The King Who Couldn’t Catch a Break
In a hard fought battle at Stamford Bridge on September 25th, 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 14th, 1066.