After his brother-in-law, King Edward the Confessor, died without an heir on 5 January 1066, the Witenagemot convened and chose Harold to succeed him; he was probably the first English monarch to be crowned in Westminster Abbey.

In late September, he successfully repelled an invasion by rival claimant Harald Hardrada of Norway in York before marching his army back south to meet William at Hastings two weeks later.

[10] The manor of Bosham on the South coast of England had been acquired, originally from the Archbishop of Canterbury[a] as the family seat by Earl Godwin,[12] and was inherited by Harold.

[19] In 1051, Edward appointed an enemy of the Godwins as Archbishop of Canterbury and soon afterwards drove them into exile, but they raised an army which forced the king to restore them to their positions a year later.

[21] Harold also became Earl of Hereford in 1058, and replaced his late father as the focus of opposition to growing Norman influence in England under the restored monarchy (1042–66) of Edward the Confessor, who had spent more than 25 years in exile in Normandy.

The Bayeux Tapestry, and other Norman sources, then state that Harold swore an oath on sacred relics to William to support his claim to the English throne.

[25] The chronicler Orderic Vitalis wrote of Harold that he "was distinguished by his great size and strength of body, his polished manners, his firmness of mind and command of words, by a ready wit and a variety of excellent qualities.

"[26] Due to a doubling of taxation by Tostig in 1065 that threatened to plunge England into civil war, Harold supported Northumbrian rebels against his brother, and replaced him with Morcar.

He died on 5 January 1066, according to the Vita Ædwardi Regis, but not before briefly regaining consciousness and commending his widow and the kingdom to Harold's "protection".

The intent of this charge remains ambiguous, as is the Bayeux Tapestry, which simply depicts Edward pointing at a man thought to represent Harold.

[e] When the Witan convened the next day they selected Harold to succeed,[f] and his coronation followed on 6 January, most likely held in Westminster Abbey, though limited but persuasive evidence from the time survives to confirm this, in the form of its depiction in the Bayeux Tapestry (shown above left).

[28] Although later Norman sources point to the suddenness of this coronation, the reason may have been that all the nobles of the land were present at Westminster for the feast of Epiphany, and not because of any usurpation of the throne on Harold's part.

In early January 1066, upon hearing of Harold's coronation, William began plans to invade England, building approximately 700 warships and transports at Dives-sur-Mer on the Normandy coast.

[33] The invading forces of Hardrada and Tostig defeated the English earls Edwin of Mercia and Morcar of Northumbria at the Battle of Fulford near York on 20 September 1066.

[33] According to Snorri Sturluson, in a story described by Edward Freeman as "plainly mythical",[34] before the battle a single man rode up alone to Harald Hardrada and Tostig.

An earlier source, Amatus of Montecassino's L'Ystoire de li Normant ("History of the Normans"), written only twenty years after the battle of Hastings, contains a report of Harold being shot in the eye with an arrow, but this may be an early fourteenth-century addition.

[39] The sources for how Harold met his death are contradictory, thus modern historians have not been able to produce a definitive story without finding something that will compromise any hypothesis.

For the Duke thought it unseemly to receive money for such merchandise, and equally he considered it wrong that Harold should be buried as his mother wished, since so many men lay unburied because of his avarice.

They said in jest that he who had guarded the coast with such insensate zeal should be buried by the seashore.Another source states that Harold's widow, Edith the Fair,[i] was called to identify the body, which she did by some private mark known only to her.

A request to exhume a grave in Bosham Church was refused by the Diocese of Chichester in December 2003, the Chancellor having ruled that the chances of establishing the identity of the body as Harold's were too slim to justify disturbing a burial place.

"[It] was made of Horsham stone, magnificently finished, and contained the thigh and pelvic bones of a powerfully built man of about 5ft 6in[j] in height, aged over 60 years[k] and with traces of arthritis.

"[47] It was suggested that the contents of the coffin had been opened at a much earlier date and vandalised, as the skull was missing and the remaining bones damaged in a way that was inconsistent with decomposition post mortem.

[47] The description of the remains is not unlike the fate of the king, recorded in the Carmen de Hastingae Proeliormen, that says Harold was buried by the sea.

The location of the grave, at Bosham Church, is also consistent with William of Poitiers' description as it is only a small distance from Chichester Harbour and in sight of the English Channel.

Two of Harold's other sons, Godwine and Edmund, invaded England in 1068 and 1069 with the aid of Diarmait mac Máel na mBó (High King of Ireland) but were defeated at the Battle of Northam in Devon in 1069.

After her husband's death, at the Battle of Hastings, the pregnant Ealdgyth had been collected, from London, by her brothers, the Northern earls, Edwin of Mercia and Morcar of Northumbria, and taken to Chester for safety.

Also, after their defeat at the Battle of Northam the fate of the sons is unclear although some later sources suggest they took refuge at the Danish court with their grandmother, aunt and sister.