martyr king harold

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MARTYR-KING HAROLD AND THE

NORMAN CONQUEST (1066-1070)Dr. Vladimir Moss

Vernost, no. 33, 2006

The Wage !" S#$

The rule of St. Edward brought peace and prosperity -but a drastic decline in the moral condition of thepeople. Like Tsar-Martyr Nicholas of Russia hepresided o!er an unprecedented e"pansion of the#hurch$s in%uence which spread from England toScandina!ia& and in '()) there were probably o!er'(((( churches and chapels for a population of '.*million with +(( churches in ,ent alone.'/ut again

like Tsar-Martyr Nicholas his departure betrayed byhis sub0ects ushered in the fall of the nation and thetriumph of the 1ntichrist.Thus Edmer of #anterbury wrote of the monks of#hrist #hurch #anterbury 0ust before the #on2uestthat they li!ed 3in all the glory of the world with goldand sil!er and !arious elegant clothes and beds withprecious hangings. They had all sorts of musicalinstruments which they liked playing and horses

dogs and hawks with which they were wont to walk.They li!ed indeed more like earls than monks.34

1gain 3se!eral years before the arri!al of theNormans3 wrote the 1nglo-Norman historian 5illiamof Malmesbury 3lo!e of literature and religion haddecayed. The clergy content with little learning couldscarcely stammer out the words of the sacraments& aperson who understood grammar was an ob0ect ofwonder and astonishment. The monks mocked theRule by their 6ne clothes and wide !ariety of foods.

The nobility de!oted to lu"ury and lechery did not goto church in the morning like #hristians but merely acasual manner attended Mattins and the Liturgyhurried through by some priest in their own chambersamidst the caresses of their wi!es. The commonpeople left unprotected were prey to the powerfulwho amassed fortunes by sei7ing their property orselling them to foreigners 8although by nature thispeople is more inclined to self-accumulation of

wealth9... :rinking bouts were a uni!ersal practiceoccupying entire nights as well as days... The !ices
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attendant on drunkenness which ener!ate the humanmind resulted.3;

5illiam mentions that there were some good clergyand laymen. Ne!ertheless e!en allowing for some

e"aggeration the general picture of decline is clear.sblessing to con2uer the =reek-speaking possessions of

the empire in Southern


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to in!ade =reece 8in the '(C(s9 and then during theAirst #rusade the Near East where they establishedthe Norman kingdom of 1ntioch. Aor the Normanswere the /olshe!iks of ele!enth-century Europe the

military right arm of the totalitarian re!olution thatbegan in Rome in '(*+.Thirdly and most seriously in the eyes of ele!enth-century Europeans @arold had broken the oath offealty that he had taken to 5illiam in '()+. Now allthe e!idence suggests that this oath was taken underduress. Ne!ertheless D and e!en if @arold hadrecei!ed absolution for breaking his oath D there canbe no doubt that this sin weakened his positionprobably more than any other factor.

5hen @arold was crowned king 5illiam sent a formalprotest to him which was re0ected. Then ha!ing wonthe support of his nobles and clergy he turned to therest of Europe. ?rofessor :ouglas writes F1t someundetermined date within the 6rst eight months of'()) he appealed to the papacy and a mission wassent under the leadership of =ilbert archdeacon ofLisieu" to ask for 0udgement in the duke$s fa!our from1le"ander


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therefore came !igorously to the support of :uke5illiam and 1le"ander


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been beleaguered by Kikings to the north @ungariansto the east and


