Cultural depictions of Harold Godwinson

Fictional accounts based on the events surrounding Harold Godwinson's brief reign as king of England have been published.

In drama, film and television

Plays about Harold include the 1778 play The Battle of Hastings by Richard Cumberland,[1] and the drama Harold, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in 1876.[2] The one-act play A Choice of Kings (1966) by John Mortimer deals with his deception by William after his shipwreck.[3]

In the 1982 French/Romanian production "William the Conqueror" (aka Guillaume le Conquérant or Wilhelm Cuceritorul), directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu and Gilles Grangier, John Terry played King Harold.[4]

Michael Craig portrayed Harold in a 1966 TV adaptation of Mortimer's A Choice of Kings in the ITV Play of the Week series.[5]

In literature

The 1851 poem "The Swan-Neck", by Charles Kingsley is about Harold and his wife Edith.[6] Several novels were published in the Victorian era about Harold Godwinson. These included Harold, the Last of the Saxons (1848) by Edward Bulwer-Lytton,[7] Wulf the Saxon: a story of the Norman Conquest (1895) by G. A. Henty,[8] The Andreds-weald; or The House of Michelham: a Tale of the Norman Conquest (1878) by Augustine David Crake; William the Conqueror: An Historical Romance (1858) by General Charles James Napier,[8] and In the New Forest : A Story of the reign of William the Conqueror by Herbert Strang and John Aston (1910).[9] Rudyard Kipling wrote a short story, included in his 1910 collection, Rewards and Fairies, where an aged King Harold (who survives Hastings) meets Henry I and dies in the arms of a Saxon knight.[8] The short story "The Eye of the Hurricane" by Kevin Crossley-Holland (in the 1969 book Wordhoard: Anglo-Saxon Stories by Crossley-Holland and Jill Paton Walsh) depicts Harold fighting in the Battle of Hastings.[10] In the posthumously published Robert E. Howard story "The Road of Azrael" (1976), Harold survives the battle and escapes to the Middle East.[11]

Modern novels have included The Golden Warrior (1949) by Hope Muntz,[12][13] The Fourteenth of October (1952) by Bryher,[14] Harold Was My King (1970) by Hilda Lewis,[15] The Wind From Hastings (1978) by Morgan Llywelyn,[16] Lord of Sunset (1998) by Parke Godwin,[17] The Last English King by Julian Rathbone,[18] and The Handfasted Wife (2013) by Carol McGrath.[19] Rite of Conquest (2003) by Judith Tarr[20] and God's Concubine (2004) by Sara Douglass[21] are both fantasy novels that feature Harold as a character. The Rhyme of King Harold (2014) by Ian Macgill is a verse novel about Harold's life.[22] After Hastings (2020) by Steven H. Silver is an alternate history novel where Harold defeats Williams at Hastings, and subsequently comes into conflict with the Papacy.[23]

Radio

Christopher Eccleston played Harold in the 2001 radio play Bayeux by Simon Armitage and Jeff Young, based on the Bayeux Tapestry.[24]

Citations
  1. Baines, Paul & Ferraro, Julian & Rogers, Pat. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Eighteenth-Century Writers and Writing, 1660-1789. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. (p.87)
  2. "Harold", in Valerie Purton and Norman Page (eds.), The Palgrave Literary Dictionary of Tennyson. Houndsmills, Basingstoke. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. ISBN 9780230244948 (p.103).
  3. "...there was a one-act play by John Mortimer called A Choice of Kings about his [William's] tricking of Harold Godwinson". "A Theatregoer’s Guide to the English Monarchs" by Tim Treanor. DC Theatre Scene, 19 February 2010. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  4. Caranfil, Tudor. Dicționar de filme românești: lungmetraje de ficțiune. Litera Internațional, 2002 ISBN 9789738358942.
  5. "A Choice of Kings (1966)", www.imdb.com
  6. Billie Melman, "Claiming the Nation's Past: The Invention of an Anglo-Saxon Tradition". Journal of Contemporary History Vol. 26, No. 3/4 (pp. 575-595)
  7. Drabble, Margaret (2000). The Oxford Companion to English Literature Sixth edition, (p. 147). Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866244-0.
  8. Ernest A. Baker, A Guide to Historical Fiction. London : G. Routledge and Sons, 1914. (pp. 12-15.)
  9. Buckley, John Anthony and Williams, William Tom, A Guide to British Historical Fiction. G.G. Harrap: London, 1912. (pg. 20)
  10. Kevin Crossley-Holland, Green Blades Rising: the Anglo-Saxons. London, Andre Deutsch, 1975 (p.58)
  11. Richard E. Geis, "Review: The Road of Azrael by Robert E. Howard". Science Fiction Review, November 1979. (p.57)
  12. The Golden Warrior: the story of Harold and William. London: Chatto & Windus, 1949
  13. "In 'The Golden Warrior,' Harold, king of Saxon England, goes to his death with such awesome courage..." Courage and Hope in New Novels. The West Australian (Perth, WA). 22 July 1950. (p. 25)
  14. Myron J. Smith, War story guide: an annotated bibliography of military fiction. Scarecrow Press, 1980. ISBN 978-0810812819 (p. 32).
  15. Lynda G. Adamson, World Historical Fiction: An Annotated Guide to Novels for Adults and Young Adults. Phoenix, AZ; Oryx Press ISBN 9781573560665 (p. 156)
  16. Kathryn Falk, Love's Leading Ladies. Pinnacle Books, 1982. ISBN 9780523415253 (p. 180).
  17. "Review of Lord of Sunset by Parke Godwin". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  18. Siobhan Brownlie, Memory and Myths of the Norman Conquest. Woodbridge, Suffolk. Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2013, ISBN 9781843838524 (p.99)
  19. "Review: The Handfasted Wife by Carol McGrath". (Review by Sarah Bower). Historical Novel Society. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  20. "Tarr, Judith" in Stableford, Brian M. The A to Z of Fantasy Literature.Lanham (Md.) : Scarecrow Press, 2009. ISBN 9780810868298 (p. 397)
  21. "Review: God's Concubine by Sara Douglass". (Review by Vivane Crystal). Historical Novel Society. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  22. "The Rhyme of King Harold" By Ian Macgill medievalists.net Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  23. O'Neill, John. "What if King Harold had Prevented the Norman Conquest: After Hastings by Steven H Silver" Black Gate, 12 July 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  24. "Classic Serial:"Bayeux" BBC Radio 4, . Retrieved 18 October 2021.
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