Totally agree with your analysis of Howarth's book, which I also read years ago. However, I'd read several books on 1066 by the time I got to Howarth's. His is the book that will forever stay with me for one reason - his theory that, in the insanity between Stamford Bridge and Hastings, when Harold was passing through London, he heard that the Pope was supporting William's "crusade" and that he himself had been excommunicated for seizing the crown. It's one of those endlessly debatable points - did it happen? If it did, how did he react? - but it clears up one haunting point. The King who fought at Hastings was subtly different from the King who fought at Stamford Bridge - slower, less perceptive, almost as if he was letting Fate decide what would happen. Howarth says he was horrified by his excommunication and the Church's support for William, and possibly aware of his own broken faith (if he did, indeed, swear years before to support Williams' claims). If the latter is true, and Harold swore on holy relics (sneakily hidden until after he took the oath), and then broke his oath, he would be damned.

Altogether one of those dramatic historical moments that chills the heart!