Books: The Onetime King

(2 of 2)

Peace & Reason. Author Butler measures the price of Hastings in terms of the man who died there and the man who survived to wear the crown. Har old, he says, had little chance to lay his hand on England's future—but that little was enough to judge him. To secure insurrectionist Northumbria be fore the Norman invasion, Harold ventured north—the first English king in years to do so—protected only by a royal bodyguard and armed only with a passion for peace and reason. On a kingdom accustomed to aggressive war he imposed the principle of defensive resistance— "a campaign without booty, to hinder battle, and to discourage the enemy from war." William, on the other hand, came as liberator and earned the name of Conqueror, which he did not want. The realm he seized fought him until 1087, when he died in a fall from his horse. Rebellions flared throughout his reign and through the reigns of all his Norman successors, until the dynasty ended after 100 years.