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candidacy of Prince 0dgar 4 and that only half$heartedly. %hus onthe 0nglish side there was general agreement that, in spite of hisoath, he was the est man to lead the country.!e was oth hated and admired y the -ormans. %hus William ofPoitiers admitted that he was warli&e, courageous and eager forrenown. 5gain, "rdericus Vitalis, writing some 6* years after thecon2uest, says that !arold 7was much admired for his great statureand elegance, for his odily strength, for his 2uic&$wittedness andveral facility, his sense of humour and his honest earing.7Whatever his personal sins efore he ecame &ing, he appears tohave tried hard to atone for them once he ascended the throne.Perhaps under the influence of Bishop Wulfstan, he put away hismistress, the eautiful 0dith 89wan$nec&:, and entered into lawfulmarriage with the sister of 0arls 0dwin and Morcar, 5lditha.C%hen,

as Florence of Worcester writes, he 7immediately egan to aolishunjust laws and to ma&e good ones' to patroni;e churches andmonasteries' to pay particular reverence to ishops, aots, mon&sand clerics' and to show himself pious, humle and affale to allgood men. But he treated malefactors with great severity, and gavegeneral orders to his earls, ealdormen, sheriffs and thegns toimprison all thieves, roers and disturances of the &ingdom. !elaoured in his own person y sea and y land for the protection ofhis realm.7B

5lthough there had een no open opposition to his consecration as&ing, one source indicates that 8the -orthumrians, a great andturulent fol&, were not ready to sumit:, just as they had not eenready to sumit to


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ethin& himself to correct their wic&ed ways. For in those days the0nglish were for the most part evil livers' and in peace and theaundance of pleasant things lu#ury flourished.:''

?n the spring and summer, as !alley@s comet la;ed across the s&y,the two armies massed on opposite sides of the Ahannel. WhileWilliam uilt a vast fleet to ta&e his men across the Ahannel,


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mercenaries were encamped. 1fter a long battle inwhich both sides suJered huge losses the Norwegianarmy was destroyed and both @arald @ardrada and

Tostig were killed. The >#> manuscript of theAnglo-

Saxon Chronicleends on this high point& but :i!ine?ro!idence decreed that 3the end was not yet3.Gn Gctober ' while he was celebrating his !ictory in

ork ,ing @arold heard that 5illiam had landed at?e!ensey on the south coast. 1lthough from a militarypoint of !iew he would probably ha!e done better torest and gather together a large force from all roundthe country while drawing 5illiam further away fromhis base thereby stretching his lines ofcommunication @arold decided to employ the same

tactics of forced marches and a lightning strike thathad worked so well against the Norwegians. So hemarched his men back down to London.Gn the way he stopped at 5altham a monastery hehad founded and generously endowed to house thegreatest holy ob0ect of the English #hurch - the /lack#ross of 5altham. Se!eral years before this #ross hadbeen disco!ered in the earth in response to a :i!inere!elation to a humble priest of Montacute in

Somerset.


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/ut it was a diJerent story on the way back. @a!ingdecided to march against the Normans without delay@arold 3went into the church of the @oly #ross andplaced the relics which he had in his capella on the

altar and made a !ow that if the Lord granted himsuccess in the war he would confer on the church amass of treasures and a great number of clerics toser!e =od there and that he himself would ser!e =odas @is bought sla!e. The clergy therefore whoaccompanied him together with a procession whichwent before came to the doors of the church wherehe was lying prostrate his arms outstretched in theform of a cross in front of the @oly #ross praying tothe #ruci6ed Gne.

85n e#traordinary miracle then too& place. For the image of theArucifi#ion, which efore had een erect loo&ing upward, when itsaw the &ing humle himself to the ground, lowered its face as ifsad. %he wood indeed &new the futureC %he sacristan %ur&ill claimedthat he himself had seen this and intimated it to many while he wascollecting and storing away the gifts which the &ing had placed onthe altar. ? received this from his mouth, and from the assertion ofmany ystanders who saw the head of the image erect. But no onee#cept %ur&ill saw its ending down. When they saw this ad omen,

overcome with great sorrow, they sent the senior and mostdistinguished rothers of the church, "segood Anoppe and 5ilricAhildemaister, in the company to the attle, so that when theoutcome was &nown they might ta&e care of the odies of the &ingand those of his men who were devoted to the Ahurch, and, if thefuture would have it so, ring ac& their corpses...7')

