Entry taken from the book The Plantagenets
In a previous blog entry we had talked about the crossroads that the year 1066 marked in English history. The fate of the country was decided in a few days in three battles:Fulford, where the Norwegians under King Harald Hardradda (supported by Tostig, brother of the Saxon king) defeated the Saxons; Stamford Bridge, where the Norwegians were defeated and Harald and Tostig killed by King Harold Godwinson's army of Saxons; and Hastings, where the country was finally conquered by Duke William's Normans who defeated and killed Harold. Whoever wants more details about the bases on which his aspirations to the throne were based, both the Norwegian king and the Saxon Harold and the Norman William, can read the blog entry dedicated to Emma of Normandy.
However, it was one thing to have defeated the Saxons militarily at Hastings and quite another to have the country submit to the invading Norman army. In fact, the surviving Saxon forces after the defeat mounted a stiff resistance against the Normans as they advanced towards London and even went so far as to elect Edgar Aetheling as king to succeed Harold. But while old Saxon tradition saw election by the assembly of notables as the way to appoint a king, continental custom called for a coronation ceremony as the final inauguration of the throne. And Edgar never got to be crowned at Westminster. For this reason, the Normans never recognized Edgar as King of England.
Aware of this, William of Normandy accelerated his advance towards London, in which he alternated a violent scorched earth policy in which towns like Romney or Dover were devastated with negotiations with the tycoons of the Saxon nobility and clergy to rally to his cause, sparing the people of towns like Winchester in exchange for a hefty sum.
However, as he approached London, William learned that the citizens of the capital had closed their doors to him and had no intention of allowing him to enter the city. News of Edgar's election did little to reassure the Norman either. But the military takeover of London was frankly complicated, among other things because the River Thames stood between William's army and the city.
Guillermo, who had the added problem of supplying his troops, opted for a tactic that he had used before and that he would repeat years later when the north of the country rose up against him:the burning of towns, the murder of men, and the appropriation of the crops of the surrounding counties (Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, Middlesex, and Hertfordshire).
The food shortages that this policy would entail for Londoners and the departure from the city of the earls of Mercia and Northumbria with their troops ended up crushing the citizens of London and a delegation led by Edgar himself went to Berkhamsted and there paid tribute to William.
There remained the question of William's coronation at Westminster; the Norman hesitated. On the one hand, he preferred to wait until he had greater military control of the country and the arrival of his wife from Normandy so that she would be crowned with him. On the other hand, it would be easier to obtain the submission of those who still did not recognize him if he did it as crowned king in Westminster and with this it would also put an end to the discussion about whether or not Edgar was Harold's successor.
Finally the second opinion prevailed, and all preparations were made for William to be crowned in a brilliant and solemn ceremony at Westminster on Christmas Day 1066. Initially everything went smoothly. in accordance with the usual ritual in Saxon ceremonies, with the Archbishop of York presiding over the celebration and the new king taking the traditional oath of office.
But at a certain point events stopped following their course as established. Versions of what happened vary depending on the source. For Norman historians, no one had explained to the garrison outside that as part of the ceremony the notables present inside the abbey would be asked if they accepted the new king and that this question had to be answered aloud first. place in English by the Saxons and later in French by the Normans. Hearing the screaming, the Norman soldiers thought there had been a last-minute Saxon betrayal and set about burning the houses near the abbey, taking the opportunity to pillage and attack the citizens of London.
For their part, the Saxon sources deny this version, with an argument that seems hardly debatable:if the Norman soldiers had suspected that William was in danger, they would have gone inside the abbey to the aid of the king instead of subjecting nearby dwellings to fire and robbery. Adding to the confusion of the ceremony, those inside the abbey panicked and fled the church, some going up in flames and others joining the looting being carried out by the Norman soldiers.
With the abbey almost empty and with the few people who remained trembling with fear, the ceremony nevertheless went ahead and William was crowned and anointed with the sacred oils that confirmed him as king of England. But, in the words of the Saxon historian Orderic Vitales, the way the coronation unfolded was an ominous auspice.
Indeed, during the following years, William had to continue to put down various Saxon rebellions, as is narrated in the blog entry dedicated to Hereward the Outlaw. In his struggle against pockets of Saxon resistance, William at times behaved towards his subjects and his lands more like an invading tyrant than an anointed and crowned King of England at Westminster.
Font | Marc Morris:The Norman conquest.