In January 1066, the English King Edward the Confessor died.Edward had no children and no living brothers.The new King wasn’t clear.There were three main contenders to the throne.
I'm Harold Godwinson, brother of the dead king's wife.
I'm William, the Duke of Normandy. I'm cousin of the dead king.
I'm Harald Hardrada, the King of Norway.
Harold Godwinson was chosen as the new king!
That decision didn't make William and Hardrada happy! They both wanted to invade England and become kings!
Harold's big dilemma!
I will put my army on the South to defend England from an invasion from William.
The weather was not good in the South, so William didn't invade straight away. Meanwhile, the weather was good in the North, so Hardrada landed and invaded England first.
Oh no! I've made the wrong decision and Hardrada invaded first.I need to move my army to the North quickly!
Amazingly, Harold gets his army there in just 4 days!The distance from London to York is 187 miles!
Now that Hardrada is dead, I need to move back to the South, because William landed at Hastings and he's preparing an attack!
Hardrada has been defeated at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, on th 25th of September 1066.