ANST - FW: Musing on September 25th -- Derwent My Everything

[j'lynn yeates]

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- -----Original Message-----
From: Ellsworth Weaver [mailto:astroweaver at yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2000 23:12
To: 2thpix at surfari.net
Subject: Musing on September 25th -- Derwent My Everything


Dear Folk,

September 25 th marks the anniversary of one of the most important
battles in English history and yet few have heard of it or know why
it
was so important. On September 25, 1066 was fought the Battle of
Stamford Bridge.

Harold Godwinsson has just taken the throne of England after Edward
the
Confessor died without heir. There had been a strong disagreement
between Harold and William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy, as to who
should be king. See my column "William the ...?" Things were brewing
over in Normandy. Lots of trees being chopped down, shipwrights being
employed. Looked like a three hour tour was coming up the Channel.

The English were ready. They waited on the south coast for any sign
of
Frenchies in longboats: two months of nothing. Things were way
boring.
King Harold called off the alert. Told everyone to go home, raise the
crops and standby to standby. You know the drill. Well, at least the
English navy could be moved down to protect things. Harold ordered it
sailed down from the Isle of Wight to London. Whoops! They got hit by
a
strong storm on the way and trashed. Harold still has his 3000
mounted
infantry known as house-carls at his immediate disposal.

What a rude shock for Good King Harold to find out that the attack
was
on from the North. King Harald Sigurdsson, who was nicknamed
"Hardradi"
which is politely translated as "ruthless," along with Earl Tostig,
who
was King Harold’s brother for crying out loud, along with a couple of
Scots decided to invade England. . The attacking fleet consisted of
300
ships and 9000 men. The fleet sailed up the River Humber to a small
village just south of York at Riccall. There the army got off and
decided to do a little raiding and pillaging. These were folk out
a-viking, you understand.

York was a treasure for any viking raid. It was the capital city of
the
North. Harald Hardradi did not just walk into town and order an ale.
There was a battle where some stout English boys held the Norsemen
pretty well at Gate Fulford village on September 20, 1066. The Norse
eventually won, defeating the Earls of Northumberia and Mercia, and
marched into York. The loss of these troops and leaders would prove
vital in the later battle at Hastings. Hardradi took some rich
citizens
as security and marched right back out of York. Didn’t even leave
anyone to guard the town. Sort of put all of his leutfisk in one
basket.

I don’t know why Harald Hardradi marched his army to Stamford Bridge.
It was twelve miles away from York and a good nineteen to where he
parked the boats in Riccall. Granted the road was good, the Stuckeys
were having a sale on pecan logs but why? Some say that he thought to
meet some hostages there. There was a nice bridge over the Derwent
River, kind of grassy and pleasant.

King Harold, although caught with his breeches around his ankles with
this northern invasion ,quickly mustered his troops. They marched the
180 long miles to Stamford Bridge in under five days, in armor. That
is
hauling, folk, I have marched and know that 30 miles in a day with
pack
is a hard, hard march. These Saxons trekked at almost 40 miles per
day
by the old Roman road known as Watling Street.

It was a warm autumn day. The Norse were lounging by the banks of the
river Derwent. The bridge had nobody much guarding it. Someone
spotted
a dust cloud.  ‘And the closer the army came, the greater it grew,
and
their glittering weapons sparkled like a field of broken ice’

It was every man arm time. One lone Norseman stood in the middle of
the
bridge to give his comrades a chance to get armored, killing any who
were fool enough to approach. It was classic, it was heroic. It
lasted
until an Englishman crept under the bridge and stabbed him from
underneath with a spear. Oh well.

The English were across and jumped the Norse like ugly on ape. The
Norse kept their discipline and the English couldn’t break their
triangular shield wall.  The Norse counter-attacked. The English
started ballistic combat with throwing spears and shooting arrows.
Harald Hardradi got into his berserker rage and no one could stand
against him. An English arrow in to his throat put a stop to that
nonsense right quickly.

The Norse regrouped around their main battle banner, Land Ravager.
Cool
name for a banner.  Earl Tostig, Harold’s brother, took up the
banner.
It was about to be clobbering time once again but everyone took a
breather. King Harold offered Tostig and his men peace. They refused.
The Norse got up a war shout and laid to again. Reinforcements
arrived
for the Norse marching the 19 miles from the ships. They got there
kind
of tuckered. The battle was fierce and the English won.

Harold was magnanimous to the defeated Norse. He let them go back
home.
To give you an indication of how many Norse were slain, all the
survivors fit in just 24 boats. They came over in 300.
When the slaughter was over, Harold gave quarter to the defeated, and
the Viking survivors went home in 24 ships. They had arrived in 300.
This marked the last hold any Norse country had on England. Viking
raids still went on but nothing like this pitched battle.

Earl Tostig was buried in York, but the bones of Harald Hardradi lie
somewhere beneath the fields of Stamford Bridge. Before the battle
Harold swore that the Norse leader would get "only seven feet of
English soil" for his invasion, and he kept the vow.

The English won, so what? Why is this so important a battle? Harold’s
troops were tired and wounded. They lost the folks from York. They
had
just marched 180 miles and fought an incredible battle at the end of
it. In a few days, the anticipated invasion from Normandy was going
to
happen. Harold had to gather his troops and force march them back to
Hastings. By the time they finally got back there, the Normans had
landed, marched inland and found good defensive positions. Would the
next battle have gone differently if the Saxons were fresh, strong,
and
already there? We shall never know. Worth thinking about though.

What have we learned? Winning some battles can lose you a war? Never
let all your troops frolic at the same time when in enemy territory?
One man can hold a bridge but there is usually a way around that one
man? Brothers can really be a pain? Highly motivated and well led
troops can surprise you on how far they can go? How about a sucking
neck wound can take the starch and bear out of any Viking? Works for
me.

If you are out sacking York, spearing a Norwegian, or just catching a
king with his pants down and want to forward these missive, go for
it.
Do leave my name and sig attached.

Thinking good thoughts about archery,
J. Ellsworth Weaver

SCA – Sir Balthazar of Endor
AS – Polyphemus Theognis



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