“I,” he replied, “am so much smaller a man than Canute the Great that I can hardly defend my own dominions against the Northmen. My uncle Canute got the Danish throne by inheritance: he took England by slash and blow. Norway he took without a blow at all. But it suits me much better to do what I can with the little ability I have than to try to imitate King Canute’s lucky hits.” Tosti was angry at this, and replied: “The result of my errand is not what I expected of a gallant man like thee when a relative came to ask thy help in time of need. It may be that I shall seek help where it might be less likely to be got, and that I may come across a chief less afraid than thou art, King, to undertake a great enterprise.” The King and the earl parted, not the best of friends.
Then Tosti went on to the new King of Norway, Harald Sigurdson, called “Hardrada,” and talked him over to his cause, and at last he promised to go and attack England, Tosti having persuaded him that he could easily conquer England and add it to the dominions of Norway. Harald Hardrada sent out the split arrow, the sign of a war levy, through Norway, while Earl Tosti sailed to Flanders to collect the men who had accompanied him or had gathered to join his forces. There King Harald Hardrada joined him with a large fleet of nearly 300 vessels, besides provision-ships and smaller craft. Before leaving Nidaros, Harald had visited St Olaf’s shrine, opened it, and taken out a piece of the Saint’s hair; then he locked the shrine, and threw the keys into the sea, since which time it has never been opened again.
But it was with bad omens and many forebodings that Harald went on this expedition. A man in his army dreamed that he saw a huge witch-woman riding in front of the host on the back of a wolf, and she was feeding the wolf with the bodies of men, and blood was dripping from its jaws. Another dreamed that all over the fleet he saw a raven of death sitting on every ship’s stern, waiting to devour the slain. And the King himself dreamed that King Olaf met him and prophesied his death. These visions made the whole host gloomy and fearful. The King took his wife and two daughters and one of his sons with him to England, but he caused his son Magnus to be proclaimed king over Norway in case he did not return again.
Harold, Godwin’s son, was hardly seated on the throne when he heard that his brother Tosti was come to the South of England and was gathering great multitudes of men in the Isle of Wight. Harold had been collecting an army, fearing an invasion by William of Normandy, for he knew well enough that William would never forgive him for having broken his oath to him, or for forgetting his promise to come back from England to marry his young daughter, to whom he had been betrothed in Normandy. He immediately prepared to lead his army south toward the place where he heard that Tosti was; but the earl took ship again and slipped away north to his own old earldom of Northumbria, where, in spite of his cruelties during his rule, he hoped to find some men to help him. Harald Hardrada had crossed over with his fleet to Orkney, where the Earls of Orkney, Paul and Erlend, joined him with a great force; and there he left his wife and daughters, taking his son Olaf with him, and sailing south to meet Tosti in Northumbria. When Tosti arrived he found the Norwegian King already plundering the country, and subduing the people all along the coast. At Scarborough, which lies beneath a high cliff, the King had fought his way inland, and on mounting the hill behind the town he had caused a great pile of brushwood to be made and set on fire; then his men with pitchforks threw the burning wood down upon the town, so that one house after another caught the flame, and the people surrendered. Then he passed on to the Humber, where Tosti joined him, and together they sailed up the river, awaiting the coming of Earl Morcar, whom Harold, Godwin’s son, had made earl when Tosti fled abroad, and who was advancing from York with a large army.
The King of Norway drew up his men near Fulford, south-east of York. They stood with one end of their line toward the River Ouse, and the other ran along a ditch on the land side. A deep morass, full of water, lay beside them. The earl’s army came down along the ditch, advancing bravely, for at first it seemed that the Northmen at the end of the ditch would give ground before them. But King Harald Hardrada heard that the enemy were approaching; he ordered his war-charge to be sounded, and with his banner, the Land-ravager, borne before him, he urged on his men. Very vigorous was the charge, and the earl’s army broke before it; they turned and fled, some up and some down the river, while many leaped into the ditch. So thick lay the bodies that it is said the Norsemen could go dry-foot over the morass, walking on the slain. The song called “Harald Hardrada’s Stave” says about this:
“Earl Morcar’s men
Lay in the fen,
By sword down-hewn,
So thickly strewn
That Norsemen say