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TIMELINE FOR THE
NORMAN CONQUEST
AND BAYEUX TAPESTRY
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1027/8
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William born at Falaise, bastard son of Duke Robert the
Magnificent of Normandy
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1035-1047
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William succeeds as duke (age 7 or 8). Result: anarchy, disorder,
personal vendettas. Violence: e.g.
murder of Duke William’s steward Osbern in the duke’s bedchamber by a rival
noble in early 1040s. Result: feud. William’s guardians Count Gilbert of
Brionne, Osbern the Seneschal, and Alan count of Brittany were killed in a plot to depose
the young duke. William’s court during his minority was dominated by his
uncles Count William of Arques and Archbishop Malger of Rouen. Vicomtes and nobles dotted Normandy with private
castles, taking advantage of the weakness of a child duke.
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1042
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Edward the
Confessor, the son of Æthelred the Unready and a Norman princess Emma,
becomes king of England.
Edward had spent most of his adult life in exile in Normandy.
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1045
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Edward marries
Edith, daughter of Godwin, the powerful earl of Wessex. Godwin’ second son Harold
becomes earl of East
Anglia
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1047
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Battle of Val-ès-Dunes,
southwest of Caen.
William was supported by King Henry I of France (1031-60), his overlord.
Together they put down the revolt of William’s cousin and guardian, Count Guy
of Brionne. Most of the Norman nobility fought against William, while Henry I
rather than William led the ducal and royal forces. King Henry I supported
William probably to create a counterweight to growing power in region of
Count Geoffrey Martel of Anjou
(1040-60). William proclaims Truce of God in Normandy.
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1047-50
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William consolidates power in Normandy and establishes a close-knit
coterie of noble advisers, most prominently William fitz Osbern, Roger de
Montgomery, Roger de Beaumont, Bishop Geoffrey of Countances, and William de
Warenne. William also appointed his half-brother Odo bishop of Bayeux and named his
other half-brother Roger count of Mortain. William’s foreign policy was to
support King Henry I against their mutual enemy Geoffrey Martel, count of Anjou.
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1049
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William Marries Mathilda, daughter of Count Baldwin V of Flanders
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1051
 Domfront
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William captures castles of Alencon
and Domfront from Geoffrey Martel of Anjou.
King Edward may have sent Robert, Archbishop of
Canterbury, to Normandy
to designate William as his heir. This story, however, appears only in
post-Conquest Norman sources. William’s claim was tenuous; Edward’s mother was William’s great aunt.
Earl Godwin and his
sons are outlawed. Godwin and his sons Swein, Tosti, and Gyrth take refuge in
Flanders. Harold and his brother Leofwine go
to Ireland where he wins
support from Diarmait of Leinster. Edward
repudiates his marriage to Edith
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1052
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Godwin and his sons
return to England
with naval forces. Edward restores the lands and honors to Godwin and his
sons, and takes back Edith as his wife.
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1053
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Godwin dies and
Harold succeeds to his father’s earldom of Wessex. Serious but
unsuccessful revolt against Duke William led by his uncle Count William of
Arques and supported by the counts of Boulogne,
Ponthieu, and Amiens.
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1054
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Battle
of Mortemer. Norman forces led by Robert of Eu surprise and defeat invading
army of Henry I and Count Geoffrey Martel while they are plundering. The still childless Edward the Confessor
sends an embassy to seek the return from Hungary of his nephew Edward
ætheling, son of his older half brother Edmund Ironside, to be his heir.
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1055
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William conquers Maine.
Earl Siward of Northumbria dies,
leaving a child as his heir. Harold’s brother Tostig succeeds Siward as earl.
Earl Ælfgar of East Anglia, son of Earl Leofric, is outlawed and joins forces
with Gruffydd ap Llwelyn, Prince of Wales, in an attack on Hereford. Harold is sent to Wales with an
army and negotiates peace. Ælfgar is restored to his earldom.
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1057
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Edward ætheling
returns to England
and dies soon after.
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1060
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William’s two greatest enemies, King Henry I and County
Geoffrey Martel of Anjou,
both die. King Henry I is succeeded by a child, Philip I. Anjou
is weakened by a dispute over succession
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1062
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Earl Ælfgar dies.
His eldest son Edwin becomes earl of Mercia
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1064/1065
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Earl Harold visits Normandy.
