Harold Harefoot

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What, I'm your host Tom Kerns and welcome to the Anglo-Saxon England podcast.

Episode 109, Harold Hairfoot.

King Harold Hairfoot, who despite his nickname, was not in fact a hobbit, emerged into the

contested political landscape, following the death of Canutes, in which the influence

of two powerful women predominated.

Those women were Alfie Vu of Northampton, Harold's mother, and Emma of Normandy, the Queen

of the Lake King.

Both sought to cure the English throne for their own sons, and built rival political factions

to do so.

Harold's claim as the second son of Canute by Alfie Vu was promoted vigorously by his mother

and her Anglo-Danish supporters in the North and the Midlands, while Emma advanced the

right of her son, Arthur Canute, with the support of the Southern ability and some influence

from her family back in Normandy.

A vicious propaganda campaign ensued in which Harold's legitimacy was called into question,

and the kingdom was ultimately divided along the line of the Thames.

When Canute died in 1035, the succession immediately fractured along these factional lines.

Arthur Canute, the acknowledged heir through Canute's queen Emma, was absent in Denmark,

and unable to travel back to England for his coronation, because his position there was

under serious threat.

Canute's Scandinavian Empire had been weakened by unrest, provoked by the harsh rule of Harold's

brother and Arthur Canute's half-brother, Svan, who had previously governed Norway on Canute's

behalf.

Svan's rule, with strong influence by his mother, Alfie Vu, had provoked widespread resistance

among the Norwegians, leading to his expulsion by 1035.

This rebellion not only removed the key pillar of Canute's Northern Empire, but also emboldened

rival kings.

In the aftermath, Magnus I of Norway emerged as a major threat, seeking to reclaim and

expand Norwegian power at Denmark's expense.

At the same time, Anund Jakob of Sweden, aligned with Magnus, creating the possibility of

a coordinated assault on Danish territory.

Faced with the risk of invasion from both Norway and Sweden, Arthur Canute was compelled

to remain in Denmark, and to organise its troops, and to maintain control.

These external pressures made it impossible for him to assert his claim in England, at

the crucial moments after Canute's death.

The absence created a possibility for Harold, though, who was physically present in England,

and supported by powerful Northern nobles.

At a council in Oxford, the leading magnates split.

Leia Fritch, the Earl of Mercia, and his allies backed Harold, while Godwinner, Earl

of Wessex and Queen Emma opposed him.

The compromise that emerged to reflecting this division was that Harold was to be accepted

as the regent or the co-ruler governing the north, while the south remained loyal to

Arthur Canute.

From the outset, Harold's authority depended on the strength of the Anglo-Danish aristocracy,

and the political maneuvering of his mother's faction.

Hostile accounts from Queen Emma's camp suggest that Harold sought consecration in 1035

as king, but that he was refused by Archbitch of Atholnoth, who instead stored the crown

and scepter on the altar of Canterbury Cathedral to remain there until Arthur Canute could return

to England.

This allegedly caused Harold to rebuke Christianity and cease going to church, although with

really all the information we have about Harold, it's important to remember that we are

getting it primarily from sources written by those who were decidedly hostile to him.

Despite the setback of Atholnoth's rejection, Alfivu actively secured support through patronage

and oath-swearing, consolidating Harold's position among the nobility slowly but steadily.

Meanwhile, Emma maintained her own rival court focused at Winchester, holding the treasury

and acting in Arthur Canute's interests.

England's during these years was thus effectively divided, with competing centres of power and

legitimacy.

The turning point came in 1036, when the princes Alfred and Edward, Emma's sons by the

late king Ethelred, returned to England from their continental exile with a military force

at their backs.

The precise reason for this invasion is not known.

Hostile accounts claim that Harold lured the boys into a trap, but there is no firm evidence

of this.

The boys may have simply hoped to reclaim their father's throne.

Instead they may have provoked Godwina thus far Emma's main ally to switch his allegiance

to Harold.

Probably he feared what the boys would do to him given his betrayal of their father, but

the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle suggests that by this time, support for Harold's claim was

becoming more widespread, and Godwina may have sensed the direction in which events were

tending, and thus use the opportunity of the princes' invasion to formally break with Emma.

