Ian Walker. Harold, the last king of the Anglo-Saxons / trans. from English Metlitskaya 3. Yu. - St. Petersburg. - M.: EURASIA - ID Clio, 2014. - 368 p.: ill. King Harold, son of Godwin (c. 1022-1066) is one of the most famous and at the same time mysterious figures in English history. Harold became king of England in 1066 and this year became fatal for the Anglo-Saxon kingdom: two contenders for the crown invaded English soil - the Norwegian king Harald the Severe and the Norman Duke William the Conqueror. Harold fought the Norwegian and won, but lost the Battle of Hastings to Duke William and died in battle. The triumphant Normans rewrote history, exposing the last Anglo-Saxon king as a usurper and perjurer. But in reality everything was different. In the book of the Scottish historian J. Walker, the reader is offered a brilliant study of the life and reign of Harold, from which it clearly follows that this Anglo-Saxon earl and king was a gifted politician and a skilled military leader: luck failed him only once, during the battle that turned out to be for him fatal.