The Oath of Harold Godwinson
William the Conqueror’s chaplain used to tell this story to those who doubted his master’s claim to the English crown.
1063
King Edward the Confessor 1042-1066
William the Conqueror’s chaplain used to tell this story to those who doubted his master’s claim to the English crown.
1063
King Edward the Confessor 1042-1066
In 1063, against the advice of King Edward the Confessor, Harold, son of Earl Godwin, crossed the Channel to Normandy. There, young Duke William welcomed him with a degree of warmth that was faintly troubling. William made of Harold his especial friend, and shared with him his ambition to be named Edward’s heir. Would Harold help him? William asked, and Harold mumbled something vague.
BUT Duke William was not content with a vague promise.* So he called together a great council of all the knights and nobles of Normandy. He also bade his priests and Bishops bring, from all the country round, bones and relics of saints. So many were brought that they filled a large chest. This was placed in the middle of the council chamber and covered with a cloth of gold. When the day was come upon which the great meeting was called, William set himself upon his throne. He was dressed in splendid robes, a circle of gold and gems was upon his head, and a drawn sword in his hand. Around him stood a crowd of Norman lords and barons. Alone among them stood the Saxon* Harold.
“Harold,” said William, “I require you now, before these noble lords, to make sure by oath the promises that you have given to me. You must swear to me now, upon holy relics, that, after the death of King Edward, you will aid me to the kingdom of England, that you will marry my daughter Adela, and that you will send your sister to me so that she may be married to one of my nobles.” Again Harold was surprised and troubled.
* Technically Harold was not a Saxon, that is, a person from Saxony in Germany, but English; his father Godwin was Earl of Wessex in the Kingdom of England. However, the word Saxon was used until quite recently as a synonym for an Anglo-Saxon, a descendant of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes who migrated here in the fifth century. We could just call them ‘English’, but our forebears wanted to distinguish between English people (and also artefacts and architecture etc.) found in England before the Norman Conquest in 1066, and those new ‘English’ who settled here after it. The Norman-versus-Saxon distinction is exploited in Robin Hood tales from Scott’s Ivanhoe to Errol Flynn. It also explains why pre-Conquest English churches such as the church at Escomb in County Durham are popularly called ‘Saxon’ churches.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why did William cover the relics with a large cloth of gold?
So Harold wouldn’t know they were there.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
William made a large heap of relics. He threw a golden cloth over them. Harold knew nothing about them.
See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.
IAware. IIConceal. IIIUnderneath.