20th
September 1066
Dear
journal,
We
just heard! The Vikings are in York, if the Saxon army sets of today and we
make good progress we can be at Stamford Bridge in about 5 days! I am serving
as a housecarl in the king’s army.
A Few Hours Later:
We
have just set off. I am carrying a shield on my back and I have a great Danish
Axe and a sword, and I am wearing lots of heavy chain mail. I don’t know how I
will carry all of this the whole way to York! We have lots to eat, like pears
and apples, and sometimes bread, so we are well taken care of even though we
are going to war. I am a bit nervous to go into battle, but I am eager to see
Viking blood flow!
I
must stop writing for now, as we must walk quickly,
Edward
24th
September 1066
Dear
Journal,
Today
we are about a days walk away from York we have made great progress! Once we
arrive we will be expecting a great battle! I am glad to be fighting for my
country, to help King Harold win the crown!
As
I mentioned before, I am carrying a great shield and an axe, and I am wearing a
lot of heavy chain mail. My load seems to become heavier every day, but soon we
will be there and hopefully we will have a great battle and destroy the Vikings
once and for all! If we are able to arrive soon we can catch the Vikings off
guard and hopefully win the battle!
Edward
25th
September 1066
Dear
journal,
We
have arrived at the River Derwent at a place called Stamford Bridge! After a
long walk it was a wonderful sight to see that Harald Hardrada and his army are
here! Even better, they were not expecting us so they are completely
unprepared! This is great for use because, many of their soldiers are just lying
around, relaxing. Most of them do not have their armour or weapons with them
because it is on the other side of the bridge. They have no time to prepare
because this battle is going to be a merciless one, I’m sure!
The
Vikings look so startled to see us. I guess they were not expecting us, but
this is just another good thing about making such good progress and getting
here so quickly. However I am quite tired from marching all this way, but I
don’t have a choice, I must forget my sore feet and fight for my country.
I
must continue writing another time as the King has ordered us to battle!
Edward
27th
September 1066
Dear
Journal,
We
won the battle! It is great to have defeated the Vikings! But first, I will
tell you what happened.
We
went into battle with the Vikings right away, and as they were not expecting us
they were very poorly prepared. But the Vikings king Harald Hardrada tried to
make a plan, he ordered half his army to stay on the side of the river we were
on to try and hold us up, and the other half to prepare for battle on the other
side. But we attacked and we drove most of the first half of Hardrada’s men
into the river and they drowned! Now all we had to do was cross the bridge and
we had won! Except there was still one Viking soldier on the bridge, and he was
killing everyone who tried to pass. However, then a brave soldier from the
Saxon army found an old washtub and used it to paddle under the bridge and push
his sword up through the cracks and stab the Viking soldier, killing him. Then
all of us were able to cross the river. But the Vikings had now had enough time
to assemble their shield wall so the only thing we could do was charge, but
unfortunately we couldn’t get through the shield wall they had formed by
interlocking all their shields. After this we stepped back to take a short
rest. After they had rested the fyrd ran forward but they turned and ran after
only a short battle. This tricked the Vikings into thinking they had won so
they disassembled their shield wall and chased us, but then the Fyrd started
attacking again and me and the other Housecarls ran and started attacking from
the back. This is the best advantage of my great axe it can kill a man with
only one hit!
It
took a while but eventually the Vikings were defeated and we won the battle!
I
feel so proud that we have won!
England
will hopefully have a great king now.
Edward
(Lauren)
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