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From Hastings to Crowning

© David White

History is not often simple and rarely complete. It is tempting to look back on the days of that October campaign in 1066 and say that "William was destined to become king" or that "Harold would have won had he not been exhausted from the victory at Stamford Bridge." The plain and simple and complete fact is this: We just don't know everything that went on. We as historians have to look back through the eyes of others and contemplate what things might have been like, based on the writings of others who have studied the period and on, possibly, on the writings or recollections of those who lived in that period. Direct eyewitness evidence from such momentous events is rare, especially as the years, decades, and centuries pile up. We are left, then, to pick up the narrative pieces where we may, trying desperately not to impose modern sensibilities and war theories on people who lived nearly a millennium ago.

What, then, to make of the Battle of Hastings? For one thing, it marked a changing of the guard. It was the Saxons' last hurrah, at least as far as the seats of power were concerned. Although it didn't happen right away, it did indeed occur that William was crowned King of England, on Christmas Day no less; and it did indeed occur that he founded something of a dynasty that had implications far beyond its natural life.

First of all, we can't just jump from the Battle of Hastings to William's being crowned. The day after the battle, William certainly wasn't welcomed as the new king. No delegation from the kingdom came to meet him, offering submissive gestures. It is true that no army rose up to fight him, either, but William and his weary men had to slog their way through the hostile countryside to the Wessex seat of power, consolidating his hold on the territory as he went. They marched from Dover to London on a Roman road. They didn't get there overnight, however; and in the meantime, the people of London got together and elected Edgar Aetheling as king.

These things take time, especially in a land that is used to drifting along in search of a leader. Days turned into weeks into months. The country drifted, as those in Wessex tried to get used to the idea of Edgar as king while William tried to get used to the idea of having to fight more skirmishes in order to press his claim on the throne.