What memory did Harold Godwinson make in summer 1066?

Answer 1

Harold Godwinson is better known as King Harold II, and was the last of the true Anglo-Saxon Kings of England. He succeeded his father Godwin as monarch on 4th January 1066, but ruled for less than a year before being killed attempting to repel the Norman Invasion at The Battle of Hastings on 4th October the same year.

He died after being shot through the eye by a Norman infantry archer, and was about 60 years old- he is one of only 3 English kings to have died in battle, the others being Richards I and III.

The site of his death on Hastings battlefield later became the location of Battle Abbey. His exact burial place is not known, but is thought to be either Waltham Abbey in Essex, or Bosham Church on the coast near Chichester in West Sussex. There is strong evidence to support the theory that the latter is his true burial place- a coffin was discovered there in 1954 containing the remains of an Anglo-Saxon man missing his head, one leg and the lower part of his other leg, injuries consistent with accounts given at the time of the Invasion and also supporting the statement by contemporary chronicler William Poitier that Harold was buried by the sea. The remains were reburied, but the Diocese of Chichester refuses to allow them to be re-exhumed for DNA testing to prove that the remains are, indeed, King Harold's.