Battle of Stamford Bridge 1066
Shield Wall. Still from the film "Seven Kings Must Die". 2023.
On November 12, 1035, the man who united England, Denmark and Norway under his rule in battle, King Cnut the Mighty (994–1035), died in Shaftesbury.
A man of enormous stature but little intelligence, as the Danish Sagas write. But next to him stood the Anglo-Saxon Godwin (Goodwin) (1001–1053), Earl of Wessex.
Vikings storm an English fortress. Figures, fortress and siege machines – Elastolin company. Germany. 80s.
He was married to his relative Gita and actually ruled England.
To decide who would rule the English, a Council of the Wise (Witan-gemot) met in Oxford.
There were several contenders. They were the children of Emma of Normandy (982–1052) from two marriages. First, the son of Emma and Cnut, Hørda-Cnut (1018–1042), who was living in Denmark at the time. Second, her children from her marriage to King Ethelred the Unready (978–1016), who were living in Normandy. Third, Harold or Harold (1016–1040), the younger son of Elphíge (Ælfgifa), the first wife of King Cnut.
But there were difficulties with all of them. The most preferable was Hørda-Knut, but he never left Denmark.
An attempt to take the throne by the princes Edward and Alfred, children of Emma, in 1036 was unsuccessful. They moved from Normandy. The first accepted a battle with the English at Southampton and fled back to Normandy. The second, Alfred, with his Normans, was deceived and captured by Earl Godwin, who did not want the Anglo-Saxons to return to the throne. Soon Alfred was blinded and died because of this, and the Normans were mostly killed. In such circumstances, Harold (Harold), the son of Elfig, ascended the throne, who died in 1040. Finally, Hurd-Cnut arrived in England. His reign did not please the English. He, having a huge fleet of 62 ships, seriously increased taxes.
A miniature of a Viking by the famous English miniature company John Jenkins
Therefore, Herda-Cnut was forced to call upon his half-brother, Edward, son of King Ethelred, to be his co-ruler, in order to share the government with him according to the laws of Cnut and with the consent of the English thanes. Herda-Cnut died in 1042.
King Edward was considered a good ruler, but he was far from Anglo-Saxon customs, as he had lived his entire life in the north of France in Normandy, whose customs he had adopted. Because of this, he was forced to reconcile with Godwin, who was accused of the death of his brother Arthur. Godwin took advantage of this disposition and gave the southwestern Midlands to his son, Sven, in 1043, and East Anglia to Harold, the future last Anglo-Saxon king. And the king married Godwin's daughter, Edith. The king, who was burdened by the English customs, invited the Normans to join him.
In 1051, the Norman Robert of Jumièges, Bishop of London, became Archbishop of Canterbury. That same year, the Count of Boulogne, married to Godgifa, Edward's sister, arrived in England. On the way, the inhabitants of Dover quarreled with his retinue, and some were killed. The king ordered Godwin to punish Dover, but he refused and fled to Flanders, his sons to Ireland, and their sister, Queen Edith, was exiled to a monastery by the king. At the same time, the childless Edward apparently decided to pass the throne to the Norman duke, his great-nephew.
In 1052, Earl Godwin's fleet set sail from Flanders to England, and people began to arrive who had heard that the king had given England (Engla-Lande) to the Norman. London was taken, the king reconciled with Godwin, returned his wife from the monastery and agreed to expel the Norman-French who were sowing discord. The Normans who were not killed fled from London, some to their homeland, like Robert of Jumienne, some to Scotland to King Macbeth.
Norman horsemen. This is what all feudal knights in Europe of this period looked like. Preiser (Elastolin) company, Germany. 90s. The number one company among manufacturers of toy soldiers
Godwin convinced everyone at a large meeting of the people that he was innocent before the king. A Dane and layman, Bishop of Winchester, Stigant, became Archbishop of Canterbury. He did not go to Rome for the pallium, taking Robert's cloak. However, he was no exception; English priests wore weapon, fought: the Bishop of Hereford wore a moustache, a sword and a spear. And the following year Godwin died. His son Harold became the Earl of Wessex. Temporary peace came to England, even the construction of stone churches began. But the Danish "inheritance" made itself felt, and the struggle for resources did not go away. In 1065, the powerful Earl Harold, here the sources differ, either by accident, as Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, wrote, or out of stupidity, as William of Malsbury wrote and is depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry, "Beware of treachery", went to Normandy for English hostages. There, allegedly, according to Norman sources, he was forced to swear an oath to Duke (Earl) William (Guillaume) that he would support his candidacy for the English throne. This happened a year before the death of the King of England.