The a&e !" Ha#$g

Gn Gctober * @arold was back in London with hise"hausted army. #ommon sense dictated that he staythere until the le!ies he had summoned from diJerent

parts of the country arri!ed& but instead to thepu77lement of commentators from the ele!enth to thetwentieth centuries he pushed on by a forced marchof 6fty to si"ty miles south after only a few days> restand without the much needed reinforcements. 5hatwas the reason for this crucial tactical blunderP'

:a!id @owarth has argued con!incingly that thereason was that @arold now for the 6rst time heard8from an en!oy of 5illiam>s9 that he and his followers

had been e"communicated by the ?ope and that5illiam was 6ghting with the pope>s blessing and


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under a papal banner with a tooth of St. ?eterencrusted in gold around his neck. 3This meant that hewas not merely defying 5illiam he was defying the?ope. s delay before the newsleaked out. 1fter that if the battle was won would betime to debate the ?ope>s decision e"plain that thetrial had been a tra!esty 2uery it appeal against it orsimply continue to defy it...3... This had become a pri!ate matter of conscience.

There was one higher appeal to the 0udgement of =od

@imself and @arold could only surrender himself tothat 0udgement >May the Lord now decide between@arold and me> 5illiam had said. @e had beenchallenged to meet for the 6nal decision and he couldnot e!ade it& in order that =od might declare @is

0udgement he was obliged to accept the challenge inperson.3@e left London in the e!ening of '4 Gctober. 1 fewfriends with him who knew what had happened and

still belie!ed in him =yrth and his brother Leofwinehis nephew @akon whom he had rescued fromNormandy two canons from 5altham already ner!ousat the miracle they had seen two aged and respectedabbots who carried chain mail abo!e their habits and- perhaps at a distance - Edith S!anneshals themother of his sons. @e led the army who did notknow the remains of his house-carls and whate!ermen of the fyrd had already gathered in London. Thenorthern earls had been e"pected with contingents

but they had not come and he could not wait. @e rodeacross London /ridge again and this time down the:o!er road to Rochester and then by the minorRoman road that plunged south through the1ndredeswald - the forest now yellow with autumnand the road already co!ered with fallen lea!es. Themen of ,ent and Susse" were summoned to meet atan ancient apple tree that stood at the 0unction of thetracks outside the encla!e of @astings. @arold reached

that meeting place late on Ariday '; ready to face his0udgement& and e!en while the army was forming for


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battle if one may further belie!e the Roman de Routhe terrible rumour was starting to spread that the,ing was e"communcated and the same fate hungo!er any man who fought for him.3'C

The only military ad!antage @arold might ha!e gainedfrom his tactics - that of surprise - was lost 5illiamhad been informed of his mo!ements. 1nd so astheAnglo-Saxon Chroniclesays it was 5illiam whoearly on the morning of Gctober '+ 3came upon himune"pectedly before his army was set in order.Ne!ertheless the king fought against him mostresolutely with those men who wished to stand byhim and there was great slaughter on both sides. ,ing@arold was slain and Leofwine his brother and Earl

=urth his brother and many good men. The Arenchhad possession of the place of slaughter as =odgranted them because of the nation>s sins...3'B

5hy did the chronicler say 3with those men whowished to stand by him3P Because many did not wishto stay with him when they learned of the Pope'sanathema. 1nd yet many others stayed includingse!eral churchmen.5hy did they stay knowing that they stood to lose

not only their bodies but also if the anathema wastrue - their eternal soulsP Kery few probably knewabout the schism of '(*+ between Rome and#onstantinople or about the theological arguments -o!er the Ailio2ue o!er unlea!ened bread at theLiturgy o!er the supposed uni!ersal 0urisdiction of the?ope - that led to the schism of '(*+. Still fewer ifany could ha!e come to the 6rm conclusion thatRome was wrong and #onstantinople was right. That@arold had per0ured himself in coming to the throne

was generally accepted - and yet they stayed withhim.


