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Updated: May 14, 2025
And up the stairs of the turret came the soft steps of Haco, and stealing near to the King, he said: "Arm in haste, for the bodes have come breathless to tell thee that Tostig, thy brother, with pirate and war-ship, is wasting thy shores and slaughtering thy people!"
These boldly accused him of cruelty and avarice, and declared that many of his acts of severity were caused by his determination, under a show of justice, to possess himself of the wealth of those he condemned. Tostig then rose and declared before the assembly that the whole rising was the work of Harold. The latter simply denied the charge on oath, and his word was accepted as sufficient.
An exiled chief, however tyrannous and hateful, hath ever some friends among the desperate and lawless; and success ever finds allies among the weak and the craven, so many Northumbrians now came to the side of Tostig.
They seated themselves at the table, and Gurth spoke first: "Tostig has been with Count William." "I know it," said Harold. "It is rumoured that he has passed to our uncle Sweyn." "I foresaw it," said the King. "And that Sweyn will aid him to reconquer England for the Dane." "My bode reached Sweyn, with letters from Githa, before Tostig; my bode has returned this day.
Our wrongs found sympathy beyond our province, for liberty spreads over human hearts as fire over a heath. Wherever we march, friends gather round us. Thou warrest not on a handful of rebels, half England is with us!" "And ye, thegns," answered Harold, "ye have ceased to war against Tostig, your Earl. Ye war now against the King and the Law.
To outward appearance, by this election, the House of Leofric uniting in father and son the two mighty districts of Mercia and the East Anglians became more powerful than that of Godwin; for, in that last House, Harold was now the only possessor of one of the great earldoms, and Tostig and the other brothers had no other provision beyond the comparatively insignificant lordships they held before.
I outgrew all beakers and tankards, and not for long could he half-drown me in his mead pot. This last was a favourite feat of his. It was his raw humour, a sally esteemed by him delicious wit. My first memories are of Tostig Lodbrog's beaked ships and fighting men, and of the feast hall at Brunanbuhr when our boats lay beached beside the frozen fjord.
Then Judith approached with joy on her brow, and said: "We shall no more eat the bread of dependence even at the hand of a father; and since Harold hath no dame to proclaim to the Church, and to place on the dais, thy wife, O my Tostig, will have state in far England little less than her sister in Rouen." "Methinks so will it be," said Tostig.
"Your cause is hopeless. Harold, Tostig, and Gurth are carrying fire and sword through your valleys, and your people will have to choose between submission and death. Why should so hopeless a struggle continue? Gurth will be here shortly, and then the fate that has befallen the districts already subdued will light upon yours.
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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