It is recorded that Edward the Confessor promised the English crown to William, if Edward was to die without an heir. When Edward died no one informed Duke William of the fact and he eventually found out through the rumor mill. During this time the powerful Godwin family, of which the pretender-king Harald was part, took the throne with the aid of their lackies. Harald knew that he wasn't the selected king but he believed in the nine-tenths possession theory and thought he could hold William off.
The Scandinavians seeing that Harald upsurped the normal order of things concocted a claim to England, since it was, for a brief period, a part of their aging empire. They invaded from the north and Harald's armies valantly defeated them, for not even a Norman like myself will say that the Britions do not fight well. Meanwhile, William was preparing his claim for his upsurped throne. He gathered together some warriors from his Duchy of Normandy and landed near Hastings. His plan was to march to London and to present his rebutal in person.
Harald decided that if the the council met with William they would recognize his true claim and dethrone him. Therefore Harald pushed his army to face him away from London. The fyrdmen and farmers feared Harold, and although they should have been released from service for harvesting, marched on.
On October 14, 1066, the two sides battled. The English shieldwall held many a wave of attacks and eventually William's troops were momentary routed and only through the efforts of William himself were they turned back to the fight. The English pursued the fleeing Normans and would have surely have killed them all but when William showed his face and commanded his people to turn back and fight they did so. Timing was nearly perfect for the Normans then turned and annihilated the English. With the false king Harald gone, William was able to enter London and was crowned King on Christmas day.
After that there were a few hold outs to William's rule but they were quickly educated in the proper scheme of things. Unfortunetly many more unhappy events were recorded by the Anglo-Saxon bards then quite peaceful life stories. Anger, adversity, and war made for a better audience.
But enough of that. As an unknown bard once said, "That's my story and I'm sticking to it."
Griffon
