Battle at Stamford Bridge

                                                                    20^th 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

                                                                  24^th 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

                                                                        25^th 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 

                                                                       27^th 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)

Diary of a British Soldier

                                      Diary Entries

Tuesday, 9^th October 1066

         1066 has been a very tiring year, first the battle of Stamford Bridge and now this battle. Right now we are half way to the South of England; we are going there for another battle. I hope we are getting there soon because my armor is so heavy I’ve got to carry the shield which is made out of wood and some bits of metal, the metal armor and my sword, which is quite a lot. Although the food is quite good, we eat fruits such as apples and pears and sometimes even beer or cheese, which is a relief, even though I can’t afford to buy so much food and I don’t get to eat a variety of things, such as the nobles. Eating fruits and of course some other food everyday is boring, but its okay, I guess I have bigger problems. I miss home and my village and my goat, oh my goat! She is the only way I can make money; I sell her milk to the farmers and make money, enough for some clothes and some food, which is good. All I want right now is to go back home and have a proper rest. I am beginning to feel uncomfortable around these people, we may be neighbors, but still, we spend days together and if you understand the feeling, I guess you don’t like it either. They’ve been murmuring about the battle of Stamford Bridge, even though we won, it hurts me to think about it. I lost a lot of friends, well not quite friends, but people I knew that I talked to at the market. I am sure that the Vikings weren’t expecting that, a lot of them were killed. Hadraada himself was killed. I was one of the thousands that made it through.

            I am so anxious to get it over with, to win and to go home to my family, if I make it though, I’ve heard a lot about William the Duke of Normandy, and they said he was bringing 700 ships and horses. They have the resources enough to build very strong ships. Thing we don’t have in my village. My armor is so heavy and the soldiers around me smell so bad, I am kind of used to the smell now but it is still disturbing to think that we have spent so much time without washing ourselves, or even just washing our faces. In my opinion Harold should be king, he has made England many favors such as taking care of the kingdom after King Edward died, and without him there wouldn’t have been peace after Edward’s death. He was crowned king already, I don’t know why we need to come and fight against the Normans, they have no right to rule England, they come from Normandy, But I can’t do much; I am just a soldier in the fyrd.

Saturday, 13^th October 1066

            We’ve just arrived in Battle and I can see the Normans in the distance, we have to get in position to fight, we’ve spotted Senlac Hill and we’ve started to position ourselves on the hill to form a shield wall, after that we started to lock the shields, that way the Normans won’t be able to get through to kill anybody.  It doesn’t feel right to kill someone; in my point of view, killing people is a crime.

Sunday 14^th October 1066

The battle will begin in no time, soon I could be dead, or fighting for my life. The air is of suspense. It begun, the Normans are approaching; I can see arrows that have failed to hit us. They seem confused. They’ve organized their army in several groups, in the middle all the Normans, the on the right the Bretons and on the left the rest of the Europeans, behind them there are the archers, who have failed to kill anybody at the moment.  Then right behind them, my worst fear, the cavalry, strong, powerful horses, lined up to run and attack us, they would hit us with a huge force. They are coming, I see them, images of my life rush in front of my eyes, I wish I had enjoyed it more. Fighting is going on, blood all over, I am just standing strong to keep the shield wall strong and firm, the corpses of the dead that would hold their shields don’t fall, they remain clasping onto their shields as everyone is squashed , I lost my sword so I protect myself even more. I am trying to grab my mate’s sword, he’s dead. I begin to kill people, it’s the only way that I’ll go back home. The Normans back away, then some soldiers chase them, I don’t, King Harold hasn’t given orders, the Saxons that ran are in a trap, I can hear screams and swords in the distance. The Bretons had planned that. They all attack the side of the shield wall that broke when the rest of the Saxons chased the Bretons. The Normans have the advantage now, it’s not good at all, they are changing places, I can’t see properly as they are down the hill, but I see the archers coming forward, yes they are coming forward. They are getting ready to shoot their carefully carved arrows; they even have feathers in the end to make them look fancier. They shoot, I see the arrows coming in my direction, the arrow is coming and I did it, I am alive, I know we lost as King Harold has been killed an arrow in his eye; only a few people survived. That was The Battle of Hastings, 1066

(Antonia, 7A)