Once someone shot first at Lexington, the much more powerful British army pushed the Americans back to Concord. However, reinforcements arrived for the Americans and, despite being one of the most heavily trained armies on Earth, they were pushed back to Boston, being ambushed by the inexperienced militia forces. Once the British troops were in Boston, the Americans surrounded the position.
Eventually the founding fathers realised that militia forces would not be enough to crush the British so had to organise an army, assigning George Washington to command. George headed north from Philadelphia whilst the British attempted to break the siege, planning to attack the northernly Bunker Hill. Spies warned the newly formed Continental Army of their plans so fortified Bunker Hill and the neighbouring Breeds Hill. The British began the offensive and, after two unsuccessful attempts, the Americans ran out of ammunition and were forced to retreat. The Battle of Bunker Hill was technically a British victory, despite having almost 3 times the casualties of the Continental Army.
A painting of the British charge up Bunker Hill.
However, many Americans were still not decided on what they were fighting for. Some radicals began throwing around independence, whilst others wanted to maintain relations with the British. The latter camp sent a letter to London, requesting the removal of the taxes and an ally ship. George III denied the request. Britain burnt down the towns of Falmouth, MA and Norfolk, VA, which the Americans used to show how brutal the British were. France and Spain, seeing this, sent supplies over to the colonies.
A drawing of Benedict Arnold
Meanwhile, we meet a man called Benedict Arnold. Arnold conducted a plan to take the British fort, Fort Ticonderoga, which had a lot of weapons and ammunition that he believed could be useful for the colony’s war effort. He set off to Ticonderoga by himself, wanting to recruit soldiers along the way. He eventually met the Green Mountain Boys, led by Ethan Allen, who had the same idea as Arnold. After a dispute of who should lead the capture of Ticonderoga, Allen was assigned to lead. Whilst the British were asleep, they took the British by supplies and managed to capture the fort and take the ammunition with little resistance. However, Allen took all the credit of the capture for himself, not even mentioning Arnold. He then attempted to stage an invasion of Canada. The Continental Army had managed to capture Montreal but were pushed back at Quebec, all the way to Fort Ticonderoga.
Henry Knox had an idea of what to do with all the guns and ammo they seized from the British at Ticonderoga. He grabbed some bison and got them to pull the guns and ammo through the harsh winter to Washington’s army in Boston, who very much needed the morale boost. Washington believed that a frontal assault would be necessary to end the siege, but junior officers believed that it would be too risky as they believed the British would be heavily fortified in their position. Thankfully, Washington listened and set up cannons on Dorchester Heights, overlooking the city overnight. Once morning came, the British knew they had no choice but to abandon the city, pulling 9000 soldiers out of the city. Washington had his first victory of the war.
A painting of the cannons being set up at Dorchester Heights
In 1492, Christopher Columbus, unknowingly, discovered the New World. This New World was rather notorious for having a lot of gold, leading many European countries to set up shop. After many years of waring with each other and the natives, the European powers had gained quite a decent amount of land.
A small strip between Britain and France’s land in the region was disputed by the two sides, until the British sent up-and-comer, George Washington to the region to sort things out. This eventually lead to the Seven Years War between Britain and France.
Britain came out as the victor but at a great monetary cost. In order to get their money back, they decided to tax the American colonies to hell and back. Think of any random every day object and there was probably a tax for it. Stamps? Paper? Sugar? Tea? All taxed
Not only this but the colonies had no representatives in Parliament, despite them being taxed. This is called “Taxation without Representation”, which was drilled into my brain by my Year 11 History teacher.
The Americans ended up boycotting all British goods, meaning Britain was still poor. Eventually, King George had to concede and removed all taxes except for the one on tea and sent 1000 British troops to Boston, forcing the colonists to pay.
On March 5th, 1770, a large group of Colonists came to protest against the soldiers. As back-up arrived for the soldiers, more Colonists arrived and began to throw things at the soldiers, from snowballs to rocks. Eventually, the soldiers had enough, took aim and fired.
A drawing of the Boston Massacre
5 civilians were killed in the massacre. Many Colonial newspapers claimed this was a brutal attack against the colonists and a war crime.
The people were incredibly angered and the violence escalated. Schooners that ran aground would be raided, pro-British politicians would have their houses burnt down and on December 16th, 1773, a group of colonists would disguise themselves as Native Americans, jump onto a shipment of tea and pour it all into the Boston Harbour.
