Tile, 6 x 6 inches. Brown on cream transfer. Raised maker's mark for Mintons China Works. This is one of 12 designs in the Early English History series by John Moyr Smith produced by Mintons China Works, c. 1872. The scene depicts Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, swearing an oath of loyalty to William, the then duke of Normandy, in 1064. Harold later renounced the oath and claimed the English throne. Harold was killed by William, Duke of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings October 14, 1066.

William was a distant cousin of Edward the Confessor and wanted to be the next king. He claimed that both Edward and Harold had promised him the throne, but English supporters of Harold challenged this. Harold was the son of Earl Godwin, the most powerful noble in England. He was a leading Saxon Lord and the brother of Edward's wife. He had won a number of battles for Edward. Harold was chosen by the Witan (the King's council) to succeed Edward the Confessor. He also said that it was Edward's dying wish that he, Harold, should have the crown, although there were no witnesses to Edward saying this.

King Edward invited William of Normandy to his court in 1051 and supposedly promised to make him heir. After a shipwreck in 1064, Harold was handed over to William of Normandy, who forced him to swear an oath that he would help William become the next king of England when Edward died. It was said that the oath was given over a box that unbeknown to Harold contained the bones of a saint. Oaths were important guarantees that were considered binding in the Middle Ages, so this particular oath bound Harold to helping William, and made Harold’s own claim to the throne look illegal.

Mintons China Works was pottery, porcelain and tile manufacturers, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. Factory founded 1793/6 by Thomas Minton in Stoke-on-Trent, taken over by Herbert Minton in 1836 until the latter’s death in 1858, when the china business was carried on by Colin Minton Campbell, in partnership with Michael Daintry Hollins, who ran the tile business. In 1868 the partnership ended and Campbell continued as Mintons China Works, also producing tiles, though not encaustic (inlaid) tiles, until 1918 when tile production ceased. From 1873, the name 'Minton' was changed to 'Mintons' without the apostrophe.