According to Norman sources, including the Bayeux Tapestry, Harold landed in
Ponthieu and was taken prisoner by Count Guy. Duke Willliam secured his
release and took him on campaign with him in Brittany. Subsequently, Harold is supposed
to have accepted William as his lord (shown in the Tapestry by William
conferring arms upon Harold) and sworn an oath to support William’s claim to
the throne. Norman historians and modern historians have given various
possible reasons for Harold’s journey to the Continent. The earliest Norman
apologists (William of Poitiers and Guy of Amiens) claim that King Edward
dispatched Harold to Normandy
to confirm his promise of the throne to the duke. Eadmer in the early twelfth century recast
the story so that Harold, ignoring the warnings of King Edward, chose to go
to Normandy
to secure the release of his brother and nephew who were hostages in Duke
William’s court. The visit is not mentioned in English sources, but the
ubiquity of the story in the early Norman sources is evidence that it formed
a key plank in William’s claim to legitimacy.
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1065
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Rebellion in Northumbria
against Earl Tostig. The rebels choose Morcar, Earl Edwin’s younger brother,
to be their earl. Harold advises a reluctant King Edward to accept the coup.
Tostig was outlawed and took refuge with his brother-in-law Count Baldwin V
of Flanders.
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1066
5 Jan
6 Jan
24 April
May
June-July
Early Sept
8 Sept
Aug/Sept
20 Sept
16-24 Sept
25 Sept
27-28 Sept
8-9 Oct
13 Oct
14 Oct
mid Oct-mid Dec
25 Dec
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Edward the Confessor
dies. William claims throne of England
Harold II Godwinson
crowned king of England;
Edward buried
Halley’s Comet appears brightly in the sky
Tostig raids England with a fleet from Flanders.
Driven from Lindsey by Earls Morcar and Edwin, Tostig sails to Scotland.
Harold assembles “greater naval and land
forces than any king in this country had ever assembled before” (ASC ‘C’
1066). He stations his fleet of the Isle of Wight
and distributes his land forces along the southern coast to guard against an
invasion by Duke William
William assembles fleet in estuary of the river Dives;
kept from sailing for a month by adverse winds
William’s fleet blown by westerlies to St Valery-sur-Somme
Harold forced to disband his land and sea forces after two
months. Naval skirmish between English and Normans
Harald Hardrada,
King of Norway, sails to England
with 300 ships; joined by Tostig’s ships. Tostig pledges allegiance to Harald
Battle of Gate Fulford: Harald Hardrada defeats
Earls Morcar and Edwin.
Harold force
marches north from London
Battle of Stamford Bridge:
Harold wins decisive victory
William crosses channel and lands at Pevensey. Moves
forces to Hastings,
where he builds motte-and-bailey castle and begins to ravage countryside for
supplies and to draw Harold south
Harold arrives in London
and assembles another army
Harold marches army 60 miles south into Sussex; makes
camp by “hoary apple tree” on Caldbec Hill, half mile from battlefield
Battle of Hastings. William assembles army at dawn,
marches 7 miles north to Senlac. Battle begins around 9AM
and lasts through most of the day
William forces submission of earls
and magnates in London by creating a 350 miles
circuit of destruction around London.
William first strikes east into Kent,
then turns back to the west to ravage the home counties, marching clockwise
from Hampshire to Berkshire, to Bedford, to London. The earls and
Londoners submit
William crowned king in Westminster abbey
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1067
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William returns to Normandy.
Appoints his half brother Bishop Odo of Bayeux
and William fitz Osbern regents. Redistribution of English land begins as William
rewards his Norman and French followers with offices and confiscated land.
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c.1077
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Odo Bishop of Bayeux commissions (?)
the Bayeux Tapestry
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1086
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Domesday Book
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1476
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An inventory from the church of Bayeux describes "a very long and narrow hanging of linen, on which are embroidered
figures and inscriptions comprising a representation of the Conquest of
England" which was hung around the nave on some feast days. This is the
first historical reference to the Bayeux Tapestry
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1721
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A drawing of part of an unknown tapestry depicting
Harold’s visit to Normandy
is found in the papers of N.J. Foucault, former Intendant of Normandy by
Antoine Lancelot.
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1729 & 1730
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Dom Bernard de Montfaucon, having identified Foucault’s
anonymous tapestry with the one mentioned in the Bayeux inventory of 1476, publishes a
drawing of the extent Bayeux Tapestry. An attempt is made to ‘restore’ the
tapestry
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1842
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Restoration of the Bayeux Tapestry is attempted on the basis
of Charles Stothard’s study of its pin holes.
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