Why was Harold even there?

This inexplicable visit is not mentioned in any English sources (had they any knowledge of it?) as the ASC was totally and strangely silent for the year entry 1064 As the Norman sources were written after the events of 1066, their interpretation of what may have happened are therefore suspect, probably twisted out of all proportion with propaganda designed to airbrush Harold from history.

Certainly Harold seemed to be on a personal mission- Edward didn't have the power to order him to stop him (though in the Bayeux Tapestry a crestfallen Harold is afterwards seen lowering his head to Edward, as if to say "I told you so"?) . Harold set out to sea from his manor at Bosham and is seen in the Bayeux Tapestry boarding his ship with hunting birds etc, but was shipwrecked on the treachorous coast at Ponthieu in a storm, despite the expertise of the English seamen.

• Was Harold hoping to visit Baldwin of Flanders to help negotiate with William in order to secure the release of his brother(Wulfnoth) who was later moved to England on William's orders & kept in close custody and freed upon his death in 1087 only to be in chains during William II's reign? Maybe Wulfnoth died a free man at Winchester priory? Harold's nephew Hakon (Sweyn Godwinson's son)- was also held by the duke since Jumieges kidnapped them in 1052 and may also have been the purpose of Harold's voyage? But if so, why had Harold waited this long to free them?
• Was Harold intending to visit various European leaders (ie. The Norman 'puppet' Pope or The Holy Roman Emperor- as in the late 1050's)? Was Harold sailing to arrange a political marriage between one of his sisters- Elgiva?(d.1066, was she the mysterious Elgifu in the Bayeux Tapestry?) and a nobleman in Flanders/Ponthieu/France or other European nation, building an alliance against William?

Guy of Ponthieu (who captured Harold and his retainers on the shipwrecked coast) and Harold were previously acquainted- in 1056 on the continent in the presence of Baldwin V... and only the Normans say that Harold was in any danger!!!
Another noted Englishman- a certain Hereward(not ‘the Wake’ but exiled son of a king's thegn) similarly fell into the hands of one of Guy's neighbours (Manasses of Guines). When he established his identity, he was released and treated honourably.

Blown off-course in a storm & wrecked upon the coast notorious for this- Local Count Guy (William's former foe but now his vassal since the vicious battle of Mortemer in the 1050's) claimed all booty- as permitted from wrecks- from such "accidents" and so maybe Harold et al were victims of the false harbour lanterns that deliberately enticed ships to their doom? Harold & retainers were fettered by Guy's men (the brutal types who would not normally even blink at torturing a hostage to exact higher ransoms) & led off to a gaol at Guy's castle at Beaurain.

But one escaped to find the ambitious & greedy William who, seeing a golden chance for personal gain(Ransom? Succession issue? Sizing up his rival?) he immediately raced to Guy and ordered his vassal to hand them all over- or maybe 'dire events' would ensue.
William had them taken to his Norman capital Rouen as his honoured "guests", where they met William's own family, watched tournaments and ate lavishly etc. It suited William to be shown as Harold's rescuer (obligation to him) and tie the powerful earl to him by even knighting him!
Harold was possibly even flattered by William's praise of his recent Welsh 'conquests' in order to win him over? Maybe William browbeat him into more than one Brittany campaign with the Duke (wanting to witness his man's battle strengths & weaknesses for a later date?).

William used a rebellion in Brittany's east to advance to Dol, Rennes and to Dinan (to punish Count Conan II for recent raids into Normandy's Western frontier, where Conan submitted). Harold distinguished himself valiantly- once pulling two drowning Norman troops out of marshes.

William and Harold had both got the measure of their 'opposite' numbers (strengths, weaknesses, battle-prowess and character) and maybe only superficially exchanged pleasantries for a time they both by now must have inwardly known would soon drastically change?

Back at the scheming duke's main hall in Rouen(?), William then secretly had some holy relics hidden in a chest beneath a sheet...with an "oath" from Harold in mind...

Debunking some Normanist myths...

Should Harold have sent messengers to those loyal Welsh princes (brothers Bleððyn and Rhiwallon- who had been allowed by king Edward to rule in North Wales after the death of renegade Welsh king Grufydd ap Llewelyn and acknowledging him as their overlord, agreeing to pay tribute and supply troops when asked), who could have speeded a substantial armed retinue of men by horse to aid him?

Maybe also at least have sent 'feeler's out to Malcolm Canmore of Scotland, and the Cornish- giving them false promises of land agreements, etc?

Imagine you are Harold Godwinson around 21st Sept 1066...

You force-march a huge army northwards 190m- most of it being mounted housecarls and thegns for speed which is crucial to prevent York surrendering - to meet a massive Norse invasion army led by the fearsome Viking warlord(Hardraada) and your own traitorous younger brother(Tostig).

Immediately after this gruelling but stunning victory in which your army had slaughtered about 80-90% of the Norse veteran warriors(only "24 out of 300 ships" took them home), you hear of William's landing(29th Sept), you leave 'your man' in the north- Merleswein- to act as sheriff in that region(as Edwin and Morcar's forces had been shattered at the battle of Fulford, and maybe your faith in their command and loyalty also?), before another exhausting fast 190m march south to London.

As you dash southwards down the 'great north road' to London with your surviving mounted thegns and housecarls to rest, regroup and make arrangements for the impending battle, you send messengers into the southern and western shires (and E.Anglia?)to again quickly raise another general fyrd.

