Harold

by Ian W. Walker

  3. AB, pp. 107–8, Jones, Vikings. pp. 400–5.

  4. AB, p. 124, King Harald’s Saga, tr. M. Magnusson and H. Palsson (Harmondsworth, 1966), pp. 9–39, K. Skaare, Coins and Coinage in Viking Age Norway (Oslo, 1976), pp. 65-8.

  5. AB, pp. 124, 127–9, Jones, Vikings, pp. 405–6, Magnusson and Palsson, Harald’s Saga, pp. 48–63 for the saga account. S. Blondal and B.S. Benedikz, The Varangians of Byzantium (Cambridge, 1978), pp. 54–102, and H.R.E. Davidson, The Viking Road to Byzantium (London, 1976), pp. 207–29 for the historical basis.

  6. Magnusson and Palsson, Harald’s Saga, pp. 68, 70, where Thjodolf’s verses indicate a warlike stance between the two Norwegians followed by the sharing of the kingdom, and p. 73, a verse by Bolverk, which admits Harald made payment to Magnus for a share of the kingdom. AB, pp. 122–4 for an account heavily biased in favour of Swein of Denmark who of course did not control either England or Norway. Magnusson and Palsson, Harald’s Saga, pp. 79–80, 122–4 for verses on this war. Skaare, Coins, pp. 106–8, Magnusson and Palsson, Harald’s Saga, pp. 62–6, P. Grierson, Coins of Medieval Europe (London, 1991), pp. 74–5, Skaare, Coins, pp. 65–8 for Harald’s wealth and coinage.

  7. WP, p. 166 [9], AB, pp. 158–9 and Magnusson and Palsson, Harald’s Saga, pp. 135–6, Jones, Vikings, pp. 406–8.

  8. Magnusson and Palsson, Harald’s Saga, pp. 127–9 in Thjodolf’s verses, Hardy and Martin, Gaimar, p. 164, ASC C 1066, JW 1066.

  9. Stokes, Tigernach 1058 for this earlier invasion. AB, p. 128, ASC C 1066, JW 1066 for this surprise and ASC D 1045, JW 1045 for knowledge of Magnus’s invasion plans. Stenton, A-S England, p. 588, Barlow, Feudal Kingdom, p. 76, Douglas, William, p. 180 and Brown, ‘Hastings’, p. 7, WP, p. 166 (29), Magnusson and Palsson, Harald’s Saga, p. 137 for the Norwegian claim.

  10. ASC C/D 1066 where Tosti submits to King Harald.

  11. ASC C/D/E 1066, JW 1066, Stevenson, Simeon – Kings of England 1066 names the landing place.

  12. ASC D/E 1066, Kapelle, North, pp. 103–4 errs in placing the fall of York before the battle of Fulford. Stenton, A-S England, p. 589, Douglas, William, p. 193, Brown, Normans, p. 155, Barlow, Feudal Kingdom, p. 80.

  13. ASC C 1066, JW 1066, Magnusson and Palsson, Harald’s Saga, p. 144 for mention of Waltheof. DB Yorkshire, C28 for Fulford, Kapelle, North, p. 104 for the folly.

  14. ASC C/D/E 1066, JW 1066, Magnusson and Palsson, Harald’s Saga, pp. 143–4.

  15. ASC C 1066, JW 1066, Douglas, William, p. 193, Stenton, A-S England, p. 589, Brown, Normans, p. 156, Whitelock, ‘Dealings of the Kings’, p. 88 for Northumbrian separatism but EHD I, No. 52, p. 476, Wilkinson, ‘Separatism’, pp. 516–26 and F.M. Stenton, ‘The Danes in England’ in D.M. Stenton (ed.), Preparatory to Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford, 1970), p. 161 for another view.

  16. ASC C/D/E 1066 and JW 1066 imply that word of the Norwegian landing at York was sent to Harold, but he was probably already aware of their earlier progress along the coast. DB Worcestershire, 26: 16, DB Essex, 6: 15, Barlow,Edward, p. 262 for this story recorded by Osbert of Clare in 1138.

