The Story of 1066

Gone Medieval

The episode dissects the pivotal year of 1066, moving beyond the Battle of Hastings to explore a brutal succession crisis triggered by Edward the Confessor's death. Hosts Matt Lewis

Key takeaways

• Edward the Confessor's death on January 5th left no universally accepted heir, triggering an interregnum where Harold Godwinson quickly claimed the throne via a disputed deathbed promise.
• Harald Hardrada leveraged a convoluted inheritance treaty from 1038 to justify his invasion, allying with Harold's exiled brother Tostig to strike northern England in September.

Main topics

• Anglo-Saxon succession crisis
• Stamford Bridge campaign

Notable quotes

"Does it matter what the dead king thought? That's not how kingship during this period works."

Conclusion

The episode demonstrates that 1066 was not merely a single battle but a

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:01) From long-lost Viking ships and kings buried in unexpected places, to tales of murder, power, faith, and the lives of ordinary people across medieval Europe and beyond. Join me, Matt Lewis, Dr Eleanor Jarnagher, and some of the world's leading historians as we bring history's most fascinating stories to life, only on History Hit. With your subscription, you'll unlock hundreds of hours of exclusive documentaries, with a brand new release every week exploring... everything from the ancient world to World War 2. Just visit historyhit.com forward slash subscribe Speaker 3 (0:39) It began with the death of a saint king and a bitter succession battle, followed by an apocalyptic storm, Viking invasions ravaging the north, Norman armadas striking the south and brutal slaughter at Hastings. With an arrow to the Anglo-Saxon king's eye, a new dynasty would be born. By the year's end, William, descendant of the Viking king Rollo, would conquer England. Here on Gone Medieval, we thrive on this drama. I'm Matt Lewis, and today, Dr. Eleanor Jarniger and I are stepping onto the blood-soaked battlefields of a momentous year to uncover the masterminds pulling the strings. We're answering the big questions. Why did the Battle of Hastings really happen? Who were the ruthless players fighting for the crown? And how did that fateful year radically forge a new England? This is an epic saga of slaughtered kings, shattered shields and fragile, world-changing victories. This is the story of 1066. Welcome to Gone Medieval. Speaker 3 (2:08) So 1066, it's a year. People have probably heard of it. But what we're going to do is try and pull it apart. And it lends itself to this kind of treatment, I think, because we can start right at the beginning and we can get all the way to the very end. So strap in, because this is going to take a little while. Speaker 1 (2:22) And I think that this is a really important point, because I think people say, hear the term 1066, and they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, the Battle of Hastings. And I'm like, baby, there's so much to get through first. Speaker 3 (2:31) Yeah, yeah, that was one day of it. And I mean, we can start all of this on the 5th of January. So just a few days. into the year. We've got Edward the Confessor, who's been king of Anglo-Saxon England for a couple of decades. Old man, married, no children. What's going on there? Story for another day, perhaps. But he's been ill. He's kind of rushed through the completion of his brand new Westminster Abbey because... He needs to be buried somewhere soon. He'd quite like to be buried in the church that he built. So he has it consecrated at the end of 1065 and just five days into 1066, sure enough, the king pops his clogs with no sun, no universally accepted heir, and we are starting the year with a problem. Speaker 1 (3:15) And this is a huge problem, right? Because we have to figure out who is going to be his successor. And maybe, allegedly... Some people were named. It has been alleged. But how much can we actually know about what happened, you know, and what happened on his deathbed? Because there are several competing stories, right? Speaker 3 (3:37) Yeah. Yeah. And they take hold depending on who is currently in the ascendant, because we've gone through a period where he has invited one of his. Edward the Exile, to come back to England when it's pretty clear he's not going to have a son. This is perhaps the last scion of the male line of the House of Wessex. He's been living off in exile. And so Uncle Edward the Confessor is like, come on home, it'll be great. But in the long tradition of Anglo-Saxon heirs, this isn't always the friendly outreach that it's been positioned as. There has been occasions when people have come back under these circumstances only to be seized. blinded, killed, whatever else. So Edward the Exile is kind of taking a little bit of a punt coming back from Hungary, where he's been growing up with his family, brings his son and his daughters back with him. But then he goes and dies as soon as he gets back to England. So all of Edward the Confessor's plans are immediately out the window, though it does leave him with Edward the Exile's son. So Edward the Confessor's great nephew. Yeah, Speaker 1 (4:41) great. Speaker 3 (4:42) Edgar the Etheling. So he has that title, Aetheling, Anglo-Saxon, meaning something like throne worthy. So he's in the pool of people who could be considered next in line to the throne. But he is a young boy and Anglo-Saxon England is not fond of young child kings. They tend to pass them over in favour of their uncles and things like that to