Hugo

                                              The Battle of Stamford Bridge

Hello, my name is Hugo and I’m 24 years old. I was born in Norway and have been a Viking since I grew up. This is my journal about the battle of Stamford Bridge. I was fighting for Harald Hardraade. III

5^th January 1066

The king of England, Edward the Confessor died today without leaving any

heir. So the throne is unprotected and empty for anyone to fill.  There are three powerful men who claim the throne; Harold

Godwinson the powerful Earl of Essex, William Duke of Normandy and Harald

III Hardraade King of Norway (Colin Shepard).

6^th January 1066

The evil Harold Godwinson has been crowned secretly. What a

Coward! Now, he has collected all England’s troops for defence. We can expect a

tough fight.

3^rd September

We heard that Harold hasn’t any money left to pay his army. My

King Harald, collected his army as fast as he could. I, as

everyone else in the army wore a tunic and a pair of trousers. I said

goodbye to my wife, who wore her best dress with a long apron to honour

me (Vikings: Vikings at home.). Harald sailed to England with the company of 300 ships(Many Barrow).

7^th September

We have finally arrived at Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire in England. No army

was there to fight us. We were a little confused, but Harald told us

to relax and wait for the fight to come. I took his advice and sat down in the

grass and looked out at the water with a grass straw in my mouth.

25^th September

I had started to have second thoughts about fighting for Harald. Harold’s

army sounded so tough. Suddenly I spotted loads of men walking towards us.

It couldn’t be Harold’s army, Harald had told us they would come in two days, I thought, but a little part of me knew it was them. I called alarm. Since I was the first one to notice, I was one of the few who had the time to put on my armour properly. My armour consisted of a mail coat and a helmet made of iron. My wooden shield was heavy and beautifully painted and my long sword and axe was shining in the sunlight. I looked out at the battlefield, it was completely flat except a hill in the end that sharply rose up to 100 feet. It was a very good defence point. Many of my friends had left theirs armours and weapons at the boats so they would have to fight without them. Harald divided the army into two parts. He told one half to run and fight against Harold right now. They would hold up his army, so my half of the army could go up the hill and get organized for defence (Colin Shepard) . Harold’s army was so close now so we could smell what they had eaten for breakfast. I took farewell of my giant friend. He thanked me and said goodbye. My half of the army was now on the hill, our strategy was to make a shield wall by locking our shields together. Then Harald held a speech and he said:

"We never kneel in battle

Before the storm of weapons
And crouched behind our shields;
So the noble lady told me.
She told me once to carry
My head always high in battle
Where swords seek to shatter
The skulls of doomed warriors.”

(Trish Scott)

I saw one of the last soldiers in the other half of the army going down, a tear came down my cheek. I looked at the bridge and saw that the Saxons couldn’t pass it, and I wondered why. Then I noticed a giant viking standing in the middle of the bridge, slaying any Saxon that came to close (Alan Large). It was my best friend. I shouted “Come on!” the rest of my army heard this and joined the cheering, and my friend had brought back our hope. At last I saw him go down. The Saxons walked past the bridge and lined up and they created a shield wall with archers in the front. They tried to shoot us down with arrows, but they couldn’t reach us. They decided to march up to us. Now they were only about 50 feet from us. But neither army could break through the other’s shield wall. Suddenly all the Saxons ran back and we Normans were happy because we thought they were retreating. We broke up the shield wall and ran after them to finish them. Suddenly they turned around; too late I discovered it was a trap, now there was no shield wall to protect us (Alan Large). Now everyone was fighting for themselves. I did my best, but suddenly a huge Saxon hit me with his weapon, luckily my shield was in the way, but it was no use anymore. With my axe I hit him in the head. I saw an arrow go into Haralds chin. A second one came flying and hit him in the throat.

His last words were “It is a small arrow but it did its job” Only seconds later he died (Colin Shepard). It was a complete slaughter, and the air was filled with screams and the noise was unbearable. I felt something heavy hit my back and I fell on the ground and my vision became a blur.

30^th September

I woke up, I looked around and noticed that I was on a ship. I noticed Harald’s son and asked what was going on. He told me that he and I was one of the few survivors of the battle and the Saxons had won, I looked out at the sea and noticed only 24 ships. There were only 24 ships out of 300 that were needed to carry home the survivors.