Wulf the Saxon: A Story of the Norman Conquest

  CHAPTER XIX.

  STAMFORD BRIDGE.

  Owing to the difficulty of getting the levies formed up and set in motion,the Norsemen had arrived on the ground and had taken up a defensiveposition before the English reached it. Had the force contained a strongbody of housecarls, Wulf, who had talked the matter over with the earls,would have advised that they should fight on the defensive and allow theNorsemen to attack; but with freshly-raised troops, ready and eager forbattle, but wanting the discipline that alone enables trained soldiers toendure patiently a long series of attacks, he thought that there was morechance of victory in attacking the enemy. Morcar commanded on the left,Edwin on the right. Wulf took up his position by the side of Morcar, andexchanged a few words with Osgod before advancing to the charge.

  "This will be a right royal contest, master," the latter said as hefingered his heavy axe. "Never before have I seen a set battle like this."

  "Do you keep close to me, Osgod."

  "That I am sure to do, master," the latter broke in.

  "Yes, I know that while we fight you will be by my side, but it may be thatwe shall have to fly. The Norsemen outnumber us greatly, and their king isa host in himself. This is a good position to defend, but a bad one to flyfrom. The king's last words were a charge to me not to throw away my life,and therefore while I shall fight as long as fighting can avail, I shallalso do my best to save myself if we are defeated. As we came along I keptnear to the edge of the swamp, and some hundred yards back I marked a spotwhere, as it seemed to me, there was a sort of path, worn either by brokenmen and outlaws, who may dwell somewhere in its recesses, or by men from avillage beyond it. For this point, then, I shall make if we are defeated.It may be that it was not a path, but at least it offers a chance ofescape. So when I give you the word, keep close to my side."

  Osgod nodded. His confidence in Wulf was absolutely boundless, and thoughhe revolted at the thought of retreat he knew well that so long as a chanceof victory remained Wulf would not quit the field. When within two or threehundred yards of the enemy, Morcar advanced to the front of the line withhis standard-bearer beside him.

  "On men!" he shouted, and with a yell the English poured down to the attackThe line of the Norsemen was on this side less strong than it was near theriver where their king had posted himself, and the Norsemen gave way beforethe furious attack of the English. Morcar and many of his thanes fought inthe front rank. Wulf was close beside him, and before their swords and theterrible axe of Osgod the invaders fell back foot by foot, and shouts oftriumph rose from the English; but it was not for long. On the left Edwincould make no impression on the shield-wall of the enemy, and presentlytheir king caused his horns to blow the signal for attack, and his line,hitherto immovable, flung itself on the English. The king, a head tallerthan any of his men, fought in their front rank, his terrible two-handedsword hewing down every man who opposed him. As the English gave way theassault became more and more impetuous, and in a few minutes the Englishbroke and fled all along the line.

  "All is lost, Osgod," Wulf said; as after fighting to the last he turnedhis back on the foe. The scene on the ridge was now terrible; the exultingNorsemen followed hard upon the flying English, uttering their shouts ofvictory and cutting down all they overtook. Hampered by the crowd in frontof them great numbers of the English fell beneath the weapons of theirpursuers, others turned to the right or left, and hundreds were smotheredin the swamp by the river or in that on the other side. Once the flightbegan, Osgod placed himself in front of his master, his powerful figure andhis weight enabling him to push his way through the crowd of fugitives.Wulf kept close behind him, and they followed the edge of the swamp untilWulf saw the faint indication of a path he had before noticed.

  "Turn off here, Osgod; this is the place I spoke of. Let me go first, I amlightest."

  The ground shook beneath their feet, the slime oozed up to their ankles,but, moderating their pace now, they sprang from tussock to tussock untiltwo or three hundred yards from the edge of the swamp. Then they paused andlooked round. The work of slaughter was still proceeding. Along the edgeof the swamp numbers of English could be seen, some half immerged, somefast disappearing. In the din of the struggle none heard or heeded theircries, each man was occupied solely with the thought of flight orslaughter. Some half-dozen of the fugitives, seeing the two men were makingtheir way across the swamp, had followed in their footsteps.

