With
the death of King Edward the Confessor in January, 1066, England was plunged
into an epic showdown for the vacated throne. Harold Godwinson, Edward’s
brother-in-law, became the Anglo-Saxon champion for England and he was elected
to the throne. Foreign claimants, however, would soon arrive from Norway and
Normandy in mere months to challenge King Harold Godwinson for the English
crown. Of the invaders, the first to arrive was King Harald Hardrada of Norway,
an experienced warrior-king who had been a mercenary for the Rus, a Varangian
Guardsman in Constantinople, and a Viking raider, before he returned home to
become king of Norway around 1045. In September, 1066, Harald Hardrada—with a
reported armada of 300 ships—began militarily campaigning in the Northumbria
region of England. The Norwegians were aided by Harold Godwinson’s scorned
brother, Tostig, and they defeated the Northumbrian regional forces in battle, forcing
York to surrender. It was while Harald Hardrada was on this winning streak in
the north that King Harold Godwinson pulled together an army and rushed his
troops toward York to face the Norwegian threat.
Harold
Godwinson’s army moved with such speed that he caught the experienced Norwegian
king totally off guard. The Norwegians were divided at the time, with Harald
Hardrada and his portion of the army camping near Stamford Bridge (on the River
Derwent), while the rest of the army remained at the ships near Ricall and the
River Ouse. Most importantly, the Norwegians at the bridge site had reportedly
left much of their armor by the ships, as they were not expecting an attack so
soon. Therefore, when Harold Godwinson and the Anglo-Saxons fell on the
unsuspecting and under-equipped Norwegians camped by Stamford Bridge, the
battle turned into a massacre.
While
the Scandinavian and English sources disagreed slightly on details of the
battle, they both made the same key points—Harald Hardrada and Tostig died in
battle and a majority of the Norwegian army was destroyed. According to the
Scandinavian tradition, Harald Hardrada’s reserve troops from Ricall made a
long and tiring march to Stamford Bridge in hopes of saving their king, yet
they were too tired to fight upon arrival. The Anglo-Saxon version (seen as the
more accurate account) instead claimed that after Harald Hardrada and Tostig
were slain, the Norwegian warriors at Stamford Bridge began a frantic retreat
to their ships and reinforcements at Ricall. In both of the scenarios, a single
Norwegian warrior was said to have played a major role by making a lone last
stand on Stamford Bridge, either (in the English tradition) for covering his
comrades’ retreat to the ships or (in the Scandinavian version) by trying to
hold the Anglo-Saxons back until the approaching troops from Ricall could
arrive.
As
the story goes, the unnamed Norwegian warrior was a one-man wrecking crew with
near superhuman fighting ability. Buying time for the Norwegian side, the
Viking champion took up position at a choke point, reportedly Stamford Bridge
itself, and determined to fight to the death. He gave the Anglo-Saxons immense
trouble, reportedly besting anyone who came against him in single combat, and
he could just as easily deflect or block any arrows shot in his direction. The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle described the scene, including the English army’s eventual
solution for defeating the mighty warrior: “there was one of the Norwegians who
withstood the English folk, so that they could not pass over the bridge or gain
the victory. Then an Englishman aimed at him with an arrow, but it availed
naught; and then came another under the bridge and pierced him through the
corselet” (ASC, entry for 1066). With the Norwegian warrior’s death, the
Anglo-Saxons were able to rush across the bridge to finish the battle, either
by crashing into the regrouping Norwegians or by pursuing the fleeing invaders
all the way to their ships. Whichever way the battle really played out, Harold
Godwinson won a decisive victory and let the son of the slain Norwegian king
lead the survivors home—they reportedly only needed 24 of their original 300
ships to ferry the remnants of Harald Hardrada’s army away.
Written
by C. Keith Hansley
Picture
Attribution: (Battle of Stamford Bridge painted by Peter Nicolai Arbo (1831–1892), [Public Domain] via Creative
Commons).
Sources:
- The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle translated by Benjamin Thorpe in 1861 and republished by Cambridge University Press, 2012.
- Heimskringla, by Snorri Sturluson and translated by Lee Hollander. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1964, 2018.
- King Harald’s Saga, by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Magnus Mangusson and Hermann Pálsson. New York: Penguin Books, 1966, 2005.
- https://www.ancient.eu/article/1306/battle-of-stamford-bridge/
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