  17. R.P. Abels, Lordship and Military Obligation in Anglo-Saxon England (London, 1988), pp. 160–70 and N. Hooper ‘Anglo-Saxon Warfare on the Eve of the Conquest: A Brief Survey’ Proceedings of the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies, 1977 (1978), pp. 84–6, N. Hooper, ‘The Housecarls in the Eleventh Century’, Anglo-Norman Studies, VII (1984), pp. 161–76 for huscarls. I favour Hooper’s initial view of the housecarls as distinct from thegns and the fyrd. Hollister, A-S Military Institutions, pp. 38–102, Abels, Lordship, pp. 176–84 and Hooper, ‘A-S Warfare’, pp. 87–9 for the fyrd.

  18. ASC C 1066. ASC D/E 1066 relate events in a compressed form which omits this distinction. EHD I, No. 49, Item 71 and R.H.C. Davis, The Medieval Warhorse (London, 1989), pp. 74–5 for extra horses. Hooper, ‘A-S Warfare’, pp. 84–93 but also R. Glover, ‘English Warfare in 1066’, EHR, LXVII (1952), pp. 1–18 for use of horses in war. B.S. Reilly, The Kingdom of Leon-Castille under Alfonso VI (Guildford, 1988), p. 149 and B. Bachrach, ‘The Angevin Strategy of Castle Building in the Reign of Fulk Nerra, 987–1040’, AHR, 88 (1983), p. 542 for the rates of travel.

  19. DB Kent, D3 for mounted royal messengers.

  20. ASC C/D 1066, Kapelle, North, pp. 104–5, Brown, Normans, p. 156 and Whitelock, ‘Dealings of the Kings’, p. 88 for Northumbrian separatism but refuted by Wilkinson, ‘Separatism’, pp. 504–26.

  21. ASC C 1066, JW 1066, DB Yorkshire, 4E2 for Catton.

  22. Stenton, A-S England, p. 590 and Jones, Vikings, pp. 413–14.

  23. ASC C/D/E 1066, I. Atkinson, The Viking Ships (Cambridge, 1979), p. 26, Mariani Scotti Chronicon – Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores ed. G.H. Pertz (Hannover, 1844), Vol. V, p. 559.

  24. Magnusson and Palsson, Harald’s Saga, pp. 150, 152.

  25. ASC C/D 1066, JW 1066, Magnusson and Palsson, Harald’s Saga, pp. 151–52, Hooper, ‘A-S at War’, p. 200 but Glover, ‘Warfare’, pp. 1–18 for an alternate view.

  26. Magnusson and Palsson, Harald’s Saga, p. 153. (Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd)

  27. Jones, Vikings, p. 413.

  28. VER, p. 89 This poem was subsequently turned into a form more critical of Harold and particularly of his role in Tosti’s death. WP, pp. 170 [10], 202 [15] for a Norman appreciation of this victory. Barlow, Feudal Kingdom, pp. 80–1, Douglas, William, p. 194.

  29. Brown, ‘Hastings’, pp. 7–8 and Hooper, ‘A-S at War’, p. 193 for the impressive nature of English military organization, but also Brown, ‘Hastings’, pp. 6–7.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  1. Wilson, Bayeux, pl. 71.

  2. JW 1066, ASC D 1066, WJ, p. 167 and WP, pp. 160–4 [89].

  3. WP, pp. 160–2 [8], Gillingham, ‘William’, pp. 155–7, Douglas, William, pp. 193–6, Bates, William, p. 66.

  4. WJ, p. 167, WP, p. 168 [9-10], ASC D/E 1066, JW 1066, Wilson, Bayeux, pls 42–51, Gillingham, ‘William’, pp. 157–8.

  5. Stenton, A-S England, p. 592 and Bates, William, p. 67, Gillingham, ‘William’, pp. 148–54. Douglas, William, pp. 213–15, 219–20 for William’s use of mobility on other occasions.