  Slowly and cautiously Wulf moved forward again. Sometimes a treacheroustuft gave way and he slipped waist-deep into the mire, but Osgod was alwaysclose at hand, and his long arm enabled him to reach forward to his masterfrom a firmer spot and to draw him from the bog. After an hour's painfulwork the ground began to be firmer, and before long they were safe in theforest beyond the swamp. Here for a while the party threw themselves downexhausted. After an hour's rest the others asked Wulf what they had bestdo.

  "There is but one thing to be done," he replied; "make off to your homes.The remnant of the army will reach York, and the Norsemen will doubtlesssurround the city and lay siege to it. For the present our cause is lost,and there is nought for us to do but to try and save our lives, which havebeen spared well-nigh by a miracle."

  Keeping south through the forest Wulf and his follower were several hoursbefore they emerged from its shade. Another three miles' walking broughtthem to a village, where they learned they were six miles west of Selby.Here they obtained some food, and then bearing off so as to strike thesouth road arrived soon after nightfall at the house of the thane who hadsupplied them with their last change of horses on their way north. The newsthey brought excited the greatest consternation, but their host saw at oncethat the only hope now was that Harold might bring help, and at once placedthe two horses which they had ridden to his house at their disposal. Wulfand Osgod mounted at once, and travelled southwards at a speed equal tothat at which they had journeyed north.

  When within a few miles of Peterborough they received news that seemedalmost too good to be true. Harold at the head of a great army had alreadyreached that town, and was pressing north at the top of his speed. Fromeast and west he was being joined by the levies of the thanes. Ridingforward to Peterborough they found the town crowded with troops, who, asthey learned, were to march forward again in half an hour. Wulf at oncemade his way to the monastery, in which Harold was lodged.

  "I need not ask your news, Wulf," Harold said, as, covered with dust andmire, and almost reeling with exhaustion, the young thane entered hisprivate closet.

  "The army of the northern earls has been well-nigh destroyed two miles fromYork. Whether the earls themselves escaped I know not, for I left the fieldwhile the slaughter was still going on. York will be at once besieged, andas most of its fighting men went out to the battle and a large proportionmust have been slain, I fear that it can resist but a short time the attackof the Norsemen. It was good news indeed when I heard that you wereadvancing north."

  "It is bad tidings that you bring, Wulf, but not unexpected. Directly Iheard that the enemy's fleet were off our northern coast and were burningand pillaging unopposed, I speedily gathered what force I could in theSouth, and sending on messengers ahead to summon the levies of East Angliato join me on the way, started north. Yesterday the news reached me thatthe great fleet of Norway had sailed up the Humber, and I saw that I shouldbe too late to join Edwin and Morcar before they were forced to give battlebefore York. Now tell me of the fight, and how you managed to escape, forI see by your mail-coat and helmet, which are dinted and frayed and thesteel rings shorn off in many places, that you were in the thick of it."

  Wulf related the story of the battle, and the manner in which he hadescaped.

  "You did wisely, Wulf, to mark a way of retreat before the battlecommenced. A good general should ever be prepared for defeat as well as forvictory. So the levies fought well?"

  "They did, my lord. They engaged the Norsemen gallantly and well--muchbetter, indeed, than I had looked for them to do, and the day wentfavourably until the Kin
g of Norway with his picked men threw themselvesupon them. Even after that they fought sturdily for a short time, and hadthere been but a body of housecarls to form a shield-wall, behind whichthey could have rallied, the day might still have been theirs. But youlook ill, my lord."

  "I was on a bed of sickness when the news came; but it was no time forlying abed. For the first two or three days' marches I was carried on alitter, but I am now well enough to sit my horse. It cost me a sorestruggle to leave the South unguarded simply because my orders were notobeyed here in the North. But there was no help for it, and we have beenmarching well-nigh night and day in hopes that we might bring this matterto a close, and return south before the Norman fleet appears off the coast.We have already marched farther than would seem possible in the time, butthe men are all in good heart and eager to meet the Norsemen, and I haveaddressed them and shown them the urgent necessity for speed. We shall setforward again in half an hour. They have had six hours for rest, so theycan do another fifty miles before they halt again. You can tarry here for aday to rest yourself, and can then ride on and overtake us."

