The English gained early momentum, especially on their left flank, but in the end Hardrada’s military expertise proved decisive. Fighting under his fearsome Landwaster (“Terror of the Land”) standard—a black raven on a white background—the Viking warlord sensed an opportunity to turn the battle and swung his left inward away from the Ouse, rolling the English into the ditch. A terrible rout followed, many Saxons meeting death by drowning or at the point of Norse steel. When the fighting ended, the marshes were choked with the corpses of more than a thousand English warriors—men who would be sorely missed in the weeks ahead.

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After their victory, Hardrada and Tostig negotiated the terms of York’s surrender and then, for reasons still unclear, elected to return to their ships rather than occupy the city. They selected Stamford Bridge—a large wooden span of the River Derwent at the intersection of four Roman roads, 8 miles east of York and 12 miles from their camp at Riccall—as the spot where hostages, cattle and other spoils would be received. (The bridge that stands today is roughly 400 yards downstream of the original.) Hardrada and a force of surprisingly lightly armed and armored men embarked for Stamford Bridge, leaving at least a third of the force at Riccall under the watch of Eystein Orri, a rising young warrior Hardrada had promised in marriage to his daughter, Maria. By September 24, Hardrada and Tostig were encamped in the meadows near the meeting place, with no inkling of the battle to come.

Meanwhile, King Harold, with funds and rations dwindling and harvesttime approaching, had been forced to abandon his southern defenses. He dismissed the fyrd, or citizen militia, to the shires and sent back to London his fleet and force of housecarls—notoriously fierce, ax-wielding professional soldiers of Danish origin who’d served as royal bodyguards since the days of King Canute. Harold had waited all summer for the anticipated Norman assault. He hoped the season for an invasion had passed but knew that William might still appear on English soil. The general dismissal fell on September 8, just a week prior to the Viking landing.

On learning of the events in the north, the king, who as a young earl had mounted effective lightning assaults against the troublesome Welsh, took swift action: Between September 18 and 20, the king, his brother Gyrth and the reassembled housecarls, who numbered some several thousand strong, mounted their shaggy ponies and departed London, racing north on the old Roman road in seven divisions, enlisting the shire levies along the way. Within four days the king’s army reached Tadcaster, near York, having traveled some 185 miles in one of military history’s great troop movements. Harold is said to have been ill at the time. He was struck one evening with severe leg pain that kept him awake all night. In the morning, while praying for relief, he reportedly fell into a trance and had a vision of victory over the Norwegians.

Determined yet weary, the army paused at Tadcaster, preparing to meet the Viking invaders. Their rest proved brief. Harold got word that his foe was camped within 10 miles and knew he must seize the element of surprise. The king mustered his exhausted troops and gave the order to march. At dawn on September 25, the army departed Tadcaster en route to York. Beyond lay Stamford Bridge.

On the morning of September 25, Hardrada’s army was probably more concerned with sheltering from the autumn heat than preparing for an English attack. Tossing aside their heavy mail hauberks, men lolled in the meadows on the east bank of the Derwent near present-day Battle Flats Farm, while a smaller force maintained a watch on the west bank. When Viking sentries spotted dust clouds rising from the road near York, just over the ridge a mile west at Gate Helmsley, then saw sunlight glinting off Saxon armor and spearheads, they must have realized the gravity of their miscalculation. Harold’s Wessex dragon banner and Fighting Man standard signaled to all that the king’s forces now approached.

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