of Edmund II. The Witan in London set him up as king as soon as they received the news of William’s victory at Hastings, but it quickly became obvious that Edgar’s impeccable claim to the throne would be no match for William’s determination to wear the crown of England. Edgar submitted to William within 6 weeks, and William was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066.
A new royal dynasty had been founded; the joining of England with Normandy brought England very much into the forefront of European affairs. William’s followers received lands and honours, and thus founded aristocratic dynasties of their own in their new realm. A new order prevailed: England was feudalised and its Church and legal system were overhauled, and all things Saxon were disdained by the conquering Normans.
William’s claim to the English throne had very little basis in dynastic terms. His great-aunt Emma had been wife to both Ethelred II and Canute, and William’s wife Matilda was a descendant of King Alfred. Those were his only links to the English royal line. William’s own ancestor, Rollo, who founded the duchy of Normandy in the 10th century, had been a Viking pirate. It was left to William’s son, Henry I, to ally himself in blood to the ancient line of Cerdic: in 1100, he married Edith, the niece of Edgar the Atheling, much to the disgust of his Norman barons, who sneeringly referred to the royal couple as ‘Godric and Godgifu’, old Saxon names now fallen into disrepute. Yet the marriage was popular with the common people, who were, after all, Saxon, and later Kings would acknowledge that it was fitting that the blood of Cerdic flowed in their veins.
William I
FATHER: Robert
Known as ‘the Devil’ or ‘the Magnificent’, he was the son of Richard II, Duke of Normandy, by Judith of Brittany, and was born in c.1008 in Normandy. He perhaps married Astrid, daughter of King Sweyn, in c.1027, but repudiated her almost at once. He succeeded his brother Richard III as Duke of Normandy on 6 August, 1028, and died on 2 or 22 July, 1035, on pilgrimage at Nicea in Bithynia. William I was his illegitimate son.
MOTHER: Herleva
Alternatively called Arlette, she was the daughter of Fulbert, a tanner of Falaise in Normandy, by his wife Duxia. She was born in
c.1012. She is said to have been noticed by Duke Robert as she sat washing clothes in a river. Their liaison produced two children (
SIBLINGS:
Adeliza
She was born perhaps in 1029, before her mother’s marriage to a Norman nobleman. She married firstly Enguerrand III, Count of Ponthieu ( d.1053), and had issue:
1 Adelaide (alive in 1096).
Adeliza married secondly Lambert of Boulogne, Count of Lens in Artois (who was killed in battle in 1054), in c.1053, and had issue:
2 Judith (1054/5–after 1086); she married Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria and Huntingdon (who was executed in 1076), and had issue, including Matilda, wife of David I, King of Scotland.
Adeliza married thirdly Odo II, Count of Champagne (disinherited in 1071), and had issue:
3 Stephen, Count of Aumale (before 1070–1121/30), who married Hawise, daughter of Ralph de Mortimer of Wigmore, and had issue.
Adeliza was styled Countess of Aumale in her own right from 1082. She died between 1087 and 1090.
William did not have any full brothers.
HALF-SIBLINGS (the children of his mother’s marriage):
1 Robert
He was born in 1030/1, and was created Count of Mortain in c.1049 or c.1056. He was probably created Earl of Cornwall in c.1066/7. He died on 8 December, 1090/1, and was buried in the Abbey of St Grestain, France.
Robert married, before 1066:
Matilda
She was the daughter of Roger of Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, by Mabel, daughter of William, Seigneur of Alençon-Bellême. The date of her death is not known; she was buried in the Abbey of St Grestain in France.
Issue of marriage:
(i) William
He was born before 1084. He succeeded his father as Count of Mortain on 8 December, 1090/1, and married a lady called Adelaide, of whom nothing more is known. He died after 1140.
(ii) Emma
She married William IV, Count of Toulouse ( d.1094), and had issue.
Robert married secondly:
Almodis
She was perhaps a sister of Boson, Count of La Marche. After Robert’s death, she perhaps married Roger of Montgomery.
2 Odo
He was born between c.1031 and 1035. He entered the Church and was consecrated Bishop of Bayeux in Normandy around 1049 and before 23 April 1050. He was created Earl of Kent in 1066/7; he was deprived of this earldom, which was not forfeited, in 1082, but restored in 1087. He was again deprived of the earldom of Kent in 1088, and this time it was declared forfeit, Odo being banished from England. He died in February, 1097, at Palermo, Sicily, and was buried in Palermo Cathedral.
Odo had the following illegitimate issue:
1 John.
3 Emma(?)
Historians now think she was probably fictitious. She is said to have married Richard of Goz, Viscount of Avranches ( d.c.1082), and had issue:
1 Hugh, Viscount of Avranches, Earl of Chester ( c.1047–1101), who married Ermentrude, daughter of Hugh, Count of Clermont, and had issue. Hugh died a monk.
4 Muriel
She married either William, Count of La Ferté-Macé, or, more probably, Eudo de Capello, Viscount of the Côtentin (it is possible that she had an unnamed sister who married William, Count of La Ferté-Macé –