a. Tostig raided along the English coast, causing a headache for the English until Edwin and Morcar caught his forces and defeated them in battle. Tostig sailed with his few remaining forces to Scotland. b. Hardrada and 300 longships sailed for England, landing in Yorkshire and heading for the traditional seat of Viking power: York. The northern brother earls, Edwin and Morcar went to deal with this threat and met the Vikings at the Battle of Fulford on the outskirts of York. The Vikings won and took York but the battle weakened their army. c. Godwinson did not have long to savour his victory and knew that he must march south in case the Normans landed. During the march south, just three days after his victory at Stamford Bridge, Godwinson heard news that William had landed on the south coast. d. Harold Godwinson and the English army surprised the Vikings at Stamford Bridge on 25 th September but even so, it is not easy to fight an army that is at the other side of a small bridge. The fighting took most of the day and legend has it that one large Viking blocked the bridge for a great deal of time. In the end Tostig and Hardrada were killed, the Vikings slaughtered and Godwinson was the victor. e. William assembled his army on the Norman coast through a massive logistical effort, gathering mercenaries and volunteers from across northern Europe. Some historians argue that he had to wait for the wind to blow in the right direction to set sail; others argue that William waited on purpose to make things difficult for Harold. f. Godwinson took 8 days to march from Stamford Bridge to London, arriving on the 6 th October, where he considered what to do next. He decided to attack as soon as possible without waiting for further reinforcements, possibly through worry at the possibility of more Norman reinforcements landing, possibly through over-confidence, or because he could not stand to see his land ravaged.

j. William could not be sure that he was now automatically king, he would probably have anticipated the possibility of more battles, but all of the Godwinson brothers had fought at and died at Hastings so there was nobody for the English to rally around. William marched on London, had himself crowned on Christmas day at Westminster Abbey and set about establishing Norman control over England. k. By September 8 th Harold Godwinson had to let most of his army (the fyrd) return to the fields as the harvest was due. He no longer had the resources to keep them and they were legally bound to provide only two- months service. This could be why William stayed in Normandy, knowing the fyrd only had a short term of service, or it might have been luck. l. Harold Godwinson began to hastily recall his army and in a feat of brilliant military endurance he force-marched them to try to catch the Viking raiders before they had chance to establish themselves in northern England. g. William and the Norman invasion landed in England on 28 th September, finding the coast unguarded. William needed to draw Godwinson to a decisive battle as soon as possible, his supplies would not last forever and the longer he stayed in England the more danger they would be in as Godwinson might find it possible to call more men to the defence. To draw the English to battle he ordered the Normans to cause terror amongst the local population, burning, looting and stealing. h. Godwinson’s – surely exhausted army – reached the south coast on the night of 13 th October and took up position on a high ridge. The battle of Hastings began on 14 th, lasting all day and it was an extremely close-run battle. William’s army found it hard to defeat the English who were in a strong position atop the hill, and their formidable shield wall was a tough nut to crack. Eventually Godwinson was killed, his army defeated and the Normans had won. i. Hardrada and his men must have thought they were safe as they marched away from York, having taken sworn oaths of loyalty and left a small Viking contingent in York. They did not even have their armour on, which they had left in the ships, as they lazed in the sun near a small village called Stamford Bridge.