DID THE CONFESSOR PROMISE HIS THRONE TO THE CONQUEROR?

Tom Licence examines competing theories on who Edward intended to inherit the English crown after his death One of the great debates of Edward’s reign is whether he promised the throne to William, Duke of Normandy. The larger question to consider is whether he promised the throne to more than one person, including Harold. Some historians see Edward as a wily monarch who dangled the throne before multiple candidates to get them to do his bidding. Their case rests on the insistence of William’s supporters, and Harold’s, that Edward had promised the throne to their man. The problem is that all the noise about alleged promises post-dates 1066. There is not a shred of evidence from Edward’s lifetime for any of it. If Edward promised the throne to William (c1051, as is claimed) the Normans would have shouted it from the rooftops. But Norman writings of the 1050s and early 1060s, though interested in the duchy’s affairs, never allude to any promise or expectation that William should inherit England’s throne. Harold’s case is equally doubtful because it rests on the assertions of his supporters and was evidently not taken seriously by European powers. One reason historians take their claims seriously today is that they have gained a semblance of authority over 950 years. But in 1065 it would have been virtually unthinkable that the throne should go to someone not of the blood. Apart from the usurper Cnut and the dynasty he briefly established by conquest, every king as far back as records went had qualified by his blood-claim. By taking the throne from Edgar AEtheling (shown, right, in an illuminated family tree), Harold changed the rules. It was like putting a sign on the throne, saying “anyone may now apply”. William decided he had as much of a right as Harold. An opportunist, he did whatever he could get away with and made up his excuses later. In 1063 he had conquered the French county of Maine. The reason he gave was that the previous count had promised it to him! William was a man who recycled his excuses. We may be confident in calling his bluff.