  "I will go down and take a plunge in the river," Wulf said, "and shall beready to mount again by the time that the rearguard is in motion. I couldhave kept on to London had it been needful, and shall be quite ready toproceed with the army."

  They were within a day's march of York when the news came that the city hadsurrendered without waiting for an assault. The King of Norway had offeredfavourable terms; a local Gemot had been held, and it had been agreed tomake peace with Harold of Norway, and not only to receive him as king butto join him in his warfare against the South. Hostages were given for theirfidelity to their new lord, who in return gave hostages to York for thegood conduct of his troops. It was the city only that had so treacherouslybehaved, and the surrender by no means included the whole province. It wasarranged, however, by the earls, that hostages should be given forNorthumbria at large, and they promised that a hundred and fifty of theseshould be handed over at Stamford Bridge, eight miles north-east of thecity.

  Here there was a palace of the old Northumbrian kings. The spot wasfavourable for the encampment of an army, for the country round was fertileand the bridge across the Derwent afforded facilities for the collection ofprovisions over a large area. The bridge was a wooden one, the country oneither side of the river was flat, but considerably elevated above thestream, with a slope down to it on both sides of the bridge.

  The news of the surrender of York made no change in Harold's plans. He hadcome to give battle to the Norsemen, whether he did so under the walls ofthe northern capital or elsewhere; accordingly he pressed rapidly forward.

  In a few hours the army arrived in sight of York, which, had it resistedbut a day longer, would have been saved the humiliation of the surrenderand treaty. The invaders had all marched to Stamford Bridge, and the peopleopened its gates and received with rejoicing the king, whose authority theyhad the day before cast off. Beyond a short pause for food there was nodelay. Harold's thoughts were on the South, and he grudged every hour thatdelayed his return to his post there. The men of the city and thesurvivors of the army defeated at Fulford joined the force, which kept onits way east to Stamford Bridge. The invaders, believing that Northumbrialay at their feet, and without a thought that Harold was advancing, wereencamped in careless security on the low ground by the river. The greaterportion of their host had crossed the bridge; their king, Tostig, and manyof the great chiefs had taken up their abode in the royal palace at Aldby,and were preparing to return to York, where the king was to hold his courtand formally to assume the government and to proclaim the laws for his newkingdom.

  Already the cortege had set out, clad not in warlike armour but in courthabiliments, when on the long road leading gently down to the river a cloudof dust and the sparkle of arms was seen. There was little room for doubtas to the nature of the arriving force. Northumbria could gather no arraythat would venture thus to approach the army that had but five days beforecrushed the levies of the North. It could only be Harold himself who, withthe men of the South, had thus unexpectedly arrived. Tostig at onceproposed a retreat to the ships at Riccall, so that the whole army might begathered together, but Harold Hardrada strove to marshal his army for thebattle, at the same time sending off mounted messengers to summons theparty left at the ships. But while all was in confusion among the main bodyof the invaders on the eastern bank of the river, while men were bucklingon their armour and gathering in their ranks, the cloud of war rolledrapidly down the descent, and with a mighty shout the English vanguard fellupon the Norsemen on the western bank.

  Valiantly they fought, but there was no resisting the solid array of theEnglish housecarls, or Thingmen as they were also called. Taken altogetherunprepared, and for the most part without their defensive armour, theNorsemen could offer no successful resistance to the English host. Greatnumbers were killed; others were driven headlong across the bridge or weredrowned in the stream, which is said to have been literally choked withdead. But for a time the advance of the English was stayed; for oneNorseman, a man of great stature and prodigious strength, took post in themiddle of the narrow bridge and barred the way to the English host. But onefoe could attack him at a time, and so great was his strength and prowessthat it is said forty Englishmen fell under the mighty blows of histwo-handed sword, and at last he was only over-powered by one who made hisway along beneath the timbers of the bridge and stabbed him with his spearfrom below.

  His gallant stand, however, had sufficed to give his countrymen time tocomplete their preparations, and the shield-wall of the Norsemen stretchedacross the gentle ascent from the bridge. With his hands raised aloft, as asign that his mission was a peaceful one, an English thane with twentymounted horsemen rode across the bridge. He was met by the king, Tostig,and his chiefs. Raising his voice the thane addressed Tostig, "I bring toTostig the greeting and message of his brother King Harold. Let him returnto his allegiance and he shall again have the earldom of Northumberland;nay, he shall have a third of the kingdom to rule together with the king."

