The last de facto King of the House of Wessex, St Edward the Confessor, seems to have variously named as his heir his cousin once removed William of Normandy (who eventually triumphed) and his brother-in-law Harold Godwineson. The best genealogical claim belonged to his great-nephew, Edgar Atheling, who was briefly acclaimed King in 1066 by the Witan.
My question is: what if Edward preferred his nephew Fulk instead?
Edward's full-blooded sister Godgifu (or Goda) married the Count of the Vexin. Their eldest son Ralph died long in the 1050s, leaving a young son named Harold, and the second son Walter died in 1063, while a captive of William the Bastard. This left the third and final son, Fulk, who died in 1068. Given his mother's death in 1047 Fulk would have certainly been an adult in 1066, and the King's closest kinsman by blood and only full-blooded heir (William was a bastard and distant, Edgar Atheling the grandson of a half-brother). Why not prefer him and move him into the succession instead? And what are the chances of the three-quarters Norman Fulk prevailing against William and Hardrade?
My question is: what if Edward preferred his nephew Fulk instead?
Edward's full-blooded sister Godgifu (or Goda) married the Count of the Vexin. Their eldest son Ralph died long in the 1050s, leaving a young son named Harold, and the second son Walter died in 1063, while a captive of William the Bastard. This left the third and final son, Fulk, who died in 1068. Given his mother's death in 1047 Fulk would have certainly been an adult in 1066, and the King's closest kinsman by blood and only full-blooded heir (William was a bastard and distant, Edgar Atheling the grandson of a half-brother). Why not prefer him and move him into the succession instead? And what are the chances of the three-quarters Norman Fulk prevailing against William and Hardrade?