Battle Play-by-Plays and MVPs

September 25: The Battle of Stamford Bridge

Everybody has probably

heard of this important battle be-

tween the Saxons of England and

the Vikings from Norway. The Vi-

kings were led by Harold

Hardrada and the king of Eng-

land’s banished brother, Tostig.

But what exactly happened on this

important date? King Harold the

II was the new king, and he was in

southern England awaiting an at-

tack from France. When King

Harold II heard that the Vikings

were raiding his country, he

wanted to take immediate action.

He quickly led his troops north to

hold back the invaders. The Vi-

kings had no idea that the Saxons

were coming, and they were very

unprepared when they were cut

off by them in Yorkshire. They did

not even have their shields and ar-

mor with them. The King of the

Vikings decided to accept battle,

even though his men were not

ready. Most of the Vikings were

lined up on the south end of the

bridge, while some were left to

guard the north side. Though the

Vikings fought well, the English

pushed through their line of men

and annihilated their army. Al-

though Norwegian reinforcements

did arrive, they were already ex-

hausted from having to rush to the

battle scene. Therefore, they were

almost useless and were easily de-

feated. After the battle, the Viking

army was almost completely de-

stroyed, and the survivors made a

truce with the English so that they

were able to return to their coun-

try in peace. This can be looked

October 14: The Battle of Hastings Another memorable event

from the year 1066 was the Battle

of Hastings on October 14. The

battle was between the English

Saxons and the French Normans

under William II, Duke of Nor-

mandy. William thought that he

should be the rightful king of Eng-

land, and so he organized his

troops and invaded England with

the intention of seizing the throne.

Harold II heard about the Norman

invasion only shortly after the

Battle of Stamford Bridge. Be-

cause of this, his soldiers were al-

ready exhausted before this battle

even started. Without delay, how-

ever, Harold set his men right into

action and brought them to meet

the Normans at Sussex. The

French were expecting this to hap-

pen, and they were well-prepared

for the battle. The fighting started

when the Normans fired a volley

of arrows at the Saxons. Accord-

ing to William of Malmesbury,

who lived shortly after this time,

back on as the day that the Vi-

kings’ threat to England was ended

for good.

“In the battle both leaders distin-

guished themselves with brav-

ery.” Both William II and Harold

II fought right alongside their

troops. For a while, it looked as

if the English were going to win

the battle. When the Norman in-

fantry attacked the English

lineup, they were unsuccessful

because of the Englishmen’s

shields. They fought nobly, but

were forced to retreat, and at this

point, it seemed as though the

Saxons were going to win the

battle. However, as the Normans

retreated, some of the Saxons

followed them, which broke up

their formation. This happened

several times throughout the bat-

tle, and eventually their lineup

was broken and King Harold was

killed. The Saxons were de-

feated, and the Normans were

victorious. This was the day that

William II of Normandy became

William the Conqueror, King of

England.

Harold Godwinson

1022—1066

Harold Godwinson, or Har-

old II, was very important to the

year 1066. He was the king of

England and was vic-

torious in both the

Battle of Fulford and

the Battle of Stam-

ford Bridge.

Prior to this year,

Harold had become

the Earl of East An-

glia and Wessex. He

already had a consid-

erable amount of

power, and when the

previous king, Edward the Con-

fessor, died, he was named king

of England. Harold’s brother,

Tostig Godwinson was banished

from England in 1065, and he

sided with the Norwegian Vi-

kings. In 1066, Harold was

faced with a problem. He knew

that he was going to be attacked

by both William II and

the Normans and also the Vi-

kings under control of Harold

Hardrada and his own brother

Tostig. Harold II put together

an army and moved his men

south in anticipation of an at-

tack from the Normans. How-

ever, it was the Vikings who

attacked fist so he

had to lead his troops

all the way north and

block them off. He

and his soldiers were

able to defeat them at

Stamford Bridge and

permanently end

Norway’s threat to

England and the Vi-

king age. Only very

shortly after this, the Normans

attacked, and Harold had to

rush his men back to the south.

Though they fought well

against the Normans, his men

were defeated, and Harold was

killed on October 14, 1066.

Harold II had a short reign, but

he was very important to the

year 1066.

William the Conqueror 1027—1087

When Harold II was killed in

battle, William II, Duke of Nor-

mandy, took over as King of Eng-

land and became William the

Conqueror. Before Harold II had

become king, the previous king,

Edward the Confessor, had sup-

posedly promised to give William

the crown when he died. This is

because he was in a war, and he

wanted to gain Norman support.

However, upon his death, it was

Harold who received the crown,

not William. He was obviously

very upset by this, and he immedi-

ately planned to invade England

and get the crown that he thought

was rightfully his. He and his

Norman soldiers landed in south-

ern England in late September of

1066 and conquered the nearby

villages. When word of this

reached Harold, he rushed his men

down to defend his position as

king. The Normans and the Sax-

ons fought on October 14, 1066.

But because the Saxons were al-

ready tired from another battle,

the Normans won. Since Harold II

was killed, William was now the

King of England.

William was very affective to

the year 1066 because as the

new king, William the Con-

queror positively reformed

English practices. According

to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,

he had a very good and suc-

cessful rule. He even “founded

a noble monastery on the spot

where God permitted him to

conquer England.” William the

Conqueror was a good leader,

and he was probably the most

important person from the year

1066.

By David Knaide and Brian Tenerowicz

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