avoid a minority. So until Edgar comes of age, he's not probably the main option, but he appears to be the only real one from the House of... Wessex. So if Edward lives long enough, perhaps Edgar is his heir. In the meantime, there's lots of other questions about who it might be. The Godwinson family, hugely powerful around this time. Edward the Confessor, at most points in his reign, is not getting on well with the Godwins, with Earl Godwin and his children, the Godwinsons. They are hugely powerful, imposing themselves on Edward, and he doesn't really enjoy that. So he's sort of pushing and thrashing back against this. But Harold Godwinson. is married to his sister so there is a familial link there harold isn't a member of the house of wessex but he is earl of wessex now he is edward the confessor's brother-in-law does that give him a claim Speaker 1 (5:55) maybe maybe but Speaker 3 (5:59) he's going to rely on claiming that on his deathbed edward the confessor placed the kingdom into his care whatever that means so Speaker 1 (6:08) how do you feel about that right because i have i suppose my own interpretation of it and part of it is based on sort of like how quickly things happen after ever the confessor dies because ever the confessor dies and as you mentioned you we've got this mess we've got this mess there there's you know ethlings there are godwinsons there's all these people about and very very quickly Harold Godwinson is like, it was me. I'm the king, right? And I'm sorry, it's that. It's sweaty, right? If I really felt that there was a really... strong claim that everyone could agree upon, I think it would be a little bit more laissez-faire, I suppose. Speaker 3 (6:58) I can't help wondering whether Edward the Confessor's spirit is drifting out of the window as Harold is like, whoa, you all heard that right, he named me king. And Edward's like, no, no, no, no, no, not what I meant. Did he mean protect the kingdom for Edgar Speaker 1 (7:11) to Speaker 3 (7:12) maintain the royal house of Wessex? And has Harold chosen to interpret that in a specific way? Or was he maybe envisaging... avoiding a minority by having Harold as a kind of placeholder king and then it would revert back to Edgar at some point after this. Harold is pretty clear what he wants it to mean. And in that moment, as the man on the ground, that is kind of what matters. And for those around, in fairness to Harold as well, I would say for those around him, they're thinking, do we want this little kid on the throne? We absolutely do not. Do we want this proven, established governor who is a... capable warrior on the throne perhaps we do yeah Speaker 1 (7:55) and and listen i i can completely understand that i do think as you say this isn't necessarily the norm in terms of how this particular kingdom works because the English do things differently, right? You know, you do have these moots where everyone gets together and in theory they vote on who the king is, even though it does tend to go down familial lines a lot of the time. And so we do definitely see a bunch of people who are also, let's be honest, it's been kind of a rock few years before 1066. People just periodically take over England. It happens all the time, right? You know, you never know when the Danes are going to get bored. And you can't have a little boy on the throne because someone's going to have to actually do something about that. But I suppose despite the fact that a Dane might come over and be Canute the Great at any moment and take over England, that isn't where Harold sees, I think, the major threat coming from. Because I think the first thing that he does almost as soon as like... poor old Edward is in the ground, right? The first thing he does is like, okay, well, we better get ready to be invaded by Normans. Which I think is an interesting point, right? Because why all this preparing to be invaded by Normans if there is no Norman claim to the throne? Just a question. Speaker 3 (9:13) Yeah, no, and a fair one. And I think it's also important to think about does it matter what Edward the Confessor planned anyway? You know, we talk about all of his schemes for Edward the Exile, Edgar the Etheling. Did he pick... Harold Godwinson? Did he offer the throne to William of Normandy? Whatever else. Does it matter what the dead king thought? That's not how kingship during this period works. When the king dies, there is an interregnum until a new one is crowned, which means there's no king's peace. There's no law. There is no supreme power in the kingdom. And that creates problems whenever it happens. So people are always really keen to get that filled quickly. Well, here in Harold, you have a guy who's on the spot. And so if he is chosen by everybody around there in a form of something like a Witanenga mox, isn't he just the king? Does it matter who else has a claim? Speaker 1 (10:05) I mean, listen, I think that that is a really strong argument fundamentally, right? You can argue all day long about who was supposed to be what, but what actually matters is who does things, right? And I think that we see that throughout English history, right? I mean, we could say a lot about that during the anarchy, for example, right? It just depends on who's got a crown on their head. That's what it comes down to, right? But despite all this, you know, we definitely see that Harold is concerned that he's going to have to brace for William to come over from Normandy. But that's not who shows up first, right? Because, listen, it's your friend and mine, Harold Hadrada. And