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3/y what means shall peace and comfort come to=od>s ser!ants and =od>s poor but through #hrist andthrough a #hristian kingP34(1lmost certainly theywere drawn by a grace-6lled feeling of loyalty to the

Lord>s 1nointed& for the English were e"ceptional intheir continuing !eneration for the monarchy which inother parts had been destroyed by the papacy.4'

The English might also ha!e re%ected that this dayGctober '+ was the feast of St. #allistus a third-century ?ope who was considered by many Roman#hristians of his time 8including St. @ippolytus9 to be aschismatic anti-pope.


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wanted by all means to stop the body of the Grthodo"king from becoming a centre of resistance for theEnglish.There is now compelling e!idence that a mutilated

body disco!ered in a splendid con in =odwin>s familychurch at /osham on March 4* 1pril 'B*+ is in factthe body of the last Grthodo" king of England. s left thigh - and one of the bonesin the con is precisely a fractured left thigh bone.
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Thirdly although some sources say that @arold wasburied in the monastery he founded at 5altham hisbody has ne!er been found there or anywhere else inspite of e"tensi!e searches. @owe!er the most

authoritati!e of the sources 5illiam of ?oitiersaddresses the dead @arold thus 3Now you lie there inyour grave by the sea by generations yet unborn ofEnglish and Normans you will e!er be accursed...3 Thechurch at /osham is both by the sea and not far fromthe 6eld of battle...4+

%herefore it is eminently li&ely that the grieving mon&s whogathered up the remains of s the shrine of the protomartyr of /ritain hefound the road blocked according to Matthew of ?aris3by masses of great trees that had been felled anddrawn across the road. The 1bbot of St. 1lbans wassent for to e"plain these demonstrations who inanswer to the king>s 2uestions frankly and fearlesslysaid >< ha!e done the duty appertaining to my birthhe was of royal blood and calling& and if others of my

rank and profession had performed the like as theywell could and ought it had not been in thy power topenetrate into the land so far.> Not long after thatsame Arederic was at the head of a confederacydetermined if possible to compel 5illiam to reign likea Sa"on prince that is according to the ancient lawsand customs or to place... Edgar 1theling in his room.5illiam submitted for a time and in a great council at/erkhamstead swore upon all the relics of the church

of St. 1lbans that he would keep the laws in 2uestionthe oath being administered by 1bbot Arederic.


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end howe!er the #on2ueror grew strong to becoerced by any measures howe!er nationallye"cellent or desirable and he does not seem to ha!ecared much about oath breaking unless it was hewho

had enacted the oath - the unhappy @arold forinstance found thatno light matter - and so 5illiambecame more oppressi!e than e!er. St. 1lbans asmight ha!e been anticipated suJered especially fromhis !engeance he sei7ed all its lands that lay between/arnet and Londonstone and was with dicultypre!ented from utterly ruining the monastery. 1s itwas the blow was enough for Arederic who died ofgrief in the monastery of Ely whither he had beencompelled to %ee.34*

sdeparture. Gn :ecember ) '() it was burned to the

ground...5illiam continued his march systematicallyde!astating the land as he passed through it. Early in:ecember he was in Southwark burnt it and dro!e oJ?rince Edgar>s troops at London /ridge. s widow and ,ing@arold>s sister who ga!e him the key city of5inchester. Then 1rchbishop Stigand submitted tohim at 5allingford. 1nd at /erkhamstead according to

theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle 3he was met by /ishop1ldred of ork ?rince Edgar Earl Edwin Earl Morcarand all the best men from London who submitted outof necessity.3Finally, on Ahristmas Day $ how fateful has that day een, oth forgood and ill, in 0nglish historyC $ he was crowned &ing y5rchishop 5ldred' 7and William gave a pledge on the Eospels, andswore an oath esides, efore 5ldred would place the crown on hishead, that he would govern this nation according to the est practice

of his predecessors if they would e loyal to him.74
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%he ondoners also suffered from their new master. DuringWilliam@s coronation service, 5rchishop 5ldred first as&ed the0nglish in 0nglish if it was their will that William e made &ing.%hey assented. %hen Eeoffrey, ishop of Aoutances, addressed the

