HAROLD SACRAMENTUM FECIT VVILLELMO DUCI ("Harold made an oath to Duke William"). Bayeux Tapestry: This scene is said to have taken place at Bagia (Bayeux, probably in Bayeux Cathedral). It shows Harold touching two altars with the enthroned Duke looking on, and is central to the Norman Invasion of England
Harold was the son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and Gytha, a Danish noblewoman.[1] His sister, Edith, was married to the king he succeeded, Edward the Confessor.[2] About that same time Harold became Earl of East Anglia.[3] When his father died in 1053, Harold inherited his earldom of Wessex.[3]
Elfgar, son of Leofric of Mercia was appointed to replace Harold in East Anglia. Berkshire and Somerset were joined to Wessex again.[3] Wessex itself was, in those days, an enormous amount of land that covered about a third of England. Harold ruled over a large portion of England, making him the most powerful man in the whole kingdom, after the King.
Harold Godwinson had three brothers: Tostig,[4] Swegen[5] and Gryth.[6] He claimed to have been made King by Edward the Confessor. Before Harold Godwinson became king, he swore to help William, Duke of Normandy to become king.[7]
In September 1066 Harold Godwinson defeated an invasion from the north by Harald Hardrada.[6] He returned south to fight Duke William's invasion.[7] He was killed, it is generally assumed, by an arrow shot by one of William's archers, but some reports say he was cut down by many soldiers.[8]
References
↑Orderic Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, Volume II, Books III And IV, ed. Marjorie Chibnall (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1993), p. 216
↑The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester; With the Two Continuations, trans. Thomas Forester (London: Henry G. Bohn; New York: AMS Press, 1854), pp. 150-52
↑ 3.03.13.2Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 561–569