  6. WP, p. 170 [10], DB Sussex, 5: 1.

  7. ASC E 1066 where Harold came from the ‘north’ to the battle. JW 1066.

  8. Knowles et al., Heads, p. 81 for Abbot Aelfwig and ASC E 1066 for Abbot Leofric. EHD II, No. 223, pp. 964–8 (Abingdon Chronicle) for the men of Abingdon including Thurkill of Kingston and Sheriff Godric. DB Huntingdonshire, D7 for those of St Benets and EHD II, No. 238, p. 983 for Bury’s tenants. J. Backhouse, D.H. Turner, L. Webster (eds), The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art (London, 1984), p. 198 where a twelfth-century martyrology of St Augustine’s records a tradition of the fall of Harold with ‘very many of our brethren’. This last may refer to men of the abbey but perhaps simply to fellow Englishmen. DB Suffolk, 76: 20, 31: 50 and DB Hampshire, 69: 16 for these men.

  9. JW 1066, ASC D 1066, Hardy and Martin, Gaimar, p. 222, Kapelle, North, p. 105, JW 1066 but here the later compiler of this source seems to draw an inference not found in the more contemporary Chronicles.

  10. ASC D 1066.

  11. ASC D/E 1066, JW 1066, Brown, ‘Hastings’, p. 8, Stenton, A-S England, p. 592, Douglas, William, pp. 196–8, Bates, William, p. 68.

  12. JW 1066, WP, p. 180 [11], reinforced by even later accounts like that of Stevenson, Malmesbury – Norman Kings, p. 18. Darby, Domesday England, pp. 243–5 for the effect of Norman raids in Sussex.

  13. WJ, p. 167, WP, pp. 172–8 [10–11], 180 [11], Gillingham, ‘William’, pp. 159–60.

  14. Douglas, William, pp. 216–17, Bates, William, pp. 76–7, Barlow, Feudal Kingdom, pp. 87–8, Brown, Normans, pp. 43–5 and Gillingham, ‘William’, pp. 155–6 for the Breton expedition.

  15. WP, p. 180 [11] for the fleet. Gillingham, ‘William’, p. 157, Hooper, ‘A-S at War’, p. 198, Barlow, Feudal Kingdom, p. 82 almost appreciates this point.

  16. ASC D 1066 for this landmark
. DB Sussex, 9: 21 for this estate. C.H. Lemmon ‘The Campaign of 1066’ in D. Whitelock, D.C. Douglas, C.H. Lemmon and F. Barlow, The Norman Conquest (London, 1966), p. 97 places it, not implausibly, on nearby Caldbec Hill. WP, pp. 172–4 [10], 178–80 [11], R. Bartlett, Trial by Fire and Water (Oxford, 1988), p. 104.

  17. WJ, p. 167 and WP, p. 180 [11].

  18. ASC D/E 1066, JW 1066.

  19. WJ, p. 169 and WP, p. 184 [12], Brown, ‘Hastings’, p. 9 and Lemmon, ‘Campaign’, p. 102.

  20. WP, p. 224 (38), Wilson, Bayeux, pls 54–5, Stevenson, Malmesbury – Norman Kings, pp. 19–20 and The Chronicle of Battle Abbey, ed. E. Searle (Oxford, 1980), p. 40 for Harold’s banner, which was raised on the spot where Battle Abbey was later built. Hooper, ‘A-S Warfare’, pp. 91–3 and ‘A-S at War’, pp. 199–200 for the English battle tactics. Wilson, Bayeux, pls 61–2 for the shield wall. Douglas, William, pp. 198–9, Brown, ‘Hastings’, pp. 9–10, Lemmon, ‘Campaign’, p. 100 for the strength of Harold’s position. Lemmon, ‘Campaign’, p. 100 suggests he reconnoitred the position during the summer of 1066, while he awaited the invasion. Brown, ‘Hastings’, p. 9 where it is suggested Harold adopted this position on the spur of the moment, which is more unlikely.

