Conquest

Tostig appeared on the Isle of Wight with a modest force of 60 ships and 600 foreign mercenaries. It was a scouting mission, and an opportunity to fill his coffers for bigger expeditions to come. Having plundered as much as he could find in the south, he sailed eastwards to Sandwich in Kent. King Harold’s fleet-footed army was there to meet him and Tostig withdrew, to land later in his old earldom in the north. Again, he was given short shrift, this time by the earls Edwin and Morcar. Tostig’s mercenaries were soon disillusioned by the resolute defenders and withdrew, leaving him to seek refuge with King Malcolm of Scotland and await the arrival of his main ally, Harald Hardrada of Norway.

Fearing it was a feint to a bigger invasion, Tostig’s foray caused Harold to raise the Fyrd, a mobilization not undertaken lightly, given the cost to the Exchequer. The King’s problems were growing: although his rapid-reaction strategy had worked to repel Tostig’s invasion, keeping his elite housecarls and the general fyrd in the field for several months risked exhausting his granaries and emptying his treasury. Even more worryingly, if Alphonso was right, and the invasion did not come until September, or later, he would have to stand the army down so that the harvest could be collected.

By 8 September, no invaders had arrived and another long hot summer of training had passed, leaving the men tense and lethargic. Harold had no choice but to let the Fyrd go home. He released all but 1,500 of his housecarls and, so that they would not be caught in any autumnal gales in the Channel, ordered his fleet to anchor in the Thames.

It was what William had been waiting for. As soon as he received word of Harold’s decision to stand down his army, he made ready to strike. Within four days, the entire fleet set sail from Dives to St Valery. At almost the same time as news reached Harold that the Duke’s grand army and great armada were on the move, intelligence confirmed that Hardrada’s horde had also set sail from Norway. The worst possible scenario was unfolding for Harold and England: both of their enemies were gathering on opposite fronts.

Harold called a Council of War at Oxford for all the nobility of southern England. The earls Edwin and Morcar and the northern thegns did not attend because of the imminence of Hardrada’s invasion in the North.

There was a grave silence in the Great Hall at Oxford, as the King read a full and detailed report of Hardrada’s progress. He had called a general muster of his forces on the Isle of Askoy in the Byfjord at Bergen. His fleet had successfully navigated the North Sea and gathered in the Orkneys, where they had been joined by allies from Iceland, Ireland and all corners of the Norse world. This was to be an invasion of Norsemen reminiscent of the great sagas of old, and Harold’s estimate of the numbers involved made his earls shudder with alarm. It was thought that Hardrada had brought over 300 ships and at least 15,000 men. As the disquiet grew, Harold raised his voice to try to calm the earls. He was in the midst of describing the extent and quality of his preparations over the summer when a herald rushed into the hall, distressed and exhausted, and asked the King for permission to speak.

Harold nodded.

The man drew a deep breath and, in the clear and precise tones of his calling, made his announcement.

‘Sire, I come from the garrison at Nottingham. Yesterday, on the twentieth day of September, there was a great battle at Gate Fulford in Yorkshire. The armies of Edwin, Earl of Mercia and Morcar, Earl of Northumbria, have fallen to the Norwegians, commanded by their King, Harald, known as Hardrada. His royal standard, the Raven Land-Ravager, flies from the Great Hall of York.’

The King bellowed in anger at the herald. ‘Why did I have no reports of the Norwegian ships approaching, or of the landing of their army?’

‘Sire, it appears that the coastal lookouts reported directly to Earl Morcar, and he chose not to inform you. The first news we had in Nottingham was late last night when riders arrived from Tadcaster.’ He then paused and looked directly at the King, knowing that what he was about to add would be particularly hurtful to him. ‘Sire, your brother, the Earl Tostig, is with Hardrada in York.’

Harold was incandescent with anger, but he declined to comment on his brother’s treachery. He asked a vital military question. ‘What of the housecarls of Earls Edwin and Morcar, how many have survived?’

The herald hesitated for a moment. ‘The battle was fierce and many men died in the bogs and marshes of the river Ouse. Hardrada himself led the main attack. Edwin and Morcar survived and made peace with him, but his berserkers cut down hundreds of their housecarls. Survivors said the Ouse ran red with blood all the way to the sea.’