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.
