Whensday: May 1066

This day in 1066 was a Sunday according to the Julian calendar. Preparations were being made for the battles to come which would change English history forever. Tostig, married to Judith of Flanders, was ready to attack his brother, Harold Godwinson who would become King of England. 

As Edward the Confessor had died and Tostig’s brother tried to undue a deal between Edward and William of Normady, Tostig tried to take his place. He used ships provided by Count Baldwin V of Flanders, his brother-in-law. But Tostig would join forces with Harald of Norway but lose to the English at the Battle of Stamford Bridge and run off to Scotland. 

Also in May, William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy, was making his case for the kingship of England by the Pope. William was married to Mathilde of Flanders, the daughter of Baldwin V who had leant the ships to Tostig. William would go on to conquer England, becoming William the Conqueror. Whenever he was in England making the conquest certain - which took many years - he left Mathilde to run Normandy.

The city of Caen, where William and Mathilde had their castle and two abbeys (one for women and one for men) celebrates its millennium anniversary this year. It was 1000 years ago, in 1025, that first mention is made of the word “Cadomus”, an ancient form of the name of the town. These days Mathilde of Flanders would refer to Queen Mathilde of Belgium, wife of King Philip.