Harold Harefoot

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Harold Harefoot
King of England
Reign November 12, 1035 – March 17, 1040
Predecessor Canute the Great
Successor Harthacanute
Issue
Elfwine
Father Canute the Great
Mother Ælgifu
Born c. 1015
Died March 17, 1040
England
Burial St Clement Danes, Westminster, England

Harold Harefoot (c. 1015–March 17, 1040) was King of England from 1035 to 1040. His cognomen "Harefoot" was for his speed, and the skill of his huntsmanship[1].He was the son of Canute the Great, King of England, Denmark, Norway, and some of the Kingdom of Sweden, through his handfast wife Aelgifu of Northampton. Though there was some skepticism he was really Canute's son.[2], this was probably just propaganda by the opponents of his kingship.

Upon Canute's death (November 12, 1035), Harold's younger half-brother Harthacanute, the son of Canute and his queen, Emma of Normandy, was legitimate heir to the thrones of both the Danes and the English. He was, however, unable to travel to his coronation, because his Danish kingdom was under threat of invasion by King Magnus I of Norway and King Anund Jacob of Sweden. England's magnates[3] favoured the idea of installing Harold Harefoot temporarily as regent, due to the difficulty of Harthacanute's absence, and despite the opposition of Godwin, the Earl of Wessex, and the Queen, he eventually wore the crown.

Harold survived an attempt to unseat him led by Alfred Aetheling and Edward the Confessor, Emma's sons by the long-dead Ethelred the Unready, in 1036. Harold died at Oxford on March 17, 1040,[2] just as Harthacanute was preparing an invasion force of Danes, and was buried at the abbey of Westminster[4]. His body was subsequently exhumed, beheaded, and thrown into a fen bordering the Thames when Harthacanute assumed the throne in June, 1040.[5] His supporters later rescued the body, to be buried in a church which was fittingly named St Clement Danes.

Contents

[edit] Assumes the throne

In 1037, Emma of Normandy fled to Bruges, in Flanders, and Harold "was everywhere chosen as king".[2] Harold himself is somewhat obscure; the historian Frank Stenton considered it probable that his mother Aelgifu was "the real ruler of England" for part or all of his reign.[6]

With the north at least on Harold's side, in adherence to the terms of a deal, which Godwin was part of, Emma was settled in Winchester, with Harthacanute's huscarls. Harold soon "sent and had taken from her all the best treasures" of Canute the Great,[7] and the Kingdom of England was practically his.

According to the Encomium Emmae, though, the Archbishop of Canterbury refused to crown Harold Harefoot. There is evidence that Aelgifu of Northampton was attempting to secure her son's position through bribes to the nobles.[4]

[edit] Alfred and Edward's invasion

The runestone Sm 42, in Småland, Sweden, mentions Harold Harefoot.
The runestone Sm 42, in Småland, Sweden, mentions Harold Harefoot.[8]

In 1036, Alfred Atheling, Emma's son by the long dead Ethelred, returned to the kingdom from exile in Normandy with his brother Edward the Confessor, with some show of arms. With his bodyguard, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle he intended to visit his mother, Emma, in Winchester, but he may have made this journey for anything other than a family reunion. As the "murmur was very much in favour of Harold", Alfred was captured on the direction of Godwin, now apparently on Harold's side at this point, and the men loyal to Harefoot blinded him. He subsequently died soon after due to the severity of the wounds, his bodyguard similarly treated.[7]

[edit] Offspring

Harold apparently had a son, Elfwine, who became a monk on the continent when he was older.[4] Aelfgifu of Northampton disappears with no trace at this space in time. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Harold Harefoot ruled for 4 years and 16 weeks, by which calculation he would have begun ruling two weeks after the death of Canute. [9]

[edit] References

  1. ^ For an explanation of this etymology, see Albert Le Roy Bartlett, The Essentials of Language and Grammar, Silver, Burdett and Co., 1900, p. 28.
  2. ^ a b c The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1035–40, M. Swanton translation (1996).
  3. ^ "Earl Leofric and almost all the thegns north of the Thames, and the men of the fleet in London"
  4. ^ a b c Tim Bolton, "Reign of King Harold Harefoot", The Literary Encyclopedia, May 5, 2006.
  5. ^ This may have been motivated partly in response to the murder of Alfred, Harthacanute's half-brother, and partly for his perceived theft of the crown.
  6. ^ Stenton, page 421.
  7. ^ a b Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, Oxford University Press (1998 paperback), pages 420–421; quoted segments from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
  8. ^ Pritsak, Omeljan. (1981). The origin of Rus'. Cambridge, Mass.: Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. ISBN 0-674-64465-4 p. 343
  9. ^ ASC manuscript E, 1039 (1040); for the calculation, see Swanton's translation, page 161, note 18.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Canute the Great		 King of England
1035–1040		 Succeeded by
Harthacanute
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