Danish chieftains, Hinguar and Hubba, brought a powerful fleet into the Humber, and therewith passed their land forces over the river into Northumbria, directing the march of their principal forces upon York, and marking their track in blood and ashes. The common danger arrested the course of the internecine feud, and Osbert and Ella proposed to combine their forces for the defence of the capital. Before this junction could, however, be effected the Northmen fell upon York, and Osbert, without waiting for his ally, threw himself into the city, and attacked the advancing Danes. For a time the battle raged hotly. The banners were brought to the front, and the leaders fought gallantly beneath them, animating their followers by their example and exhortations. So fierce was the defence of the Northumbrians that the Danes were driven back, but only to again struggle forward through dust and blood to the devoted city. Osbert and his chieftains strove nobly to hold up against the heavy masses that bore down upon them with such determined energy. Again and again they cast themselves upon the steel-bound ranks of their enemies, only to be borne down in the press, before the descending swords, and lie beneath the feet that pressed forward and entered the city in triumph. Scarcely had Hubba and Hinguar established themselves, before Ella approached, and addressed himself to the storming of the walls. So fierce and stubborn was the onslaught, that his troops broke through the defences and penetrated the Danish lines. The Northman was never more to be feared than when at bay, with the sword above his head. The Danes sallied out, slew or drove out all the Northumbrians who had entered the city, and, engaging them in the open field, put Ella and the flower of his army to the sword. The day was fittingly concluded by a fiendish massacre of the citizens of York.

In Saxon and Danish times Northumbria was continually invaded, and in the days of King Athelstan the famous battle of Brunanburgh was fought north of the Humber, and, if we may attach any importance to the speculations of some of our Yorkshire antiquaries, our favoured county was the scene of that desperate conflict. As a matter of fact, the exact locality of the battle has not yet been established on sufficient evidence, and no doubt our historians will continue to regard it as unascertained.

II.—BATTLE OF STAMFORD BRIDGE.

A.D. 1066.

Two circumstances secured the triumph of William, Duke of Normandy, when he invaded Saxon England in the year 1066. The first was the temporary withdrawal of the Saxon fleet, for the purpose of securing supplies; the second was the enmity of Tosti Godwinsson, who incited Harold Hardrada to attempt the subjugation of the island. Had the Saxon fleet kept the sea, had Harold encountered the invader with the unbroken strength of his army of defence, the Norman might have effected a landing, but it would have been with decimated forces, and probably in the face of an army that would have offered a desperate resistance to their disembarkation, and would have called them to an even more bloody conflict than that of Senlac.

The chain of events which led to the Battle of Stamford Bridge may be traced back to that memorable scene when the aged and heroic Northumbrian, Jarl Siward, lay dying in his house at York. Disdaining to meet death in other than his customary guise of warrior and chief, he caused his servitors to invest his gigantic frame in the iron panoply of war, to arm him with the heavy sword and tempered battle-axe which he had so long and ably employed in the national service, and so breathed his last, leaving the wild hordes of Northumbria to be disposed of by King Edward, for his son, the afterwards far-famed Waltheof, was too young to rule over so extensive and warlike a province. No doubt Harold employed his great influence with King Edward to secure the aggrandisement of his own family, for his brother Tosti was invested with command of the province.

Tosti was the most froward of the sons of Godwin, and showed none of the high qualities and sincere patriotism which distinguished Godwin and his son Harold.

Cruel and passionate, Tosti was ill-fitted to govern a proud and inflammable people like the Northumbrians. The following passage from Roger of Wendover illustrates the violent disposition of the Earl: “Tosti quitted the King’s court in a rage, and coming to the city of Hereford, where his brother Harold had prepared a great feast for the King, he cut off the limbs of all the servants, and put an arm, or some other member, in each of the vessels of wine, mead, ale, or pickle; after which he sent a message to the King, that on coming to his lodgings, he would find the food seasoned to his mind, and that he should take care to carry away the delicacies with him.”

Tosti’s rule in Northumbria came to a sudden termination, A.D. 1065. The “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” thus records the event: “All the thanes in Yorkshire and Northumberland gathered themselves together, and outlawed their Earl, Tosty, and slew his household men, all that they might come at, as well English as Danish: and they took all his weapons at York, and gold and silver, and all his treasures which they might anywhere there hear of, and sent after Morkar, the son of Elgar the Earl, and chose him to be their Earl: and he went south with all the shire, and with Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, and Lincolnshire, until he came to Northampton: and his brother Edwin came to meet him with the men who were in his earldom, and also many Britons came with him. There came Harold, the Earl, to meet them; and they laid an errand upon him to King Edward, and also sent messengers with him, and begged that they might have Morkar for their Earl. And the King granted it, and sent Harold again to them at Northampton, on the eve of St. Simon’s and St. Jude’s Mass; and he made known the same to them, and delivered a pledge thereof to them: and he there renewed Canute’s law. But the northern men did much harm about Northampton whilst he went on their errand, inasmuch as they slew men and burned houses and corn; and took all the cattle which they came at, that was many thousand: and many hundred men they took and led north with them; so that shire, and the other shires which there are nigh, were for many years the worse. And Tosty the earl, and his wife, and all those who would what he would, went south over sea with him to Baldwin, the earl, and he received them all; and they were all the winter there.”

The indignation of Tosti was extreme, and was not unnaturally directed towards his brother, Harold, who had used his influence with the Confessor to obtain the pardon of the turbulent Northumbrians, and the confirmation of Morkar in the possession of the earldom. That Harold was actuated by personal motives cannot be questioned, for he procured the government of Mercia for Earl Edwin, and espoused the sister of these potent nobles. It was obvious that a crisis must come in his history, and in that of his country, and as a man and a patriot he could not afford to be hampered by the crimes of his brother, and by the disaffection and revolt of a province so remote and difficult of access as Northumbria. Although Harold was at the head of an army when he treated with the Northumbrians at Northampton, it is apparent from the passage already quoted that they were assembled in such numbers and array, that any attempt to reinstate Tosti in the earldom would have resulted in a battle,