Why Harold moved South so quickly
Cast your mind back to 1066. It is generally assumed if Harold had only waited for his troops to recover from the battle of Stanford Bridge, he could easily have overcome William.
This ignores the fact that he had no legitimate claim to the English Crown - that had died out with Edward. In actual practice his 'right' was based on the Wessex Army ( the same basis for Alfred. ) The rest of England would support the winner out of all the various claiments.
If Harold had allowed William to establish a permanent base in Sussex (adjacent to Wessex ) and to ship out more troops from Normandy ( a power base stronger than Wessex ) he would have harried Wessex in the same way that he harried Northumbria after the Conquest. Harold would have lost the resources of his only power base.
Reply With Quote
