The Story of HAROLD II , KING OF ENGLAND
Being an English patriot I find the story of Harold amazing! Thought I would share it with you all, and if there are any Hollywood directers passing through…heres your next blockbuster!! 
HAROLD II , KING OF ENGLAND (…blessed father of your country,
Harold marked out by your merits, you, our shield, fist and sword…)
Mention King Harold to anyone and 9 times out of 10 you’ll get the response, “isn’t he that geezer with the arrow in his eye”; well to me and many other people he is without doubt the greatest unsung English Hero in history. After all, he gave his life for our country and came within a whisker of becoming one of, if not the greatest Mediaeval General; unfortunately fate conspired against him.
Now the Scots have William Wallace; and they can keep him; because if anyone ever gets round to making a film about the life of our King Harold it would make the exploits of old William look like a Sunday afternoon stroll, and what’s more; if the film was ever made you could tell the story exactly how it was without having to pad out the story with a load of crap made up by some script writer in Hollywood (thanks for that Mr Gibson).
He was born around the year 1020 during the confusion surrounding the
crowning of Cnut. This was followed by much bloodshed until eventually Edward the Confessor was sent for and offered the crown. Edward despite being the only candidate descended directly from the English royal line had spent virtually his entire life in exile at the Norman Court. The fact that Edward had spent so much of his time at the Norman court and to a great degree was very heavily influenced by them was to sow the seeds of later discontent.
Harold rose rapidly through the ranks of royal service first
becoming Earl of East Anglia and then Wessex but it wasn’t all plain
sailing. Many of the English nobility became increasingly to resent the way
in which Edward; who was always a very weak king who never led his troops into battle; appointed Frenchmen to key posts in the English hierarchy. Things came to a head when in July 1051 Count Eustace of Boulogne, King Edwards former brother in law landed in Dover and “caused much offence to the people of Dover by their high handed manor”. On the return journey after speaking with King Edward at Gloucester the people of Dover offered him no hospitality and Eustace in turn ordered his men to don their chain mail, after which the Normans set off rampaging through the town demanding food
and lodgings. After a small skirmish a local and a soldier lay dead and
Eustace ordered his men to charge cutting down in the process children and babies. The local citizenry gathered together an armed posse and after a running battle, in which 20 of the local militia of Dover lay dead along with an unknown number of women and children, eventually managed to expel the intruders. Count Eustace licking his wounds after 19 of his best men lay dead with an unknown number injured, raced back to King Edward at Gloucester to demand retribution.
Because Dover was part of Godwin’s Earldom many chroniclers at the time saw the whole incident as a pre-meditated plan by King Edward to
wrestle some power away from the English nobility. The most powerful of the English nobility at the time was Godwine (Harold’s father) who was even more convinced of the Norman plot against him when King Edward immediately ordered Godwin to punish the town and its inhabitants, to which Godwin flatly refused.
Egged on by his Norman advisors the King raised his army to crush Godwine. Harold and his other brothers rode swiftly to the side of his father along with their own retinue of elite household troops or housecarls. Eventually their was a standoff at the river Thames with the King bolstered by many Norman soldiers on the North bank and the Godwinsons on the south bank. Godwine by now had a large numerical disadvantage due to many of the English nobility; despite the presence of so many Norman troops; refusing to face their King in battle. With the refusal of safe conduct to put his case even after the King had taken Harold’s younger brother and nephew hostage, Earl Godwine and his sons, with no other option open to them saddled up and
rode away, to all intents as outlaws. Many of the pursuing army had split
loyalties and allowed the Godwine family to escape. The Godwine family split into two party’s with the aging Godwine and most of his family embarking for Flanders and Harold and one of his brother Loefine setting sail along with their housecarls for Ireland. They would be back.
With Harold, his father and the rest of the family in exile the King divided
up their land between himself and his French friends but the party wasn’t
going to last.
While in Ireland Harold, after being joined by more disenchanted
Englishmen, kept himself busy by helping the local Irish chieftain take complete control of Dublin by kicking out the Vikings. After this he gathered his forces and set sail back to England. He landed at Porlock and defeated in battle a force sent by the King before joining up with his father and the rest of his brothers and heading back to
London. At London the King, deserted by virtually the whole of the English
army had no option but to negotiate. The status quo was re-established with the English once again taking precedence in the English court and many of the Normans banished. The only downside being that Eustace of Boulougne, who had started the whole drama had escaped back to
France with Harold’s younger brother and nephew.
With the French gone everything settled down. Harold’s father died and he
was promoted, by the King to the earldom of Wessex. He was now the most powerful earl in the country and with the mis-trust that had existed between Harold’s father and the King now gone, Harold became his trusted lieutenant and advisor.
