1066

Page 3 of 7

• 1. Claims to the throne
• 2. Harold becomes king
• 3. Stamford Bridge
• 4. Pevensey landings
• 5. The Battle of Hastings
• 6. King William
• 7. Find out more
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Stamford Bridge

In July, William's invasion fleet moved north to Dives, but still it did not cross the Channel. The sources say that the leader was waiting for fair weather, but he may equally have been awaiting news that Tostig had made his move. Either way, it was a perfect strategy. The English fyrd was a levy of peasant farmers, who by August were clamouring to be released so that they could take in their harvest. Harold had no option but to let them go.

'...Tostig fell beneath the Raven Banner...'

On 20 September 1066, Harald Hardrada and Tostig sailed up the Ouse, with more than 10,000 men in 200 longships, to launch their long-awaited invasion of Northumbria. Earls Edwin and Morcar came out to meet them with a hastily assembled levy that consisted mainly of their own personal retainers. They were defeated at Fulford outside York, and their forces were so decimated that they were unable to play any further part in the campaigns of that year.

Harold reacted by scraping together a scratch force of his own, made up largely of his own housecarls and his 'thegns'. He raced north, calling up all the shire levies he could muster on the way. In four days he marched 180 miles - to surprise Hardrada and Tostig, east of York, at Stamford Bridge, on 25 September.

Before the battle began, Harold offered Tostig his earldom back if he would change sides, but Tostig threw the offer back in the king's face. The Norwegians held a strong position, defending the bridge on the north-eastern shore of the River Derwent. Legend has it that a lone axeman held the bridge against all-comers for hours, until a sneaky Englishman paddled under the bridge in a barrel and thrust a spear up through the wooden slats.

Once the bridge fell, the battle was a foregone conclusion. Both Hardrada and Tostig fell beneath the Raven Banner in a last, desperate stand. Harold had won the day, but at a price. His army was tired and badly mauled, and he had lost the forces of both the Earl of Northumbria and the Earl of Mercia.

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Published: 2001-05-01