Editing Kingdom of Sussex (section)

==History==
{{See also|History of Sussex}}

===Foundation story===
The account of Ælle and his three sons landing at {{lang|ang|[[Cymenshore]]}} appears in the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'', a collection of seven vernacular manuscripts, commissioned in the 9th century, some 400 years or more after the events at {{lang|ang|Cymenshore}}.
The account  describes how on landing Ælle slew the local defenders and drove the remainder into the Forest of Andred. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle goes on to describe Ælle's battle with the British in 485 near the bank of ''[[Battle of Mercredesburne|Mercredesburne]]'', and his siege of the [[Saxon Shore]] fort at ''[[Anderitum|Andredadsceaster]]'' (modern day [[Pevensey]]) in 491 after which the inhabitants were massacred.{{sfn|Bately|1986| pp= vii-ix}}{{sfn|Jones|1998|p=71}}{{efn|ASC Parker MS. AD 485 and  491.}}

The legendary foundation of Saxon Sussex, by Ælle, is likely to have originated in an oral tradition before being recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.{{efn|[[Anglo Saxon Chronicle|ASC 477]] - ''Her cuom Ęlle on Bretenlond 7 his .iii. suna, Cymen 7 Wlencing 7 Cissa, mid .iii. scipum on þa stowe þe is nemned Cymenesora, 7 þær ofslogon monige Wealas 7 sume on fleame bedrifon on þone wudu þe is genemned Andredesleage.}}{{efn|The account marks the beginning of Saxon Sussex.{{sfn| Bell|1978|pp=64-69}}}}{{sfn|Bately|1986| pp= vii-ix}}{{sfn|Jones|1998|p=71}}  According to legend, various places took their names from Ælle's sons. Cissa is supposed to have given his name to [[Chichester]], Cymen to ''Cymenshore'' and Wlencing to [[Lancing, West Sussex|Lancing]].{{sfn|Gelling|2000|p=275}}{{sfn|Welch|1992|p=9}} {{lang|ang|Cymenshore}} is traditionally thought to have been located at what is now known as the Owers Rocks, south of [[Selsey]], however there is no archaeological evidence to support the existence of Ælle and his three sons in the Selsey area.{{sfn|Welch|1978|pp=13-35}}{{efn|S. E. Kelly believes that ''The Owers'' is where ''Cymenshore'' is, she gives the alternate spellings as ''Cumeneshore, Cumenshore, Cimeneres horan, Cymeneres horan''{{sfn|Kelly|1998|p=118}}}}

From 491 until the arrival of Christianity in the 7th century, there was a dearth of contemporary written material.{{sfn| Bell|1978|pp=64-69}}Because of the lack of written history before the 7th century it has made it difficult for historians to produce a definitive story.{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|p=65}} The preservation of Ælle's sons in Old English place names is unusual. The names of the founders, in other origin legends, seem to have British and/ or Latin roots not Old English. It is likely that the foundation stories were known before the 9th century, but the annalists manipulated them to provide a common origin for the new regime. These myths proport that the British were defeated and replaced by invading Anglo-Saxons arriving in small ships. These origin stories were largely believed right up to the 19th century.{{sfn|Yorke|2008|pp=15-30}}

===Early period ({{Circa|450}}&nbsp;– 600)===
[[File:Libiusseverus01854.jpg|thumb|right|A coin from the Patching Hoard was a gold ''solidus'' struck in the name of [[Libius Severus|Severus III]]]]
Archaeology gives a different settlement picture to that indicated by the South Saxon foundation story. Germanic tribes probably first arrived in Sussex earlier in the 5th century than 477.{{sfn|Welch|1992|p=9}}{{sfn|Morris|1965|pp=145-185}} The archaeological evidence that we do have indicates the area of settlement by the location of cemeteries of the period.{{sfn|Welch|1992|loc=Chapter 5. "Burial practices and Structures"}} The origins of the settlers can be derived by comparing the design of grave goods and pottery with the designs of similar items in the German homelands.{{sfn|Welch|1992|pp=9-13}} The principal area of settlement in the 5th century has been identified as between the lower [[River Ouse, Sussex|Ouse]] and [[River Cuckmere|Cuckmere]] rivers in East Sussex, based on the number of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries there.<ref name=brandon23>Martin Welch. Early Anglo-Saxon Sussex ''in'' Peter Brandon's. The South Saxons. pp. 23–25.</ref> However, there are two cemeteries in West Sussex at [[Highdown Hill|Highdown]], near Worthing and Apple Down, 11&nbsp;km (7&nbsp;mi.) northwest of Chichester.{{efn|At Appledown 282 cremations and inhumations were recorded.{{sfn|Down|Welch|1990|pp=9-10}}}} The area between the Ouse and Cuckmere was believed to have been the location for the federate treaty settlement of Anglo-Saxon mercenaries.<ref name=brandon23/> Whatever the original settlement pattern of the early Germanic settlers, their culture came to rapidly dominate the whole of Sussex.{{sfn|Gardiner|2010|pp=30-31}}