  21. Hooper, ‘A-S Warfare’, pp. 85–7, Hooper, ‘Housecarls’, pp. 169–72 and Abels, Lordship, pp. 160, 167–70 for the huscarls. Hooper, ‘A-S Warfare’, pp. 88–9 and Abels, Lordship, pp. 175–9 for the fyrd.

  22. WP, pp. 184–6 [12], Brown, ‘Hastings’, pp. 11–12 and Lemmon, ‘Campaign’, pp. 104–5 for William’s army, and WP, pp. 182–4 [12] for his speech.

  23. WJ, p. 208, JW 1066 both state that the battle began at the third hour, which Lemmon, ‘Campaign’, p. 105, places at this time. WJ, p. 169 says it began early in the morning. WP, pp. 186–90 [12-13] and Wilson, Bayeux, pls 60–5 for the course of the battle.

  24. WP, pp. 190–2 [13], Brown, ‘Hastings’, p. 14 n. 87 and Douglas, William, pp. 200–1, Lemmon, ‘Campaign’, pp. 107–8, Wilson, Bayeux, pls 63–4 and WP, p. 204 [15] for Harold’s brothers.

  25. WP, p. 190 [13], Wilson, Bayeux, pls 66–7.

  26. WP, pp. 190–2 [13], WJ, p. 169 and JW 1066, Lemmon, ‘Campaign’, pp. 107–8, Barlow, Feudal Kingdom, p. 83 for the condemnation of Harold. Gillingham, ‘William’, pp. 145–8, R.C. Smail, Crusading Warfare 1097–1193 (Cambridge, 1972), pp. 15–16 and P. Contamine, War in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1984), pp. 255–9.

  27. WP, pp. 192–4 [13].

  28. WP, p. 194 [13–14], Lemmon, ‘Campaign’, pp. 109–10 disputes the tactic, but see Brown, ‘Hastings’, pp. 14–16 for its use, here and elsewhere, by trained troops.

  29. Wilson, Bayeux, pls 68–70 where large numbers of arrows also appear in English shields and bodies. WP, p. 194 [14], Brown, ‘Hastings’, pp. 16–17, WJ, p. 169 mentions only that Harold fell in ‘the last shock of the battle’ as amended, surely correctly by Gillingham, ‘William’, p. 148 n. 36 from the incorrect form ‘the first shock of battle’.

  30. Wilson, Bayeux, pl. 71. N.P. Brookes and H.E. Walker, ‘The Authority and Interpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry’ Proceedings of the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies, 1978 (1979), p. 33 for confirmation of the figure with the arrow in his eye as Harold. It would be interesting to know whether the archer whose arrow felled the king fulfilled the penance laid down by the Papal legate in 1070 of penance as for 3 Lents (see EHD II, No. 81, p. 650). Whatever reward he may have received after the conquest could not be enough. Wilson, Bayeux, pls 71–2, WJ, p. 169, and Searle, Battle Abbey, p. 38.

  31. Wilson, Bayeux, pl. 71 for the figure falling beneath a Norman knight. Brookes and Walker, ‘Bayeux Tapestry’, pp. 32–3 for this also representing Harold. Stevenson, Malmesbury – Norman Kings, pp. 20–1 relates the story of the cowardly action of striking the fallen Harold. WJ, p. 169 and WP, pp. 204 [15], 224 (38), Hooper, ‘A-S Warfare’, p. 93, Lemmon, ‘Campaign’, pp. 110–11, Brown, ‘Hastings’, pp. 17–18, Stenton, A-S England, pp. 595–6, Barlow, Feudal Kingdom, p. 84, Douglas, William, p. 201 for the decisive importance of Harold’s fall.

