Battle of Stamford Bridge

Battle of Stamford
Bridge

September 25th 1066

The second of three major battles that took place in 1066, the first being the battle at Gate Fulford and the final one at Hastings. Stamford has always been overshadowed by the more notorious battle at Senlac Hill (commonly called Hastings), when King Harold, the Saxon king lost his kingdom to the Norman invader, William the Conqueror.

So how did it transpire that England was the focus of three kings all fighting for its crown? It all lies with the previous Saxon King, Edward the Confessor, when he died in January 1066 he passed the crown over to Harold Godwineson, his right hand man, although not family he had been more or less running the kingdom on behalf of the king and was well liked and ideal for the job. However, William, duke of Normandy said the crown was promised to him by Edward many years before and thus he was the rightful heir. Then there was a claim by the Norwegian King, Harald Sigurdsson (commonly known as 'Hardrada' meaning 'hard ruler'), he said the crown was promised to the Norwegian Kings even before Williams claim, and thus he should succeed Edward the Confessor as the new king. Thus both William and Hardrada set plans in place to gather invasion fleets and take the crown back by force.

It was Hardrada's fleet, supported by Harold Godwinesons banished brother Tosti, who invaded first in early September 1066, after burning Scarborough to the ground the fleet sailed up the Humber and berthed at Riccall. They then marched on York and met a quickly assembled northern army at Gate Fulford, just outside the city, the Earls Morcar and Edwin were soundly defeated by the Vikings and fled the field leaving the city open to the invaders. The invaders demanded hostages from the York officials and announced that they were to be handed over to them on the 25th September at a little crossing point over the River Derwent known as Stamford Bridge. They returned to their camp at Riccall brazen and expecting no trouble from the locals, everything was going to plan with Hardrada's and Tosti's takeover of the kingdom as far as they were concerned.

King Harold down on the Isle of Wight was still on watch for the Norman fleet when he heard of the Norse invasion, this was unexpected and needed dealing with quickly. But Harold began to get more and more reports of the damage the Norse were doing to the north east coast, and he probably would have heard that Tosti was among them, now this was personal. This was a situation that needed decisive handling, and he realised the Northern Earls were probably not capable of it, he decided to force march his men upto Northumbria and take control of the situation. His recently retired Fyrd, (this was the part-time militia) had to be recalled and more men and provisions could be picked up on route. Hopefully the beginning of the autumn weather would stop any Norman fleet from setting sail, it was a risky gamble, even by Harolds standards.

The 25th of September dawned warm and sunny, it was going to be an usually hot, late summer's day. Hardrada made the decision to leave one third of the army at the camp in Riccall, taking the rest to Stamford Bridge to collect the hostages. Because he was expecting no trouble that day he also allowed the army leave most of their heavy armour and weapons behind, so by the time they arrived at the handover point about mid morning the men were weary and tired and so immediatly cast off their out garments and lazed about tthe river banks enjoying the weather, unfortunately they also forgot to post lookouts on the main approaches to the crossing point; something they would live to regret. About a mile away at about the same time was Harold, the Saxon king, he had done the remarkable feat of bringing an army over 200 miles to do battle with the invaders without them even realising it. As the vikings gazed up the road to Gate Helmsley they saw a cloud of dust and heard the braying of horses, but as the noise grew louder and the cloud grew thicker it began to dawn on the invaders that this was no small delegation but another fully armed Saxon army, with a king at its head. Too late the vikings realised they had been caught off-guard, this howling mass of huscarls, some on horseback and armed with axes, swords and  spears were almost upon them. All they could do was to form a defence of the crossing and allow the main bulk of the army on the east bank of the river to form up and prepare a shield wall.

Hardrada sent some riders back to Riccall to get the remainder of his army to come to his rescue, but for now he was on his own. Harolds men swept aside the vikings on the bridge's west bank and  swarmed the bridge to get across the river, but one man stood in their way. A giant of a Viking cut and chopped any Saxon who tried to get past him,all attempts to dislodge the man failed until one Saxon managed to get under the bridge in a swill tub. Pushing his spear up between the bridge's wooden boards he 'transfixed the man from chest to crotch',  - and thus a brave warrior fell. The Saxon now swarmed across to face upto the shield wall that Hardrada had formed up on the higher drier ground overlooking the river. I was at this point that King Harold rode forward and hailed his brother. Harold then offered to restore Tosti to his previous post as the Earl of Northumbria if he abandoned this fight. Tosti then asked if he accepted this offer, what would King Harold give to Hardrada, his ally? Harold thought and then replied, ''six feet of English earth or a little more as he is somewhat taller'', Harold was in no mood to be generous to a Viking invader of his kingdom. Immediately Tosti refused, he had thrown his lot in with the Norse and was willing to fight it out, it was going to be either death or victory.

Hardrada's shield wall braced themselves for the clash of the Saxons' first charge, they had the advantage of position and height and if they could just hold out until the reinforcements from Riccall arrived then they may just have a chance of victory. But, they were lightly armed, they were weary after the long march in the hot sun and they were outnumbered for now. Harold ordered his huscarls forward, this was going to be a vicious battle of attrition, with terrible casulties and horrendous wounds, steel on bone, iron on flesh, limbs hacked off, faces pummelled with clubs, sword butts, or shields. There was no room for pity or quarter, it was kill or be killed. As the two armies thrashed it out all afternnoon it was apparent to Harold that it was not going to be a quick victory, the Viking shield wall was holding, only just! When a break appeared in the wall the Saxons tried to break through to split the invaders in two, but it just wouldn't give. Then, as it it with some battles, fate takes a turn and something happens which changes the direction of the event, and here it was the sudden death of Hardrada by a savage wound to the neck. With the big man down the Vikings faltered, but Tosti siezed the moment and rallied the warriors, it wasn't over yet, and to prove it the re-inforcements form Riccall began to arrive.

But the men had ran pell mell in the hot sun in full battle gear, and they were exhausted, they barely had the energy to lift their shields never mind battle the Saxons. Harold decided it was time for a final push and encouraged his men to smash into the Viking shield wall once more, some huscarls managed to break through and found Tosti unguarded and they cut him down where he stood. With both Hardrada and Tosti felled the invaders had little reason to carry on fighting, the shield wall finally collapsed and the Vikings began to run for their lives back to their ships at Riccall, Harold's mounted men now chased and cut down the fleeing warriors. Victory had been King Harold's just reward, it had been a hard battle and many of his best warriors were dead or wounded, men he would need if William still invaded. It's said that of the 300 ships that brought the invaders across the sea, only 24 was needed to take the survivors back home, testament to the damage Harold had inflicted on the Viking army. But Harold had achieved much more than a victory in battle, he had ended the Scandinavian threat to this kingdom once and for all. They were never to return to attempt an invasion again, Danish and Norwegian terror and influence had ended, although it's legacy was ingrained in the English language, culture and landscape.

Harold didn't have long to celebrate, whilst in York he recieved news of the Norman landing in Pevensey on the south coast, the Norman invaders were looting and burning and ravaging Harold's lands. Harold immediately set off back to London taking whatever fit troops he had available with him, he would need to raise another army on the way down and from around his Sussex, Wessex and Kent counties. However on his second battle of 1066 Harold was not so fortunate, he had almost won the Battle of Hastings when fate took an awful turn and he was struck him down. Like Hardrada and Tosti, once Harold was down his men lost the will to fight, and the Norman victors got their new kingdom, the 'Conquest' literally was the last piece of the jigsaw that made this country English. We never were invaded again, although some did try, and the seeds of British military and commercial expansion were sown.

The memorial to the Battle on Main Street, Stamford Bridge, reset in this area in 1996.