In 1065, Northumbria rebelled against Tosti, Harold's younger brother, in support of Earl Morker. Tosti behaved inappropriately, perhaps, like many stern men of his time, he was extremely mentally unstable, he fled overseas to his wife's relative, Baldwin V of Flanders (1012-1067). And he began to harm England.
And King Edward fell ill in December 1065, probably with pneumonia, and died on January 5, 1066. All historical sources indicate that on his deathbed Edward bequeathed the kingdom to Harold, without mentioning anywhere the Duke of Normandy, William the Bastard (1028–1087).
To strengthen his position, Harold married the sister of the earls Edwin and Morker, the widow of the Welsh King Griffin, Ealdgute.
The nobles who gathered at Winchester for Christmas solemnly elect Harold, appointed by Edward, as king.
The English in the 11th century. Soldiers. The English company "Replicants"
While news of the king's death and the election of a new one in England spread to other lands, Harold began to prepare to repel an attack from his younger brother, Tosti.
But realizing that a much greater threat came from William, with whom he had been corresponding about his unfounded claims, in May a militia-fürd was assembled in all lands. In the most dangerous places for landing there were detachments of the royal thanes, the squad of tingamanns and squads of earls, huskerls. The sea and land militia waited for the enemy for half a year. But by September the supplies that the militia had were exhausted, and it was necessary to harvest, the militia began to disperse on its own and was disbanded on September 12.
Sword of the 11th century from Kaup, a settlement in Prussia. Iron in a silver frame. Mokhovoe (German: Wiskiauten). Kaliningrad Region. Russia. Museum Island. Berlin. Germany. Photo by the author
In Normandy
When news of Harold's becoming king reached Duke William, he was furious and accused the "English people" of perfidy. He began corresponding with Harold, offering his daughter in marriage, half of England, etc. Trying to create a decent pretext for invading England, to which he had little to do, and to achieve positive "public opinion" in the person of the papal curia. He succeeded, he even received a banner from the Pope. William began to gather mercenaries from all over Europe, from Sicily to France. All this fuss ended by Easter, April 15.
The Norman barons were not eager to go to war with the strong English army of huscarls and thanes, but the barons were deceived and they began to build a fleet, which took half a year. But the finished fleet could not go to sea, the south wind did not blow.
Tosti wants to return to England
The new king's eccentric younger brother, Earl Tosti, tried to return to England, and was willing to negotiate with anyone to do so. Baldwin V of Flanders did not help him, but allowed him to hire sailors for his ships. Then he came in April... to William. William had no intention of sharing the captured lands with him, but encouraged him to disturb England, which was impossible - the English fleet completely controlled the English Channel. The Normans' attempt to approach the Isle of Wight was stopped by the naval militia.
Then Tosti went... to the king of the Danes, his relative, cousin Svein, but he, citing that he could barely withstand the onslaught of the Norwegians, refused the expedition, but gave him mercenaries. From him Tosti went to Harald, the king of Norway, in Vik.
Meanwhile in Norway
He again offered half of England, and Harald Hardrada agreed, thinking that it would be a good idea to take over rich England. Preparations began for the expedition, which was planned for the summer. Half of the Norwegian militia was to go on the expedition. Not everyone shared Harald's enthusiasm, even the courtier Ulf assumed that each tamgamann (warrior) of the English king was superior to two of Harald's best men.
There were many omens, dreams that did not have anything good about the future, people dreamed of ravens and eagles. By the end of the summer, a fleet of 200 ships was assembled, not counting cargo ships, as reported by the "Circle of the Earth", and the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" writes about 300 ships. The entire militia arrived at the Solandir Islands, in the south of Norway, and soon Harald and his squad came here from Nidaros.
A favourable north-east wind blew.
Harald and Tosti in England
The Norwegian fleet, having covered 500 km in a couple of days, arrived: part to Hjaltland (Shetland Islands), part to the Orkney Islands. Here the king left his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, and two daughters. The earls of the Orkney Islands joined him. Then Harald goes down the Scottish coast to Cleveland.
