Harold : the Last of the Saxon Kings — Volume 10

In the months after King Edward’s strange sickness, England trembles under whispered rumors of doom, and the newly appointed Bishop Alred of York is called to counsel the ailing monarch. One night the bishop’s cell in a London Benedictine abbey is thrown open by a wild‑eyed, travel‑stained noble who collapses into a desperate embrace – it is Harold, Earl of Wessex, reduced to a trembling, haunted figure. Harold begs the bishop to hear his tale before any blessing can be offered, his voice cracking with the weight of a broken oath and a nation’s fate hanging in the balance.

He recounts his captivity at Bayeux, the cruel bargain he struck with Duke William, and the bitter promise that left his brother Wolnoth as a hostage in Normandy. The confession reveals a man torn between sworn loyalty to a foreign lord and an unyielding love for his homeland, a conflict that summons specters of doom each time he rides the English hills. As the bishop listens, the uneasy silence hints at a looming clash that could seal the destiny of both crown and country.