Harold Harefoot

Harold Harefoot
King of England
Modern Impression of Harold Harefoot.
Reign	12 November 1037 – 17 March 1040
Predecessor	Cnut the Great
Successor	Harthacnut
Issue
Ælfwine Haroldsson (illegitimate)
Father	Cnut the Great
Mother	Ælfgifu of Northampton
Born	c. 1015 England
Died	17 March 1040 (aged 24–25) England
Burial	St. Clement Danes, Westminster, England

Harold Harefoot, or Harold I, (c. 1015–17 March 1040) was King of England from 1037 to 1040. His cognomen "Harefoot" referred to his speed, and the skill of his huntsmanship.^[1] He was the son of Cnut the Great, king of England, Denmark, and Norway by Ælfgifu of Northampton. Though there was some scepticism he was really Cnut's son,^[2] this was probably just propaganda by the opponents of his kingship.

Harthacnut's reign

Upon Cnut's death (12 November 1035), Harold's younger half-brother Harthacnut, the son of Cnut and his queen Emma of Normandy, was legitimate heir to the thrones of both the Danes and the English. Harthacnut, however, was 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 Harthacnut'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 Ælfred Ætheling and Edward the Confessor, Emma's sons by the long-dead Æthelred the Unready, in 1036. Harold died at Oxford on 17 March 1040,^[2] just as Harthacnut 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 Harthacnut 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.

Assumes the throne

The runestone Sm 42, in Småland, Sweden, mentions Harold Harefoot.^[6]

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 Ælfgifu was "the real ruler of England" for part or all of his reign.^[7]

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 Harthacnut's huscarls. Harold soon "sent and had taken from her all the best treasures" of Cnut the Great,^[8] 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 Ælfgifu of Northampton was attempting to secure her son's position through bribes to the nobles.^[4]

Alfred and Edward's invasion

In 1036, Alfred Atheling, Emma's son by the long dead Æthelred, 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.^[8]

Offspring

Harold apparently had a son, Ælfwine, who became a monk on the continent when he was older.^[4] Ælfgifu of Northampton disappears with no trace after 1040. 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 Cnut.^[9]

Ancestry

References

External links

• Harold Harefoot At Find A Grave
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Harold I". Encyclopædia Britannica (Eleventh ed.). Cambridge University Press.