Morcar

Edwin had succeeded as Earl of Mercia on the death of his father, Aelfgar, in 1062.

His younger brother, Morcar, had been elected Earl of Northumbria on October 3, 1065, when Tostig Godwinson was ejected by the Northumbrians.

Tostig returns in early September with further forces recruited in Flanders and Scotland, accompanied by King Harald Hardrada, who had set sail from Norway with three hundred ships.

As he approaches the English coast, his fleet is joined by Tostig's ships and they sail together along the River Ouse towards the city of York.

The Orderic Vitalis version says that in the month of August Hardrada and Tostig set sail across the wide sea with a favorable wind and landed in Yorkshire.

Edwin had brought some soldiers to the east to prepare for an invasion by the Norwegians.

The battle starts with the English spreading out their forces to secure their flanks.

On the right flank is the River Ouse, and on the left flank is the Fordland, a swampy area.

The disadvantage to the position is that it gives Harald higher ground, which is perfect for seeing the battle from a distance.

Another disadvantage is that if one flank were to give way, the other one would be in trouble.

If the Anglo-Saxon army is forced to retreat, it will not be able to because of the marshlands.

They will have to hold off the Norwegians as long as possible.

Harald's army approaches from three routes to the south.

Harald lines his army up to oppose the Anglo-Saxons, but he knows it will take hours for all of his troops to arrive.

His least experienced troops are sent to the right and his best troops on the riverbank.

The English strike first, advancing on the Norwegian army before it can fully deploy.

Morcar's troops push Harald's back into the marshlands, making progress against the weaker section of the Norwegian line.

However, this initial success proves insufficient for victory to the English army, as the Norwegians bring their better troops to bear upon them, still fresh against the weakened Anglo-Saxons.

Harald brings more of his troops from the right flank to attack the center, and sends more men to the river.

The invaders are outnumbered, but they keep pushing and shoving the defenders back.

The Anglo-Saxons are forced to give ground.

Edwin's soldiers who are defending the bank are now cut off from the rest of the army by the marsh, so they head back to the city to make a final stand.

Other invading Norwegians, who are still arriving, find a way to get around the thick fighting and open a third front against the Anglo-Saxons.

The defenders, outnumbered and outmaneuvered, are defeated.

Edwin and Morcar however, manage to survive the fight.

It has been estimated that at Fulford the Norwegians had about ten thousand troops, of which six thousand were deployed in the battle, and the defenders five thousand.

Casualties during the battle are heavy on both sides.

Some estimates claim fifteen percent dead giving a total of sixteen hundred and fifty (based on eleven thousand troops being deployed in the battle).

It is clear from all accounts that the mobilized power of Mercia and Northumbria was cut to pieces at Fulford.

York surrenders to the Norwegians under the promise that the victors will not force entry to their city, perhaps because Tostig would not have wanted his capital looted.

After briefly occupying York and taking hostages and supplies from the city, they return to their ships at Riccall.

They offer peace to the Northumbrians in exchange for their support for Harald's bid for the throne, and demand further hostages from the whole of Yorkshire.

It is arranged that the various hostages should be brought in and the Norwegian army retires to Stamford Bridge, seven miles (eleven kilometers) east of York, to await their arrival.

There is no village at Stamford Bridge in 1066 and not even in 1086 when the Domesday Book will be compiled.

The name is locative and descriptive of crossing points over the River Derwent being derived from a combination of the words stone, ford and bridge, i.e., stoneford and bridge.

At the location of the present village, within the river bed, there is an outcrop of stone over which the river once flowed as a mini-waterfall.

At low water levels one could easily cross over the river at this point, either on foot or horseback.

King Harold has spent mid-1066 on the south coast with a large army and fleet waiting for William to invade.

The bulk of his forces are militia who need to harvest their crops, so on September Harold had dismissed the militia and the fleet.

Learning of the Norwegian invasion, he heads north at great speed with his house carls and as many thegns as he has been able gather, traveling day and night.

He makes the journey from London to Yorkshire, a distance of about one hundred and eighty-five miles (three hundred and ten kilometers), in only four days, enabling him to take the Norwegians completely by surprise.

Having learned that Northumbrians had been ordered to send the additional hostages and supplies to the Norwegians at Stamford Bridge, Harold hurries on through York to attack them at this rendezvous on September 25.

Until the English army comes into view the invaders remain unaware of the presence of a hostile army anywhere in the vicinity.

The Vikings are at an enormous disadvantage.

Their army is divided in two; with some of their troops on the west side of the River Derwent and the bulk of their army on the east side.

They are not expecting English intervention, and since it is an unseasonably warm day for late September; they leave their armor behind at their ships.

The English army arrives and annihilates the Vikings, who fight a futile defense on the west side of the river.

By the time the bulk of the English army has arrived, the Vikings on the west side are either slain or fleeing across the bridge.

The English advance is then delayed by the need to pass through the choke-point presented by the bridge.

A later folk story has it that a giant Norse axeman (possibly armed with a Danish Axe) blocked the narrow crossing, and single-handedly held up the entire English army.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that this axeman cut down up to forty Englishmen.

He was only defeated when an English soldier floated under the bridge in a half-barrel and thrust his spear through the laths in the bridge, mortally wounding the axeman.

Whatever the delay, this has allowed the bulk of the Norse army to form a shieldwall to face the English attack.

Harold's army pours across the bridge, forming a line just short of the Norse army, locks shields and charges.

The battle goes far beyond the bridge itself, and although it rages for hours the Norse army's decision to leave their armor behind has put them at a distinct disadvantage.

Eventually, the Norse army begins to fragment and fracture, allowing the English troops to force their way in and break up the Scandinavians' shield wall.

Completely outflanked, Hardrada at this point is killed with an arrow to his throat and Tostig slain.

The Norwegian army disintegrates and is virtually annihilated.

In the later stages of the battle, the Norwegians are reinforced by troops who had been left behind to guard the ships at Ricall, led by Eystein Orri, Hardrada's daughter's fiancé.

Some of his men are said to have collapsed and died of exhaustion upon reaching the battlefield.

These men, unlike their comrades, are fully armed for battle.

Their counterattack, described in the Norwegian tradition as "Orri's Storm", briefly checks the English advance, but is soon overwhelmed and Orri is slain by a Saxon warrior.

The Norwegian army routs, pursued by the English army.

Some of the fleeing Norsemen drown in the rivers.

So many die in an area so small that the field is said to have been still whitened with bleached bones fifty years after the battle.

King Harold accepts a truce with the surviving Norwegians, including Harald's son Olaf and Paul and Erland Thorfinnsson, Ears of Orkney.

Olaf, who is only sixteen years old, had stayed on a ship and had not participated in the fighting.

The survivors are allowed to leave after giving pledges not to attack England again.

The losses the Norwegians have suffered are so horrific that only twenty-four ships from the fleet of over three hundred are needed to carry the survivors away.

They withdraw to Orkney, where they will spend the winter before returning to Norway in the spring, Olaf leaving on good terms with the Thorfinssons.

William defeats the last rebellion of the north in 1071.

Earl Edwin is betrayed by his own men and killed, while …

…William builds a causeway to subdue the Isle of Ely, where Hereward the Wake and Morcar are hiding.

Hereward escapes, but Morcar is captured, deprived of his earldom, and imprisoned.

Hereward becomes a fugitive after the Normans conquer the region in 1071, and disappears into legends and ballads.