Norman Conquest Encyclopedia

A village on the River Touques between Deauville on the Normandy coast and Pont-l'Évêque inland, Bonneville-sur-Touques is said by William of Poitiers to be the place at which Harold Godwinsson swore fealty to William and acknowledged him as his feudal lord. The Bayeux Tapestry, on the other hand, shows the ceremony taking place at Bayeux and the oath being sworn on sacred relics. No English source supports either of these accounts, but the Norman story gives a religious justification to William's invasion of England.

See also: Bayeux Tapestry; Harold Godwinsson; William the Bastard; William of Poitiers

Related Reading:

• Hastings 1066 (Revised Edition)- The Fall of Saxon England
  (Campaign 13 )
• Campaigns of the Norman Conquest
  (Essential Histories 12)