-ormans in French with the same 2uestion. When they, too,assented, those who were standing guard outside the 5ey ecamealarmed ecause of the shouting, and started to set fire to the city.Professor 5llen Brown writesG 7"rderic Vitalis, in a vivid passage,descries how panic spread within the church as men and women ofall degrees pressed to the doors in flight, and only a few were left tocomplete the coronation of


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and built castles in 5arwick and ork where herecei!ed the submission of the local magnates andsecured a truce with the Scottish king. Then he turnedsouthward to secure the submission of Lincoln

@untingdon and #ambridge./ut on anuary 4C '()B the Norman whom 5illiamhad appointed earl of Northumbria north of the Teeswas attacked in the streets of :urham and burnt todeath in the house of /ishop Ethelwine. This wasfollowed by an uprising in ork and ?rince Edgarprepared to mo!e from Scotland. 5illiam howe!ermo!ed more swiftly dispersing the besiegers of orkcastle taking !engeance on the rebels and appointing=ospatric as earl.


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dedicated to their blessed countryman in order thatremembering in hea!en that he was a Sa"on hemight protect them and their property from the fury ofthe foreigner. The Norman camp was then se!en miles

from /e!erley. s feet slipping onthe pa!ement he was thrown oJ and stunned by thefall. 1t the sight of their captain half dead the rest of

the Normans turned round& and their imaginationsbeing e"cited hastened full of dread to relate thisterrible e"ample of the power of ohn of /e!erley.5hen the army passed through no one dared again totempt the !engeance of the blessed saint& and.. theterritory of his church alone remained co!ered withhabitations and produce in the midst of thede!astated country...3... Aamine like a faithful companion of the con2uestfollowed their footsteps. Arom the year '() it had

been desolating some pro!inces which alone hadthen been con2uered& but in '()B it e"tended itselfthrough the whole of England and appeared in all itshorror in the newly con2uered territories. Theinhabitants of the pro!ince of ork and the country tothe north after feeding on the horses which theNorman army abandoned on the roads de!ouredhuman %esh. More than a hundred thousand peopleof all ages died of want in these countries.34B


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the #on2ueror and peopled with Norman monks. Grthe monks of the old monasteries were simplyslaughtered to make way for the new. Aor e"ample atStone near StaJord on the Trent as Thierry writes

3there was a small oratory where two nuns and apriest passed their days in praying in honour of aSa"on saint called 5olfed.;(1ll three were killed byone Enisant a soldier of the con2uering army >whichEnisant> says the legend >killed the priest and the twonuns that his sister whom he had brought with himmight ha!e the church.>3;'

?rofessor :ouglas writes 31n ele!enth-centurycampaign was ine!itably brutal but the methods heredisplayed were widely regarded as e"ceptional and

beyond e"cuse e!en by those who were otherwisefer!ent admirers of the Norman king... >< am moredisposed to pity the sorrows and suJerings of thewretched people than to undertake the hopeless taskof screening one who was guilty of such wholesalemassacre by lying %atteries. < assert moreo!er thatsuch barbarous homicide should not pass unpunished.>Such was the !iew of a monk in Normandy. 1 writerfrom northern England supplies more precise details of

the horrible incidents of the destruction and recallsthe rotting and putrefying corpses which littered thehighways of the aOicted pro!ince. ?estilenceine!itably ensued and an annalist of E!esham tellshow refugees in the last state of destitution pouredinto the little town. Nor is it possible to dismiss theseaccounts as rhetorical e"aggeration for twenty yearslater :omesday /ook shows the persisting eJects ofthe terrible !isitation and there is e!idence that theseendured until the reign of Stephen...3;4