At the same time, his ally, Tosti, with 60 ships from Flanders arrived in Yorkshire at the mouth of the Humber, on the way he plundered Wardstane and the Isle of Thanet. He was joined by an ally, thegn Copsig. They ravaged the city of Lindsey near York. Here he was attacked by Earl Edwin and Morker. In the course of the battle, Tosti suffered a crushing defeat: he was left with only 12 ships, with which he fled to Scotland, the sailors from Sandwich and the Danish mercenaries abandoned him.
In Scotland, Tosti found himself a guest of King Malcolm for the entire summer, and the militia raised by King Harold against Tosti was sent to guard the English Channel.
Soon he joined Harald, whose fleet was moving south, traditionally plundering at anchor. This happened in mid-September. They threw hot logs into the town of Scarborough, and in Holderness they suppressed the resistance of the local thegns. Soon the Vikings rowed up the Humber estuary into the River Ouse and approached Eoverwyck or York. Here they were met by the Earl brothers, who had recently defeated Tosti and defended the approach to the town with their ships from the River Ouse.
Battle of Fulford
The ships anchored in the village of Riccalle, still a village today, 14 km from York. Here from York came the army of the earls Edwin, Morker, as it is written in the "History of the English", and Waltheof, as reported in the "Saga of Harald Hardrada", the son of the Dane Siward of Northumberland, distinguished "enormous in stature and stern in character».
Vikings at Stamford Bridge, according to Conte (USA), the company that makes the toy soldiers
From this camp, Harald planned to attack York, and the English planned to push his army back to the river and destroy it.
All the forces gathered by the Vikings took part in this battle, which experts estimate at 8-10 thousand, the English had slightly fewer warriors. The battle took place at Fulford, a bad ford, on September 20, 1066. Harald lined up one wing of the army along the river, the second - across, it rested on a ditch, in which there was a swamp. A denser formation was near the river. Historical sources do not tell us other details. The English, going down to the river, hit those who were at the ditch, here Earl Morker commanded: the Norwegians and Tosti's people began to retreat. Then Harald blew his horn, demanded to raise the banner "Ravager of the country" and hit the English. They could not stand it and ran, some downstream, some upstream, many fell into the ditch, and it became filled with bodies. Part of the army with Waltheof went to York.
Harald began to prepare for its capture and went with an army to Stamford Bridge, which was located east of York, 20 km from Riccallo, where the ships were moored. And Stamford Bridge, located east of York, at the crossroads, was captured to make it easier to conduct operations and raids in Yorkshire.
On Sunday, September 24, the Norwegian army came to York from Stamford Bridge, and Harald held a ting or gemot (meeting). The English swore allegiance to him and promised to hand over hostages, those whom Earl Tosti knew personally. The army and the king set off in good spirits to the camp on the Ouse River.
It remains a mystery why the city was not captured immediately and why the arriving army did not settle in it, why was it necessary to receive hostages from Yorkshire in Stamford Bridge the next day, and not on Sunday? And why solve all these issues in Stamford Bridge, which is 20 km from Riccalle, while York is 14 km away? Even if we accept the version that Stamford Bridge is at the crossroads and this territory has not yet been robbed. The territory to the south and west of York, since the ships entered the Humber estuary into the Ouse River, was "eaten" by both the Norwegians and earlier by Tosti, with his 60 ships, it was here that he took Leeds, from which both York and Riccalle are about 40 km away. It can be assumed that everything in this direction had already been plundered, and the Norwegians intended to move to “eat” across the Stamford Bridge, east of the River Derwent.
Modern map of events
And at sunset, his namesake, the English king Harold, entered the city with a huge army. The gates were locked and guards were posted so that no one would warn the Norwegians.
Stamford Bridge
On September 25, Harald had breakfast in the morning and ordered that two of the three warriors go with him, and the rest guard the ships. It was a hot day, and he allowed them not to take chain mail, but to remain only with weapons, not even everyone took helmets, not even Harald himself.
But it was not the hostages from the city that came to the meeting, but the English army. The huskerls with the king rode ahead in chain mail and armor. The English had already mastered European knightly tactics, and there were many Normans and French in the service.
This was the period when in England, under the influence of early feudal Europe, there was a transition from traditional foot combat for the Angles and Danes to mounted combat.
