The Last Anglo-Saxon King of England (Harold II)
"Seven feet of English ground for a grave, or as much more as he is taller than other men."— His reply regarding land offered to Harald Hardrada before Stamford Bridge
Harold Godwinson (c. 1022–1066, Harold II) was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England. A formidable general and statesman, his brief nine-month reign in 1066 culminated in the dramatic twin battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings.
Born around 1022, Harold was the second son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, England's preeminent magnate. Succeeding to the earldom in 1053, Harold became the principal advisor and general to King Edward the Confessor. In 1063, he conducted a brilliant combined land-and-sea campaign that crushed the Welsh ruler Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, establishing himself as England's undisputed military protector.
Upon Edward the Confessor's death without direct heirs on January 5, 1066, the English Witenagemot unanimously elected Harold as king. His coronation immediately triggered dual existential crises: Duke William of Normandy claimed Edward had designated him as heir with Harold's sworn consent, while King Harald Hardrada of Norway mounted a northern invasion backed by Harold's rebellious brother Tostig.
In mid-September 1066, Hardrada's Norse army seized York. Anticipating William on the southern coast, Harold executed a miraculous forced march, covering over 300 kilometers in four days to achieve total tactical surprise at Stamford Bridge on September 25. In a savage melee along the River Derwent, Hardrada and Tostig were slain, shattering the invasion force and decisively ending the three-century Viking threat to England.
Just days after his northern victory, Harold learned that William had landed at Pevensey. Marching his exhausted army 400 kilometers south, Harold deployed a formidable shield wall atop Senlac Hill on October 14, 1066. The Anglo-Saxon infantry repulsed repeated Norman cavalry charges for hours until feigned retreats fragmented their defensive perimeter. According to tradition, Harold was struck in the eye by an arrow and hacked down by Norman knights. Buried at Waltham Holy Cross Abbey, his death concluded half a millennium of Anglo-Saxon rule over England.