AHC: Saxon Conquest of Normandy

I think the best POD would be the failure of Williams attempted conquest of England. It would help if he were killed and his army wiped out.
 
Which raises the question of why.

Harold has no claim on Normandy - dubious or otherwise.

And with his own kingdom to rule, there's no especially good reason to want to take Normandy - or, given that it is unlikely that the French lords will not rally to the king of France in preferring a weak underaged duke to Harold, a chance worth the gamble.
 
Hundreds of years after the otl conquest. Saxons take Normandy during a time of weakness for France in order to completely control the channel.
 
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that the claimant Eadgar Ætheling was promised land in Normandy by the King of France but declined. If that really happened and he accepts the offer, Saxons would have French support and could probably take Normandy.
 
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Which raises the question of why.

Harold has no claim on Normandy - dubious or otherwise.

And with his own kingdom to rule, there's no especially good reason to want to take Normandy - or, given that it is unlikely that the French lords will not rally to the king of France in preferring a weak underaged duke to Harold, a chance worth the gamble.

I have to agree with this, an invasion of Normandy might be interpreted as an invasion of the kingdom of France (or still of the (western) Franks?). Anyway I do see French support for the young duke of Normandy, but in return he'll lose all non Norman territories, which are disputed.
 
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that the claimant Eadgar Ætheling was promised land in Normandy by the King of France but declined. If that really happened and he accepts the offer, Saxons would have French support and could probably take Normandy.

'Land in Normandy' is hardly the same thing as 'Normandy'. It may have been a 'divide and rule' thing to keep the Duke of Normandy a bit reigned in.
 
Normandy had been a base for Viking attacks on England since its foundation. The Saxons had a right to fight back.

The optimal time for an attack would be between 936 and 939 or 944-46. During these periods, England was ruled by effective kings (Athelstan and Edmund I); the Viking kingdoms in the North of England had been overthrown; France was ruled by a likely ally, Louis IV, who had been raised at Athelstan's court; and Normandy's northeastern neighbor, Flanders, was hostile to Normandy and could serve as a disembarkation point for the Saxon troops.

Normandy itself was ruled by William Longsword (until 942) then the infant Richard I. The latter's minority looks like the optimal time for a Saxon attack, but Flemish hostility peaked during William's reign, and it might have been easier to form a coalition of his enemies than of his sons'.
 
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