1rchbishop 1ldred of ork died broken-hearted onSeptember '' '()B in the burnt-out shell of hismetropolitan see - but not before he had gone to5illiam and publicly cursed him for breaking hiscoronation oath.../ishop 5ulfstan of 5orcester meekly accepted the#on2ueror>s rule& and he was now sent to pacify#hester being the only bishop to whom the people ofthat north-western pro!ince the last to be con2uered

by the Normans would be likely to listen. @issurrender more than any other signi6ed the end of
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the English resistance. Aor while bands of fugiti!escontinued to struggle in diJerent parts of the countryparticularly in the Aens under the famous @erewardthe 5ake 5ulfstan was the last Englishman of nation-

wide renown around whom a national resistance couldha!e formed./efore lea!ing e!ents in the north we should notforget to mention the in%uence of the greatest saint ofthe north St. #uthbert 8)C9. 1fter the !iolent deathof 5illiam>s appointee Robert #omin in :urhananother e"pedition was sent by 5illiam to restoreorder. /ut St. #uthbert>s power which had terri6edunholy kings in the past had not abandoned hispeople.

Aor the e"pedition writes #.. Stranks 3was turnedback by a thick mist sent for the protection of hispeople by St. #uthbert when the army reachedNorthallerton. Then the king himself came. Thefrightened monks led by /ishop Ethelwine of :urhamdecided to take refuge at Lindisfarne and of course totake the body of their saint with them. 5hen theyreached the shore opposite to the island night hadfallen and there was a storm raging. end when miraculously as it seemed to themthe sea withdrew and the path to the island lay open...3Their stay was not long for they were back in:urham by the beginning of Lent '((. Two yearslater 5illiam the #on2ueror himself felt the saint>spower. @e was staying in :urham for a little while onhis way home from Scotland in order to begin buildingthe castle there. ?erhaps he had heard of the %ight to

Lindisfarne for he thought it necessary to take anoath of the monks that St. #uthbert>s body was reallyat :urham. /ut he was still not con!inced andordered that the tomb should be opened on 1ll Saints>:ay threatening that if the body was not there hewould e"ecute all the ocers of the monastery. Theday arri!ed. Mass was begun when suddenly the kingwas sei7ed by a !iolent fe!er.


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until he had crossed the Tees and was safely out of the?atrimony of St. #uthbert...3;;

Meanwhile, Bishop 0thelwine decided to flee -orman 0ngland. !etried to set sail for Aologne, ut adverse winds drove his ship to

9cotland, where he spent the winter. ?n )*6), however, he headedfor 0ly, where the 0nglish were to ma&e their last standHThe La Sa$' !" he E$gh

s men. 5hen 5illiam heard ofthis he in!ested the island and started to build a

causeway towards it.@owe!er @ereward>s men put up a strong resistanceand the 3most #hristian3 ,ing 5illiam then resorted toa most infamous tactic - he called in a witch put heronto a tower o!er the fens and ordered her to castspells on the English. /ut this too failed to work - theEnglish launched a successful counter-attack and thewitch fell from her tower and broke her neck. Ainally itwas through the abbot and monks 8with the

conni!ance of Early Morcar9 that 5illiam con2ueredthe stronghold& for considering it 3their sacred duty3as the /ook of Ely put it 3to maintain theirmagni6cent temple of =od and St. Etheldreda3 theycame to terms with 5illiam and in e"change forpromises that their lands would be restored andcon6rmed they guided the Normans secretly into therebel stronghold.;+

@ereward and his men made their escape& but otherswere not so fortunate. 1s ,ightly writes many must

ha!e wondered 3whether surrender had been such agood idea after all. >The king caused all the defendersto be brought before him 6rst the leaders and thenanyone else of rank or fame. Some he sent toperpetual imprisonment> - among them the deludedMorcar Siward and /ishop 1ethelwine - >others hecondemned to lose their eyes their hands or theirfeet> - 5illiam rarely hanged men preferring to gi!ethem time for repentance - >while most of the lesser

folk he released unpunished.> Then to ensure that Elywould not trouble him again he ordered that a castle


