The Race for the English Crown

When King Edward the Confessor died in 1066 without an obvious heir, four different blokes thought they deserved the throne. Edgar Aethling had the strongest bloodline claim as Edward's great-nephew, but he was just a teenager with no money or army backing him up.

Harald Hardrada, the fierce Viking king of Norway, claimed his father had been promised England and that he was continuing the Viking tradition of ruling England. Meanwhile, William of Normandy insisted Edward had promised him the throne and that Harold Godwinson had sworn an oath to support his claim.

Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, actually got chosen by the Witan (the king's council) and had the most practical advantages - he was Edward's brother-in-law, England's richest earl, and a respected military commander. However, his claim was the weakest legally, which would soon cause him massive problems.

Quick Tip: Remember the four claimants by thinking "EHWH" - Edgar, Harald, William, Harold. The two H's (Harald and Harold) would fight each other first!

The Northern Invasion and Stamford Bridge

Harold's reign got off to a rocky start when Harald Hardrada invaded northern England with 10,000 Viking warriors and Harold's own rebellious brother Tostig. The Vikings quickly captured York and celebrated their victory, getting absolutely hammered on ale while believing Harold's army was still 25 km away.

Big mistake. Harold had marched his troops 300 miles north in just five days - one of the fastest military movements in medieval history. At Stamford Bridge on 25th September, a single Viking berserker held up the entire English army at the bridge, killing 40 Anglo-Saxon soldiers before someone sneakily went under the bridge and stabbed him from below.

Once the English crossed the bridge, the battle was brutal but decisive. Harald Hardrada died from an arrow to the neck, Tostig was killed, and only 24 out of 300 Viking ships were needed to carry home the survivors. Harold had won his first major victory, but he'd lost valuable men and time.

Did You Know? The English were so exhausted from this battle that they had no time to rest before facing William's invasion just days later!

The Battle of Hastings Changes Everything

Just two days after Stamford Bridge, William invaded southern England whilst Harold's army was still recovering up north. The Battle of Hastings on 14th October 1066 would decide England's future, and it came down to tactics, luck, and one crucial mistake.

Harold's Anglo-Saxon army relied on the shield wall - professional soldiers called housecarls forming an impenetrable barrier with shields and battleaxes. William's Norman army was more diverse, featuring heavy cavalry (knights on horseback), archers, and foot soldiers with superior training and equipment.

The battle's turning point came when William used feigned retreats - pretending to run away to trick parts of Harold's army into breaking formation and chasing them. Once the famous shield wall cracked, Norman cavalry could charge through the gaps. Harold died (possibly from an arrow to the eye), and England's fate was sealed.

Battle Hack: The Normans won because they had three types of fighters working together - archers, cavalry, and infantry - while the Anglo-Saxons relied too heavily on just one tactic.

William Takes Control

After Hastings, William didn't mess about. He systematically conquered England using a combination of strategic castle building and brutal suppression of rebellions. Between 1066 and 1086, the Normans built around 500 motte and bailey castles - quick wooden fortifications that could be assembled like medieval flat-pack furniture.

When rebellions broke out in Mercia and Northumbria, William responded with the Harrying of the North - a savage campaign that destroyed crops, livestock, and villages across northern England. Many areas lost over half their population and wealth, creating refugees that fled across the country.

William also commissioned the Domesday Book in 1086, a massive survey recording every person, animal, and piece of land in England. This revealed a population of 1.5-2 million people, with only about 200 Norman nobles now controlling most of the wealth that had previously belonged to 4,000 Anglo-Saxon thegns.

The feudal system replaced Anglo-Saxon traditions - now all land belonged to the king, who granted it to Norman barons in exchange for military service. This created a clear hierarchy: King → Barons → Knights → Peasants, with everyone owing loyalty to the person above them.

Power Shift Alert: In just 20 years, Norman nobles went from owning 0% of English land to controlling about 95% of it!

Life in Norman England

Medieval villages housed about 90% of the population, and life was pretty grim for ordinary people. Peasant families lived in single-room houses with mud floors, keeping their animals inside to prevent theft. Many children died in infancy, and everyone's survival depended entirely on good harvests.

Villages were controlled by the Lord of the Manor, who lived in a stone manor house with his own church and mill. The Domesday Book recorded about 13,400 villages in 1086, like Wharram Percy in Yorkshire, which had around 40 families working the lord's land in exchange for protection and housing.

Medieval towns began growing rapidly after 1066, with 21 new towns created between then and 1100. Towns needed royal permission to exist, but they offered something villages couldn't - the chance for people to become burgesses (independent citizens) and escape serfdom. Important trades included salt production, metalwork, and the wool trade with European countries like Flanders.

Norman law introduced major changes, including trial by combat (fighting your accuser), trial by ordeal (surviving boiling water or hot iron to prove innocence), and forest laws that made hunting the king's deer punishable by death. The inheritance system changed so only the eldest son inherited everything, leaving younger brothers with nothing.

Social Mobility Tip: Towns were your best bet for escaping peasant life - if you could survive there for a year and a day, you became legally free!