A drawing of the Boston Tea party
In response, the British dissolved their assembly, revoked their charter and sent 3000 more troops to Boston. Boston was now a directly British Occupied City. And the people were angry. Fearing they may be next, other colonies gathered to discuss what to do next
The First Continental Congress. George Washington is depicted central and Benjamin Franklin is in the brown jacket on the left
They decided to politely ask Britain to stop and after they (obviously) said no, they decided to set up groups of soldiers across the 13 colonies, to be ready at a minute’s notice. Hearing this, the British sent out 700 troops into the American Occupied Massachusetts. After setting off to concord in the middle of the night, many Americans were heard to be in the streets yelling “The British are Coming!” The two sides encountered in Lexington. After minutes of yelling, one side shot first. This is considered to be the start of the Revolutionary War.
On the 2nd of September, 1666, at around 1 in the morning the Farriner Family had all gone to bed. All except the 23 year old daughter of the family, who went downstairs to grab a candle. When Thomas, the patriarch, testified to authorities later on, he claimed that nothing was out of the ordinary and that the fire in the oven of the bakery he owned. However, modern historians doubt this claim, and they suspect that a stray ember had ignited some twigs that were being stored nearby.
Thomas Jr woke up and noticed that the ground floor was on fire and quickly alerted his family but it was too late. The Farriners were trapped on the second floor by the billowing smoke, forcing them to escape via an upstairs window and onto a neighbour’s roof, raising the alarm that a fire had broken out.
A similar looking house to the architecture of Farriner Bakery on fire in the present day
Soon the fire spread upstairs, claiming the Farriner maid as the first victim of the fire, and sparks flew to other houses on the street. Due to the architecture of 17th Century London, Houses were tightly packed, which allowed for more space in homes but also fore the fire to spread more quickly. Not only that but the old Tudor style of building houses out of Wattle and Daub, essentially tightly woven stick panels glued with a mud like mixture, increased the spreadability of the fire. Despite the mud providing a fire proof cover for the wood, the poorer areas of London, where the fire started, were very decrepit, leaving the wood exposed.
One of the main documenters of the fire was Samuel Pepys, a diarist and naval administrator. His account showed that the fire did not bother that many Londoners in the slightest.
Some of our [maids] sitting up late last night to get things ready against our feast to-day, Jane called us up about three in the morning, to tell us of a great fire they saw in the City. So I rose and slipped on my [nightgown], and went to her window, and thought it to be on the backside of Marke-lane at the farthest; but, being unused to such fires as followed, I thought it far enough off; and so went to bed again and to sleep.
Samuel Pepys diary entry, September 2nd, 1666
Pepys’ experience was apparently the experience of many others too, who did not think the fire was that serious. Over the next week, they would soon be proven wrong. Mayor of London, Thomas Bludworth was, according to many historians, incompetent, and his inaction against the fire when it could’ve easily been stopped lead to the destruction of most of the city.
By morning, London descended into chaos, with every man, woman and child focusing more on themselves rather than the extinguishing of the fire. Due to a dry summer and strong winds, the fire spread rapidly, thankfully being stopped to spreading to the whole city by the River Thames. By the time the fire was extinguished, on the 6th of September, 80% of London had been damaged. Whilst, at the time, the Great Fire on London was viewed as a tragedy, it helped build the modern London we know today, and helped to introduce a proper, effective fire service but not just in London but across the country.
At the start of the war, Charles army was in desperate need of men. He went through the north from Nottingham, across to Derby before going down to Wolverhampton and up to Shrewsbury gathering an army along the way. Robert Duvreaux, third Earl of Essex, sent out a Parliamentary cavalry division out, before they were soon encountered by Cavalier forces lead by Prince Rupert of the Rhine and were sent running. Empowered by this initial victory, Charles left Shrewsbury, intending a direct march on London an attempt to strike the heart of the opposition and end the war quickly.
On the way down, he made a stop at Edgecote, where a 4,000 strong brigade would attempt to capture the Parliamentarian city of Banbury. However, they were unaware that Duvreaux was also in the area, attempting to defend Banbury from any possible attack. Before the brigade could be sent out, Charles’ divisions split across the towns. Rupert’s army found a Parliamentary division and found out that Duvreaux’s army was stationed at Kineton. A scout confirmed this and the Royalist army convened at Edgehill, 3 miles south of Kineton
A map of the battle
A small but ultimately ineffective artillery barrage proceeded the true battle, whilst a Royalist unit managed to find an ambush unit in the hedgerows. Eventually, the Royalist Cavalry on the right and left charged at the enemy cavalry opposing them on either side. The parliamentary Cavalry were forced to run away from the field and were chased down by the Royalists. Many suspect that if the Royalist cavalry had returned to the battlefield then, the civil war could’ve ended there in a Royalist victory.
However, the infantry soon began to fight, first firing muskets before stabbing each other with their pikes in close quarters combat. By the afternoon, severe casualties had been inflicting on both sides and, before dusk fell, Rupert finally returned from the charge. However, both sides had largely given up the will to fight and stopped fighting once night fell. By the next morning, the Royalists had left the field. The first major battle of the English Civil War was a draw, and the civil war would rage on for another 7 years.
