Three Battles, One Throne: The Conquests Begin for King Godwinson of England

William, Duke of Normandy, and Edward the Confessor (1003-1066) were distant relatives. After Edward’s exile in Normandy from 1016 to 1041, he became king of England in 1042. Edward favored Norman advisors but still permitted Harold Godwinson, an Anglo-Saxon, to ascend to power. Upon Edward’s death, Godwinson assumed the throne on January 6, 1066. Soon, there would be three battles for one throne as the conquests began.

Meanwhile, Harald Harada, King of Norway, and 10,000 men, landed in England to claim the English throne on September 18, 1066. Tostig Godwinson, the exiled brother of Harold, joined forces with Harada for the Battle of Fulford on September 20 near York. The Anglo-Saxon armies of Earl Edwin of Mercia and Earl Morcar of Northumbria sided with King Harold Godwinson. Edwin and Morcar set their forces defensively near the River Ouse. The Norse army won despite their early success, but on September 25, King Harold retaliated at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, dramatically defeating the Norse army. King Harada and Tostig Godwinson were both killed.

Three weeks after Stamford Bridge, William and his forces invaded England on October 14. King Harold rushed his men from York to southern England to prepare to defend England against William. His army was exhausted, giving William a strategic advantage at Hastings on 14 October 1066. King Harold Godwinson’s death marked the end of Anglo-Saxon rule in England and paved the way for William the Conqueror to take the throne. But the conquest of England was far from over for William.

Over the next twenty years, William built five hundred motte-and-bailey castles and stone keeps for defense. He began with Warwick, Nottingham, York, Lincoln, Huntingdon, and Cambridge. William was strategically brilliant. He knew the English cavalry was helpless against well-ordered archers or horsemen.