Controversially(and going against your experienced and militarily capable character as a proven general and statesman during King Edward's and your own short reign) you impulsively ignore your brother Gyrth's prudent advice(and maybe also Leofwine's, Edith's and your mother Gytha's, as well as many senior commanders?). This might be because;

1. You are proud of your military heritage and also feel morally bound as Wessex earl & King, to save your kinfolk from the brutal and deliberate ravages of the newly-invaded Normans(hangings, rapes, mutilations and slaying of children etc), designed to taunt you into premature battle- as William well knew it would, and had to.

2. You couldn't know if William was getting reinforcements by sea & thus getting stronger each day- the Saxon Navy was still in London at this time, changing crews and refitting to soon sail again to cut him off.

3. You are supremely confident of crushing William by surprise, having done the same to the fearsome Norse warlord Harald Hardrada's professional army only 3wks before with stunning success. Three years before that, you had crushed the Welsh menace, King gruffydd ap Llewelyn too with equal success.

4. Quickly "bottling William up" within the [then] narrow, marshy confines of the Hastings peninsula, with the natural aid of the flanking dense woods, was crucial to annul his cavalry that you saw in action in 1064- If William 'broke out' with his cavalry then he could go anywhere! Or maybe you could allow him to do so whilst also then 'scorching the earth' between Hastings and London/Winchester whilst hitting the starving, marching Norman army hard with huge, fierce and co-ordinated Guerilla-style ambushes/pitched battles- ala Hereward and the 'Silvatici'- then melting into the local lands which they would know inside-out?

Norman warhorses, dying from malnutrition, would have left William's v.weakened army dangerously exposed & almost certainly slaughtered. Containing and starving William's men - and crucially their horses- was the crux, you could sap the Norman strength by war of attrition whilst they lay idle in their bottleneck & cut off by sea behind them.

William would have to surrender- time was on your side...

5. You note William's lack of an advance inland for three weeks and must have thought either;- William wasn't strong enough to attack London or engage your army in pitched battle? Maybe William wanted you to attack him on Hastings peninsula, protected by the terrain etc, maybe with strong communications with Normandy?

So you arrange a meeting point which is well known to all the local men, and maybe previously considered by you as a useful defensive hill in case of having to withdraw from any possible reversals of fortune further south if plans didn't succeed.

Having left orders for the weary fyrdsmen still trickling in from the north(incl.archers- and the many men from the shires) to follow on and meet you at the 'hoare apple tree', you order your navy to sail behind the invader's base and whilst you soon afterwards speed a further 60m south with a large mounted army to link up with the fyrdsmen near the dense Andredsweald.

However, you may have made this meeting point too near to the Norman camp seven miles away, and their scouts alert William(unlike the Norse three weeks before) who pre-empts your attack by himself marching north to meet you. You do indeed have to fight a defensive battle now, but all isn't lost.

Your adversary is a brutally tough, experienced and great general whom you saw in battle two years before, and whom you also know needs to bring you to battle very soon if his conquest is to succeed- and his men(many mercenaries) don't revolt, as many did in 1069/70.

All you have to do is issue strict orders to your fyrdsmen to defend well, and wait for reinforcements to come in from England throughout the day(many of whom will not have heard your strict orders to hold firm on the hilltop)- another few thousand fresh fyrdsmen and maybe earls Waltheof, Morcar & Edwin with any surviving thegns/housecarls...

http://www.anglosaxonengland.darkbb.com

Did the axemen amongst those mighty warriors fight in pairs?

Let me introduce you to William of Poitiers's desperate propaganda ...!

1. According to Poitiers, the English army were-

"The fiercest of men...always by nature ready to take up the sword"
They had "Easily defeated the King of the Norwegians"
They had "Resisted bravely" at Hastings.
The Norman/Bretons were "Terrified by their ferocity"
- But soon afterwards they were "never famed for their feats of arms" ???

2. In one sentence Earl Harold had "honour, wealth and power",

Then, ever after the Normans failed to airbrush Harold from history due to him apparently being dishonest, "greedy" and a "usurper"
Usurping whom? Being lawfully elected King by the ruling powers- and the KING HIMSELF- doesn't make it illegal...
- So, was Harold no longer "such a man as poems liken him to Hector or Turnus"?
- And did Poitiers no longer feel the need to have to boost William's post-1066 image to 'match up' to Harold's strength and renowned martial prowess by stating insecurely "William, his equal and in no way inferior in standing"
But remember- "We do not revile you, Harold"...

3. William had "50,000 men-at-arms" amassing in Normandy before September 1066!

So, what happened to the other 36,000 French/Breton/ Norman/Sicilian/ Flemish men upon landing in England then?

4. William "subjugated all the cities of the English in a single day"...

So, he took London and was crowned on October 15th, 1066 was he?
What of Hereward's huge and brutally-fought revolt of 1071?
And what about the many large, threatening revolts against the Norman usurpers (not just by his OWN kinsmen either!), deemed by William to be so serious that he showed up to lead his troops in person (ie Chester, Exeter, Durham and York)?

A 'single day', eh?
And what of the "Murdrum Fine" William?........................I rest my case!

"They [the Normans] produced little in art or learning and nothing in literature that could be set beside the work of Englishmen..." (Prof. Frank Stenton)

http://www.anglosaxonengland.darkbb.com

The suitability of the great warrior, diplomat and nobleman Harold Godwinson...