Alfred made for Winchester possibly to seize mother while Edward remained essentially behind

the lines, but Alfred was captured by Earl Godwina while on route.

The boy was then handed over to some of Harold's men to deliver him to the king.

On the journey, Alfred was blinded and soon after died of his wounds, Edward then fled

back to Normandy before Harold's men could capture him.

The invasion was short-lived and a decisive failure.

It demonstrates though the extent to which the Anglo-Dainish nobility established by Canute

rallied around the new bloodline.

The boys, who would have seen the return to the Old West Saxon dynasty, failed to rally

really any support to pose a serious threat, and the death of Alfred did not inspire the

same kind of outcry, as say the death of Edward martyr.

For now, the old line of Anglo-Saxon kings had to remain quietly in exile.

With Godwina now in Harold's camp, Emma was driven into her own exile in Flanders in the

city of Bruge, and Harold was recognised as the sole king of England.

This marked the triumph of the Anglo-Dainish faction over Emma's Norman-aligned supporters,

and it demonstrated a key political reality of the period that military and aristocratic backing

outweighed strict, hereditary right.

In 1037, with Emma gone, Harold was proclaimed as the sole king of England.

The different recensions of the Chronicle do not give many details about the event,

and simply switch from calling Harold regent to calling him king.

It's possible that with the death of his elder brother Svane at some point,

after his exile in 1035, Harold's legitimacy became more accepted,

since he was now in fact Canute's eldest living son.

Harold's reign as the sole king from 1037 to 1040 is extremely sparsely documented,

suggesting relative internal stability after his early struggles.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records a little beyond church matters,

and some minor conflicts, including some skirmishes with the Welsh in 1039.

The lack of any major upheaval may indicate that the Anglo-Dainish inability had effectively

secured control, while Arthur Canute remained unable to intervene from abroad,

as he worked to secure and maintain control in Denmark.

In 1039, though, Arthur Canute was finally secure enough to finally leave Denmark,

and took the opportunity to travel to Bruges, where he met with his mother Emma,

probably to plan an invasion of England meant to depose Harold.

But matters were soon taken out of his hands.

In March of 1040, Harold died. The cause of his death is uncertain,

but it appears to have been some form of illness.

The only description of it comes from a charter relating to a dispute which was occurring

at the time between the king and the Abbey of Sandwich, after Harold claimed some land that

had traditionally belonged to the monks. In the resulting charter which settled the claim and

which was produced after Harold died, the king's death was attributed to divine judgment

for violating the monastery's rights. This was the formulaic punishment listed in

charters for any such violations, a unique feature of Anglo-Saxon charters.

So while we can probably dismiss this as hyperbole, it seems that Harold's death was generally not

regarded as suspicious, and most likely it was a death of natural causes, presumably some kind

of illness. Harold was buried in London near Westminster Abbey, not at Winchester,

where many other English kings, including his father, were buried. Given Winchester's role as

the centre of opposition to his rule, it seems likely that Harold didn't wish to be buried among

those who had perceived him as their enemy, and who presumably he perceived as enemies.

Instead, favoured the great mercy and city of London, which would hopefully remember him more

fondly given its links to a layoff rich. However, things did not go as Harold hoped.

In the aftermath of his death, the true intensity of the factional hostility that had

defined his much of his reign came to light. When Arthur Canute returned England and became

King in 1040, he ordered Harold's body to be exhumed, forcing, according to later historians,

like John of Worcester, many of Harold's greatest allies, such as a layoff rich and godwiener,

to be the men to physically exume the king's corpse. Harold's body was then mutilated and dumped

into the fence, a final side of Arthur Canute's utter contempt for his half-brother.

It would be one of many features of Arthur Canute's time on the throne that would come to be regarded

with much regret and criticism by later scholars. Arthur Canute's reign, although it would turn out

to be quite short, was one filled with bad decisions and the King's personal moral failings.

Thank you for listening. I hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Anglo-Saxon England podcast.

I've been your host Tom Kerns, and I hope you'll join me again next time.

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