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Last crowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. He ruled from January 5 to October 14, 1066 when he was killed at the Battle of Hastings.
Upon Edward the Confessor's death in (January 5, 1066), Harold claimed
that Edward had promised him the crown on his deathbed, and the Witenagemot
(the assembly of the kingdom's leading notables) approved him for coronation,
which took place the following day, the first coronation in Westminster
Abbey.
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However, the country was invaded, by both Harald Hardrada of Norway and
William, Duke of Normandy, who claimed that he had been promised the English
crown by both Edward (probably in 1052) and Harold, who had been shipwrecked
in Ponthieu, Normandy in 1064 or 1065. Harold offered his brother Tostig
a third of the kingdom, and Tostig asked what Harold would offer the king
of Norway. "Six feet of ground or as much more as he needs, as he is taller
than most men," was Harold's response according to Henry of Huntingdon.
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