[1066 WI] - The Election of England

Right, so the Norman Conquest happened because William of Normandy staked his claim to the throne of England, a throne which also had claimants from the Danish and Norse kings and also two native claimants from the Houses of Godwin and Wessex. Each had their own claim, of varying sincerity and validity. Harold Godwinson was clearly the favorite among the notables of England and was elected in spite of their being a claimant left to the House of Wessex.

Given that Godwin himself was elected in defiance of outside claims, could there be a way in OTL where rather than simply elect Godwin, the Anglo-Saxon lords ask that each claimant lord arrive himself at London to stake a claim (or send a representative). The five claimants agree to do so (even if they're already preparing armies, escape plans, intervention plans, cutting deals, etc...) and have themselves or their representatives. Already fairly out there I know, but supposed they do. If they do do so, who wins a game of bribery and rhetoric? Does Godwinson still pull it out, or does the Bastard of Normandy have some room to play? And what of the other three? Or do we just go back into the OTL War, with different or same end results?

For some reason I'm seeing this whole thing play out as a Shakespearean play, with the claimants (or their reps) scheming in London against one another in order to claim the crown of England. The eventual winner is probably also the client funding this play, so you'd have maybe Godwinson trumpeted as the trueborn man of England, or Wessex as the promised prince or William as the Christian king, etc...
 
The selection of royal replacement didn't quite follow a formal election process.
More along the lines of the Wittan meeting, nominating candidates, and selecting among them.
It's supposed to be a quick process so the realm isn't ungoverned.

That doesn't mean you can't make a play about it. Shakespeare himself didn't really follow historical fact.
 

Kaze

Banned
They did have an election by the Witten - unfortunately it was Harold and his representatives.
William did send an ambassador to object to the Witten's choice...
Then ...It did not go so well for Harold.
 
I somehow doubt the Witan would entertain foreign lords over a powerful Anglo-Saxon, even if they were supposedly promised the throne. It would make a very interesting scene I think and has the potential to be quite the story, but on the scale of plausibility it is low unless you have some sort of Witan reform implemented by Edward.
 
Harold Godwinson was really popular, so I really don't think they would entertain foreign claimants. Heck, he was already practically a co-king of Edward in the last three years. Also, before he knew his nephew was alive, Edward the Confessor had an annoying habbit of promising people the throne. At least three Anglo-Saxxon allies and supposedly 4 other people (including William, the only one of the bunch who deserved a Wikipedia page apparently) were promised the throne of England by Edward if he didn't have a son or son-in-law by that time. This seems to have stopped with Edgar Ætheling after Edward found out he was alive and he was supposedly promised the throne. You can't have all 8 of these people be king! Heck, in one correspondence before William's invasion, Harold admitted it was plausible Edward promised William the throne given Edward's past behavior and friendship with William, but on his deathbed changed his mind to Harold and the Witenagemot (including the powerful bishop Stigand) chose to honor Edward's final wish.
 
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