Thanes, to be treacherously murdered when he came to the King's court the Christmas before. King Edward kept his last Christmas (1065), and had the meeting of his Wise Men in London instead of Gloucester as usual. His great object was to finish his new church at Westminster, and to have it hallowed before he died. He lived just long enough to have this done. On Innocent's Day the new Minster was consecrated, but the King was too ill to be there, so the Lady Edith stood in his stead. And on January 5, 1066, King Edward, the son of Ethelred, died. On the morning of the day following his death, the body of the Confessor was laid in the tomb, in his new church; and on the same day-- HAROLD WAS CROWNED KING in his stead. Thus three very important events--the consecration of Westminster Abbey, the death of Edward the Confessor, and the crowning of Harold--all occurred during the same Christmas festival. In the terrible year 1066 England had three kings. The reign of Harold, the son of Godwine, who succeeded Edward the Confessor, terminated at the battle of Senlac, or Hastings, and on the following CHRISTMAS DAY WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR WAS CROWNED KING by Archbishop Ealdred. He had not at that time conquered all the land, and it was a long while before he really possessed the whole of it. Still, he was the king, chosen, crowned, and anointed, and no one ever was able to drive him out of the land, and the crown of England has ever since been held by his descendants. [5] Green's "History of the English People." [6] Tennyson. [7] "History of Winchester." [8] "History of King Arthur and His Noble Knights." [9] "The Franklin's Tale." [10] "Romance of Ipomydon." [11] "Old English History." [12] "Short History of the Norman Conquest." [13] "History of the English People." [14] J. G. Whittier. [15] "Chambers's Journal," Dec. 28, 1867. [Illustration] CHAPTER IV. CHRISTMAS, FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO MAGNA CHARTA. (1066 to 1215.) Now we come to the CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS UNDER THE NORMANS. [Illustration: A KING AT DINNER.]