the succession crisis

the Godwinsons began during 1018 when knig Cnut made his favourite advisor, Earl Godwinson, the earl of wessex. they had lots of political power and influence in england, so much in fact, they helped to get edward as the king. in return edward married earl Godwinsons daughter and that only made the earl even more powerful.

although, in 1053 when earl Godwinson died, the house lost a lot of power as people tried to stea his position in court. this was shortlived though as the Godwinsons returned to their dominance of england by 1060. they controlled:

• wessex - harold was the earl
• northumbria- tostig was the earl
• east anglia- gyrth was the brother
• a little bit of the southwest midlands- leofwine was earl.

this meant that they had a lot of influence  

By marrying Edith, Edward had strong ties to the godwinson family and so made them a lot more powerful just through that connection. also the fact that england was under threat by Norway meant that edward needed strong earls to be his military leaders, this was why tostig was put in as earl of northumbria instead of waltheof who was too young to lead men in a battle.

the only rival to the Godwinsons power was Aelfgar, Earl of Mercia. but he was a traitor and teamed up with Llywelyn to fight for the return of his earldom. when he died, Llywelyn looked for another person to help him but was stopped and killed by the Godwinsons. after he was killed Harold chose and puppet king who would answer to him, and assumed himself as Edwards right hand man, controlling his armies and cementing his power as the most powerful earl in england.

in 1065 Harold went to normandy to either swear himself to William and promise that he will support his claim to the throne, or to rescue his nephew and his brother from being held hostage

either way, on the journey his ship crashed and he was taken prisoner but william got him out of that poition and either willingly or not Harold had to swear on holy relics that he would support williams claim to the english throne and help him get it.

this was important for a number of reasons:

• it allowed the normans to calll harold an oathbreaker as harold said he would help willim but went for the throne himself. this was a big deal in the Anglo-Saxon times
• it could show how trusted an advisor harold was to edward.
• it could also show how much harold disobeyed edward by not listening to edwards warning and sailing to normandy anyway.
• it was used to stengthen williams claim to the throne and helped him to gain power

when tostig was the earl of northumbria the people hated him, this was because:

• he was friends with the king of scotland and let him attack england quite frequently
• he was unjust and imposed new laws using his legal actions to get rid of any rivals
• he taxed northumbria too much
• he ordered the assassination of many high-born northumbrians when they were his guests
• he was the first southerner to govern the north.

one time he killed two of gospatrics followers whiles they were his guests and when gospatric went to complain, he killed gospatric too. this caused a massive uproar and the northumbrians tried to kick tostig out for good. edward told his earls to stop the revolt but they made excuses and refused. this meant that tostig was exiled and a new person was elected as the earl of northumbria.

tostig blamed harold for this and sailed around europe and looked for an ally to help him destroy england.

hedward died on the 5th of january 1066  and his death was followed by a succession crisis. especially seems as edward promised harold the throne on his death bed.

Harold Godwinson was a good successor as he was already the strongest man in england and had a lot of wealth. he was also promised the throne so had a good claim and harold had alliances all over the country.

William was a good choice as he too was promised the throne by Edward, he was also a very experienced and strong military leader. he was also backed by the pope, who was very important.

edgar wasn't that very likely to be king as he was only 10 but he did have the strongest claim as edwards grandson.

harald hardrada would be a good leader but didn't have a strong enough claim to the throne to make it.

the witan decided that as soon as they announced the king William would try to invade and so they needed to get a defence together very quickly. this was why they anounced that harold would be king. as king he would have to:

• stop any challenges from other earls in england
• gain acceptance in the north
• defend against tostig
• defend against william

in response to these problems he:

• called a meeting with the northern earls to make sure he was good with them and had their support
• set up a massive army (the biggest england had seen) to stand on the coast and wait for william

in september 1066, a team of tostig and harald hardrada went to invade england and get revenge for tostigs exile. the first battle was at gate fulford. the vikings won and the saxons had to give them hostages.

they arranged to give the hostages to the vikings at stamford bridge but harold godwinson and his troops came to attack tehm whiles they were unprepared. tostig and harald were killed and the english won. but they didnt know this just exhausted them before their big battle with william.