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Viking month- The Battle of Stamford Bridge

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  • Viking month- The Battle of Stamford Bridge

    The reason why the Battle of Stamford Bridge happened comes down to one person- Tostig, the Earl of Northumbria and younger brother of Harold Godwinson. Tostig was a brutal tyrant who was callously mis-ruling his lands. Eventually he was driven out of the country in 1065, and bore a grudge against his brother for failing to support him.

    Harold Godwinson claimed the English throne in early 1066. He had no good claim on it in terms of succession- there were several others with far more legitimate claims on the title. However he did have some big factors in his favour- he was by some margin the best leader in the running, and he had a large army at his disposal. This dissuaded one of the rival claimants from invading- that claimant was Harold Hardrada, who already ruled Orkney and the Western Isles. However Tostig fled to Hardrada's court and persuaded him to launch a campaign, knowing that Harold Godwinson was facing enemies on two fronts, with William "The Bastard" of Normany threatening to invade from the south.

    In September 1066, Hardrada sailed from Norway with 200 ships, picking up reinforcements at Orkney. Ath the Tyne he met up with Tostig, who had raised an army from Scotland and Man. Before them lay Godwinson's army of the North, commanded by the Earls Morcar and Edwin. What followed was a military disaster for England. Morcar and Edwin had been ordered to pull back from pitched battle until reinforced by Harold's forces, who were charging northwards. However they were suicidally overconfident, and on September 20th at Fulford, they launched an assault on Hardrada's army. They were annihilated. With the Army of the North crushed, York was helpless and agreed to surrender. The delighted Hardrada and Tostig retired to Stamford Bridge to await the negotiators. There they got the shock of their lives.

    Harold Godwinson was unquestionably a strategic genius. Somehow he managed to rush an army across hundreds of miles of dirt tracks, and in the early morning of the 25th of September the Saxon forces charged the astonished and unprepared Vikings. It should have been a massacre, but something utterly incredible happened.

    Stamford Bridge was a narrow wooden crossing across a treacherous river. A lone, enormous Viking berzerker raced to it in order to face the charging Saxons. He made it to the bridge in time, and cut down the first wave of attackers. Then the second wave too. Then the third, the fourth and fifth. For an hour, one man held back an entire army, while Hardrada's forces frantically retreated to a defensive position. It was a heroic stand that made Thermopylae look like a mild squabble with a bunch of fashion consultants in comparison. Harold threw everything at him, but the berzerker (whose identity is not known) just hacked then down. Finally the Saxons hid a spearman in a coracle, and floated him under the bridge. As it passed under the berzerker, the spearman leapt up and impaled him up the arse. It was a fairly ignominious end to an act of heroism.

    With Hardrada now dug in, negotiations took place. Harold offered Tostig sanctuary and lands if he called off the hostilities. Hardrada chimed in with "What will you offer me?", whereupon Harold icily responded "Six feet of English soil. Perhaps a little more, as you are so tall." Hostilities promptly resumed.

    Hardrada's Vikings were legendary one-on-one warriors, but Harold's Saxons were a highly disciplined and effective infantry backed up by his elite axe-wielding huscarls, and they were fighting on their home ground. The Viking invaders were defeated soundly, with both Hardrada and Tostig killed. Harold Godwinson had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, but just two days later William of Normandy land in Kent, hundreds of miles to the south.....
    The genesis of the "evil Finn" concept- Evil, evil Finland

  • #2
    How do we know there hasn't been some myth-forming taking place re the lone figure at Stamford Bridge?
    DISCLAIMER: the author of the above written texts does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for any offence and insult; disrespect, arrogance and related forms of demeaning behaviour; discrimination based on race, gender, age, income class, body mass, living area, political voting-record, football fan-ship and musical preference; insensitivity towards material, emotional or spiritual distress; and attempted emotional or financial black-mailing, skirt-chasing or death-threats perceived by the reader of the said written texts.

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    • #3
      I thought the six feet of soil thing ("or perhaps a little more, as he is taller than most men" or whatever) was directed at William.

      Does Mourinho think he's a berserker?
      THEY!!111 OMG WTF LOL LET DA NOMADS AND TEH S3D3NTARY PEOPLA BOTH MAEK BITER AXP3REINCES
      AND TEH GRAAT SINS OF THERE [DOCTRINAL] INOVATIONS BQU3ATH3D SMAL
      AND!!1!11!!! LOL JUST IN CAES A DISPUTANT CALS U 2 DISPUT3 ABOUT THEYRE CLAMES
      DO NOT THAN DISPUT3 ON THEM 3XCAPT BY WAY OF AN 3XTARNAL DISPUTA!!!!11!! WTF

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Colonâ„¢
        How do we know there hasn't been some myth-forming taking place re the lone figure at Stamford Bridge?

        Because the accounts come from the English. It would be easy to believe that accounts from the Vikings would be mythically exaggerated, but the Saxon histories were terse and bone-dry essays by anally-retentive monks, and they had no business inproviding propaganda to the Norse invaders by bigging up their heroism.
        The genesis of the "evil Finn" concept- Evil, evil Finland

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        • #5
          Still, it sound a bit bizarre they needed an hour and 5 waves before it dawned to them they might try to wade into the river to attack him sideways (or from the bottom) instead. It's also odd they didn't just lung spears at him and that none of Hardrada's troops considered assisting the lone guy, as the bridge was apparently being a great defensive position.
          DISCLAIMER: the author of the above written texts does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for any offence and insult; disrespect, arrogance and related forms of demeaning behaviour; discrimination based on race, gender, age, income class, body mass, living area, political voting-record, football fan-ship and musical preference; insensitivity towards material, emotional or spiritual distress; and attempted emotional or financial black-mailing, skirt-chasing or death-threats perceived by the reader of the said written texts.

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          • #6
            I was reading about this last week and apparently the Battle of Fulford a few weeks before stamford bridge meant that the Northumbrian Erals were ruled out of both stamford bridge and hastings.

            Those Northumbrians could have tipped the balance at Hastings which was by all accounts a close run thing( to qoute a susequent french basher)
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