Orri’s eventual arrival (celebrated as “Orri’s Storm” in Norse legend) prompted a final, frenzied third wave of fighting. He raised the toppled Landwaster banner, attempting to rally the dispirited troops, but by nightfall Orri too had been slain, and the invaders’ shield wall disintegrated. The English had won the day, and the victorious Saxons chased the Vikings back to their ships at Riccall.

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Harold, by most accounts an affable, good-natured man, offered mercy to Hardrada’s young son, Olaf, as well as to young earls Paul and Erlend Thorfinnsson of Orkney, allowing them to sail home free of ransom, provided they swore never to invade England again. Of the original 300-vessel Viking fleet, a mere two dozen longships departed England’s shores—all that was required to carry away the survivors. The vanquished Norwegian nobles regrouped in the Orkneys and later retrieved Hardrada’s remains from England. He was laid to rest at St. Mary’s Church in Nidaros (modern-day Trondheim, Norway), while Tostig was laid to rest in his former earldom of York. For nearly a century afterward, the bleached bones of the dead are said to have littered the fields near Stamford Bridge.

For Harold and the victorious English, there was scant time for celebration. After just two days of rest at York, he and his housecarls began a hasty ride back to London, which the exhausted men completed in just eight days. Along the way, their spirits would sink at the news of Duke William’s September 28 landing at Pevensey Bay and the subsequent Norman rape of the Sussex countryside. The epic clash at Hastings on Oct. 14, 1066, would alter the course of Western history, and the Saxons had little choice but to meet it head on with whatever men they could muster. Had a full-strength, rested English army met the Normans that day, the outcome might have been very different.

Despite being overshadowed by the loss to the Normans and death of King Harold at Hastings, the Battle of Stamford Bridge, one of England’s greatest military victories, marked the near-total defeat of a formidable foe led by a legendary warlord. It was the last time a largely Scandinavian force would assault the island nation. After centuries of bloodshed and terror, the Viking Age in England had come to an end.

For further reading, Brendan Manley recommends: 1066: The Year of the Three Battles, by F.J. McLynn; Harold II: The Doomed Saxon King, by Peter Rex; and 1066: The Year of the Conquest, by David Howarth.

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