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Edward the Confessor had died on 5th January 1066 -
on 6th January, was buried in the Abbey he had built – in Westminster.
Later that same day, Harold was crowned king in that very Abbey!
 The ‘guests’ at Edward the Confessor's burial would have been the same group attending the coronation, so it made sense that they stayed where they were, not trek across London to (the ‘old’) St. Pauls Cathedral.
The idea that William was the first king crowned at Westminster is possibly another example of the ‘Norman propaganda’ designed to give an impression that William, was the first king of England.
 Propaganda might also be evident in the portrayal of Harold's coronation in the Bayeux Tapestry.
 The Tapestry, is a mysterious document which may, have been produced by English hands, working under Norman masters.
Early in the new year of 1066, Harold married Alditha, sister of the two northern earls, Edwin and Morcar, to ensure national unity.
 His former wife Edith Swan Neck, had been a ‘common-law’ wife, a type of marriage seen frequently in Danish society.
This left room for a strategic marriage to Alditha. Harold then set about securing his kingdom.
 Tosti (his brother) mounted raids on the south coast, but was driven into Scotland. There, Tosti waited for his next chance, spending his time in Scotland forging an alliance with Harald Hadrada of Norway.
 Harald Hadrada was a Viking warrior in the ‘old’ tradition (he liked hurting people) and did not need the various justifications that William of Normandy, required for invasion.
England was rich, offered lots of potential plunder, and a former English earl (Tosti) had offered an alliance.
 What more incentive was needed?
 In the late autumn of 1066 three hundred ships sailed for England, the army coming ashore at Riccall, and immediately making for York.
This army defeated the forces of the earl's Edwin and Morcar at Fulford on Wednesday 20th September.
 Back in London, King Harold, with impressive organisation, raised an army and moved it north at speed, to take the Norwegians by surprise on 25th September at ‘Stamford Bridge’, eight miles outside York.
 King Harold's army pushed the Norwegians back across the river Derwent into an area known as ‘Battle Flats’.
 Here Harald Hadrada and Tosti were killed and their army defeated.
 The survivors, ran for their ships thirteen miles away at Riccall.
King Harold gave chase and could have destroyed the entire army. Instead he allowed the survivors to sail away, after making promises never to return. Of the three hundred ships that set out, only twenty four sailed home.
Now, this is where a ‘mobile’ or ‘cell phone’, would have been extremely handy to King Harold – perhaps he could then have been ‘tipped off’ of sightings of an impending invasion fleet crossing the English Channel a teensy weensy bit earlier than he did, actually receive it . . .