Conquest

Then, in October of 1065, just when it needed to be stable, England was thrown into turmoil, and by Harold’s own brother, Tostig.

The King had made Tostig Earl of Northumbria in 1055, in acknowledgement of the growing influence of the sons of Earl Godwin. However, Northumbria had been the domain of the Bamburgh family for many generations and Tostig’s arrival was not welcome; nor did his punitive rule and high taxes endear him to his vassals.

After ten years of resentment, the Northumbrian thegns eventually rose in revolt against Tostig’s rule and called a gemot at York. There, after pledging their loyalty to King Edward, they repudiated Tostig’s rule and declared him an outlaw. Mayhem ensued. Tostig’s hearthtroop were slaughtered and his treasury plundered until it was bare. The rebels chose a Mercian, Morcar, as their new earl. Anyone within Northumbria loyal to Tostig was ruthlessly purged before the rebels moved south, with Morcar and his followers marauding across the English heartland. Lincoln, Nottingham, and Derby were sacked and the rebellion descended into a rampage of murder, rape and looting. When they arrived at Northampton, they joined a large force of allies led by Morcar’s brother, Edwin, Earl of Mercia; hundreds were killed, the burgh was destroyed, the crops in store for the winter were burned and the livestock stolen.

The King sent the rebels a royal command to lay down their weapons and submit their grievances to a Witan of the whole of England. Their response was defiant: they would agree only if the King confirmed the banishment of Tostig and recognized Morcar as Earl of Northumbria.

England was on the brink of civil war.

Edward chose to ignore the ultimatum and called a Witan to meet at Oxford on 28 October 1065. Harold travelled to Oxford without Hereward or Torfida. The issue of the succession was, as things stood, an irrelevance. If a successful outcome was not reached at the Witan, there would not be much of a kingdom left to rule. Edward’s authority was ebbing away as quickly as his life, and he knew he could only bring the rebels to heel with Harold at the head of the army.

But Harold needed to keep his soldiers away from the battlefield until it was time to repulse England’s external enemies. He knew that civil war would deal a mortal blow to English defences, especially if the King were to die in the middle of it.

The King was in a rage throughout the Witan because none of the earls would support any attempt to crush the rebels by force without Harold’s leadership and his housecarls. Tostig was in a similar rage because he had been usurped and neither the King nor his Godwin clan had rushed to his aid. Tostig was so forceful in the Witan in accusing Harold of plotting against him that Harold eventually took an oath in front of the entire nobility of England, swearing that he had played no part in the rebellion.

Tostig’s cause was lost and Morcar was confirmed as Earl of Northumbria. Tostig, with his wife, Judith, retreated to Bruges to seek refuge with her father, Count Baldwin of Flanders. Edward was so angry at the outcome that he suffered another succession of ‘maladies’ and was rushed back to London.

Harold returned to Glastonbury, relieved that the crisis had been averted and that civil war had been avoided, but concerned that England’s almost insurmountable problems were now compounded by internal rivalries. In alienating Tostig, England had created yet another enemy — one of its own sons and one of Harold’s own kin.

Harold’s mind raced as he rode across Salisbury Plain, pondering one potential outcome after another. He made camp at the Great Henge of stones at Amesbury, a place he often visited when he needed to think. Many people feared the Great Henge, particularly at night. There were many legends about the ancient peoples who had built the giant stone circles, especially the rituals of the Celtic Druids, whose influence was still strong in many parts of the country. However, for Harold it was a place of eternal peace and serenity.

Tostig’s father-in-law, Baldwin, was one of the most powerful men in Europe and an ally of the Duke of Normandy. Was it possible that Tostig, bitter and angry, could throw in his lot with Duke William and support his succession in return for being reinstalled as Earl of Northumbria, or even as Earl Marshal?

Every new thought made Harold more and more anxious. He broke camp before dawn the next morning and kicked hard into the Blackmore Vale, in the bosom of his beloved Wessex, and on to Glastonbury.

Harold recalled the army in early November of 1065, but heavy snows later in the month made it difficult for the housecarls to train. With over 3,000 men in camp, Harold’s coffers were depleting rapidly. Reluctantly, as November became December, he issued the order that all but his hearthtroop were to return home; at least during the dark days of winter, there was little chance of rebellion or invasion.