AHC Edgar Ætheling King of England

So this is a challenge to make Edgar King of England after the following happens.

William the Bastard does not try to contest the succession of Edward the Confessor, despite being promised the throne. I know, I big huge shock. He spends his effort and money on something else, that you can make up your mind on.

Harold Godwinson still thinks William and the Normans will launch an imminent invasion and gathers his forces waiting for an attack that never comes. The Vikings still launch an attack on England. Earl Morcar is still defeated at Fullford. Harold still marches north and beat the Vikings in a surprise attack (maybe at Stanford bridge too? Pick you place), with a 3 to 1 casualty in his advantage and he still survives the battle.

But, William isn't coming.

The challenge is to not only make Edgar the King of England, but have Morcar, earl of Northumbria, Cadoc of Cornwall, some sources say Earl of Cornwall from 1060 and some say he was merely a manor Lord elevated to Earl by William the Conqueror, and Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury support Edgar's crowning. All of them supported Harold Godwinson over Edgar and Harol seems like he would be a reasonable ruler (that is not drive his supporters away), so Harold is probably going to need to die at some point.
 
You've actually fast forwarded past the best POD for your challenge: Harold and his brothers die defeating Hardrada and the Vikings. Just like in the OTL, Edgar is the Witangamot's next choice.

Keeping William in Normandy is pretty easy. He was fortunate that his enemies died when they did and gave him the breathing room to invade. If either is still alive in 1066, William might want to conquer England but will be too busy to do so.
 
Well for one thing, the Bastard may not have been promised the throne - there isn't conclusive evidence either way and I certainly believe he was basing his claim on a blood relation much like it can be argued Harold having a blood claim by marriage. I would say it is more likely things progress as they did in otl however Frenchy and the Crusaders (it was basically a crusade in all but name) end up dying while trying to cross the channel as for a great many months he had a spot of bother with the weather. Hardrada was also going to attack regardless and so that would also carry on as otl until Stamford Bridge.

The only way Edgar can gain the throne is for Harold to die, maybe he ends up being wounded and also later dies. However the question remains of what will occur with regards to Harold brothers the Earls of Kent and East Anglia who died also at Senlac. For sake of argument, after Harold's death, Edgar is crowned king. The Godwining family as I will refer to them as for simplicity remains incredibly powerful with Harold eldest sons being granted their uncles' earldoms if dead but could instead be wedded to Edgar's elder sisters or perhaps only Godwin Haroldsson marries ensuring an alliance.

There were to major reasons why Edgar who arguably held the greater claim from our modern point of view wasn't elected was; 1) He was still a teenager and 2) He was seen as being a foreigner. There certainly seems to be a fear that Edgar would repeat his kinsman's actions of appointing Normans to various positions during his reign to which backfired immensely as we now know nine and a half centuries later after the fact....

If Edgar becomes king, his rule will not be stable until him can prove himself absolute and even then that may not be enough for some Witan. Certainly it would benefit Edgar to marry either Harold's eldest daughter or one of his little sister who are assumed about Edgar's age (likely a bit older) but we don't know much about them except names and that one ultimately became a nun. Whoever succeeds Edgar (likely his son) would however be in a strong position with rather few threats assuming Edgar remains acceptable.
 
You've actually fast forwarded past the best POD for your challenge: Harold and his brothers die defeating Hardrada and the Vikings. Just like in the OTL, Edgar is the Witangamot's next choice.

Yeah I know it's the best POD. I wondered what would get Edgar on the throne after a minimum of say... three years of Harold's rule post Viking invasion. He's young and healthy, and it seems he was a charming fellow, the reason why his convinced everyone to pick him.

As for his abilities as a commander, his only confirmed tactics were trying to surprise the invaders (it worked against the Vikings) and when William couldn't be taken by surprise, to stay in formation at the chosen location. It is unknown if this was an advisory order with room to deviate if a battle opportunity or an absolute order to not move without an explicit order, but if the Anglo-Saxons stayed rooted, their foot-bound army would have beaten the combined infantry and cavalry tactics of the Normans.

So it seems Harold would be a good ruler. He's got charm, what little we know of him as a warrior is positive. Can he keep the budget balanced? He was pretty much running the show in 1063 due to health problems of Edward the confessor, so we know he didn't run the country into the ground in three years. If he's a good king, it is going to be heard to displace him with Edgar. The biggest threat to England, the succession crisis, seems over. William is busy in Normandy and Harald Hadrada is dead. Of course there are still 6 other people Edward promised the throne before he... found out Edgar was alive and promised him the throne too.
 
Well for one thing, the Bastard may not have been promised the throne - there isn't conclusive evidence either way and I certainly believe he was basing his claim on a blood relation much like it can be argued Harold having a blood claim by marriage.

Edward the Confessor early on in his kingship made several friends with Normans and I don't know about William, but there were at least three people with no blood relations he promised to make heir (they were local friends). I read about it, and while William wasn't one of them, Edward certainly promised the throne to others before and they were buddies beforehand and best buddies afterwards. And three other people, including William, who he allegedly promised the throne. If it was known Edward the Confessor promised the throne to three people, I don't see why William couldn't have been a fourth one. All of these promises happened before Edward found out Edgar was alive and then he promised Edgar the throne. Even Harold said that while no one left alive witnessed Edward the Confessor promising the throne to William aside from Normans in Edward's court (the Anglo-Saxon courtiers who were supposedly there died), he said it probably did happen, but Harold said Edward changed his mind on his deathbed and the Witangamot decided to honor Edward's deathbed wish and make Harold king (unsaid by Harold but understood by the Anglo-Saxons was the Witangmont had the absolute power over succession and while Wessex relatives were preferred, they had the final say).

It makes me half wonder if Edward didn't even know who he wanted as heir until he found Edgar was alive. And even then, he was waiting for the boy to train and mature a bit because he was worried about what might happen if he died while Edgar was young.
 
To be honest I think he was a bit on the mentally confused side of things or could of just had a terrible personality for his position. Anyway, like I said he may or may not have promised him the throne. Could William have know about those multiple pledges and so claim that he also was, certainly not improbable either way.
 
William's claim to England was predicated on the network of marital alliances built between Brittany, England, Flanders and Normandy during the North Sea Empire era in the late 900s and early 1000s and his relation to the Confessor as a maternal cousin. The Flemish and Normans in particular had sheltered and aided the House of Wessex and the House of Godwin, and Harold Godwinson and William of Normandy were not unknown to each other as people contending for the throne. If William was actually not going to claim the throne at all, then Harold would have known about it before he even was chosen by the Witan.
 
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