he is this interesting guy, right? Because he is the king of Norway. He tried to claim the throne of Denmark. I mean, the Denmark-Norway. Like a good luck, babe, untangling those two at this point in time. He's actually been a member of the Vergarian Guard, like down in Constantinople. Absolutely impressive stuff. And I love his claim because his claim is like, OK, so listen, listen, think who remembers 1038, right? In 1038, there was an agreement between Magnus, the king of Denmark, and Harthacnut. Okay. Who's Canute's heir in England. Who's Canute's heir. Speaker 3 (11:23) And Speaker 1 (11:23) he's like, look, listen, babe, if we both die and we don't have heirs, then we can inherit from each other. We'll inherit from each other. And Magnus had been Harold's predecessor as king of Norway. Speaker 1 (11:42) So thereby, by process of transference... Speaker 3 (11:46) His claim is my claim. Speaker 1 (11:48) Exactly. I love it because it's so... It is so mad. It's mad as a box of frogs, right? It's such a funny thing to try to make a claim on, and I actually love it. Speaker 3 (11:59) Yeah. Speaker 1 (11:59) And it's good as any other, I think. It's brilliant. And Speaker 3 (12:02) I think throughout 1066, I like to imagine Harold Hardrada sitting there. I've been down to... Constantinople. I've done a bit of warring in France. I've come back. I'm slightly bored now, sitting on a throne. Where can I cause trouble? If there isn't a hotspot, where can I create one? And some of his advisors are like, well, there's an interesting thing happened in England. It's like, England? What's my claim to that? Well, we can get around. It feels like he's inventing a reason to get in a ship and go on an adventure again. Speaker 1 (12:33) And I just love that because I like how... all of these Norse people are just so into it. They're like, any moment, babe, I might be back in the ship conquering things. And this is kind of the last gasp Speaker 3 (12:43) of Speaker 1 (12:43) it, too. Speaker 3 (12:44) Well, Speaker 1 (12:45) I mean, until we get to the... Speaker 3 (12:45) I was about to say Speaker 1 (12:47) that, and Speaker 3 (12:47) then Speaker 1 (12:47) I'm like, no, the Normans consider the Normans. But it's just like more of a... I think we tend to see more come specifically out of Normandy. And I kind of wish he'd done it. Speaker 3 (12:57) Yeah. I mean, because up until this point as well, so we get... It's recorded that on the same date, on the 8th of September, 1066, Harold... Breaks the army up that he'd been having in place on the Isle of Wight, kind of watching the south coast of England, who for if not the Speaker 1 (13:12) Normans. Speaker 3 (13:13) But he's been camped there expecting that invasion to come. And on the same day that he breaks that up, Harold Hardrada lands in the northeast of England. And not just alone either, but with Harold's brother, Tostig. Speaker 1 (13:28) Listen, it's a bad sign, right? And Tostig, he's just like, I am here to do some light fratricide, which I really respect. Also, you know, like, again, this is very traditional. Like, all this is the sort of stuff I expect to see out of England, right? And it's like, he's younger by about seven years. He, in theory, is the Earl of Northumbria, but he got on his brother's wrong side, as one does, and he was exiled. Right. And the thing is with these people, right, if you if you exile someone, you're kind of asking them to go off and see if they can come back with an army and do something about it. It's almost like a dare. Yeah. Don't stew Speaker 3 (14:05) on it until you're powerful enough to come back and challenge me. Speaker 1 (14:09) And here's the thing is that I think that partially we've got Tostig who's like, do it, Harold, do it. Why not? Like, here's a way that we could spin out a really weird justification for this. And I think it goes a long way of showing... How bad Harold is actually at the diplomacy part of this game, right? Because it's like, babe, you've got a brother who's out here literally trying to raise armies against you. He would rather someone else entirely rule as opposed to you. And I think that tells you a lot about Harold Godwinson's inability to think long term. Speaker 3 (14:49) Yeah, yeah. And I also can't help wondering whether, is Tostig looking to support... a Scandinavian assault on the crown of England? Or is Tostig thinking, Harold Hardrada, come and help me make myself king of England. And Harold Hardrada is like, Speaker 1 (15:04) okay. Okay, like, sure. That's Speaker 3 (15:07) definitely what will happen when we get there. Speaker 1 (15:08) And there is no way of knowing, right? Because, I mean, maybe Tostig thinks that he's saying to Harold Hardrada, would you like to loot? Right? Like, it's looting season, baby. And, you know, it has ever been thus. Speaker 3 (15:21) up Speaker 1 (15:22) in Northern England, right? Speaker 3 (15:23) Yeah, like Tostig wandered into Harold's court and could see him bored, tapping his arms on his throne. And he's like... Want to come and do a bit of light pillaging with me? Speaker 1 (15:31) It's like I'm trying to get the lads out for paintball now. It's essentially the same thing at the time, right? But Speaker 3 (15:36) this is a significant test now of Harold's kingship. He's been doing reasonably well. He's been on military manoeuvres around Wales, trying to calm dissent there. Seems to have been operating as King of England effectively. Seems to have plenty of support. Seems to be able to control his kingdom. But suddenly on the