  "What, then," Tostig asked, "shall be given to King Harold of Norway?"

  "Seven feet of English ground!" the thane said sternly, "or more,perchance, seeing he is taller than other men."

  "Return to King Harold of England," Tostig said, "and bid him make readyfor the battle. Never shall men say in Norway that I brought their kinghither to England and then went over to his foes."

  Harold's ambassador returned with his men across the river with Tostig'smessage, and then in solid array the English Thingmen moved forward to theattack. Had the King of Norway advanced to the end of the bridge a battlewould have been impossible, for the English could never have forced theirway across. But the kings were equally anxious for a battle. Harold ofNorway knew as well as the King of England that the host of Normandy was onthe point of sailing, and it was as essential for him to crush the Englisharmy before the Normans landed as it was for Harold of England to disposeat once of the Norse invaders. There were three claimants for the Englishcrown, and both kings felt the necessity of having their hands free to meetthe Normans. Harold of Norway may well have believed that his host of triedwarriors was capable of disposing of an army that, save for its small bodyof regular troops, was wholly unused to war; therefore, he held his arrayimmovable while the English army crossed the bridge and formed up forbattle.

  Steadily and firmly the solid line of the housecarls moved up the ascent,and then as Harold's trumpet gave the signal of attack, flung themselvesupon the shield-wall of the Norsemen. The conflict was a terrible one. Theheavy two-handed axes of the English clashed against the long two-handedswords of the Norsemen. Against such terrible weapons wielded by suchpowerful arms, helmet and hauberk afforded but a poor defence. Casques andthe heads beneath them were cleft like egg-shells under the terrible blows;but the gaps thus made in the ranks were at once filled from behind, andfor hours the struggle continued with unabated vigour on both sides. Haroldhimself with
a body of his thanes fought in the front line, his positionmarked to his followers by his standard kept flying close behind him. Hisgreat strength and height made him so formidable an assailant that hisstandard generally flew well in advance of his fighting line, while on theother side the still greater height and strength of the King of Norwayrendered him equally conspicuous. At last the obstinate valour of theEnglish housecarls prevailed over the resistance of the fierce Norsemen,and the invading host was driven backward step by step up the ascent untilthe level ground was reached.

  Here the battle again raged as fiercely as ever. In vain did Harold ofNorway, followed by his bravest warriors, hurl himself upon the ranks ofthe English, his terrible sword carrying death in its path. In vain did hisfollowers again and again strive to take the offensive. The English lineever bore up against their attacks. The battle was still undecided when, asthe sun was going down, an English arrow pierced the throat of the giantKing of Norway. How Tostig, who had throughout the day fought by his side,fell, we know not, but he died, as did the Irish prince who had brought hisfollowers to share in the plunder of England. There fell, too, most of thebravest warriors of Norway, the last of the sea-kings who had carried thebanner, known as the land-waster, far and wide over Europe.

  The slaughter was terrible, and at nightfall the Norsemen who survivedbroke and fled to the shelter of their ships. Never in the history ofEngland was there a harder fought battle; never were English valour andendurance more splendidly shown. Terrible, too, had been the losses ontheir side. Many of the king's bravest thanes had fallen, and the ranks ofthe housecarls were fearfully thinned. Complete as had been the victory,absolute as had been the destruction of their foes, there was but littlerejoicing in the English camp that night. So exhausted were the troops bytheir long march and the desperate struggle of the day that they threwthemselves down to sleep on the ground they had won, thickly covered as itwas with the bodies of friend and foe.

  Wulf throughout the day had fought close to Harold. Osgod had kept closebeside him, and had warded off many a sweeping blow and cut down many apressing enemy. At the end of the day his left arm hung useless by hisside, well-nigh cleft off by the blow of a Norseman's sword. Wulf himselfhad escaped without a scratch, thanks in a large measure to his follower'swatchfulness. When the battle was over he was one of the few thanes whogathered round Harold. The latter felt no exultation at this victory. Ithad cost him the flower of his army and numbers of his most valued thanes.It had cost him, too, the life of a brother, to whom in spite of his faultshe had been deeply attached. He knew that there was before him a struggleeven more serious than that from which he had just emerged a victor, andthere was no saying how that struggle might end.

