William's expedition to capture the crown of England was approved of by Pope Alexander II and in it's religious aspect was something in the nature of a crusade for a number of reasons;-

However much truth or otherwise in William's claim that Harold had taken an oath of homage to the Duke and whether such an oath was made under duress or not, Harold was considered to have broken his oath.

The Pope was very keen on the Clugnaic reform while Stigand, the Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury, had been ordained by the Antipope Benedict X. Pope Alexander thus feared that the Church in Engand would be drawn away from Rome and it would prove difficult to to curb secular priests and prevent the marriage of the clergy.

Although the claim is unlikely, Harold II had, according to the Normans, promised to marry Duke William's daughter Adela - Harold had married Aldgyth, the grandaughter of Leofric of Mercia and widow of Gryffydd of Wales.

Halley's Comet - Divine Portent? Halley's comet was observed in 1066, the year of the Norman Conquest of Saxon England, and considered to be an omen. Rightly or wrongly, Duke William of Normandy claimed that Harold Godwinson, had sworn on the bones of a saint that he should succeed Edward the Confessor to the throne of England. On The Confessor's death in 1066, the witan elected Harold as King Harold II. On the grounds of the brocken "promise" and, not least, because Archbishop Stigand had recieved the pallium from the Antipope, Duke William's invasion of England had the sanction of the Pope. Since ancient times, the appearance of comets had been seen as the sign of the death of a king or the fall of a country. As invasion plans advanced the appearance of Halley's Comet seemed to the Norman's and their supporters as a certain sign that England and its new king would fall under their onslaught. The Saxons of England themselves could not have been unaware of the superstitions concerning comets. The comet, albeit in highly styalised form is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, and the accounts of its appearance which have been preserved represent it as having then appeared to be four times the size of Venus, and to have shone with a light equal to a quarter of that of the Moon. History makes no mention of Halley's Comet again until the year 1456.

Events Leading up to the Invasion William's Landing The Battle of Hastings William's Pacification of England

On the defeat and death of Harold II, the barons of England elected Edgar Atheling, the son of Edward the Outlaw and grndson of Edmund Ironside as King.

The Conqueror marched to and secured the port of Dover to ensure communications with Normandy (capturing and burning New Romney en-route). He took Canterbury, Winchester submitted to the Normans and William made his way towards London. He crossed the river Thames at Wallingford and set up his camp Berkhampstead from where he had command of the roads leading to and from the north and thus isolated the city.

Recognising that further resistance to William was futile, the barons offered him the crown and Edgar Atheling, Edwin and Morcar, all of whom had fled to London, submitted to William.

William I was crowned as King of England on Christmas Day in 1066, not by Stigand, the Archbishop of Canterbury who had recieved the pallium from the Antipope, but by Aldred, the Archbishop of York. The coronation took place with the full ritual and ceremony of previous coronations but five more years would pass before William I of England had subdued the Saxons completely.

Events Leading up to the Invasion William's Landing The Battle of Hastings William's Pacification of England

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