After Hastings: Becoming William I
Victory at the Battle of Hastings was only one key part in William of Normandy becoming the King of England as author Paul Bernardi explains.
When William, Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold II on Senlac Ridge on that chilly autumn day in October 1066, he must have hoped that the whole country would submit to him without further delay. But he soon found out that little had changed with Harold’s gruesome death. It would be another ten weeks before he could truly call himself: King.
Chief among his immediate problems was that his much-reduced army was still locked into a relatively small area in the southeastern corner of England and, with winter approaching, the notoriously fickle weather in the Channel would have made the opportunity to acquire fresh troops from France difficult at best. On top of that, the Anglo-Saxons still had many thousands of men who could be called upon to fight. King Harold had rushed south from Yorkshire (following the resounding success of the battle of Stamford Bridge) with just his loyal huscarls (his household warriors, in essence). The men of the north, far west and the midlands remained largely unbloodied and unbowed.
The first few years of William’s reign saw uprising after uprising. That none of these revolts was successful is largely because they were localised in their scale and ambition and failed to capture the national imagination. For whatever reason – though the absence of an obvious and capable leader stands out – they could not attract anything like the support they needed to trouble William too greatly.
It will come as no surprise to students of Anglo-Saxon England to know that the north of England was a hotbed of rebellion at this time; that part of the country had a reputation for frequent unrest going back centuries. And this, specifically, is the subject of my new trilogy entitled, Rebellion (of which the first book is called Blood Feud).
For several generations, the West Saxon line of English Kings had been largely content to leave the north to its own devices, but things had begun to change back in 1055 when King Edward the Confessor had appointed the then Earl Harold Godwineson’s brother, Tostig, to the Earldom of Northumbria. Within a few years, Tostig – and his henchman, Copsig – were roundly hated by almost everyone north of the Humber; Tostig’s aggressive taxation policy and Copsig’s even more punitive enforcement measures endeared them to no one. Eventually, in 1065, the King was forced to intervene, sending Harold to deal with his brother. Much to Tostig’s chagrin, Harold sided with the locals, sending his kinsman into exile.
William, however, was an altogether different prospect to his Saxon predecessors. The continual rebellions against his authority, combined with an unhealthy sense of paranoia from his own, tempestuous childhood, meant that he would soon set about imposing his will with his customary ruthlessness.
At first, with his plate overfull, William was forced to place some trusted Englishmen in positions of authority to oversee the further reaches of his kingdom. But why, when Copsig petitioned the new king to be appointed Earl of Northumbria, did William agree? It can only be described as a mystery. Surely, he had to be aware of Copsig’s past, his reputation? As Tostig’s right-hand man, he had alienated much of the population north of the Humber, and so sending him to the region as the king’s chosen man was always going to be like tossing a lighted match onto a petrol-infused bonfire.
Perhaps, William was taken in by Copsig’s fawning demeanour and his claims to have a deep knowledge of the region. The vast sum of money he no doubt paid for the title was also welcome at a time when there were soldiers to be paid. Perhaps it was a tactical stopgap until William could nominate one of his men to do the job. Either way, Copsig set off north at the head of an army with which to stake his claim.
But no sooner had he arrived than he came up against the existing Earl, Oswulf, who ruled the northern half of Northumbria from the ancient fortress capital of Bebbanburh (Bamburgh). As one of the climactic scenes in my novel, I’ll not spoil what happened on that day but suffice to say, Oswulf must have wondered later, what this new king – this unknown from across the Channel – might now do in response. And to find that out, you’ll have to wait until books two and three.
Paul Bernardi is the author of Blood Feud which is available now in print and ebook.
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