  "I thank God that you are spared to me, Wulf," he said as the young thanecame up. "I marked you near me all through the battle, and none fought morebravely. It has been a terrible day, and our victory is dearly purchasedindeed. I have sent a messenger to York, praying that every monk skilled insurgery will at once hasten hither, that all men and boys shall come andhelp to collect the wounded, and that such women as can aid will accompanythem. I cannot ask the men who have marched well-nigh night and day sincewe left London, and borne the brunt of the day's battle, to do more.England has need of their strength. The messenger was to stop at Helmsley,and bid every soul left there to hurry to the field. It is but two milesaway, and in half an hour they will be here. The first thing for them to dois to carry water to the wounded; there are no lack of vessels in theNorsemen's camp."

  "I will go to the bridge, my lord, and take them in charge when theyarrive, and set them at the work."

  "You need rest as much as any, Wulf."

  "I can rest to-morrow," Wulf said; "and at any rate could not sleepto-night, for I must see to Osgod, who will, I fear, lose an arm."

  "I am sorry to hear it," Harold said, "for one could ill spare so brave afellow. I saw the Norsemen going down under his axe, and assuredly no mandid more than he to-day."

  "I will tell him what you say, my lord; it will do him good. I left himsitting down on a bank bemoaning himself that he might not be cured in timeto fight the Normans."

  Harold shook his head. "I would give half my estates, Wulf, that he shouldbe well enough to fight by your side in our first battle with the Normans.That would mean that they would not land before two months have passed, andby that time I would have all the force of England gathered to receivethem. As you are willing that it should be so, I will leave you in chargeof the camp to-night. It will be three hours before help can arrive fromYork. Till then there is nought to do but to carry water to the wounded.When they arrive the monks will dress the wounds, and the men and womencarry such as can be moved down by the river, where they can be treatedmore easily than lying in the fields. Have a strict search made for thebody of my brother, and place a guard over it. Sweyn is in charge of theNorse camp. There is great treasure there, which shall to-morrow be partlydivided among the troops."

  Wulf went at once down to the bridge, while Harold and his thanes lay downlike the soldiers on the field of battle. In a short time men, women, andchildren came in from Helmsley. Having been told what they were requiredfor, they had brought with them jugs and drinking cups, and also a supplyof torches. The first search was made over the ground west of the river.Here few English had fallen, but the Norsemen lay thickly. Wulf orderedthat water should be given to all, foe as well as friend. The number ofliving was small, for the heavy two handed axes had done their workthoroughly. When such as survived had been seen to, Wulf led the villagersover the bridge.

  "Scatter right and left," he said, "and then move forward. You cannot gowrong." Having seen them all at work, he hurried away to the spot where hehad left Osgod sitting. He had before leaving him staunched the flow ofblood by winding a bow string round the arm above the wound and thentwisting it tightly.

  "How fares it with you, Osgod? Here is a ewer of water."

  "That is good," Osgod said, after taking a mighty draught. "Truly I feltas if the moisture of my body had all dried up, and not only my mouth butmy whole frame was parched."

  "Why, Osgod," Wulf exclaimed, as he held the torch he carried close to him,"your arm has gone!"

  "That is so, master, an arm after the bone has been cleft through is of nouse to anyone, so I thought the sooner I got rid of it the better, andhaving my knife handy I just cut through the flesh that remained. That wasthe end of it. Would that we could get rid of all our evils as readily.To-morrow I will walk to York and get the wound seared."

  "The king sent to York for aid directly the battle was over, and we shallhave all the townsfolk here soon, among them monks and others skilled inthe dressing of wounds. I told the king of your misfortune." And he thenrepeated what Harold had said.

  "It does me good to hear that Harold is satisfied with me. I hope tostrike many a good blow for him yet."

  "How still it is here, Osgod! There is scarce a sound to be heard from allthose lying round."

