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Historical person
1022–1066
Harold Godwinson was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England. A powerful earl and experienced commander, he succeeded Edward the Confessor in January 1066 despite rival claims from William of Normandy and Harald Hardrada of Norway.
Harold defeated the Norwegian invasion at Stamford Bridge, then marched south and was killed at the Battle of Hastings. Norman victory transformed English landholding, government and aristocratic culture. Harold Godwinson was born in Essex and died in Hastings.
Michael Livingston’s 1066 follows Harold Godwinson from the disputed succession through his victory over Tostig and Harald Hardrada at Stamford Bridge and the rapid march south to face William of Normandy. Tom Licence’s Harold reconstructs the king’s earlier career as earl, royal adviser and dominant member of the Godwin family before the final campaign fixed his reputation. Henry Treece’s Hounds of the King views Harold through the housecarls who serve him and makes their exhausted stand at Hastings the destruction of a military brotherhood as well as a kingdom. Richard Cullen’s Oath Bound begins with Harold’s death on Senlac Hill and follows a surviving housecarl who refuses to abandon his oath, while Shield Breaker shows that loyalty continuing under Norman occupation years later.
Periods
Series
Conquest follows England after the Norman victory of 1066. The books use Hastings, rebellion, occupation and the consolidation of William the Conqueror’s rule to show how conquest continues long after a single battle is won. The series is strongest as a post-Conquest saga about dispossession, resistance, new lordship…
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The Last Viking series follows Harald Sigurdsson from defeated prince and exile to Varangian commander, king of Norway and claimant to the English throne. Moving through Kievan Rus, Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire and Scandinavia before reaching the campaign of 1066, the novels trace the ambition, warfare and political…
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Road to Hastings traces the political rise of the Godwin family and the decisions that produced the English succession crisis of 1066. Beginning with Edith of Wessex's marriage to Edward the Confessor, the trilogy follows Earl Godwin and Harold Godwinson through exile, restoration, diplomacy and the growing influence…
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The Aelfraed trilogy follows Saxon survivors through the violent aftermath of 1066. Beginning before the Battle of Hastings and continuing through resistance, outlawry and exile, the series uses the collapse of Harold Godwinson’s England to follow housecarls and rebels forced to decide whether to keep fighting, submit to…
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This collection brings together Georgette Heyer’s historical novels set outside her main Regency-romance sequence. The settings range from medieval England and France to the Norman Conquest, Elizabethan maritime conflict, the escape of Charles II and the Peninsular War. The list follows the ordering supplied by the Fantastic Fiction…
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The Wolf of Kings follows Styrkar the Dane, a surviving housecarl of Harold Godwinson, through the resistance to William the Conqueror after the Battle of Hastings. Oath Bound begins on Senlac Hill in 1066 and turns Styrkar’s loyalty to his dead king into a campaign of personal vengeance…
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Carol McGrath’s Daughters of Hastings Trilogy follows the women of Harold Godwinson’s family as the Norman Conquest destroys one political world and forces them to build lives in another. The Handfasted Wife centres on Edith Swanneck after Hastings and during resistance to William the Conqueror; The Swan-Daughter follows…
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The Huscarl Chronicles, also marketed by Paul Bernardi as the Conquest trilogy, follow the young English warrior Thurkill through the crisis of 1066 and the first year of Norman rule. Thurkill’s Revenge carries him from Edward the Confessor’s death through Stamford Bridge and Hastings; Thurkill’s Battle follows the…
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The Norman trilogy follows William the Conqueror and his heirs as they seize and consolidate the English crown. The sequence moves from the Norman Conquest through the reign of Henry I to the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, showing how conquest, inheritance and baronial loyalty reshaped England.
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The Medieval Saga follows interlinked fictional families through two centuries of English dynastic conflict, beginning with the invasions of 1066 and ending with Simon de Montfort’s challenge to Henry III. The sequence places ordinary soldiers, household officers and landed families beside the rulers whose wars repeatedly reshape their…
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The Celtic World is a thematic sequence of novels moving from the migrations and sacred traditions of ancient Celtic peoples into the heroic cycles and medieval history of Ireland and Britain. Its subjects include the legendary origins of Ireland, the warriors of the Ulster and Fenian cycles, Saint…
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The Norman Series presents the conquest of England from the perspective of men committed to the defeated English order. Hounds of the King follows a Mercian boy into Harold Godwinson’s housecarls and the final stand at Hastings. Man with a Sword moves to the Fenlands, where Hereward continues…
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The Viking Series consists of two independent historical adventures connected by the last phase of Scandinavian expansion. The Story of the Vikings, originally published as The Last of the Vikings, follows Harald Hardrada from his return to Scandinavia through the struggle for Norway and his final invasion of…
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Standalone books
Non Fiction
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.
