POLITICAL HISTORY 



The second event connected with Bosham was more disastrous to 

 the house of Godwine, for it was from that place that Harold set out, 

 probably in 1064,' on the cruise which ended in his being wrecked on 

 the coast of Ponthieu, and thus led to his taking the famous oath upon 

 the reUcs renouncing his claim to the English crown in favour of 

 William Duke of Normandy. 



It has been stated above that one of the features of Sussex history 

 during this period was the rise of Norman influence, the introduction of 

 which by the Confessor laid the foundations of the Norman conquest of 

 England ; and that this was so is clear, when we find that the great 

 group of harbours at the east of the county — Hastings, Rye, and 

 Winchelsea — and the mid-Sussex harbour of Steyning were all in the 

 hands of the Norman Abbey of Fecamp, while at the west the King's 

 favourite Norman chaplain Osbern, afterwards Bishop of Exeter, held 

 the great estate of Bosham, which commanded the entrance to the 

 harbour of Chichester.'' It was not, however, to any of these ports that 

 William steered his course when he set out to win the crown of 

 England. 



In January 1066 Edward the Confessor died, and Harold was 

 immediately elected his successor. William at once formulated his 

 claim to the throne, and entered into negotiations with neighbouring 

 princes for the invasion of England. In May, Tostig, Harold's brother 

 but William's ally, ravaged the coasts of the Isle of Wight, Sussex, and 

 Kent ; Harold speedily called out the local forces — the ' fyrd ' — to defend 

 the coast, especially the ports of Hastings and Pevensey,^ and kept them 

 together for four months, but at the end of this period they could no 

 longer be maintained in arms, and on September 8 the army was 

 disbanded.' A fortnight later a force under Tostig and Harold Hardrada 

 landed in the north of England and captured York, but Harold marching 

 rapidly north utterly defeated the invaders at Stamford Bridge, killing 

 their two leaders. Meanwhile William of Normandy was waiting 

 anxiously at St. Valery, and praying for a favourable wind that he might 

 cross to England ; and at last, after a month's delay, the south wind 

 blew, and in the evening of Wednesday, October 27, his fleet set sail.^ 

 Early next morning the Duke's own ship, the Mora, cast anchor in 

 Pevensey Bay and lay waiting for her consorts. Soon the whole fleet 

 had assembled, and were drawn up on the beach ; William himself was 

 the first to leap on shore, and in his haste stumbled and fell. Quick- 

 witted as ever, he turned the ill-omened accident to good effect, ex- 

 claiming, ' By the splendour of God, I have taken seizin of my kingdom ; 

 the earth of England is in my two hands.' 



Following their general, the whole army rapidly disembarked. 

 First the archers reconnoitred the ground while the knights mounted 

 and formed up, but no resistance was met, so hastily throwing up an 

 entrenchment within the Roman walls which had once surrounded 



» Freeman, Norman Conquest, iii. 222. 2 Round, Feudal England, 319. 



8 Freeman, Norman Conquest, iii. 325. < Ibid. 338. ^ Ibid. 397. 



