Earl Godwin was succeeded in two of the chief manors by his son Harold, who, upon the death of Edward, in 1065, was chosen king: but, from some secret arrangements between the king and William, duke of Normandy, the latter made a claim which he asserted by force of arms. He landed at Pevensey. Harold at the time was at Stanford Bridge, near York, where he had defeated Toston, his unnatural brother, and Harold Harfager, the king of Norway; and hearing of William’s arrival, he immediately proceeded southward, and with the addition of some levies hastily collected at Brighthelmston and his other manors in Sussex, encamped within nine miles of the invader. On the 14th of October, 1066, he joined battle with the Normans, and after performing all that valour and judgment could do against a brave enemy, he closed his life in the field of battle, near Hastings, having been pierced in the brain with an arrow. Harold’s possessions at Brighthelmston having fallen into the hands of William the Conqueror, the town was conferred on his son-in-law, one of his generals, William, Lord de Warren, in Normandy, who was created Earl of Surrey. In 1081, when the survey of Sussex was made by commissioners under order from William the Conqueror, the manor of Brighton—Brighthelmston-Michelham,—had attached to it four _hagæ_, or tenements, in the town of Lewes, for which a sum of twelve pounds a-year was paid. These _hagæ_ were places of resort for protection in seasons of danger from feuds between neighbouring heptarchs, or from the ravages of the Danes, Lewes being the fortified borough under the lord of the barony, then William de Warren. The manor of Brighthelmston-Michelham was held of the king by three Aloarii, or joint tenants of the same manor, who owed no suit or service to any superior, but “might go where they pleased,” that is, in the feudal language of Domesday, were attached to no lord in a _seignoral_, but to the king alone in a civil capacity. This manor defended itself for six hides, and one yardland. One of the tenants had an _aula_, or manor-house on his part. The shares of the two others were used by _villeins_, or slaves. The whole formed but one manor, and contained five ploughlands of arable. After the conquest, this manor was held by one Widard, under William de Warren. He had one ploughland and a half in his demesne, or immediate possession; and fourteen _villeins_, and twenty-one _bordars_, or _bordarii_, occupiers of cottages, used the three other ploughlands and a half. It also contained seven acres of meadow, and wood enough to afford _pannage_, or mast and acorns for twenty-one hogs belonging to the _villeins_ of the manor, three of which the lord was, by the general custom of the county, entitled to. Lady Amhurst is the present lady of this manor.