It is clear that the equipment of a professional foot soldier was expensive. If we turn to the laws of Canute, we will find that the heriot (a gift from the lord to "servants" for the period of service) was: for an earl - four saddled and four unsaddled horses, four swords, chain mail and helmets, eight shields and spears, and money, for thegns - twice as little. In 1008, to repel Danish aggression, it was determined that chain mail and a helmet should be issued from 8 guides of land (a guide is a unit of taxation). The fashion for "French" helmets, of which we know a great number of images on the Bayeux Tapestry, and the helmets of St. Wenceslas that have come down to us, the helmet from Lake Orchow, Mogilno County, Bydgoszcz Voivodeship and the helmet kept in the Vienna National Library, dominated in England and Scandinavia, probably from the beginning of the XNUMXth century, if not from the end of the XNUMXth century. Such a helmet (nasalhelm) displaced the helmets of previous periods. According to the royal saga of Olaf the Saint, all one hundred warriors of Olaf the Saint were dressed in chain mail and such Wales helmets.
Helmet from Orchowo, Mogilno County, Poland
Chainmail remained an expensive luxury, and, if we consider the chainmail of Harald Hardrada himself, not everyone had long chainmail. And in general, not everyone had them. Gradually, we see a transition to almond-shaped shields - Benedict, the brother of the Danish king Knut the Saint, had one of red color with an image of a knight, as reported by the "Knutlinga Saga". But, most likely, the Norwegians had round shields, since almond-shaped shields are the property of knights on horseback. But the English on the Bayeux tapestry use both on foot.
Tosti suggested retreating to the ships and accepting battle there – it is not entirely clear who would allow such a maneuver? Since the movement took place across open terrain and the ships were at least ten kilometers away, the king poisoned the messengers for the remaining army.
Angles from the Bayeux Tapestry. Soldiers by the Lod Company. Russia
Harald decided to give battle here, he built the whole army in two circles, the second consisted of his warriors, no more than a hundred people, like his brother. His son Olaf had 120 warriors and 60 guests, which raised questions among the bonds: why so many?
As he was riding round the line, his black horse with a white mark stumbled and he fell, but quickly rose. Harold, who saw this, said:
A tall man and majestic, but it seems that luck has deserted him.
Twenty knights approached the Viking line, and one of them said that the king had offered Earl Tosti Northumberland for his own, but he had refused, asking, "What about King Hakon?" He received the answer:
A piece of land seven feet long, or a little more, since it is taller than other people.
When Harald learned from Tosti that it was the king himself, he regretted that he did not know this, otherwise he would have killed him:
The man was short, but he stood proudly in the stirrups.
The English began to charge the shield wall on horseback, and were shot at with bows. Harald regretted leaving both Emma's helmet and chain mail on the ship.
The Norwegians could not tolerate such a sluggish battle for long and began to attack themselves, but they were unable to collapse the English line. However, their line broke up and the horsemen, as well as the enemy infantry, began to attack the Norwegians, who, without armor, received more wounds. By midday they were pushed back beyond the Derwent River, but one huge Viking single-handedly held back the onslaught of the attackers with an axe, killing 40 enemies.
When he was killed by a spear thrust between the legs from a boat under the bridge, they broke through, and Harald himself, a mighty warrior, entered the fray, but an English arrow struck him in the throat.
The battle paused to regroup and rest, as the day was drawing to a close. Harold offered his brother and the remaining Norwegians their lives, but they refused and were killed by sword and fire.
Meanwhile, the remaining Vikings arrived at the battlefield with Earl Eystein Grouse, who raised the banner of the "Ravager of the Country". The Vikings were fully armed, and at first they entered the battle with enthusiasm, but the fatigue of the march made itself felt, and they threw off their chain mail, finally dooming themselves to defeat. The English pursued and killed the Norwegians to their ships.
Thus ended the last battle of the Viking Age. King Harold allowed Harald's son, Olaf, to leave with the surviving Norwegians. The Orkney earls Pal and Erlend, sons of Thorfinn, survived. The Norwegian losses were enormous, only 23 ships returned.
And King Harold came victorious to York, he captured Harald's wealth, which he had brought from Byzantium, but in two bloody battles the English lost a huge number of warriors.
The English king urgently went south, to his destiny...
P.S.
In 1085, the Danish king Knut the Saint (1042–1086) decided to march on England, to take revenge… for everything, inviting the son of Harald the Hard Ruler, Olaf the Quiet, to join the campaign. Robert of Flanders (1065–1111) became their ally. The entire Danish militia, the ledung, gathered in Limafjord. 60 Norwegian ships arrived here. But the campaign did not take place because Knut was afraid that the Slavs would attack Denmark.
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