Edward
the Confessor
died on 5 January, 1066. The next day there was a meeting of the Witan.
The Witan was made up of a group of about sixty lords and bishops
who helped govern England. The Witan decided that Harold
of Wessex was to be the next king of England.
In
May 1066 the Harold heard that Tostig
and his army had landed
on the Isle of Wight and forced the inhabitants to give him money
and provisions.
He then sailed had along
the coast and did some plundering, including an attack on Sandwich.
Harold and his army marched north but by the time he arrived Tostig's
forces had been chased away by Morcar's army.
Harold
was fully aware William of Normandy
would try to take the throne from him. He believed that the Normans
posed
the main danger and he positioned his troops on the south coast of
England. Harold's soldiers were made up of housecarls
and the fyrd. Housecarls were
well-trained, full-time soldiers who were paid for their services.
The fyrd were working men who were called up to fight for the king
in times of danger.
On
8th September 1066, Harold decided to
send his soldiers home. He had run out of provisions and he knew that
his men had to harvest their crops. Harold travelled to London and
soon after arriving heard the news that King
Harald Hardrada of Norway and his brother
Tostig
had entered
the Humber. When the messenger
told the king that Hardrada of Norway had invaded with the intentions
of conquering all of England, it is said that Harold replied: "I
will give him just six feet of English soil; or, since they say he
is a tall man, I will give him seven feet!"
Harold quickly
assembled his army and headed north. On 20th September Hardrada's
army defeated Morcar's forces at Gate Fulford. Four days later the
invaders took York.
On 24th September
Harold's army arrived at Tadcaster. The following day he took Tostig
and Hardrada by surprise at a place called Stamford Bridge. It was
a hot day and the Norwegians had taken off their byrnies (leather
jerkins with sewn-on metal rings). Harold and his English troops devastated
the Norwegians. Both Hardrada and Tostig were killed. The Norwegian
losses were considerable. Of the 300 ships that arrived, less than
25 returned to Norway.
The
Normans: Classroom Activities
(1)
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, C Version,
entry for 1066.
There was one of the Norwegians there who withstood the English
host so they could not
cross the bridge nor win victory. Then an Englishman shot an arrow,
but it was no use, and then another came under the bridge and stabbed
him under the corselet. Then Harold, king of the English, came over
the bridge and his host with him, and there killed large numbers of
both Norwegians and Flemings, and Harold let the king's son Hetmundus
go home to Norway with all the ships.
(2)
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, D Version,
entry for 1066.
The Norwegians who survived took flight; and the English
attacked them fiercely as they pursued them until some got to the
ships. Some were drowned, and some burned and some destroyed in various
ways so that few survived and the English remained in command of the
field. The king gave quarter to Olaf, son of the Norse king and all
those who survived on the ships, and they went up to our king and
swore oaths that they would always keep peace and friendship with
this country; and the king let them go home with twenty-four ships.
(3)
Florence of Worcester was a monk who wrote this account of the Battle
of Stamford Bridge in about 1125.
Harold, king of the English, permitted Olaf, the son of the
Norwegian king to return home unmolested with twenty ships and the
survivors, but only after they had sworn oaths of submission and had
given hostages.
Last
updated: 20th September, 2002
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