British Dynastic Wars
The British Dynastic Wars refer to a series of conflicts in England that were primarily driven by contested claims to the throne and the struggle for power among rival factions, particularly during the transition from Anglo-Saxon to Norman rule. The period began with King Alfred the Great's efforts to unify England in the 9th century, which was later challenged by Danish invasions. Following a period of relative peace, the reign of Æthelred II saw heightened conflict as he struggled against renewed Danish attacks, leading to turmoil over succession after his death.
Key figures in these dynastic disputes included Edmund Ironside, son of Æthelred II, and Canute I, the Danish king. The political landscape shifted significantly after the death of Edward the Confessor in 1066, as claims to the throne arose from both Harold II Godwinson and William, Duke of Normandy. This culminated in the pivotal Battle of Hastings, where William's forces defeated Harold II, marking the last successful invasion of England and resulting in Norman rule. These dynastic struggles significantly shaped England's political structure, society, and language, as the Normans established a feudal system and introduced French influences into English culture.
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British Dynastic Wars
At issue: Control of England’s monarchy
Date: 1000–1066
Location: Kent and York, England
Combatants: Anglo-Saxons vs. Danes, Norwegians, Norman French
Principal commanders:Anglo-Saxon, Edmund Ironside (980?-1016), Tostig (d. 1066), Harold II Godwinson, king of England (1022?-1066); Danish, Sweyn I Forkbeard (d. 1014), Canute I (994?-1035); Norwegian, Harold III Hardraade, king of Norway (1015–1066); Norman, William the Conqueror (1028–1087)
Principal battles: Ashington, Stamford Bridge, Hastings
Result: Norman conquest of England
Background
Anglo-Saxon King Alfred the Great of Wessex (south and west England) unified his kingdom by major political, military, and cultural reforms. These reforms enabled his successors to overwhelm the less numerous Danes (former Vikings) in the north and east of England by the mid-900’s. Peace existed in a united England from the mid-900’s to 980. Danish attacks then resumed at a time when England was led by a weak king, Æthelred II the Unready. What followed were intermittent conflict and contested claims to the throne of England.
Action
As the Danish attacks increased, Æthelred II brought peace by buying off the Danes, paying them through funds collected from the “Danegeld,” a tax imposed on the English. In 1013, Sweyn I Forkbeard, king of Denmark, renewed the conquest. Sweyn died in 1014 and Æthelred II in 1016, but the battle continued between Sweyn’s son Canute I and Edmund Ironside, the son of Æthelred II. At Ashington (1016) in Essex, when half of his army deserted, Edmund was routed and fled, dying at the end of the year.
Æthelred II had a second son, the future Edward the Confessor. Although the throne usually passed from father to son within the House of Wessex, each new king was in theory elected by the witan, a group of Anglo-Saxon nobles and advisers. In 1016, the witan chose Sweyn’s son Canute as king, putting the English monarchy into the conquest line. Because Canute made few changes to the status quo and married Æthelred II’s widow, there was peace and prosperity for a generation. Canute’s line came to an end seven years after his death. In 1042, the witan went back to the English blood line and chose the second son of Æthelred II, Edward the Confessor.
Edward’s mother, Emma, wife to both Æthelred II and Canute, was the daughter of the duke of Normandy. Edward had been raised there and appointed Norman French to governmental posts, arousing resentment for a generation. When he died with no heirs, the witan chose Harold II Godwinson, a nephew of Canute, putting the throne back into the conquest line of Sweyn. Ironically, the conquest line represented English interests more than the blood line did. Harold II claimed that the English wanted him and that the witan had chosen him. William, duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror), stated that Emma was his great-aunt and that Edward the Confessor had chosen him as his successor. It boiled down a matter of William’s superior claim versus Harold’s popularity.
William began assembling an army to enforce his claim. Meanwhile, Harold II’s half-brother Tostig in the north had connived with the Norwegian king Harold III Hardraade, who had a distant claim to the throne through Canute. Tostig and Harold III raised an army, but King Harold II defeated them at the Battle of Stamford Bridge (September 25, 1066) in Yorkshire. Tostig and Harold III were killed, and of the 300 ships they came in, only 24 were needed to take the remnants back.
On September 28, 1066, William landed in Kent. Harold II’s exhausted army hastened south, and the Battle of Hastings (October 14, 1066) ensued. The Normans’ superior discipline and tactics, plus Harold II’s forces’ fatigue, proved decisive. Harold II’s infantry held firm against Norman cavalry, but Norman archers shot arrows high into the air that rained on the infantry, breaking their formation and leading to a slaughter. Harold II was killed, and the whole battle was immortalized by the Bayeux Tapestry (c. 1080). It was the last successful invasion of England.
Aftermath
The Normans ruled England for centuries, perfecting the feudal system established earlier by the Anglo-Saxons. The English language, with its Anglo-Saxon (German) base, incorporated many elements from French (Latin).
Bibliography
Fleming, Robin. Kings and Lords in Conquest England. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Lawson, Michael Kenneth. Cnut: The Danes in England in the Early Eleventh Century. London: Longman, 1993.
Lehmberg, Stanford E. The Peoples of the British Isles: A New History. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1992.
Morillo, Stephen, ed. The Battle of Hastings: Sources and Interpretations. Rochester, N.Y.: Boydell Press, 1996.