Harold Godwinson is usually remembered for one thing, and it involves a battlefield in 1066. The story of his end has been told so many times that it has almost eclipsed the man himself. But his life was far richer, more complicated, and full of twists that never made it into the school history books.
He had two wives in very different circumstances, children who ended up in unexpected corners of the world, and a knack for covering extraordinary distances at a speed that would exhaust most modern armies. There are moments of political calculation, flashes of wit, and even a tale or two that sit somewhere between history and legend.
Table of Contents
These are the pieces of Harold’s story that deserve more attention.
How Harold Climbed to England’s Throne
Harold Godwinson’s path to the throne was anything but straightforward. Born around 1022, he was the second son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, who had ties to Danish royalty. This gave Harold a strong family network but no direct line to kingship. England still followed the Anglo-Saxon tradition of electing a king from among the most powerful nobles, so birth alone didn’t secure the crown.
What Harold did have was a father who was as skilled in politics as he was in survival. Godwin had navigated the treacherous court of King Cnut and then Edward the Confessor, giving his children a masterclass in how to rise without getting cut down too soon.
By the early 1060s, Harold had become the man King Edward relied on to lead armies against Wales, keep order in the kingdom, and handle foreign diplomacy. In an age when a king’s authority could only be enforced by those he trusted in the field, Harold was effectively running much of England.
Chroniclers describe him as a capable commander and a decisive leader, which made his eventual election to the throne in January 1066 feel almost inevitable to those who knew the political landscape.
The Godwin family’s influence was unmatched. Harold’s brothers Tostig, Gyrth, Leofwine, and Wulfnoth held or had held positions of power, controlling huge stretches of the country. His sister Edith was married to King Edward, placing Harold right at the heart of the royal court. But power on that scale created deep divisions.
Some nobles resented how much control the Godwins had amassed, and their rivals never missed a chance to undermine them. This mix of dominance and hostility shaped Harold’s world long before William of Normandy appeared on the horizon.
The Storm Gathering in 1066
By the start of 1066, Harold was England’s newly crowned king, and the weight of the kingdom rested squarely on his shoulders. His coronation came just hours after the death of Edward the Confessor, which meant there was little time to secure alliances or prepare for challenges. Trouble was already brewing across the Channel, where William, Duke of Normandy, claimed Harold had sworn to support his own bid for the English throne.
Family tensions further complicated Harold’s position. His brother Tostig, exiled from Northumbria the previous year, refused to accept his fate quietly and began seeking allies abroad. The threat of invasion shadowed every move Harold made in those first months, and it was clear that any rival would not hesitate to exploit divisions at home.
What followed was a year like no other in England’s history. Harold would face enemies on two fronts, fight two major battles in rapid succession, and lead his men in one of the most gruelling marches ever attempted by a medieval army. By October, the stage was set for the clash at Hastings.
12 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Harold Godwinson
With the new BBC program King and Conqueror, it will be interesting to see how many of these facts will appear or be represented correctly in the drama. I’m keen to see what is done for theatrical effect and what is true historical fact.
He Had a “Handfast” Wife and a Political One
Harold’s personal life did not fit neatly into the Church’s rulebook. For about twenty years, he shared his life with Edith Swanneshals, better known as Edith Swan-Neck, in a Danish-style “handfast” marriage. This was a recognized union among laypeople, though not officially blessed by the Church. Edith was far from a background figure. She was one of the wealthiest women in England, owning vast estates in East Anglia, and together they had at least six children.
Then, in early 1066, Harold’s priorities shifted. With Edward the Confessor on his deathbed and the question of succession looming, Harold married another Edith, known as Ealdgyth of Mercia. This was no love match. Ealdgyth was the daughter of Earl Ælfgar of Mercia and the widow of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, the powerful Welsh king Harold had once fought against. The marriage brought Harold vital alliances with both Mercia and Northumbria and gave him a queen consort recognized by the Church.
For a short time in 1066, Harold had two wives in all but name, one crowned and one not, and no one in power seemed particularly shocked. It was a pragmatic solution to a political problem, even if it was the sort of arrangement clerics preferred to pretend was not happening.
Children in Far-Flung Places
Harold’s children did not all stay close to home after 1066. With England under Norman control, his family scattered, and some ended up in places that would have seemed unimaginably distant to most Anglo-Saxons. One of his daughters with Edith Swan-Neck, Gytha, found her way to the court of Kievan Rus’. She married Vladimir Monomakh, a prince who later became Grand Prince of Kiev, making Harold’s daughter a key figure in Eastern Europe’s politics.
Another daughter, Gunnhild, was sent to a convent, likely to secure her safety and perhaps her inheritance. Convent life, however, did not suit her. She left religious life entirely and became involved with two powerful Norman lords in succession. First, she was with Alan “the Red,” Earl of Richmond, and after his death, she was with his brother, Alan “the Black.”
Harold’s second wife, Ealdgyth of Mercia, was pregnant when he fell at Hastings. She gave birth to a son, often called Harold Haroldson, who never knew his father. The boy was taken into exile, most likely to Ireland or the continent, and lived in obscurity until his death in 1098.
