[MR] Wikipedia: Harold Godwinson Crowned King of England

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

On 5 January 1066, Edward the Confessor, King of England, died. On his
deathbed, he vaguely named Harold Godwinson as "protector" of soon to be
dowager Queen Edith and of England. On 6 January, the Witan (a parliament
of the Earls) elected Harold to be their king.

Besides the vagueness of Edward's last words, there were other problems
with Harold's succession. In 1057, the son of Edmund Ironside, known as
Edward the Exile, returned to England. Edward the Exile was the closest in
the line of succession to Edward the Confessor. Within a day or two,The
Exile was dead, possibly by assination. That made his son Edmund the *Ætheling,
*the rightful successor. As he was still a youth, Edmund was brushed aside
by the Witan.

Of course there was also the claim by William, Duke of Normandy. Whether he
really had been promised the throne will be debated by historians ad
nauseum. It really doesn't matter, because he had the army to back up his
claim. And so, Harold died at Hastings, possibly with an arrow to the eye,
and William became "William the Conqueror". And that, friends, is history.

More about Harold and his accession is at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Godwinson .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge 🦆