The battle of Hastings was fought on October 14, 1066 between the Anglo-Saxons under King Harold Godwinson, and the Norman army under William, the Duke of Normandy. For a little background, Edward the Confessor, the last king of the house of Wessex, had died on the 4th of January 1066, without a child. Now you can see how this might have been a bit of kerfuffle.
At this time there were 5 people in the running of the next monarch-
- Harold Godwinson
He was the brother of Edgar’s wife, who alleged that Edward had named him his successor on his death bed.
2. William of Normandy
He was a friend and distant cousin of Edward who claimed that Edward had promised him the throne in a letter he wrote in 1051.
3. Edgar Ætheling
He was the the great-nephew and the closest living relative to Edward. He spent the early years of his life in exile in Hungary.
4. Harald Hardrada
He was the king of Norway whose claim sprouted from an agreement he alleged between Hardicanute, Edward’s brother and predecessor. And also, the fact that he believed England to be a Viking country, because of the series of invasions past the years.
5. Svien Estridsson
He was the cousin of Harold Godwinson and claimed the throne on the basis that Hardicanute was his uncle.
To understand this a bit better you’re going to look at what impacted the succession after the death of a monarch.
- Blood Relatives-
Now the closest thing Edward had to a blood relative, was the 14 year-old Edgar Ætheling. He was originally elected as the king, but never crowned. As he was only a teenager at the time, he was not considered strong enough to be the sovereign of what was then one of the mightiest kingdoms in the world.
2. Identified as successor by the previous monarch
In this case Harold and William had both claimed that Edward proclaimed them as his successor, but this didn’t matter as much as our next point.
3. Support from nobles
This is the main factor of why Harold’s claim was the strongest he had support of the nobles. With good terms between the nobles and monarch, there would be a better functioning of the kingdom. This is what initially led to Harold becoming king.
So when William found out that Harold had taken the throne of England, he built up a large fleet and by the September of 1066, he had invaded England.
After the bloody battles of the Bosworth field and the Gate of Fulford, William had finally defeated and killed Harold Godwinson, and he had conquered England.
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