There is some evidence to support the treaty hypothesis, based on the grave finds of the period.<ref name="welch23">Martin Welch, ''Early Anglo-Saxon Sussex'', pp. 25–26</ref> For example, the excavation of one of the cemeteries, at Rookery Hill at [[Bishopstone, East Sussex]], yielded late Roman or insular Roman metalwork including a [[Quoit (brooch)|Quoit Brooch Style buckle]], which would indicate settlement here to the early 5th century.<ref name="bell39">Martin Bell: ''Saxon Settlements and buildings in Sussex'', in Brandon (1978), pp. 39-40</ref>
Subsequent excavations revealed a considerable area of Saxon buildings. Of the 22 buildings excavated, three were sunken huts, 17 are rectangular founded on individual post holes, one is represented by post holes between which are beam slots, and one by eight single large posts.<ref name="bell39"/>

Highdown is the only 5th-century Saxon cemetery found outside the Ouse/Cuckmere area, and is 2&nbsp;km from a hoard of Roman gold and silver that was found in 1997.<ref name=white28>Sally White. Early Saxon Sussex c.410-c.650 ''in'' Leslies. An Historical Atlas of Sussex. pp. 28–29</ref>{{sfn|White|Manley|Jones|Orna-Ornstein|1999|pp=301-315}} The [[List of Roman hoards in Great Britain#patching|Patching hoard]], as it came to be known, contained a coin as recent as 470.{{efn|The coin was a gold ''[[Solidus (coin)|solidus]]'' struck in the name of [[Severus III]]. These coins were also minted after Severus's death so the coin from Patching is dated in the range of 461-470 rather than to the actual reign of Severus.{{sfn|Abdy|2013|p=107}}}} Thus, Highdown cemetery would have been in use by Saxons when the hoard was buried at Patching.{{sfn|White|Manley|Jones|Orna-Ornstein|1999|pp=301-315}} The settlement that used Highdown as a burial ground in the 5th century has never been identified, but White speculates that there may have been some link between Patching and Highdown, and Welch has suggested that a Romano-British community was based there and that they controlled a group of Saxon mercenaries.<ref name="brandon23"/>{{sfn|White|Manley|Jones|Orna-Ornstein|1999|pp=301-315}}

Despite the difficulties presented by the large forest tract of the Weald that separated Sussex from Surrey, similarities in the archaeological record from this period between Sussex and Surrey help to substantiate the claim of Ælle of Sussex to be the first ''[[Bretwalda]]'' in the [[Thames Valley]].{{sfn|Loyn|1991| p=37}} Such unified regional commands were probably not long-lasting.{{sfn|Loyn|1991| p=37}}  [[Nowell Myres|J. N. L. Myres]] posits that archaeological evidence, in the form of distinctive Saxon saucer brooches, suggests that Ælle's forces penetrated  north as far as modern day Oxfordshire and [[Gloucestershire]] to the west.{{sfn|Myres|1989|pp=138-139}} [[H. R. Loyn]] suggests that this initial regional hegemony may have ended after the Battle of [[Mount Badon]].<ref>{{harvnb|Loyn|1991| p=30}}</ref>

