King Edward The Viking King: Success Or Failure

William believed he would be welcomed with open arms as the new king, but he severely misinterpreted the situation. The throne of England was far from that of Normandy. It was beyond Edward’s ability to promise the throne to William auspiciously and conclusively. However, a similar situation occurred with Harold Earl of Wessex. As he lay dying Edward’s dying word left the care of his wife and kingdom in the hands of Harold. Howard mentions that this could have been misinterpreted as well. Harold’s dying words of, “I commend this woman and all the kingdom to your protection” does not explicitly label Harold as the King. Edward’s dying words did give Harold a higher leverage in that early English laws labeled The King as ruler and protector of the people and not the actual territory. Harold’s claim to the throne is made more legitimate because The Witan later chooses him.

However, Edward did something very odd—he promised the crown to William, Duke of Normandy—a cousin through Edward’s mother, Emma. This perplexingly odd promise was made even stranger when, according to the Bayeux Tapestry, Harold was shipwrecked off the coast of Normandy and brought to stay at the court of William. There he supposedly swore an unbreakable oath, giving William his loyalty and support in his path to the crown. He returned to England. Yet when the king died, his dying words seemed to be appointing Harold “protector” of England, which was interpreted as “king”. So Harold was named the king, breaking his supposed promise to William. Furious, William invaded England. Freshly crowned, Harold was not only dealing with this Norman threat, but also an invading Norwegian Viking army, led by Harald Hardrada, who, like William, also believed he had a claim to the throne. Harold easily defeated Harald’s forces at the Battle of Stamford Bridge (near York), but then was forced to drive his tired, bedraggled army to Hastings to confront the invading Norman troops. There, at the famed Battle of Hastings, William became William the Conqueror, decisively defeating the English, killing Harold, and winning the crown.

William was a better leader because although Harold had the upper hand in the battle and they were losing, William managed to outwit and defeat the English. In the Bayeux Tapestry there is a scene depicting that in the days preceding the

done. Henry claim to the throne was weak as his claim only came from a

In the middle of September, England was invaded by Harold Hardrada, King of Norway. He was accompanied by Tostig, Earl of Northumbria, Harold's unruly and discontented brother, who had earlier been banished and his earldom confiscated

By 1051, Edward had managed to appoint Normans as bishops, and eventually half were filled by Englishmen and the other half by Normans and other foreigners; Godwine and English Earls hated this. In 1050, the Archbishop of Canterbury died and instead of Godwine’s relative Aelfric being appointed, he made Robert of Jumieges Archbishop instead. The witans supported this decision, this may have been because Godwine was in such a strong position that the other Earls were jealous. So overall,Edward had not been a complete success with regards to gaining power over Godwine as he hadn’t managed to appoint all the positions to Normans and only got one up on Godwine when appointing archbishop as there was rivalry between the Earls.

William was already good and experienced at ruling so thus should be no problem for him. William was already the ruler of Normandy and was doing a great job so being ruler of England wouldn’t be a

Such was the case for Edward III of England who was also the Duke of Guyenne in France and thus he felt entitled to the French throne. In spite of this, the

Atheling actually means 'throne worthy' and was the title given to the most legitimate heir; but a legitimate blood claim was only part of the issue. The crown would go to the claimant who could muster most support amongst the 'great and the good' of England. In January 1066, Edgar Atheling was a minor, and with the wolves breathing at the door, the English magnates could not afford to risk the kingdom in such inexperienced hands. So they turned to Harold, the obvious power behind the throne, who, as we have seen, had prepared his ground

Of William I’s (1066-1087) sons, William the II (1087-1100) was a better king than his younger brother Henry I (1100-1135). William I’s was the first Norman king to rule England. He split his heritance between his three living sons. Robert received the rule of Normandy, William II received England and Henry I received five thousand pounds. In early medieval England a good king was a heroic soldier and a strong leader who was fair but enforced the law. It was also important that they were Christian and unsinful. William II “The Rufus”-because of his red face or temper, was true to himself and what he believed in while Henry I “Beauclerc”-because of his high level of education, was a brutal and selfish king, not only to his people, but also

Harold took an oath of loyalty to William in front of many Norman lords and Harold said he would do all that was required of him. After this William was impressed with Harold and he took Harold with him when he launched an attack against Conan, the count of Brittany at the time. Harold received gifts from William like weapons and horses as William was thankful for how Harold helped him out. Finally, Harold returned to England and William thought he had the crown of England in the grasp of his hand. When the king at the time, Edward the Confessor, passed away Harold was crowned the new king of England since he was somewhat related to the king.

The same thing is for the Vikings, where the king's son is appointed to the throne. “Especially Sweyn and Cnut had connections with England as Sweyn after 27 years of trying succeeded in becoming King of England in 1013. However, his reign was short, as he was killed shortly after. His son Cnut the Great, however, through marriage of the English successor was able to gain control over England in 1016” ( Follow The Vikings).

Cnut the Great, also known as Canute, was the son of Denmark’s King Svein Forkbeard and helped his father to conquer England in the year 1013. After Svein’s death, the exiled Anglo-Saxon king, Ethelred the Unready, returned to power, but died in 1016 and was succeeded by his son Edmund Ironside, who signed a treaty that gave Cnut power over part of England after being defeated at the Battle of Ashingdon later that year (1016). However, Edmund died a few weeks later and all of England came under Cnut’s rule. His reign brought stability after years of raids and battles. Eventually, Denmark, Norway, and possibly parts of Sweden also came to be under his rule, forming a vast empire that is often referred to as the Anglo-Scandinavian or North Sea Empire.

As the King was considered a representative of

There is a critical difference between the two countries that seems to have heavily contributed to the reason William won, and Harold lost. Although his troops were fighting on their home soil, they simply were not as warlike and aggressive as the Normans, and were doomed to failure.