  32. ASC D 1066, WP, pp. 200 [15], 204 [15], JW 1066, DB Huntingdonshire, D7, Knowles et al., Heads, p. 81, and DB Suffolk, 76: 20 for these men. Davis, ‘William of Poitiers’, p. 113 considers this account may have been inspired by the story of Achilles and Hector’s body in the Iliad. Stevenson, Malmesbury – Norman Kings, p. 23 and Swanton, Three Lives, p. 34, WC, pp. 51–7for Edith ‘Swan-neck’.

  33. Swanton, Three Lives, pp. 38–40, Thorpe, Gerald of Wales, pp. 198–9, Jones, Brut – Peniarth, 1332, p. 127, Wilson, Lost Literature, pp. 58–9 and Rollason, Saints, pp. 218–19 for Harold as a hermit in Chester and M. Ashdown, ‘An Icelandic Account of the Survival of Harold Godwineson’ in Clemoes, The Anglo-Saxons, pp. 123–4 for him as a hermit at Canterbury. C. Kightly, Folk Heroes of Britain (London, 1984), p. 110 and Ashdown, ‘Icelandic Account’, pp. 134–5 for Harold as folk hero.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  1. ASC D 1067 (recte 1068).

  2. B. Hudson ‘The Family of Harold Godwineson and the Irish Sea Province’, JRSAI, 109 (1979), pp. 92–100 provides a good account of the fate of Harold’s family but my opinion differs in several respects. In particular, the references to Tosti, son of Swein, depend on a late source and this individual is mentioned nowhere else so I have discounted him. It is of course just possible he represents a distant memory of Hakon, son of Swein. ASC D 1066, WP, pp. 208–16 (36–37), The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio of Guy, Bishop of Amiens, ed. C. Morton and H. Muntz (Oxford, 1972), pp. 38–42 for the period after Hastings.

  3. ASC D 1066, JW 1066 and WP, pp. 214–16 (36–37), Morton and Muntz, Carmen, pp. 41–3 for Edgar’s position.

  4. JW 1066, Morton and Muntz, Carmen, p. 40 for Edith. Support for such a view might be found in WP, pp. 166–8 [9] and VER, p. 54 but is discounted by Barlow, Edward, p. 242.

  5. ASC D 1066, WJ, pp. 171–3, JW 1066, WP, pp. 216–46 (37-40).

  6. EHD II, No. 81, p. 649 for the Ordinance. M. Chibnall, The World of Orderic Vitalis (Oxford, 1984), p. 11 for Orderic’s feelings on the foreign speech of the Normans, ASC D 1066 for castles, EHD II, No. 81, p. 649 for the looting of churches, ASC E 1066 for land seizures. R.H.C. Davis, ‘The Norman Conquest’ in Davis (ed.), Alfred to Stephen, pp. 59–60 for a general view.

  7. WJ, pp. 177–9, WP, pp. 262–4(41), Swanton, Three Lives, p. 110, ‘It was as if the whole strength of the country had fallen with Harold’.

  8. ASC D 1067 (recte 1068). WJ, p. 181. J. Allan, C. Henderson and R. Higham, ‘Saxon Exeter’ in J. Haslam Anglo-Saxon Towns in Southern England (Chichester, 1984), p. 385 for Exeter’s status (after London, York and Winchester) with c. 2,000 citizens and 400 houses. For the family lands in the region see the relevent entries in DB Devonshire, Somerset and Cornwall but conveniently summarized by Clarke, English Nobility, pp. 164–205. Flanagan, Irish Society, p. 59 for the Godwine family counter offensive, but I consider Harold’s sons were also present. Also Williams, The English, pp. 19–21.

  9. DB Devonshire, 1: 50, Hamilton, William of Malmesbury, De Gestis, p. 204 and Knowles et al., Heads, p. 72 for Sihtric, EHD II, No. 223, pp. 964–8 (Abingdon Chronicle) and Knowles et al., Heads, p. 24 for Ealdred. M. Lapidge, ‘Surviving Booklists from Anglo-Saxon England’ in M. Lapidge and H. Gneuss (eds), Learning and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 58–9 for Saewold, Sawyer, ‘Tenurial Revolution?’, p. 73 for Brihtric and Chibnall, Ecclesiastical History, pp. 211, 215.

