As I researched my last post on the Battle of Stamford Bridge, I was struck that King Harold, of Battle of Hastings fame, Harold Godwinson, was King Harold II. So who was King Harold I? He was Harold Harefoot, named after his hunting prowess.
Harold Harefoot was the son of King Cnut (or Canute) by his first marriage to AElfgifu of Northampton. When King Cnut successfully conquered England in 1016, he married Emma of Normandy, the widow of King Æthelred (the Unready) to secure his position as rightful king. Emma came with sons from her marriage to AEthelred, Alfred and Edward. King Cnut and Emma had a son, Harthacnut. After the death of his father, King Canute the Great, in 1035, Harold seized the throne, bypassing his half-brother Harthacnut, who was away in Denmark at the time.
He was confirmed as king by the Witangemot (Great Council) meeting in Oxford in 1035, but the Archbishop of Canterbury refused to crown him. Harold then denounced the Christian faith and refused to attend church until he was crowned. Meanwhile Emma was trying to amass support for her sons Alfred and Edward. She based herself in Wessex, with the support of Earl Godwin, father of Harold Godwinson.
However Earl Godwin must have been impressed by Harold Harefoot, because he switched allegiance from Emma and her sons to Harold. In 1036 Alfred and Edward sailed from Normandy to visit their mother, Emma. They were met by Earl Godwin who feigned allegiance before slaughtering the entourage of Alfred and Edward. Edward escaped, but Alfred was taken to a monastery in Ely where his eyes were gauged out and he subsequently died.
Harold I died of a mystery illness in Oxford on 17th March 1040. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. However his brother Harthacnut had him exhumed, beheaded, and thrown in the River Thames. King Harthacnut, or Canute III, reigned for only two years and was succeeded by Emma’s son Edward, King Edward the Confessor.