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He and his friends will die on this spot like men, or will win England with their arms. Riding back to his army, Tostig was met by King Harold Hardrada. 'Who is that man who spake with thee? asked the King of Norway. Tostig replied, 'That is my brother Harold, the son of Godwin, and King of the English. 'He is but a little man, said Hardrada; 'but he sits well in his stirrups.
There was the boy Atheling, on the one side, there was the valiant Norwegian King Hardrada on the other, who might revive the claims of his predecessor Magnus as heir to the rights of Canute.
He blessed the enterprise; and cursed Harold; and requested that the Normans would pay 'Peter's Pence' or a tax to himself of a penny a year on every house a little more regularly in future, if they could make it convenient. King Harold had a rebel brother in Flanders, who was a vassal of HAROLD HARDRADA, King of Norway.
While I speak, the winds swell the sails of the Norse ships, bearing home the corpse of Hardrada. Accomplish this day the last triumph of England; add to these hills a new mount of the conquered dead!
And that rude timber house, which seemed but a chain of barbarian huts linked into one, was a land palace of Hardrada of Norway; but the true halls of his royalty, the true seats of his empire, were the decks of those lofty war-ships.
On the opposite side of the Channel King Harold collected the army and the fleet with which he hoped to crush the southern invaders. But the unexpected attack of King Harald Hardrada of Norway upon another part of England disconcerted the skilful measures which the Saxon had taken against the menacing armada of Duke William.
Neither Morkere nor his brother Edwin, with their local forces, was able to meet Hardrada with success. They attempted to enter York but at Fulford on the 20th September they were routed, and Hardrada held the great northern capital. Meanwhile Harold had not been idle.
Then forth, from under the shade of that great flag, came, himself also on foot, Harold Hardrada: shouting and chaunting, he leapt with long strides into the thick of the onslaught.
"Do thou choose for me, father," he answered. "Then follow me," replied the spirit. Magnus awoke, told the dream, sickened, and died, leaving the whole of Norway to Harald Hardrada, and declaring that it would be just not to molest Swend in his possession of Denmark.
But his rival's difficulties were hardly less than his own. Harold was threatened with invasion not only by William but by his brother Tostig, who had taken refuge in Norway and secured the aid of its king, Harald Hardrada. The fleet and army he had gathered lay watching for months along the coast.
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