===Christianisation and loss of independence (600–860)===
After 491 the written history of Sussex goes blank until 607, when the annals report that [[Ceolwulf of Wessex]] fought against the South Saxons.<ref name="ASC607">ASC Parker MS. AD607.</ref> Threatened by Wessex, the South Saxons sought to secure their independence by alliance with Mercia.<ref>{{harvnb|Fisher|2014| p=112}}</ref> To the South Saxons, the more distant influence and control of a king from Mercia is likely to have been preferable to that of the West Saxons.<ref name="Brandon 1978 32"/> The alliance between Mercia and the South Saxons was further sealed by [[Aethelwalh of Sussex|Æðelwealh]], king of Sussex, receiving baptism into the Christian church through the Mercian court, with [[Wulfhere of Mercia|Wulfhere]] acting as his sponsor, making Æðelwealh Sussex's first Christian king. Wulfhere gave Æðelwealh the [[Isle of Wight]] and the territory of the ''[[Meonwara]]'' (the [[River Meon|Meon]] valley of present-day Hampshire).<ref name="bede225">Bede, book&nbsp;IV, chap.&nbsp;13, 225.</ref> Æðelwealh also married Eabe, a princess of the ''[[Hwicce]]'', a Mercian satellite province.{{sfn|Yorke|1995| pp=58-59}}

[[File:Barnard Chichester mural.png|thumb|16th-century Barnardi picture of Cædwalla granting lands to Wilfrid.]]

In 681, the exiled [[Wilfrid|St Wilfrid of Northumbria]] arrived in the kingdom of the South Saxons and remained there for five years evangelising and baptising the people.<ref name="bede225"/> There had been a famine in the land of the South Saxons when Wilfrid arrived.<ref name="bede225"/> Wilfrid taught the locals to fish, and they were impressed with Wilfrid's teachings and agreed to be baptised ''en masse''.<ref name="bede225"/> On the day of the baptisms the rain fell on the "thirsty earth", so ending the famine.<ref name="bede225"/> Æðelwealh gave 87 [[Hide (unit)|hides]] (an area of land) and a [[royal vill]] to Wilfrid to enable him to found [[Selsey Abbey]].<ref name="bede225"/> The abbey eventually became the seat of the [[Bishop of Selsey|South Saxon bishopric]], where it remained until after the [[Norman Conquest]], when it was moved to [[Bishop of Chichester|Chichester]] by decree of the [[Council of London (1075)|Council of London of 1075]].<ref name="bede225"/><ref name="kelly1">Kelly.Chichester Cathedral:The Bishopric of Selsey. p.1</ref>

Shortly after the arrival of St Wilfrid, the kingdom was ravaged with "fierce slaughter and devastation" and Æðelwealh was slain by an exiled West Saxon prince [[Cædwalla of Wessex|Cædwalla]].<ref name="bede230">Bede, book&nbsp;IV, chap.&nbsp;15, 230.</ref> The latter was eventually expelled, by Æðelwealh's successors, two Ealdormen named [[Berthun of Sussex|Berhthun]] and [[Andhun]].<ref name="bede230"/> In 686 the South Saxons attacked [[Hlothhere]], king of [[Kingdom of Kent|Kent]], in support of his nephew [[Eadric of Kent|Eadric]], who afterwards became king of Kent. At this time, a new South Saxon hegemony extending from the Isle of Wight into Kent could conceivably have seen Sussex re-emerge as a regional power but the revival of Wessex ended this possibility.<ref name="Kirby114"/><ref name="Venning45-46"/> Eadric's rule in Kent lasted until Kent was invaded by Cædwalla who had managed to establish himself as ruler of Wessex. With his additional resources, Cædwalla once more invaded Sussex, killing Berhthun.<ref name="KellyODNB"/> Sussex now became for some years subject to a period of harsh West Saxon domination.<ref name="KellyODNB"/> According to [[Bede]], the subjection reduced the kingdom of Sussex to "a worse state of slavery"; it also included placing the South Saxon clergy under the authority of Wessex through the [[bishop of Winchester|bishops of Winchester]].<ref name="Brandon 1978 32"/> Cædwalla also seized the Isle of Wight where he ruthlessly exterminated its population, including its royal line. According to David Dumville, Cædwalla's savage behaviour towards Sussex and the Isle of Wight can be explained by Sussex's westward expansion with assistance from Mercia at the expense of Wessex and Cædwalla was determined that this should never happen again.{{sfn|Dumville|1997|p=359}}

