Welcome to the British History Podcast.

My name is Jamie and this is Episode 383, the Death of King Edward.

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Christmas of 1065 would have been a grim affair.

And as 1066 approached, the court was likely consumed with anxiety.

The king was childless, and the throne was being eyed from all sides by foreign dynasties.

And according to sources like William of Poitier, the king had been terribly ill for quite

some time.

Poitier tells us that his illness had become so severe in 1063 that the king had made

preparations for succession, believing that he was already on his deathbed.

Now, of course, Poitier also tells us that this succession plan was that England would

go to Duke William of Normandy, which is a little suspicious for a bunch of reasons we've

already gone over.

But what is clear is that King Edward had been gravely ill for a long time.

And the threat of what would happen when he died hung like a sword over the aristocracy

of England.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the political powerhouse of England, the house of Godwin,

which, for better or worse, had steered the fortunes of the kingdom for about a half century,

...