Monarchy - Ethelred, Canute, Edward, Harold, William

Watched the second episode of Monarchy last night. It featured five kings:

Ethelred - called the unready, pun on his name, because he was poorly advised. Vikings invaded England during his reign and he had to pay them money 'Danegeld' to keep them from staying. Eventually married Emma, daughter of the Duke of Normandy, to gain alliances and avoid the Normans coming in on the side of the Vikings (as they were in some way related).

Canute - Ethelred died, and his son only lasted a few months before being ousted by an invading army from Denmark under Canute. Canute became king of England, and became 'more English than the English', going native. Emma then married Canute. Ethelred fled to France with his sons.

Edward the Confessor - Edward, son of Ethelred (or grandson?) became King after Canute died. To reinforce an alliance with the Normans, he agreed to make Duke William of Normandy (Emma's grand-nephew) heir to the English throne. This was partly to see off the threat of Godric, the powerful Earl of Wessex, who wanted the throne (there was enmity between them, coming nearly to civil war after the English nobles on both sides refused to fight). He obviously later relented and on his deathbed, made Harold, Godric's son, his heir.

Harold - Harold, before being named heir, apparently was shipwrecked off the coast of Normandy and rescued by Duke William of Normandy (though probably not personally) and William later contended that Harold swore an oath to do everything he could to get William on the throne after King Edward died. Whether this actually happened (probably) or whether it was under duress (probably) is by no means certain. Harold became King, then had to put down a Viking invasion in the north, before marching straight after to meet Duke William who had landed an army on the south coast to contest the crown.

William - William invated and met Harold at the Battle of Hastings where Harold died (either shot in the head with an arrow or trampled by a horse) after a brave fight that lasted all day. The victory was William's, who then became King. He was known as 'The Conqueror' but to me he seemed to have at least as strong a claim to the throne as Harold!

I'm missing a lot out here, much of it quite interesting. I may re-watch that episode sometime to pick up more, or do some reading in this area, but for now that's the bare bones of what happened.