14 October 2009

The Blessed Harold, Martyr-King of England, and those with him at the Battle of Hastings


On 14 October 1066, the Blessed King Harold Godwinson, by right and tradition King of England, died defending his realm against the Papal proto-crusade led by the Normans against the English people. Fatigued and battle weary after defeating the Norweigian king, Harold Hardrada at the Battle of Fulford (in Yorkshire) on 20 September of the same year, King Harold hastened to reach Sussex, where William the Bastard landed his fleet of invaders on 27 September (having set sail from Normandy some fifteen days prior). The final battle of Anglo-Saxon England took place on Senlac Hill, outside of the town of Hastings.

King Harold died valiantly defending England from the Norman heretics. Tradition holds that his death-blow was an arrow wound through the eye, and that his body was brutally mutilated by William and his men. His final resting place is unknown, but many hold that the king was buried at Bosham Church, in Chichester.

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