5 January 1066

Ah, 1066. A bad year for the English began on this date, when their king, Edward the Confessor, bit the big one. Edward was a lousy king, and he didn't do anything to ensure the future of the country either. He ruled for 26 years and never got busy with his wife, probably because he was too busy thinking about God to care (he's a saint). He did found Westminster Abbey, so we can give him credit for that, but he failed to clearly name a male heir, so when he died, two people claimed the English throne. One was Harold Godwine, who seized the crown, and the other was Duke William the Bastard of Normandy, who history calls William the Conqueror. Guess who won? Edward, the penultimate Saxon king of England, was the son of Æthelred the Unready, so of course he was a lousy king!