Battle of Fulford (1066): Harald Hardrada Wins Outside York

The Battle of Fulford was fought on 20 September 1066 just south of York, when the invading Norwegian army of King Harald Hardrada and the exiled English earl Tostig defeated the forces of the northern earls, Edwin and Morcar. It was the first of three major battles in England that autumn. Although it is overshadowed by Stamford Bridge and Hastings, Fulford shaped the course of 1066 by forcing King Harold II to march north.

Background: the Norwegian claim

When Edward the Confessor died on 5 January 1066, Harold Godwinson was crowned king the next day. Harald Hardrada, King of Norway since 1046, believed he had a better right. He relied on a reported agreement of the late 1030s between his predecessor Magnus the Good and Harthacnut, King of Denmark and later of England, that whichever of them outlived the other would inherit his lands.

Hardrada found an ally in Tostig Godwinson, King Harold’s own brother. Tostig had been Earl of Northumbria until a revolt in October 1065 removed him. Harold had accepted the rebels’ demands, and Tostig went into exile in Flanders convinced that his brother had betrayed him.

In the spring of 1066 Tostig raided the south and east coasts of England. Driven off from Lincolnshire by Earl Edwin, he took refuge in Scotland with King Malcolm III. At some point he made common cause with Hardrada, though how and when the alliance was arranged is unclear.

The invasion

Hardrada sailed in late summer with a large fleet. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle speaks of about 300 ships, a figure that may include vessels gathered in Orkney, which was then under Norwegian rule. He joined Tostig in the north of England, probably near the mouth of the Tyne, and the combined force sailed south, raiding the coast; Scarborough was burned.

The fleet entered the Humber estuary and moved up the River Ouse. In mid-September the army landed at Riccall, about 16 kilometres (10 miles) south of York, and set out for the city, then the second most important in England and the centre of Northumbria.

King Harold could not respond at once. He had spent the summer guarding the south coast against William of Normandy, but on 8 September he had to send his levies home after their provisions ran out. The defence of the north fell to the two young earls: Edwin of Mercia and his brother Morcar, who had replaced Tostig in Northumbria.

The battle

Edwin and Morcar gathered their forces at York and marched out to meet the invaders at Gate Fulford, a village on the road from Riccall. They chose a position with the River Ouse on one flank and marshy ground and a water-filled ditch or stream on the other, probably the watercourse now called Germany Beck. This narrow front protected their flanks but left little room for manoeuvre.

The fullest account of the fighting comes from Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla, written in Iceland in the early 13th century, which must be used with caution. According to Snorri, the English first pressed hard against the weaker Norwegian wing near the ditch and pushed it back. Hardrada then led his strongest troops, under his banner known as “Land-waster”, in a counter-attack along the river side, and the English line gave way.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle confirms the outcome in a few lines: many of the English were killed, drowned or driven to flight, and the Norwegians held the field. Snorri adds that so many bodies filled the marsh that the Norwegians could cross it dry-shod, a vivid detail that may be literary exaggeration. Neither side’s losses can be counted, but the northern English forces were clearly badly damaged.

The English decision to fight at all has been questioned. York had defences, and waiting behind them for King Harold might have been safer. But the earls may have feared that the city would be sacked, or that its people would go over to Tostig, their former earl, if they did nothing. Fighting in the open may also have seemed the best way to keep the invaders away from the city.

Key people

Harald Hardrada (c. 1015–1066) had fought at the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030 as a teenager, then served for years in the Varangian Guard of the Byzantine emperors. As King of Norway he waged a long war against Denmark. His nickname, Hardrada, is usually translated as “hard ruler” or “stern in counsel”.

Tostig Godwinson (c. 1026–1066), brother of King Harold II and of Queen Edith, had governed Northumbria for a decade before the revolt that unseated him.

Edwin, Earl of Mercia, and Morcar, Earl of Northumbria, were sons of Earl Ælfgar and grandsons of Leofric of Mercia. Both were young, probably in their twenties, and Morcar had held his earldom for less than a year.

Aftermath: York submits

Both earls escaped from the field. York surrendered without further fighting, and its leading men agreed to support Hardrada and hand over hostages. The Norwegians returned to their ships at Riccall, arranging for the hostages to be delivered at Stamford Bridge, a crossing on the River Derwent east of the city.

This was a fatal pause. Harold II had marched north at remarkable speed when he heard of the invasion, reaching Tadcaster on 24 September. On 25 September he passed through York and surprised the Norwegians at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Hardrada and Tostig were both killed, and the survivors needed only a small part of their fleet to sail home.

Three days later, on 28 September, William of Normandy landed at Pevensey in Sussex. Harold hurried south and was defeated and killed at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October. Edwin and Morcar did not bring their forces to Hastings; whether this was because of their losses at Fulford, the time needed to regroup or political caution is not known.

The battlefield today

The exact site of the battle has not been proven. Since the late 1990s a local group has argued, partly on the basis of metal finds and the lie of the land, that the fighting took place around Germany Beck. The area became the subject of a long planning dispute over a housing development, which was eventually approved. Other historians accept the general location near Fulford but are cautious about the archaeological interpretation.

By the numbers

Timeline

• 1065, October: Northumbrian revolt; Tostig is replaced as earl by Morcar and exiled.
• 1066, 5–6 January: Edward the Confessor dies and Harold II is crowned.
• 1066, spring: Tostig raids the English coast, then withdraws to Scotland.
• 1066, 8 September: Harold disbands his army on the south coast.
• 1066, September: Hardrada and Tostig sail south, burn Scarborough and land at Riccall.
• 1066, 20 September: Battle of Fulford; Edwin and Morcar are defeated.
• 1066, 24 September: York submits to Hardrada; Harold reaches Tadcaster.
• 1066, 25 September: Battle of Stamford Bridge; Hardrada and Tostig are killed.
• 1066, 14 October: Battle of Hastings.

Why it matters

Fulford is often described as the last major victory of a Scandinavian king on English soil. It showed that England’s northern defences could not stop a determined invasion on their own, and it drew Harold north at the very moment William was about to cross the Channel. The chain of events it set in motion helped decide who would rule England after 1066.