Alternate History

I. The Reign of Canute
In the late 900s, Danish vikings began to raid England again, after having left her alone since the ascendancy of Alfred the Great (871-899).  These renewed raids came during the reign of the child-king Ethelred the Uncouncilled.  In 1009, the Danish invasions forced Ethelred to flee to Normandy and most of the English accepted the Danish King Swein as the King of England.  But in 1014, Swein died, leaving the kingdom to his son Canute.  Ethelred mounted a successful campaign to reclaim his throne.  But in 1016, Ethelred died and his son Edmund "Ironside" also died in 1016 fighting the Danes.  The Witan then concurred to the accession of Canute to the English throne.

.Canute now ruled England, Denmar, and Norway in an empire girding the North Sea.  It was a fragile empire held together only by the bonds of allegiance to a single man and backed by the money Canute was able to extract from England, the richest of his holdings. 

Canute ruled in very much the same manner as had the Anglo-Saxon kings he displaced: respecting ancient customs, issuing "dooms" (ie, written laws providing a uniform legal code), and supporting the Church.   

To further strengthen his claim to the English throne, Canute married Ethelred's widow Emma. Upon Canute's death, his empire crumbled.  Neither of his two sons ruled England well.  When the latter of the two died without heir, the Witan chose as king the long-exiled son of Ethelred and Emma: Edward the Confessor (1042-1066).

II. The Claimants
When Edward the Confessor (King of England from 1042 to 1066) died childless, there were three principal contenders for the English crown. 

Harold Godwinson, the most powerful Earl in England at the time, is reputed to have been named the heir by Edward on his deathbed.  On the day after Edward's death the Witan (precursor to the Parliament) elected Earl Harold as king, although he was not himself of royal blood.

William ("the Bastard"), Duke of Normandy, was distantly related to Edward, and stood on his claim that Edward had named him heir in 1051.  Furthermore, in 1064 or 1065, Harold Godwinson had been captured while on a visit to the continent.  He had been turned over to William's custody, and made to swear a public oath to support William's claim to the throne before he would be released.  Thus, Harold's claiming the throne for himself was seen as a breach of that oath by William's supporters.

Harold Hardrada was the king of Norway as the successor to King Canute.  This same Canute had ruled as King of England from 1016 to 1035.  Because of the intervening Anglo-Saxon reigns following Canute's death, Hardrada's claim was the weakest of the three.  But his renown as a warrior made him someone not easily dismissed.

III. Ecclesiastical Influences
The Church in England was a mixture of two influences: the so-called "Celtic Church" as existed in Wales, Cornwall, Ireland, Scotland, and the northern areas of England; and the more Continental-influenced Roman Church.  These were not independent jurisdictions such as one finds in Reformation Europe.  They held the same theology but differed in matters of polity and ritual.  Each had its own Liturgy (though both were written and said in Latin).  But clergy in those areas evangelized by the Roman missionaries (and areas that had submitted themselves to Romanized bishops) were more interested in standardizing their practices to conform to those on the Continent than were the priests and monks in those areas still using Celtic Church customs. 

In the early 1050s, King Edward bowed to political pressure from Godwin, Earl of Wessex (and Harold's father), and replaced the Norman-born Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert of Jumièges with Bishop Stigand.

At this time, the See of Rome was reasserting and strengthening its power over the European Church.  The replacement of Robert with Stigand before the death of the former was a violation of canon law.  Duke William seized on the issue to gain the support of the pope for his conquest and carried the papal banner with him during the invasion.  Following his successful Conquest, William replaced every bishop in England (but one) with a Norman.  This generated a fair bit of ill will at many levels among clergy and laity alike.

IV.  The Battles
In May  of 1066, Godwinson's disaffected and exiled brother Tostig began a series of raids on the coasts of southern and eastern England.  Tostig was beaten back by the local armies and he retreated to Scotland.  Here, he entered into an alliance with Harld Hardrada, merging the two armies.

Meanwhile, William had massed his army on the coast of Normandy, ready to attack England.  But consistently contrary winds prevented his departure.  Godwinson had massed the English army (the fyrd) on the southern coast, ready to repel William when he arrived.  But week after week went by without the Normans' coming. 

Soldiers and sailors in the English fyrd could only be compelled to remain active for two months at a time.  By mid-September, that term of service had expired for most of the fyrd; supplies were low; and the men needed to return home for the harvest.  Godwinson was forced to release his army.

Immediately after disbanding the fyrd, Godwinson received word that Hardrada was invading Yorkshire with 300 shiploads of Norse warriors, together with Tostig's considerable force. 

Hardrada captured York on September 20 in a battle against the northern English fyrd.  He decided to try and raise additional forces from the Anglo-Danish men in Yorkshire, and so pulled back to the crossroads at Stamford Bridge while awaiting hostages from York to be turned over.

Harold Godwinson reassembled the southern fyrd as best he could and began moving north as fast as possible.  On September 25, Godwinson surprised Hardrada at Stamford Bridge and, after a long and savage battle, won the day.  Hardrada and Tostig were both killed, and only 24 of the original 300 Norse ships escaped to return home.

Two days later, the Channel winds turned and William was able to begin his invasion at last.

Hearing of William's arrival, Godwinson wrapped up affairs in Yorkshire in only 13 days and then marched his exhausted, decimated army 240 miles to Hastings.  This haste may have well cost Godwinson the kingdom.