With Edith the Fair (Edith Swan-Neck)
Harold’s long-term partner in a handfast (more danico) union is believed to have borne him at least six children.
- Godwin – exact birth date unknown; born by the mid‑1050s
- Edmund – similar uncertainty, likely born mid‑1050s
- Magnus – again, mid‑1050s to early 1060s
- Gunhild – estimated around 1055, lived in exile under Norman rule
- Gytha – likely born circa 1053; later married Vladimir Monomakh of Kiev and became a princess of Kievan Rus
- Ulf (or Wulf) – possibly born between 1047 and 1053, though some sources place him after 1066; birth mother uncertain but more often assigned to Edith the Fair
With Ealdgyth of Mercia (Edith of Mercia)
Harold’s politically strategic marriage to Ealdgyth produced at least one, possibly two, children in the months following his death.
- Harold (Haroldson) – born around November 1066, in exile, living until 1098
- Ulf – some historians suggest Ealdgyth may have been his mother if he was born after 1066 (possibly as a twin to Haroldson), but others assign him to Edith the Fair; this remains debated
Conqueror of Wales (and a Grisly Trophy)
Before 1066 turned his attention to Normandy, Harold had already made his name as a successful military leader in Wales. In 1062, King Edward sent him to deal with Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, the powerful Welsh king who had united much of the country under his rule and made a habit of raiding across the border. Harold worked with his brother Tostig to launch a surprise winter campaign, moving quickly to catch the Welsh off guard.
Gruffudd proved elusive at first, retreating into the rugged Welsh landscape. Harold pressed on through the harsh terrain, using ships to strike along the coast and push deep inland. The pressure worked. In 1063, Gruffudd’s own men turned against him. They killed their king and presented Harold with his head and the figurehead of his ship as proof. It was a grisly end for Gruffudd and a clear victory for Harold.
The campaign ended with Wales divided among rival rulers who were far less threatening to England. For Harold, it was a major political win that strengthened his reputation as Edward’s most capable commander. It also laid the groundwork for his marriage to Gruffudd’s widow, Ealdgyth of Mercia, which would prove useful in the tense months leading up to his coronation.
Brother against Brother and Rumors of a Set-Up
In 1065, trouble flared in the north when the people of Northumbria rebelled against Harold’s younger brother, Tostig. They accused him of harsh rule, heavy taxation, and even orchestrating the murder of political rivals. The rebels declared him deposed and invited Morcar, brother of Edwin of Mercia, to take his place.
Harold was sent to negotiate, but instead of backing his brother, he accepted the rebels’ choice. It was a decision that calmed the situation in the north but left Tostig furious and convinced he had been betrayed. Some contemporaries even whispered that Harold had quietly encouraged the revolt to remove a rival and strengthen his own position.
Whether or not that was true, the breach between the brothers never healed. In 1066, Tostig returned from exile with a small fleet, raiding the English coast before allying himself with Harald Hardrada of Norway. By September, Harold was facing his own brother across the battlefield at Stamford Bridge, the family feud now part of a fight for England’s crown.
The Normandy Trip: Hostage Rescue or Oath Under Duress?
Sometime around 1064, Harold crossed the Channel to Normandy. Norman chroniclers claimed he went willingly to pledge his support for Duke William’s claim to the English throne, swearing a solemn oath in the duke’s favor. The Bayeux Tapestry even shows Harold placing his hands on sacred relics during the ceremony, a detail meant to underline the seriousness of the promise.
English sources tell a different story. They say Harold’s voyage was an accident, the result of being blown off course while sailing along the southern coast. His real goal, they claim, was to negotiate the release of his younger brother Wulfnoth and his nephew Hakon, who had been held in Normandy since 1051 as hostages for the Godwin family’s loyalty. According to this version, Harold was kept in William’s custody until he agreed to swear the oath, making the promise one given under duress and therefore invalid.
During his stay, Harold joined William on a military expedition against Brittany, where the tapestry shows him rescuing Norman soldiers from quicksand near Mont-Saint-Michel. William even knighted him before sending him home. Whatever truly happened, the trip became a cornerstone of Norman propaganda, painting Harold as a perjurer and giving William a reason to launch his invasion two years later.
A Sharp Tongue at Stamford Bridge
In September 1066, Harold marched north to face an invading Norwegian army led by King Harald Hardrada and his own estranged brother Tostig. Before the fighting began, Harold tried to talk Tostig into switching sides. He offered to restore Tostig’s earldom if he abandoned the Norwegians, a generous offer given the bad blood between them.
Tostig asked what Harold would give Hardrada in return. Harold’s answer has been remembered for nearly a thousand years. He said the Norwegian king would receive seven feet of English ground, or a little more if he was taller than most men. It was a pointed way of saying Hardrada would get nothing but a grave.
