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Hardcore Viking Facts that Inspire Fear and Respect

Khalid Elhassan October 14, 2022 31 min

The King Who Couldn’t Catch a Break

Harold Godwinson. Cambridge University Library

In a hard fought battle at Stamford Bridge on September 25^th, 1066, Harold won a decisive victory. Most of the invaders, including Tostig and Harald Hardrada, were slain. Of the 300 ships that had landed the invading army, only 24 were needed to carry the survivors back to Norway. However, King Harold did not get to savor his victory at Stamford for long. Two days later, the Channel winds finally changed, and Duke William finally crossed and landed his army in southern England. Harold assembled his weary troops, and hurried back to meet him.

Harold led his men on another forced march back to the south of England. He gathered reinforcements along the way as he rushed to meet the new invasion. He approached Duke Williams at Hastings with about 7000 men – only half of England’s trained soldiers. Harold was advised to wait for reinforcements, but chose instead to offer battle immediately, in order to stop Williams from devastating the countryside. Thus, the Anglo-Saxons met the Norman invaders at the Battle of Hastings on October 14^th, 1066.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.