  "There are but few with life in them, I reckon," Osgod said. "A Norsesword and an English axe let out the life quickly when they strike fair.This blow fell on my arm as my axe was raised to strike, and it were wellit did so, or it would have taken me in the neck, and then neither monk norleech could have brought me back to life. Had it been my right arm I wouldas lief have been killed at once, for what good is a man without his rightarm?"

  "You would have learned to use your left in time, Osgod. Now if you canwalk, come down to the river, and I will see that you are among the firstattended to."

  "I will lie down here," Osgod said, "for in truth I feel as if I needsleep. For the last two days I have been scarce able to keep my eyes open,and now that I have had a drink I feel that a few hours' rest will do memore good than any monk."

  Osgod's words came slowly and heavily, and as he ended he lay down on hisback. Wulf saw that it was best that he should sleep, and so left him. Intwo hours a great number of lights were seen along the road, and soon acrowd of men and women from
York appeared and scattered themselves over thebattlefield, the monks pouring balm into wounds and bandaging them up,while the men and women carried the wounded, as fast as they were attendedto, down to the river. The bodies of Tostig and of the King of Norway wereboth found, and a guard placed over them, and in the morning that of Tostigwas carried to York for burial in the cathedral, while Harold Hardrada wasburied where he fell.

  Harold sent messengers to the Norsemen's fleet offering mercy to them ifthey would surrender, and their chiefs come to York and swear never againto raise their swords against England--an offer which was thankfullyaccepted, for the English fleet had entered the Humber, and their retreatwas cut off.

  The next day the Norse chiefs went to York and took the required oath, andwere then escorted back to their ships. So terrible had been theslaughter, so complete the destruction of the invading army, that, evenincluding the guard that remained at the fleet, twenty-four ships sufficedto carry away home the survivors of the mighty host. The task of buryingthe slain was too great to be undertaken, and for many years afterwards thefield of battle was whitened with the bones of the invaders who had fallenthere.

  On the day after the battle Harold returned with his army to York. Here allwho had fallen away from the cause of England were pardoned. Measures weretaken for making the fighting strength of the North available for thegeneral defence of the country. The wounded were cared for in the houses ofthe citizens, and for five days the troops rested after their prodigiousexertions.

  Early in the morning after the battle Osgod's wound had been seared withred-hot irons. He had borne the pain unflinchingly, saying that he hadsuffered as much from burns more than once while learning his trade as anarmourer. Wulf was not present, as he had thrown himself down to sleep assoon as he had been relieved at daylight, but he saw him before he startedwith the king for York.

  "Yes, it hurts a bit, master," Osgod replied in answer to his inquiries. "Icould not expect otherwise. You will have to do without me for a few days.I have made friends with some peasants at Helmsley. I shall stay with themtill the army marches south. If I were at York I should never keep quiet;and the monks tell me the quieter I am the sooner my wounds will heal. Theyare poor creatures, these monks; they wanted to make out that it might betwo or three months before I was fit for service again. I told them itwould be a shame to my manhood if in a fortnight I could not wield an axeagain. It is not as if I had been brought up softly. I have burnt myselfwith hot irons many a time, and know that a few days suffices to heal asore."

  "It is not the sore, Osgod; it is the veins that might burst out bleedingagain."

  "That is what they said, master; but at present there is not much bloodleft in me, I think, and by the time it comes again my veins ought to havehealed themselves. This plaguey bowstring hurts me well-nigh as much as thesmart of the irons; but the monks say I must bear it for a couple of days,when they will put on some tight bandages in its place, but if I can bearthe pain it were better that it should be kept there for a week or two."

  Five days passed. The king laboured incessantly at making a settlement ofthe affairs of the North. The thanes came in from all Northumbria. Theywere full of thankfulness at the deliverance that had been wrought forthem, and the victor of Stamford Bridge was far more to them than the Kingof England had ever been. All were received with kindness and courtesy, andHarold felt that at Stamford Bridge he had conquered not only the host ofNorway but the Northern earldoms. On the evening of the fifth day afterthe battle they held a great banquet at York. The feasting was at itsheight when Harold was told that a messenger had arrived with urgent news,and the man was at once brought in. He had ridden in two days from theSouth, and brought the momentous news that on the third day after thevictory of Stamford Bridge the Norman host had landed in Sussex.