The negotiations went no further, and the battle began soon after. By the end of the day, both Hardrada and Tostig were dead, and the Norwegian threat was over. Harold’s victory was total, but his sharp remark on the morning of the battle remains one of the most famous lines attributed to him.
The 200-Mile Dash
Victory at Stamford Bridge came at a cost. Harold’s army had just fought a brutal battle and was still recovering when news arrived that William of Normandy had landed on the south coast. With no time to waste, Harold gathered his men and began the march from Yorkshire to Sussex.
The journey was around 190 miles and covered in just four days. In an age without roads fit for armies, this meant pushing through rough tracks, bad weather, and the exhaustion of men who had already been on campaign for weeks. The speed was remarkable, a testament to Harold’s urgency and the discipline of his household troops, the huscarls.
By the time they reached the south, the army had covered one of the fastest known marches of the medieval period. It put them in a position to face William quickly, but it also meant many soldiers arrived at Hastings tired and worn down from the journey. That fatigue would matter when the two sides finally clashed.
Miracle at Waltham
The story begins years before 1066 with a famous relic. In the time of King Cnut, a great cross was discovered at Montacute and brought to Waltham. Tovi the Proud, a royal official, established a church there to house it, and the place soon drew pilgrims.
As a young noble, Harold suffered from an illness or paralysis that was cured after he prayed before the cross. Grateful for what he believed was divine help, he rebuilt the small church as a collegiate foundation about 1060 and endowed it richly. The new church was consecrated on Holy Cross Day in May 1060, and Waltham became one of the most important religious houses tied to his name.
Later tradition says that on the eve of the Battle of Hastings, Harold stopped to pray before the same cross and that the figure of Christ bowed its head toward him. Whether miracle or memory shaped by loss, the tale fixed Waltham to Harold’s story and helped explain why the abbey later claimed him as its own.
First King Crowned at Westminster
When Harold took the crown of England on January 6, 1066, he did so in a place that would become central to the country’s royal history. Edward the Confessor’s new abbey church at Westminster had been consecrated only a few days earlier, and Harold’s coronation was the first to take place there. It set a precedent that has been followed by almost every English monarch since.
The ceremony happened the day after Edward’s death, a speed that spoke to the urgency of securing the throne. English sources say it was performed by Ealdred, Archbishop of York, while Norman chroniclers claimed Stigand, the excommunicated Archbishop of Canterbury, officiated. The difference mattered because William of Normandy would later use it to question Harold’s legitimacy.
For the English nobility gathered that winter’s day, the coronation was a public declaration that Harold was their chosen king. For William, it became one more piece of evidence in the propaganda war that helped justify his invasion later that year.
Identified by a Grieving Lover
The death of Harold at Hastings is one of the most famous scenes in English history, often shown as an arrow piercing his eye in the Bayeux Tapestry. That image has become iconic, but it is far from certain. Some believe the figure is not Harold at all, while others think an arrow may have wounded him before being cut down by Norman knights.
The death of Harold at Hastings is well known, but what followed is less familiar. After the battle, the field was strewn with the dead, and Harold’s body was among them. The fighting had been fierce, and his corpse was said to be so badly mutilated that it could not be recognized by armor or face. William of Normandy refused requests from Harold’s mother, Gytha, to ransom the body, reportedly turning down an offer of its weight in gold.
So Edith Swan Neck was brought to the field. Eyewitnesses recount that she walked among the corpses with Gytha, calling for Harold by name. She found him by an intimate mark on his chest, said to be a tattoo of her name.
The King Who Wouldn’t Die (Legend of the Hermit)
For all the accounts that describe Harold falling at Hastings, a very different story began to take shape in the years that followed. Whispers spread that he had not died at all, but escaped the field and gone into hiding. By the twelfth century, these rumors had grown into the tale of a king who traded his crown for the life of a wandering exile.
The Vita Haroldi, a romanticized biography, told how Harold fled first to Dover, then across the sea on pilgrimage, before returning quietly to England. In this version, he lived out his days as a hermit in a remote part of the country. One story placed him in a cave near Chester, where he was said to have revealed his true identity to a noble visitor during the reign of Henry I. Not long after making that confession, he supposedly died and was buried in secret.
Most historians agree that Harold was killed in 1066, but the legend endured because it offered a glimmer of hope to a conquered people.
Lost Burial
What happened to Harold’s body after Hastings has never been settled with certainty. Some Norman accounts claim William ordered him buried by the sea, perhaps as a final insult or as a way to mark the spot where he had defended his kingdom. Others say the body was given to Waltham Abbey, the religious house Harold had rebuilt and endowed, where monks laid him to rest in the church he had founded.
Waltham’s version became part of its identity. Pilgrims were shown a tomb said to be Harold’s, and the abbey kept the story alive for centuries. When the abbey was dissolved in the sixteenth century, the tomb was destroyed and any remains lost.
The truth may never be known. He could lie beneath the Sussex coast, in an unmarked grave near the battlefield, or somewhere within the ruins of Waltham Abbey. The uncertainty has kept the search for his resting place alive, with theories and investigations still emerging nearly a thousand years later.