Of the later South Saxon kings we have little knowledge except from occasional [[Anglo-Saxon charters|charters]]. In 692 a grant is made by a king called [[Nothelm of Sussex|Noðhelm]] (or ''Nunna'') to his sister, which is witnessed by another king called [[Watt of Sussex|Watt]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+45 |title=S 45 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> There is a theory that Watt may have been a sub-king who ruled over a tribe of people centred around modern day Hastings, known as the ''[[Haestingas]]'' and Nunna is described, in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', as the kinsman of [[Ine of Wessex]] who fought with him against [[Geraint of Dumnonia|Geraint]], King of the Britons, in 710.<ref name=brandon23 /><ref name="asc710">ASC Parker MS AD 710</ref> According to Bede, Sussex was subject to Ine for a number of years<ref name="bede415">Bede, book&nbsp;IV, chap.&nbsp;15, 415.</ref> and like Cædwalla, Ine also oppressed the people of Sussex in the same harsh way for many years.<ref name="bede415"/><ref name="Sawyer 1978 43">{{harvnb|Sawyer|1978| p=43}}</ref>

In 710 Sussex was still under West Saxon domination when King Nothhelm of Sussex is recorded as having campaigned with Ine in the west against Dumnonia. Sussex evidently broke away from West Saxon domination some time before 722 when Ine is recorded as invading Sussex, which he repeated three years later, killing a West Saxon exile named Ealdberht who had fled to the Weald of Sussex and Surrey<ref>{{harvnb|Swanton|1996| p=42}}</ref> and appears to have attempted to find support in Sussex.<ref name="Sawyer 1978 43"/> The ''Anglo Saxon Chronicle'' records a further campaign against the South Saxons by the West Saxons in 725.<ref name="Brandon 1978 32"/>

According to a charter dated 775, the former [[Selsey Abbey|abbot of Selsey]], Bishop [[Eadberht of Selsey]] ({{Circa|705}} x?709)&nbsp;– (716 x?), was given a grant of land by King [[Nothhelm of Sussex|Nunna]]; the document included King [[Watt of Sussex|Watt]] as a witness. However, the charter is now believed to have been a 10th- or early-11th-century forgery.<ref>Kelly. ''Charters of Selsey''. p.26. W. de Gray Birch had suggested an emendation (of the date) to 725 but Kelly says ''this is still unsatisfactory since it is too late for Bishop Eadberht''</ref><ref name="eadberht1">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=182-cap&cid=1-17-1#1-17-1|title=Cap. I/17/1 (S43)|publisher= Diocese of Chichester Capitular Records|access-date=13 May 2010}}
With Professor H.L. Rogers findings on why manuscript is forgery.</ref><ref>Kelly. ''Charters of Selsey''. p.26."..is without doubt a forgery and not an innocent 10th century copy of a genuine eighth-century charter."</ref>

There is another charter, that is thought to be genuine, that records a series of transactions of a piece of land near modern-day [[Burpham]] in the [[River Arun|Arun Valley]].<ref name="kelly34">Kelly. Charters of Selsey. p.34</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+44 |title=S 44 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref>
It starts off with a grant of land, at Peppering, by Nunna to Berhfrith probably for the foundation of a minster.<ref name="kelly31">Kelly. Charters of Selsey. p.31</ref>
Berhfrith transferred the land to Eolla, who in turn sold it to Wulfhere. The land then went to Beoba who passed it on to Beorra and Ecca.<ref name="kelly31"/> Finally King Osmund bought the land from his [[comes]] Erra and granted it to a religious woman known as Tidburgh.<ref name="kelly31"/> The charter is undated but it has been possible to date the various transactions approximately, by cross referencing people who appear both on this charter and on other charters that ''do'' provide dates.<ref name="kelly31"/> On the transaction, where Eolla has acquired the land from Berhfrith and sells it to Wulfhere [{{Circa|705}} x (716x?)], Nunna's subscription is followed by a certain [[Osric of Sussex|Osric]] who was possibly Nunna's co-ruler.<ref name="kelly33">Kelly. Charters of Selsey. p.33</ref> The other witnesses who followed Osric were Eadberht and Eolla, both who can be identified as ecclesiastics.<ref name="kelly33"/>

Nunna's last surviving charter, which is dated 714 in error for 717,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+42 |title=S 42 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> is witnessed by a King [[Aethelstan of Sussex|Æðelstan]].

