In the spring, Harold made his ship ready and sailed away. He and the duke parted on the friendliest terms. Harold went back to England to the court of King Edward; he never returned to Normandy to claim his bride.

King Edward was king over England for twenty-three years, and died in London on the fifth of January. He was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral, and is regarded as a saint by the English.

At that time, Earl Godwm’s sons were the most powerful men in England. Tostig bad been made commander of the English army, and he was put in charge of the nation’s defences when the king began to grow old. Earl Tostig had authority over all the other earls in England. His brother, Harold, was always next In precedence to him at court, and was In charge of the royal exchequer.’

It is said that as the king's death was drawing near, Harold was beside him, and only a few other people were present Harold is supposed to have bent down over the king, and then said, ‘I name you all as witnesses that the king has just given me the crown and whole kingdom of England.’

Then the king was lifted dead from his bed.

That same day a meeting of the witan was held to consider the succession to the throne. Harold called upon his witnesses to testify that King Edward on his dying day had given him the kingdom. The outcome of the meeting was that Harold was made king, and was crowned and consecrated in St Paul’s Cathedral on the sixth of January. All the chieftains and all the people paid him their homage.

When his brother, Earl Tostig, heard this he was extremely displeased. for he felt that he was no less entitled to the crown.

I want the leaders of the land: he said, ‘to elect as king the man who, in their opinion, Is best suited for the task?

The brothers exchanged messages and Harold said be refused to surrender his kingship since he had already been enthroned at the proper place and then anointed and crowned king. Most people gave Harold their support, and be was also in control of all the royal treasuries

Now the battle began. The English made a cavalry charge on the Norwegians, who met it without flinching. it was no easy matter for the English to ride against the Norwegians be­cause of their arrows, so- they rode around them in a circle. There was only skirmishing to begin with, so long as the Nor­wegians kept their formation. The English cavalry kept charg­ing them and falling back at once when they could make no headway.

The Norwegians observed this, and thought the enemy as­saults rather half-hearted; so they launched an attack themselves on the retreating cavalry. But as soon as they had broken their shield-wall, the English rode down on them from all sides, showering spears and arrows on them.

When King Harald Sigurdsson saw this, he led a charge into the thickest of the fighting. The battle became very fierce, and great numbers were killed on both sides. King Harald Sigurds­son now fell into such a fury of battle that he rushed forward ahead of his troops, fighting two-handed. Neither helmets nor coats of mail could withstand him, and everyone in his path gave way before him, It looked then as if the English were on the point of being routed. In the words of Arnor the Earls’-Poet:

Norway’s king had nothing
To shield his breast in battle;
And yet his war-seasoned
Heart never wavered.
Norway’s warriors were watching
The blood-dripping sword
their courageous leader
Cutting down his enemies.

But now King Harald Sigurdsson was struck in the throat by an arrow, and this was his death-wound. He fell, and with him fell all those who had advanced with him, except for those who retreated with the royal standard.

The battle still raged fiercely, and Earl Tostig was now fight­ing under the royal standard. Both sides drew back to form up again, and there was a long lull in the fighting. Then the poet Thjodolf said

Disaster has befallen us;
I say the army has been duped.
There was no cause for Harold
To bring his forces westward.
Mighty Harold is fallen
And we are all imperiled;
Norway’s renowned leader
Has lost his life in England.

Before the fighting was resumed, Harold Godwlnsson offered quarter to his brother Tostig and all the surviving Norwegians. But the Norwegians shouted back with one voice that every one of them would rather die than accept quarter from the English; they roared their war-cry, and the battle started again. In the words of Arnor the Earls’-Poet:

It was an evil moment
When Norway’s king lay fallen;
Gold-inlaid weapons
Brought death to Norway’s leader.
All King Harald’s warriors
Preferred to die beside him,
Sharing their brave king’s fate,
Bather than beg for mercy.

At this point Eystein Orri arrived from the ships with all the men he had; they were wearing coats of mail. Eystein took King Harald’s banner, ‘Land-Waste?, and the fighting began for the third time, more fiercely than ever. The English fell in great numbers, and once again were on the point of being routed. This stage of the fighting was called Orri’s Battle. Eystein and his men had run all the way from the ships so hard that they were tired out and almost unable to fight before they arrived on the scene. But then they fell into such a battle fury that they did not bother to protect themselves as long as they could still stand on their feet, Eventually they threw off their coats of mail, and after that it was easy for the English to land blows on them; but some of the Norwegians collapsed from exhaustion and died unwounded. Nearly all the leading Norwegians were killed there.

It was now late in the afternoon. As was to be expected not all reacted in the same way; a number of them fled, and others were lucky enough to survive in different ways. It bad grown dark before the Carnage ended

King Harold’s marshal, Styrkar an out­standing man, managed to escape. He got hold of a horse and rode away. In the evening a cold wind blew up, and since Styrkar was only wearing a shirt with a helmet on his head and a naked sword in his hand, as his weariness wore off he began to feel cold.

Then he met a cart-driver who was wearing a fur-lined leather coat.

‘Would you like to sell your leather coat, my good man?’ said Styrkar.

‘Not to you he replied. ‘You’re a Norwegian, I can tell that from your speech.’

‘And if I were a Norwegian, what would you do about it?’

‘I’d try to kill you,’ said the carter, ‘but as luck would have It I don’t have a weapon with me that would do?

‘Then since you can’t kill me,’ said Styrkar, ‘I must see if I can’t kill you.’ And with that he raised his sword and swung it at the man’s neck, slicing off his head. Then he took the leather coat, mounted his horse, and rode off down to the coast.