A Soldier

Soldier

Journal Entry 1

Dear Diary,

Yesterday we had our battle against the Vikings. It was quiet easy to beat them because they were not expecting us to come at that time. We were travelling very fast. While we were celebrating, the messengers came and told us some very bad news. William the Duke of Normandy invaded England for the throne. The other bad news were that he invaded it on the other part of England if looking at where we were. We were confused, while we were celebrating the win against the Vikings the wind changed and it let them conquer England. Harold is angry at William and he couldn’t even go to sleep. He told us that tomorrow we are going to the south of England, to fight William. It will be a very hard battle for us, but we need to defeat them so that England could remember us. The people who fought with two armies in two weeks. The ones that saved England from two invaders. When we had our diner, everyone was so quiet because they were thinking about how long it will take for us to travel to the south and how we will fight them. Ok, it is already time to rest, I don't want to miss my sleep time.

Journal Entry 2

Dear Diary,

Today we are setting off to go to the south part of England and still Harold is not feeling well, but we believe that we still could win the battle. We are so confused about how fortunate we were when we fought the Vikings and how unfortunate we are now when we need to fight a stronger army. Harold is so angry at William that he already cursed him a lot of times. It is not funny at all because we have to travel to the south and that is a very long distance. The messengers came today and told us news that are not good for us. William is burning down houses and killing people that are trying to save England. When Harold heard that news, he told us that we are not going to rest in London so if someone is not strong enough to fight they could run away. No one did because they knew that there is also a long distance to London. Everyone thought that we will win the battle. Our supplies are nearly finished and that is why we are not resting much. This were the worst days of our lives. Ok, I think it is time for me to go.

Journal Entry 3

Dear Diary,

Today is the second day of our adventurous travelling to the battle with William the Duke of Normandy. We are all tired, but Harold told us what we have to do in the battle. He told us that we should start with a shield wall and hold it until they tired of breaking it. When they will be tired or if they will be tired, we will attack. The weather was very windy and it was nice for the battle. When it is too sunny, I ccouldn't fight because it is very hot in the gear I am wearing. Harold is now less angry at William, but he still wants to kill William. The others are more not thinking about the battle, not like me. My heart is in the battle and I want this time to go past very fast, so that it is like there is no battle. I want the world to be peaceful because many people are thinking of invading another country. I don't think that we could actually win this battle because it will be very hard for us of this long travelling. Still we saved our time by not going to London to get supplies and rest. It is very hard by not resting and not having enough food. We are all begging the God to let us win this battle and just rest by being the heros of the country. I have to go now, we are going to the place where we will make history.

Journal Entry 4

Dear Diary,

Today is our fourth day of travelling and I am already tired of two things: writing everything that happened in the journal and travelling a very long way to the south of England. I am so bored that I don't really feel like eating food. No one is talking to me, except Harold when he tells us what we have to do in the battle and when the messengers come to tell us what bad things are happening with England. They tell us news that are worse and worse. William actually does bad things to England. The one thing that he doesn't do the things that he has rules with. He doen't kill innocent people, pregnant women, babies or children that are small. William does kill people that want to save England because he wants them to get out of the way. He really wants to get the crown and I believe that Edward the Confessor promised him the throne. This debate about the throne is so confusing, but there are only two people left that could get the throne. It would've been way easier if Edward would've had children that could've taken the throne without even having this massive wars between each other. It is nearly time to go to sleep, so I think that I don't have much time to write evrything that happened in the journal, but I will write the most of it. About the battle, it will be very good because Harold and William are both good leaders, so I think that both armies have the same chances of winning. Except, we are so tired that we could barely move ourselves, that is why we have a defensive tactic. I think that this the time I have to go to sleep.

Journal Entry 5

Dear Diary,

Today is our fifth day of travelling already and we are near the place where we meet William. We are so ready, but still we are tired. We could already see the smoke from the burning houses. We couldn't really see the town because of the smoke around it. We sat a camp and we have people that check that no Norman comes to our camp. The whole evening we were planning about how we win the battle. If they do everything that we think they will do, we will probably win the battle. We are quiet nervous because we could all die or some of us will stay alive. They have reputation about their army because they don't drink and they have many laws. William is very strict to them. I know this by the messengers who disguised themselves as Norman fighters. Harold was feeling quiet sick and tired, so he went to sleep early. All of Saxon soldiers were hoping that he will be alright because we need a leader that will tell us what to do if something goes wrong. None of us soldiers could replace Harold because he is one of a million. He is strong and powerful, he is also not fearful. The thing that is very good about him is that he is not afraid of fighting near us. Sometimes leaders don't like fighting because they only like being the leader or the head of everyone, telling everyone what to do and where to go. It is also time for me to go to sleep, it is early, but I need to be ready for the battle.

Journal Entry 6

Dear Diary,

Today is a very sunny day which is not ok by me because it will be very hot. I am unfortunate again and again it is very bad. I am not feeling well and my legs are tired of travelling without resting much. Now we could see the houses with roofs or some furnace missing. Then we saw a very big crowd of people directed to our camp. They were looking like soldiers, they were Normans. We all quickly got all our gear and weapons with shields. I twas time, time my heart was racing so fast. We stood at the hill and it was a very good position to be in. They had many people: archers, knights and soldiers. They had three times more than our army did, but it was not about the number of people, it was about how strong and not fearful they were. We made our shield and they started shooting arrows, but they couldn't get us because we were up the hill. They had a lot of arrows that looked like a rain when they were flying into our shields or above our heads. When they found out that the arrows were not damaging us, they started moving and that is what we wanted. We threw our axes and spears without even thinking that we will nedd them to fight. They couldn't break through our shield wall.

Journal Entry 7

Dear Diary,

They couldn't break our shield wall for aprozimattely an hour. Then they started running back, we ran after them and then found out that we broke our shield wall. They were ahlfway to win the battle. Their cavalry started moving and killing many of many friends. It was scary, there was a lot of blood and then I don't know what really happened to me. I turned around and just ran away. I ran away from the battle that I was thinking about. I heard many screams and one of them was someones that cried about Harold being dead. When I heard that I knew that we lost the battle. It was very quiet. I came back to the place where we had our battle. There were no Normans, only dead bodies of my friends. I saw the body of Harold Godwinson and I made a grove for him. I couldn't believe that we or Saxons lost the battle and now William was the King of England. It was all my fault thet Harold died I shouldn't have gone away. I lied down near the grove and peacefully died near the person that I think was only one of. This is the end of a normal person that was asked to join the army. It was not a very peaceful life, but there were some happy moments when I just wanted to burst out laughing.

(Alimzhan)

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.

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)