A little later, [[Aethelbert of Sussex|Æðelberht]] was King of Sussex, but he is known only from charters. The dates of Æðelberht's reign are unknown beyond the fact that he was a contemporary of [[Sigeferth of Selsey|Sigeferth]], Bishop of Selsey from 733, as Sigeferth witnessed an undated charter of Æðelberht<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+46 |title=S 46 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> in which Æðelberht is styled Ethelbertus rex Sussaxonum.

After this we hear nothing more until about 765, when a grant<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+50 |title=S 50 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> of land is made by a king named [[Ealdwulf of Sussex|Ealdwulf]], with two other kings, [[Aelfwald of Sussex|Ælfwald]] and [[Oslac of Sussex|Oslac]], as witnesses.

In 765<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+48 |title=S 48 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> and 770<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+49 |title=S 49 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> grants are made by a King [[Osmund of Sussex|Osmund]], the latter one was later confirmed by [[Offa of Mercia]].

The independent existence of the Kingdom of Sussex came to an end in the early 770s.<ref name="KellyODNB"/> In 771, King Offa of Mercia conquered the territory of the ''Haestingas''; he may have entered Sussex from the Kingdom of Kent, where he was already dominant.<ref name="KellyODNB"/> By 772 he apparently controlled the whole of the Kingdom of Sussex.<ref name="KellyODNB">{{cite web |last=Kelly |first=S.E. |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=52344&back= |title=S. E. Kelly, 'Kings of the South Saxons (act. 477–772)'in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref> Offa also confirmed two charters of [[Aethelbert of Sussex|Æðelberht]], and in 772<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+108 |title=S 108 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> he grants land himself in Sussex, with [[Oswald of Sussex|Oswald]], ''dux Suðsax'', as a witness. It is probable that about this time Offa annexed the kingdom of Sussex, as several persons, [[Osmund of Sussex|Osmund]], [[Aelfwald of Sussex|Ælfwald]] and [[Oslac of Sussex|Oslac]], who had previously used the royal title, now sign with that of ''dux''.

Offa may not have been able to maintain control in the period 776–785 but he appears to have re-established control afterwards.<ref name="Wil"/> Mercian power collapsed in the years following Offa's death in 796, and the South Saxons re-emerged as an independent political entity.

After the [[Battle of Ellandun]] in 825<ref name="Wil">{{cite book |title=The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England Appendix I |type=PDF |first=Simon |last=Keynes |publisher=Wiley Blackwell |doi=10.1002/9781118316061.app1 |pages=521Fbos–538|year = 2013|isbn = 9781118316061}}</ref> the South Saxons submitted to [[Egbert of Wessex|Ecgberht of Wessex]], and from this time they remained subject to the West Saxon dynasty. According to Heather Edwards in the ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', it is probable that Sussex was not annexed by Wessex until 827.<ref name="EcgODNB">{{cite web |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/8581 |last=Edwards |first=Heather |title=Ecgberht [Egbert] (d. 839), king of the West Saxons |work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |access-date=22 June 2014}}</ref> The earldom of Sussex seems later to have been sometimes combined with that of Kent. [[Æthelberht of Wessex]] was ruling Sussex and the other south-eastern kingdoms by 855, and succeeded to the kingship of Wessex on the death of his brother, King [[Æthelbald of Wessex|Æthelbald]], thus bringing Sussex fully under the crown of Wessex.<ref>{{harvnb|Yorke|2002| p=148}}</ref>

===Ealdormanry and shire (860–1066)===
From 895 Sussex suffered from constant raids by the [[Vikings|Danes]], until the accession of [[Canute]], after which arose the two great forces of the house of [[Godwin, Earl of Wessex|Godwine]] and of the [[Normans]]. Godwine was probably a native of Sussex, and by the end of [[Edward the Confessor]]'s reign a third part of the county was in the hands of his family.<ref>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Sussex |volume=26 |page=166|inline=1}}</ref>