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be built in the monastic precinct 8where its mound stillstands9...3;*

3Ne"t going to the abbey >he stood as far as possiblefrom the tomb of the holy Etheldreda and threw a

gold piece to her altar he dared not go any closerbecause he feared the 0udgement of =od on the wronghe was doing to her shrine.> 1nd well he might forthough the monks kept their estates and their Englishabbot ,ing 5illiam soon found an e"cuse to le!y animmense 6ne on them so that they were forced to sellalmost all the adornments of their church when theirpayment pro!ed a few coins short he increased hisdemands still further and they lost the few treasuresthat remained. >/ut e!en after all this> mourns theEly

/ook >no one belie!ed that they would be left inpeace> - and nor were they.3;)

5fter further adventures, !ereward was eventually reconciled withWilliam. !owever, another 0nglish leader, 0arl Waltheof, was not sofortunate. !e had joined a conspiracy of -ormans and 9a#ons whichwas defeated in attle, and was e#ecuted at Winchester on May I),)*6+, just as he finished prayingG 7... and lead us not intotemptation.7 85nd then, goes the story, in the hearing of all, thehead, in a clear voice, finished the prayer, JBut deliver us from evil.

5men.(:

;

!e was uried at Arowland, and according to 5otWulf&etyl of Arowland many miracles too& place at his tom,including the rejoining of his head to his ody.;C!owever,veneration of him as a saint was not permitted y the -ormanauthoritiesG Wul&etyl was tried for idolatry C1 efore a council inondon, defroc&ed, and anished to Elastonury...

,OOTNOTES

K1 %he Fall of "rthodo 0ngland, Vladimir Moss, 9t Michael@s Press, 0ngland, **3, pp.I*, pg. )*$)+I. $httpGLLwww.cafepress.comLorthodo#oo&*3 , )N.NN

'Loyn @.R.Anglo-Saxon ngland and the !orman Con"uest London Longmans 'B(

p. 4*+& =. 5ardArchaeologica Cantiana !ol. ULK p. CB. 4#ife of St$ %unstan& 2uoted in 1ntonia =ransden 3'()) and 1ll ThatRe!isited3 &istory September 'BCC p. +C. ;esta Regum Anglorum slightly modi6ed from the translation in =ransden op. cit. +See 5alker op. cit. p. ';C.

*Arank McLynn writes 8op. cit. p. 'C49 that @arold$s allegedper0ury was Firrele!ant because e!en if @arold did actuallyswear the most mighty oath on the most sacred relics thisneither bound Edward in his be2uest nor the witan in itsrati6cation& whate!er @arold said or did not say it had nobinding power in the matter of the succession.H)

(illiam the Con"ueror op. cit. p. 'C. 5hat would ha!ehappened if 5illiam had lostP ohn @udson speculates that
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Fthe reformers in the papacy who had backed 5illiam in his2uest for the English throne might ha!e lost theirmomentum. Normandy would ha!e been greatlyweakenedVH 8FThe Norman #on2uestH BBC &istory)aga*ine !ol. + no. ' anuary 4((; p. 4;9.


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4;?ollock op. cit.4+The church at /osham is also depicted on the /ayeu"tapestry from which @arold is seen setting out on his fateful0ourney to Normandy in '()+.

4*Translated in /ld ngland0 A Pictorial )useum of Regal1

cclesiastical1 Baronial1 )unicipal and /ther PopularAnti"uities 'C+* reprinted by 1rno ?ress New ork 'BC p.'B*.4)Gsbern of #anterbury +ita %unstani& in /ishopsStubbs )emorials of St$ %unstan Rolls series 'C+ p. '+4.4Anglo-Saxon Chronicle1 : '()).4C1llen /rown op. cit. p. '*C.4BThierry &istory of the Con"uest of ngland by the!ormans London :ent 'C+( !olume

martyr king harold

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