  10. ASC D 1066, Flor 1067, Chibnall, Ecclesiastical History, pp. 194–6, J. Le Patourel, The Norman Empire (Oxford, 1976), p. 41.

  11. ASC D 1067 (recte 1068).

  12. Chibnall, Ecclesiastical History, pp. 210–12, Flor 1067, ASC D 1067, Douglas, William, pp. 216–17.

  13. Flor 1067, Chibnall, Ecclesiastical History, p. 214, ASC D 1067 (recte 1068). WJ, pp. 181–3, Chibnall, Ecclesiastical History, p. 224, Wallace, ‘Viking Dublin’, p. 205 and Maund, Ireland, p. 167 for Diarmait. The Annals o
f Inisfallen, ed. S. MacAirt (Dublin, 1951) 1068, WP, p. 224 (38) and Wilson, Bayeux, pl. 71 for these standards.

  14. ASC D 1067 (recte 1068). DB Somerset, 1: 14 and 16 for Godwine’s lands and Hill, Atlas, map 225 for the Taunton mint. Flor 1069, Chibnall, Ecclesiastical History, p. 224 and these spoils. Freeman, Norman Conquest, Vol. III, pp. 788–90 for Harold’s sons.

  15. ASC D 1069, Flor 1069, WJ, pp. 181–3, Chibnall, Ecclesiastical History, p. 224 and Flanagan, Irish Society, p. 60. DB Devonshire, 17: 41 and Darby, Domesday England, pp. 238–9 for wasted lands. ASC D 1069, Flor 1069, WJ, pp. 181–3, Chibnall, Ecclesiastical History, p. 224.

  16. ASC D 1067 (recte 1068), Flor 1067, WJ, p. 183, Chibnall, Ecclesiastical History, p. 244.

  17. Brown, Normans, p. 191, Barlow, Feudal Kingdom, pp. 89–90, Douglas, William, pp. 213, 267, Stenton, A-S England, pp. 600, 602, Stafford, Unification, pp. 103–4, Loyn, Norman Conquest, p. 105, Chibnall, Anglo-Norman England, p. 16 for views.

  18. Chibnall, Ecclesiastical History, p. 224 for Flanders. P. Grierson, ‘Relations between England and Flanders before the Norman Conquest’, TRHS, 4th Series, 23 (1941), p. 109, Lapidge, ‘Booklists’, p. 39 and Rogers, ‘Relic-List’, p. 167 for these bequests.

  19. Douglas, William, pp. 224–5 for the Flemish situation. Appendix One for Aethelric. J.F.A. Mason, ‘William the First and the Sussex Rapes’ in 1066 Commemoration Lectures (London, 1966), pp. 37–58.

  20. Christiansen, Saxo, p. 58, Fell, Women, p. 183, ASC D/E 1069 and D/E 1070, Chibnall, Ecclesiastical History, pp. 224–34 and AB, p. 160 for Danish invasions. Christiansen, Saxo, pp. 58, 228 n. 20, Snorri Sturluson-Heimskringla, tr. S. Laing (London, 1930), p. 236 and The Russian Primary Chronicle, ed. S.H. Cross and O.B. Sherbowitz-Wetzor (Cambridge, 1973), p. 214 for Gytha’s marriage supported by B. Rybakov, Kievan Rus (Moscow, 1989), p. 224, D. Obolensky, Six Byzantine Portraits (Oxford, 1988), pp. 89–90 and G. Vernadsky, Kievan Russia (London, 1973), pp. 96, 336.

  21. J. Martin, Medieval Russia 980–1584 (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 57–89, Vernadsky, Kievan Russia, pp. 99–209, S. Franklin and J. Shepard, The Emergence of Rus 750–1200 (London, 1996), pp. 278–319 for the Russian background.