The Tale Of The Lone Norwegian Warrior Who, For A Time, Single-Handedly Held Back King Harold Godwinson’s Forces At Stamford Bridge

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/ 

The Northumbrian Coup Against Earl Tostig

Tostig Godwinson became the Earl of Northumbria in 1055. His brother was Earl Harold Godwinson of Wessex and his brother-in-law was King Edward the Confessor of England (r. 1042-1066). Encouraged by his own power and that of his relations, Earl Tostig began to act tyrannically in Northumbria, angering his local liegemen in various ways. The least nefarious of these abuses was a poorly explained increase on Northumbrian taxes. More scandalous, however, were the assassinations of several noblemen that occurred at that time in Northumbria, which the locals attributed to the machinations of Tostig and the fellow members of his House of Godwin.

By 1065, the Northumbrians were fed up with Tostig’s rule. According to the chronicler, Florence of Worcester (d. 1117), the assassinations of three prominent Northumbrians (named of Cospatric, Gamel and Ulf) were what finally caused the region to rebel against its tyrannical leader. Around October 3, 1065, a coup was reportedly launched by a group of local Northumbrian noblemen. At a time when Earl Tostig was away from Northumbria, the members of the coup marched with a small army to the earl’s seat of power at York. The rebellious force skillfully infiltrated the city, systematically executed around two hundred of Tostig’s loyal administrators, and seized control of the treasury and armory in York. With the city of York firmly in the conspirators’ hands, the maneuverings in Northumbria against Tostig transitioned out of the shadows and became a more public affair. Noblemen and peasants rallied behind the coup, and an anti-Tostig army was mobilized which reached a formidable size.

Earl Harold Godwinson led the English response to the Northumbrian revolt, leading on behalf of the increasingly ill King Edward the Confessor. By the time he and his army arrived on the scene of the rebellion, Harold Godwinson found the Northumbrians organized and well-led by a prospective earl named Morcar. As Morcar’s leadership among the rebels was stable and his Northumbrian army had formidable strength, Harold Godwinson was not enthusiastic about attacking the rebel force, even if it was his brother Tostig’s earldom that was at stake. Instead of going to war and crushing the rebellion, Harold Godwinson instead opened up negotiations with Morcar and the rebel leadership. During these negotiations between the English army and the Northumbrian rebels, Harold Godwinson did not put up much of a fight for his tyrannical brother, Tostig. Instead, England accepted Morcar as the new Earl of Northumbria, and Tostig Godwinson was outlawed.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Image from page 44 of "The book of the Bayeux tapestry” edited by Hilaire Belloc (c. 1914), [Public Domain] via flickr and Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle translated by Benjamin Thorpe in 1861 and republished by Cambridge University Press, 2012.
• The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester translated by Thomas Forester. London: Petter and Galpin, originally published in 1854. 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tostig-Earl-of-Northumbria 
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edward-king-of-England-1002-1066 
• https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/morcar-earl-northumbria