King Harold rallied his forces for an expected invasion by William, but Tostig launched a series of raids instead, forcing the king to leave the English Channel unprotected.
In addition, King Harald III Hardraade of Norway had designs on England, as did Tostig, brother of Harold. In January 1066, King Edward died, and Harold Godwinson was proclaimed King Harold II. On his deathbed, however, Edward granted the kingdom to Harold Godwinson, head of the leading noble family in England and more powerful than the king himself. According to Norman historians, Edward promised to make William his heir. In 1051, William is believed to have visited England and met with his cousin Edward the Confessor, the childless English king. Henry later turned against him, but William survived the opposition and in 1063 expanded the borders of his duchy into the region of Maine. By the time he was 20, William had become an able ruler and was backed by King Henry I of France. Rebellions were epidemic during the early years of his reign, and on several occasions the young duke narrowly escaped death.
The duke, who had no other sons, designated William his heir, and with his death in 1035 William became duke of Normandy at age seven. William was the illegitimate son of Robert I, duke of Normandy, by his concubine Arlette, a tanner’s daughter from the town of Falaise. His subsequent defeat of King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings marked the beginning of a new era in British history. Claiming his right to the English throne, William, duke of Normandy, invades England at Pevensey on Britain’s southeast coast.
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