Harold himself… fell covered with deadly wounds

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Thought shall be the harder, the heart the keener, courage the greater, as our strength lessens. Here lies our leader all cut down, the valiant man in the dust; always may he mourn who now thinks to turn away from this war play. I am old, I will not go away, but I plan to lie down by the side of my lord, by the man so dearly loved.—The Battle of Maldon

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In this year king Athelstan, lord of warriors,
Brown Ring-giver of men, with his brother prince Edmund,
Won undying glory with the edges of swords,
In warfare around Brunanburh. The Parker Chronicle, annal for 937

and Bloopers: http://www.etonline.com/news/167786_outlander_season_2_first_look_and_bloopers/

and—If I have to explain you obviously are too young to watch the show:

Then he sent his men all over England into every shire to ascertain how many hundreds of “hides” of land there were in each shire, and how much land and live-stock the king himself owned in the country, and what annual dues were lawfully his from each shire. The Laud (Peterborough) Chronicle,

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He forbade the killing of boars even as the killing of harts. For he loved the stags as dearly as though he had been their father.
The Laud (Peterborough) Chronicle,

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TODAY 1/6–in 1066, marks the date when Harold became King—an Anglo Saxon one (and the last of that genre)–the picture–probably not a great likeness –is from a tapestry made by the Normans (or at least their women) who would cut the reign off at 9 months (and yes he was probably expecting a visit from the man (and bastard) whom may or may not have had any more right to that the throne than did Harrold: William soon to be called Conqueror replacing the bastard label.

If you’re really interested in Anglo-Saxons–it’s where the English language originated while the native Celts spoke a more Gaelic dialect— more like Jamie and crew in Outlander–who originated in Germany and started raids on the Isle in the middle of the 5th century (see my Pinterest on my novel of King Arthur that I’m working on–https://www.pinterest.com/lindachase56829/my-novels/ ) and by the middle of the 6th c they had established kingdoms which included Wessex, Mercia and Northumbra and controlled most of the country which is now England. Any way as I was saying if you’re interest in them the Brits have the best trove ever of the Anglo-Saxons, acquired from a burial ship from a place you probably never heard of Sutton Hoo (Suffolk) http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sutton-hoo and they’re all now in the British Museum in London (below) http://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/sutton-hoo-and-europe-ad-300-1100-new-gallery-at-the-british-museum

But back to Harold– seems that there’s a lot of he (Harold) said, he also said (William) and what he (Edward) supposedly said about this all: That is Edward the Confessor (king 1042 – 1066) who was the only British King who was canonized—for you less religiously versed people that means they made him a saint. Interestingly enough one of the reasons he was made a saint is that he didn’t even have sex with his wife, who by the way was Harold’s sister….so it’s possible that he was made a saint due to sexual performance or preference issues. And yes Saxons were Christians–which back then only offered one option–Catholic, but not always in fact another Saint–Augustine (like that town we have in Florida) was sent by Rome itself in 597 AD, to convert the pagan kingdom and of course their king. He succeeded and is given credit for founding the main church ( no longer Catholic but Church of England–now) in England–Canterbury. http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/conservation/

In fact there’s still a Saxon Church still standing: St. Laurence (see below) was built in the late 8th century. Located In Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, it is one of relatively few surviving Anglo-Saxon churches in England that does not show later medieval alteration or rebuilding. http://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=1621

But there I go again—-back to Harold, when Edward died (childless of course–remember the celebrate bit we just talked about) Harold said that he named him, (his fav brother-in-law) king (and there was support from the Saxon Lords) while in distant France was William the Bastard, soon to be Conquer who claimed to both have a pledge from Edward for the crown coming to him and another from Harold who prior to all this going down was cruising about and end up ship wrecked and captured by yeah William again– of support and allegiance. Since neither of them were ever made or even considered (not that I’m privy to the church’s decision on such matters, just assuming) sainthood it was pretty much like a Judge Judy show.

Before he was king Harold was the Earl of Hereford–he reportedly founded the town of New Radnor in Wales (see below) which had a Forest that was really moorland used for hunting and a rich abundance of wildlife–seems that’s the original meaning of Forest. Who knew?!

So now Harold is Harold II–they don’t stay with one thing long do they. He knew that William wanted his kingdom, but he knew he wasn’t the only one—see there were the Vikings who claimed the throne through treaties and previous occupation and Edgar the Atheling (meaning prince) who held the best claim direct through direct decent from a previous Viking rulers but he was like less than a year old and so not Harold’s immediate problem.

See the Vikings had gone from raiders to conquerors and held large parts of Britain and in fact York was one of their strategic towns…the town street names ending in “gate” come from the Danish and mean “street” or “Way”. The Jorvik Viking Center http://jorvik-viking-centre.co.uk/ there has a very historically accurate ride which includes sounds and smells from the Viking era and the figures you see have actually been recreated from a computer study of actual skeletons….it’s very interesting.

Anyway the appearance of Halley’s comet (felt to be an ill omen) in April and his own brother’s Tostig’s mismanagement which resulted in his replacement by and the resulting threats to avenge this slight only made matters worse. Tostig and Harald Hardrada another Viking claimant eventually hooked up to plan–you guessed it—an invasion. After some misadventures Harold and his army hit the invaders at Stamford Bridge and soundly defeated them on September 25. But before they could celebrate word came that William was invading in the south.

This Stone was erected to remember the Battle of Stamford Bridge which took place on 25 September 1066 http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/analysis/battle-for-stamford-bridge-to-be-given-its-due-1-6068684

But poor Harold had no time to celebrate as the Normans under William had arrived. So Harold and his army turned south while Willaim built an earth and timber castle at Hastings. Harold and friends arrived on October 14 or there abouts and that must have been a march…a battle weary army moving about 225 miles–if they started the return the next day after the battle that’s still almost 12 miles a day which given the conditions of the roads and the fact that most of the troops were on foot is a feat to be admired.

But there was to be no more victories for Harold and the British Isle went from English as norm (which wasn’t native as I mentioned before) to French–with generations going by before a British King spoke English. Never would England be successfully invaded again—but first there was Hasting and the Defeat of Harold who may or may not have died with an arrow through his eye, but who was only king for 9 months and 8 days.

Today there is a monument, to the man who was so shortly a king, near Battle Abbey (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/1066-battle-of-hastings-abbey-and-battlefield/history/) that William had built and in which he had the high alter set at the site of the short reigning monarch’s place of death.

. “Remarkably, this Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (as it was later known) was written not in Latin, as was the practice in virtually every other literate corner of Europe, but in the everyday language that people spoke. By the end of the tenth century, this language had a name for the new state: it was ‘the land of the Angles’, Engla lond.4”
Author: Marc Morris