Everything was fine, until the Welsh started raiding, first around the
borders and then further and further into the English heartlands. Up until
now every English army which had tried to pursue the Welsh back into Wales had been ambushed and then slaughtered in the Welsh mountains. Harold was having none of it and attacked using his navy along the coast before pushing inland and meeting up with his brother who had simultaneously invaded from the east. After having the heads of some of his loyal housecarls, who had been captured sent to him by the Welsh, he met violence with violence and eventually, after destroying every Welsh army sent against him the Welsh turned on their King and sent his head to Harold. Harold had achieved the hitherto impossible and conquered Wales using combined navy and infantry forces. With the fighting over Harold showed mercy to the defeated and called a halt to all reprisals and after having the Welsh nobility swear allegiance to King Edward even lifted the ban on Welsh women marrying English men.
With the Welsh subdued Harold returned home and now put his thoughts to
retrieving his brother and nephew from Normandy who by now had been held hostage for many years. He set sail for Normandy with a small force to some how bargain for their safe return. The reason for this journey is very important because Norman propaganda i.e. The Bayeaux Tapestry likes to show Harold as someone who usurped the throne for his own selfish purposes and suggests that the real reason for this journey was to take a message from King Edward to William the Conqueror that the Frenchman was his chosen heir to the Crown of England. Historians now dispute this; after all Harold was now the most powerful man in England, he was at his peak of his powers, he basically ran the country and the army for King Edward and basically could have taken the Crown if he had wanted it but instead stayed loyal to his King. After all the trouble that had previously happened over Norman dabbling in English affairs, would Harold or the rest of the English nobility really have so meekly accepted a foreign King? The answer has to be no.
Fate once again dealt Harold a bum hand and he was shipwrecked off the
French coast and eventually came into the hands of William the Conqueror. He
was received well by William as a head of state and even went into battle
with William against his enemies and fought so well that he was awarded a
knighthood by William. The Bayeux Tapestry shows Harold rescuing two of
Williams men from a swamp by carrying one on his shoulder and dragging the other with his spare hand. It was around this time that the Norman
historians say that Harold had gave an oath to William that he would make
good his claim to the crown. This again cannot have been true. In Norman society unlike English society oath giving was almost unheard of. Instead the Normans would normally have taken hostages in order to compel Harold to make good on any promise. Instead of taking more hostages William actually released Harold’s nephew into his care. Also both Harold and William would have known that it was beyond even his power to offer the crown to anyone as the new King was always voted for by the Witan (parliament). The matter of the oath has to be seen as more of Williams attempts to justify his forthcoming invasion.
After returning home Harold had more trouble contend with. His brother
Tostig who was the earl of Northumbria had brought trouble onto himself by basically killing anyone who he didn’t like and the men of the north had
rebelled and were heading south to forcibly put their case to the King. With
so many enemies just waiting for their chance to invade England Harold new that they could not afford a costly civil war between North and South and so eventually the King gave in to many of the rebels demands. In a rage Tostig set sail for Norway and the Court of Harold Hardrada.
King Harold Hardrada was a this time the most renown and feared warrior in the whole of Europe. He stood 6 feet 6 tall and had fought and won battles everywhere from the Orkneys to Byzantium where he had been the leader of the Emperors elite Varangian Guard. Tostig eventually persuaded Harold Hardrada that he could invade England and no one there would have the force to stop him. The year was 1066 and at home King Edward had died and named Harold as his successor. This decision was then rubber stamped by the witan and Harold was crowned king.
In Normandy after hearing of the Witan’s decision William began to put
together an invasion fleet. Through his spies Harold knew that William would be coming and gathered together a huge army backed up by the navy on the southern shores of England. On one side of the channel sat the Normans and on the other sat Harold and the English. Both sides waited for the change in wind that would allow the Normans
to sail to England but the change never came. Yet again at a crucial time
Harold’s luck had deserted him. The southerly winds which kept the Normans in France and away from Harold’s army were welcomed by Harold Hardrada who immediately set sail for England
and landed near York with a massive army of Viking warriors. They were
immediately met by the Northern Earls at Fulford gate where the English army was quickly routed.
On the south coast Harold heard the news of the invasion and immediately
marched the 190 miles north with his army; completing the entire journey in under four days. The Norwegian army was atthis time camped at Stamford Bridge when they first become aware of dustcloud coming towardsthem. Not believing that a second English army could have travelled from thesouth so soon they
take no immediate action until Tostig recognises the two banners; the Dragon of Wessex and King Harold’s own personal banner The Fighting Man.