The death of [[eadwine of Sussex|Eadwine]], Ealdorman of Sussex, is recorded in 982, because he was buried at [[Abingdon Abbey]] in Berkshire, where one version of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' was compiled. According to the abbey's records, in which he was called {{lang|la|princeps Australium Saxonum, Eadwinus nomine}} (Eadwine leader of the South Saxons), he bequeathed estates to them in his will, although the document itself has not survived.<ref>Kelly.Charters of Abingdon Abbey, Volume 2. p.581.</ref> Earlier in the same year he witnessed a charter of King [[Ethelred the Unready]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+839 |title=S 839 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref> as {{lang|ang|Eaduuine dux}}. His name was also added to a forged charter dated 956 (possibly an error for 976).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+828 |title=S 828 |publisher=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=13 May 2010}}</ref>

[[File:BayeuxTapestryScene02-03.jpg|right|thumb|600px|[[Harold Godwinson]], the future king of England, shown on the [[Bayeux Tapestry]] riding with his knights to [[Bosham]] from where he set sail in 1064.]]

In the next generation, [[Wulfnoth Cild]], a Sussex [[thegn]], played a prominent part in English politics. In 1009 his actions resulted in the destruction of the English fleet, and by 1011 Sussex, together with most of South East England, was in the hands of the Danes. In an early example of local government reform, the Anglo-Saxon ealdormanries were abolished by the Danish kings and replaced with a smaller number of larger earldoms. Wulfnoth Cild was the father of [[Godwin, Earl of Wessex|Godwin]], who was made Earl of Wessex in 1020. His earldom included Sussex. When he died in 1053, Godwin was succeeded as Earl of Wessex (including Sussex) by his son [[Harold Godwinson|Harold]], who had previously been Earl of East Anglia.

[[Edward the Confessor]], who had spent much of his early life in exile in Normandy, was pro-Norman and in Sussex gave to the abbot of [[Fécamp Abbey]] the minster church at Steyning, as well as confirming land existing land grants at Hastings, Rye and Winchelsea.<ref>{{harvnb|Lowerson|1980| p=44}}</ref> To his chaplain, [[Osbern FitzOsbern|Osborn]], later William's Bishop of Exeter, Edward gave the harbour and other land at [[Bosham]].<ref>{{harvnb|Armstrong|1971|p=44}}</ref> Many of the Saxon nobles grew jealous and from 1049 there was conflict between the disgruntled Saxon nobility, the king and the incoming Normans.<ref name="Armstrong 1971 44">{{harvnb|Armstrong|1971| p=44}}</ref> Godwine and his second son Harold kept the peace off the Sussex coast by using Bosham and Pevensey to drive away pirates.<ref name="Armstrong 1971 44"/> In 1049 the murder by [[Sweyn Godwinson]] of his cousin Beorn after Beorn has been tricked in going to Bosham resulted in the entire [[House of Godwin|Godwine family]] being banished.<ref name="Armstrong 1971 44"/> It was from Bosham in 1051 that Godwin, Sweyn and [[Tostig Godwinson|Tostig]] fled to [[Bruges]] and the court of [[Baldwin V, Count of Flanders]], a relative of Tostig's wife, [[Judith of Flanders, Countess of Northumbria|Judith of Flanders]].<ref name="harvnb|Phillips|Smith|2014"/> When they returned in 1052 to an enthusiastic welcome in the Sussex ports, Edward had to reinstate the Godwine family.<ref name="Armstrong 1971 44"/>

In 1064 Harold sailed from Bosham, from where a storm cast him up in Normandy. Here he was apparently tricked into pledging his support for William of Normandy as the next king of England.<ref>{{harvnb|Armstrong|1971| p=45}}</ref> On 14 October 1066, Harold II, the last Saxon king of England was killed at the [[Battle of Hastings]] and the English army defeated, by [[William the Conqueror]] and his army.<ref name="seward5">Seward. Sussex. pp. 5-7.</ref> It is likely that all the fighting men of Sussex were at the battle, as the county's thegns were decimated and any that survived had their lands confiscated.<ref name="seward5"/> At least 353 of the 387 manors, in the county, were taken from their Saxon owners and given to the victorious Normans by the Conqueror, and Saxon power in Sussex was at an end.<ref name=horsfield77>Horsfield. Sussex. Volume 1. pp. 77-78</ref>