Did Harold Godwinson really force-march his army 190 miles to Hastings — or is that just Victorian storytelling? Matthew Harffy and Justin Hill are joined by Professor Tom Licence (University of East Anglia), whose new biography Harold: Warrior King is out 11 August 2026.
Tom walks us through the source-by-source detective work that made international news: why the "forced march" from Stamford Bridge doesn't hold up under the Latin, and why the evidence instead points to Harold's army moving by sea. We dig into what the Bayeux Tapestry actually says versus what its images imply, why the Victorians reshaped 1066 into a national origin myth, and why Harold — illegitimate, Anglo-Danish, and a first-generation product of Cnut's conquest — deserves recognition as a genuine military strategist rather than the doomed, headstrong king of legend.
Plus: news on Matthew's forthcoming Roman novel, Justin's new novel Bjorn the Fell-Handed, and a Patreon Odyssey bonus episode discount.
Keywords: 1066, Battle of Hastings, Harold Godwinson, Anglo-Saxon history, Norman Conquest, Bayeux Tapestry, medieval history podcast, historical fiction podcast
Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör
Matthew Harffy. Innehållet i podden är skapat av Matthew Harffy och inte av,
eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.