King Harold rides out with twenty of his Housecarls and is met by the
Norwegian King, his body guards and Tostig. Snorri Sturluson; a Norwegian who was present at the battle later wrote that
King Harold rode forward and spoke to Tostig:
“Your brother King Harold sends you his greeting, and this message to say
you can have peace and the whole of Northumbria as well. Rather than have you refuse to join him, he is prepared to give you
one third of his whole kingdom”
Tostig replied asking if he accepted this offer what would King Harold offer
the Norwegian King.
“King Harold has already declared how much of England he is prepared to grant him: seven feet of English ground, or as much as he is taller than other men”
With the partly finished both armies formed their battle lines. The Norwegian King asked Tostig who was the man was who had spoken so well and stood so proudly in his stirrups. Tostig replied
that that was his brother King Harold of England. The Norwegian King was
annoyed that if he had been told he could have killed Harold there and then. Tostig replied:
“That would have made me his murderer and I would rather that he was my killer than I his”
At this point battle was joined and the English army fell on the Norwegians.
The battle lasted for hours and eventually the Norwegian King was killed. Harold offered quarter to Tostig and the remaining Norwegians but they refused this and once again the battle was rejoined until the
Norwegian army was eventually destroyed.
Harold had won a stunning victory against a foe who up till now had been
considered unbeatable. The Norwegian fleet which had come to England had been 300 ships strong. The remnants of
the army that now departed left in only 20 ships, but the English army had
also suffered massive casualties and many of Harold’s housecarls, the core of the army lay dead on the battlefield.
Word soon reached Harold that once again the winds had changed and William had landed at Pevensy. Only pausing to take his brother’s body for burial at York Harold gathered the remnants of his army together and once again force marched the 190 miles to London.
Once in London Harold tried to bolster his exhausted army with local levies
raised from the surrounding areas. Harold’s brothers, Girth and Leofwine tried to tell the King that he should wait in London for
reinforcements and they would go and fight the Normans. Harold was having none of it, saying that if an English army was going into battle than that army should have it’s King with them. Harold tried
to wait for the Northern earls to arrive with their housecarls but then news
reached him that the Normans were burning Wessex. This was his land and his people and he would wait no more. He could and should
have waited.
In a hard fought battle on Senlac Hill the English after 2 forced marches of
190 mile each and 2 major battles in little more than 10 days were eventually defeated. The battle raged all day and although the English army had still not been joined by their archers and were without any form of cavalry, with the core of their army dead from the previous battle they came within a hairs breadth of once again pulling off a famous victory;
until once again fate reared its ugly head and Harold took a severe wound
from an arrow.
The Normans gradually ground down the remaining English by repeated cavalry charges and using their archers.
The Kings loyal housecarls died to a man around his banner.
Although he only reigned for 9 months and 9 days during that time he had to contend with a series of attacks from his brother and 2 full scale invasions. Any one of these might have overwhelmed a lesser man but
Harold overcame all but the last. Undaunted by two major invasions in the
space of one month, he completely defeated the great warier Harald Herdradi of Norway and was within an ace of defeating
William of Normandy. He took everything that fate could throw at him and
responded with determination, an iron will and true English courage, but in the end not even this was enough.
After the battle Harold’s sons and daughters fled abroad. His daughter Gytha had a son, Harold who went on to become the Grand Prince of Kiev. This Russian Harold had a daughter called Ingibiorg who
later married Cnut Lavard of Denmark and bore him a son who became King Valdemar of Denmark from whom the current queens of both Denmark and Great Britain are descended. In this way the blood of
King Harold Godwineson, runs again in the veins of the rulers of England.
This man was everything the Scots would love William Wallace to be and more; he was OUR Braveheart who died at our Alamo, a true patriot who put his people and his country before everything else and displayed many of the qualities and attributes that we hold dear in our great nation.
Every year on the anniversary of his death proud English men and women still show their respect by placing flowers on the spot where the last truly English King fell in battle, protecting his country and his people.
Here’s a few messages left with the flowers:
In respectful and grateful memory of our King Harold, the last English king,and all those who died that day defending our island, there homeland.
King Harold, unconquerable except by death.
Our King Harold; Warrior King, Man above all others; Did his duty before God
and his people. 1000 years on - courage remembered, sacrifice never
forgotten.
displacement!!! :roll: Carnt you just take the story and enjoy it for what it is??
(Jens is running around bagfeds yard 
)
(Along with my whistling techniques 
. I enjoyed the story by Alba, and hope that more people submitt more storys in the future.