Past Talks
1066: Oxfordshire and the Norman Conquest
Date: 15th July 2019
Speaker: Julie Ann Godson
On Monday 15th July Julie Ann Godson came to talk to us about Oxfordshire in the Norman Conquest.
She started by explaining that Oxfordshire’s involvement in the Norman Conquest started between 1003 and 1005 when Edward the Confessor was born in Islip. Edward was the seventh son of Æthelred the Unready, and the first by Æthelred’s second wife, Emma of Normandy.
England had been suffering Danish raids since 997, and in 1002 the king was told that the Danish men in England would take his life and his kingdom. In response, he ordered the deaths of all Danes living in England, which led to the St Brice’s Day massacre on 13th November 1002. The massacre in Oxford was justified by Æthelred in a royal charter of 1004 explaining the need to rebuild St Frideswide’s Church (now Christ Church Cathedral).
This provoked the Viking invasions under Sweyn Forkbeard and his son, Cnut. Following Sweyn’s seizure of the throne in 1013, Emma fled to Normandy with Edward and Æthelred. When Cnut became King of England in 1016, Edward again went into exile. In 1017 his mother married Cnut and in the same year Cnut had Edward’s last surviving elder half-brother, Eadwig, executed, leaving Edward as the leading Anglo-Saxon claimant to the throne.
Edward remained in exile in Normandy until 1041 when Cnut’s son, Harthacnut, knowing that he didn’t have long to live, named Edward as his successor to the throne. Harthacnut died on 8th June 1042 and Edward became king, later being crowned in Winchester Cathedral on 3rd April 1043.
During his reign Edward, knowing that his celibate life would produce no heirs, seems to have promised the succession to the throne to both William, Duke of Normandy, and Harald Hardrada, of Norway. But on his deathbed he entrusted the kingdom to Harold Godwinson, Earl of East Anglia. He then died on 5th January 1066 and was buried in Westminster Abbey the following day. The same day that Harold was crowned king. This obviously upset William and Harald, who both decided to invade England and take what they each considered to be theirs by right.
Harold, expecting an invasion from Normandy, spent most of the summer on the south coast with a large army and fleet. But the bulk of his forces were militia who needed to harvest their crops, so on 8th September Harold dismissed them, just as Hardrada started his invasion of northern England. Harold marched north to meet the invading army, gathering troops as he went. The Battle of Stamford Bridge, on 25th September 1066, saw Harold victorious, but it would prove to be a costly victory. Harold’s army was left in a battered and weakened state, and far from the English Channel.
A few days later William launched his invasion from Normandy, bringing with him an army that included cavalry and archers. They landed at Pevensey, in Sussex, on 28th September and quickly erected a wooden castle at Hastings. Harold marched back south and on 14th October the two sides met at Hastings. It is believed that the numbers on each side were about equal, but ultimately William had the superior and well-rested forces and he won the day.
After his victory at Hastings William marched to London, but was unable to storm London Bridge and reach the capital. He moved up the Thames Valley to cross the river at Wallingford. He then travelled through the Chilterns and towards London from the north-west, fighting further engagements along the way. Eventually the English leaders surrendered to William at Berkhamsted, in Hertfordshire and he was crowned King on 25th December, in Westminster Abbey.
Robert d’Oilly, one of the Norman noblemen who came with William, was left in charge of Wallingford. He married Ealdgyth, the daughter of Wigod, the Saxon lord of Wallingford.
After Wigod’s death, William appointed Robert as the lord of Wallingford, and ordered him to fortify Wallingford Castle. He also inherited Wigod’s lands.
His brother Nigel’s son was Robert Doyley, the founder of Osney Priory, Oxford. He was also an ancestor of Henry D’Oyly, one of the major feudal barons of the Magna Carta.
Robert was appointed High Sheriff of Oxfordshire. Oxford Castle was built under his orders in 1071, and the collegiate church of St George’s within the castle was founded by him in 1074. The church of St Peter-in-the-East was first mentioned in 1086 as a possession of Robert’s although it is possible that he merely acquired it, along with St Mary Magdalen’s Church.
He is also credited with the construction of a series of stone bridges at Grandpont, which formed a causeway over the River Thames. This is now Folly Bridge. It is possible, however, that he merely fortified an older crossing point.