BATTLE Of fulford.

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and served in the bodyguard of the Emperor of Constantinople. Then he came back and reigned in Norway together with his nephew, Magnus the Good. His nephew's death left him sole ruler of his kingdom, and now he planned what should be the greatest achievement of his life, to do what Canute had done. before him, and make himself King of England.

Leaving alone the difficulties that surround the earlier part of the story, I shall pass on to tell how the expedition fared. Early in September it reached Scarborough. After a sharp conflict with the inhabitants, the town was taken and burnt. Still sailing southward, and ravaging the coast as they went, they came to the mouth of the Humber. They sailed up this estuary, and then again up the Ouse, till they reached a spot, now known as Riccall,1 a few miles from Selby. Here the ships were left under a strong guard, while the King and Tostig marched against York. Meanwhile the northern earls had been raising their levies, and they now advanced to attack the invaders. The armies met at a place called Fulford, then about two miles from York, but now partly included in that city. The battle was fiercely contested. At first it went in favour of the English, whose left wing broke through the Norwegian right. Then Harold the King charged in person, and carried all before him. The English fled before him, leaving many dead on the field, among whom was a notable number of ecclesiastics, and losing still more in the flight.

1 The entrenchments made by the Northmen are still to be seen in the neighbourhood of this village.

The battle of Fulford was fought on September 20th. On the 24th York surrendered. But Harold did not remain in that city. He removed his quarters nine miles north-east to Stamford Bridge, and then awaited the arrival of the hostages who were to assure him of the fidelity of the county. For Yorkshire had promised by its representatives assembled in its chief city that it would obey Harold as King of England, and would help him to subdue the rest of the land.

Meanwhile the English Harold was hastening northwards. He had been watching, as will be told hereafter, the southern coast, to guard against the invasion of William; but here was a pressing call for help which could not be neglected. As he went, the men of the shires through which he passed joined him; on the day of the surrender of York he reached. Todcaster, a spot about as far from that city on the south-east as Stamford Bridge is on the north-east. The next morning he entered York, and was received with enthusiasm. But he did not stay to rest. He marched out at once to do battle with the invaders.

According to all accounts he surprised them. The Norse saga describes how Harold Hardrada and his allies were riding into York to make arrangements for the business of government when they came suddenly on the English army. English writers give us to

The Norse story is too picturesque to be lost; and there may be genuine details in it. It runs thus. The Norwegian king rode into York to hold his court, Earl Tostig with him. As they went, they saw a cloud of dust, from under which soon appeared the glittering spears of the English host. Tostig is for falling back on their ships (which were, it must be remembered, far away on the other side of York); but the King will face the foe. He sends a messenger to the ships, and

SLAUGHTER OF THE NORTHMEN.

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understand that the Norwegians were found unprepared in their camp, which seems to have occupied both sides of the Derwent. It was, of course, the division that occupied the right bank on which Harold and his advance first fell. The confusion was terrible; the Northmen were driven across the stream, which was so choked with corpses that the living passed over on the bodies of the dead. The bridge that spanned the river was held by a single champion, who, for a time, kept the whole English army at bay, and was not dislodged till an Englishman crept under the timbers, and pierced him from below. Meanwhile Hardrada had had time to form his host in battle array. Then came the final struggle. Of its details we know nothing, though we may imagine much. Doubtless it was not much unlike the great fight marshals his army for battle, making a great circle with the banner of his house in the midst. As he rides round the wall of shields his horse stumbles. He falls to the ground. To his own men he makes light of the omen; but to the English king, interpreting it by contraries, it augurs well. "Who is that, the tall man who fell from his horse?" he asks of his followers. And when he hears that it is the Norwegian king, "A goodly man," he answers, "but his fall is approaching." Then comes the attempt to make terms of peace. The two Harolds and Tostig meet. "What will you give me?" asks the banished earl of his brother the king. “Your earldom; nay more, even a third of my kingdom." "And what shall the king of Norway have?" "Seven feet of earth for a grave, or so much more as he is taller than other men." Tostig turns away, for he cannot desert his ally. When Harold Hardrada learns that it is the English king with whom they had been talking, he blames Tostig for letting him depart unha med. Then comes the battle. The wall of shields is unbroken till it breaks itself to pursue the beaten foe. In the confusion King Harold falls, pierced in the throat by an arrow. Then Tostig takes up the fight till he also is smitten. Finally, the men from the ships come up, and the battle begins again more fiercely than ever. ver. At nightfall, after a desperate conflict, the English have won a great victory.

which I shall attempt to describe in the following chapter. There was the ring, hedged about with the wall of shields, and the assailants plying upon it sword and battle-axe. Only the parts are changed. At Stamford Bridge the English attack, at Senlac they stand on their defence. They lose the later, as they win the earlier fight.

What is certain is that the Norwegian host was utterly broken. "Three kings were slain," says the Chronicler, meaning Harold, Tostig, and an Irish prince who had joined their alliance, in the hope of getting some share of English plunder. As for their followers, few seem to have left the field of Stamford Bridge alive. But those who had been left with the fleet fared better. Harold offered them peace. They came to York, gave him hostages, and swore a great oath that they would keep the peace with England thereafter. Then they sailed away, carrying with them, according to one account, the body of Harold Hardrada for burial in his native land.

The English king had much to do in settling the affairs of the North, and he had also to give his army some rest. He was still at York when a swift messenger brought the news that William of Normandy had landed on the southern coast. He heard the tidings, not as he sat at the banquet on the evening of the day of Stamford Bridge, but, as we may guess, about seven days after. He turned at once to meet this new and more dangerous foe.1

The battle of Stamford Bridge was fought on September 25th. William landed on September 28th. The fleetest messenger could hardly have traversed the two hundred miles that lie between the south coast and York in less than four days.

XXXIII.

THE LAST STRUGGLE.

My story must now go back to the early days of the year 1066. It was not long before William heard the news of Edward's death and Harold's accession. The tidings came to him as he was setting out for a day's hunting. He turned back at once on hearing them, but said nothing, nor did any man dare to speak to him. Then he went to his palace at Rouen, and sat deep in thought, with his face covered. He must have been long expecting such news. Edward's life he knew to be precarious, and he could not have doubted what Harold's hopes had been. But such things, whether expected or not, must always be a surprise; and he had to make up his mind at once. For years his thoughts had been bent on possessing himself of the crown of England; and now the time was come for putting them. Whatever his confidence, he could not take such news lightly.

The first step was, of course, to send an embassy to Harold with a formal claim of the crown. We do not know the precise terms of the message, but we can easily imagine them. William must have called upon Harold to fulfil the promises which he had made, or.