King Charles I was the second king of the House of Stuart and was crowned in 1625. He was the second born son of King James I of England, who was originally James VI of Scotland before Elizabeth I’s death in 1603, who died without a direct heir. Due to his original Scottish title, the British Isles now became united under the house of Stuart.
A painting of King Charles I
Due to this series of coincidences leading to him taking the throne, Charles believed that he was chosen by God to rule England, and that no-one else could interfere with his choices, such as the nobles or people. Due to his belief in his God given right, many actions of his began to anger the English people, and especially angered Parliament.
An illustration of Parliament in the 17th Century
Unlike today, Parliament was not the governing body of the United Kingdom. They did not hold much executive power and could only convene legally when the King wanted them. However, they had gradually been gaining more power, with them being able to more efficiently raise taxes than the King, making it hard for the King to govern without the approval of Parliament.
Upon his ascension to the throne, King Charles, who was a Protestant, married the Catholic Henrietta Maria, the Sister of Louis XIII of France. While initially seen as a diplomatic marriage and good for international relations, the increasingly Catholic actions of Maria angered the largely Protestant country of England. Not only that but the Thirty Years War, a civil war that erupted in the Holy Roman Empire, was ongoing. Many wanted Charles to intervene in aide of their Protestant allies. Both of Charles’ attempts to assist were catastrophic failures, with many people believing that Charles mismanagement was the reason that the attacks failed.
In addition, the increased power of the Bishop of London, William Laud, was becoming a great concern. He was making his own sect of Protestantism called Arminianism, which shared a lot more similarities with Roman Catholicism than Protestantism. The now reformed Protestant country began to fear that, due to these actions, Charles was a Catholic Sympathiser. England was now a powder keg, and all it needed was one thing for it to explode.
A painting of Laud
Due to budget restrictions and the rising inflation, Parliament had decided to not raise taxes in 1625, despite the King’s need for money. He instead went about privately collecting the money himself. Many who opposed the money collection were imprisoned without trial, a practice which many Parliamentarians viewed as abusing his power. John Pym, the MP for Tavistock, was a main proponent of the Petition of Right, a bill that limited Charles’ power when it came to collecting money. Parliament supported Pym and a large session was held in which Charles’ money collections were announced in front of the entire room. Charles was outraged and decided to dissolve Parliament in 1629. For the next 11 years, England would be ruled by Charles and Charles alone.
Whilst many from the outside viewed England as a prospering country under the sole rule of Charles, the situation on the inside was a very different story. The need for money was still dire. He began by selling monopolies to individuals or companies. Whilst gaining money for himself, Charles’ actions had angered the people. Merchants could not trade if they were not included in the monopoly, whilst the people were having to pay higher prices for a significantly worse product.
He began introducing old medieval ways of collecting money. One such way were fines for building houses outside the planned city limits of London. While during the middle ages these were intended to deter people away from living in the forests around London, Charles wanted to keep them there in order to keep fining them and making more money. Whilst technically legal, it was very unpopular with the people.
Not only that, but Charles had many Catholic advisors and he felt more comfortable around them. Many believed that Charles was becoming a Catholic, which they feared due to Mary I’s tyrannical Catholic reign, involving the burning of Protestants at the stake, that wasn’t even a century behind them. The people believed that Maria and Laud, who had become the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633, were introducing more and more Papal Influence into the country. Three Puritans, a branch of extreme and conservative Protestantism, named John Bastwick, Henry Burton and William Prynne heavily criticised the actions of Laud. For this crime, they had their ears cut off, a highly controversial act.
One major part of his religious reforms was enforcing the new Book of Common Prayer onto Scotland, in an attempt to make a unified church across Britain. Riots broke out in protest of the enforcement of the new book and Charles quickly sent in the military to deal with the crisis. During the uprising, the English were pushed back and the Scottish Rebels managed to capture a large part of the North East. In order to keep the Scots from pillaging and burning down Northern villages, Charles had to pay them £850 a day
A painting of the Scottish Rebellions of 1637
However, he soon ran out of funding. Realising he could not efficiently collect enough money by himself so recalled parliament. The MPs used this opportunity to continue to criticise Charles self proclaimed “Personal Rule”, a period which Parliamentarians called “The 11 Years Tyranny”. After only a few weeks, this Parliament, nicknamed the Short Parliament, was dissolved and Charles continued to wage war against the Scots without Parliament’s support. Due to even more military losses, Charles was yet again forced to recall Parliament in November of 1640
Many acts were passed through Parliament that angered the king. The most important of which was one that prevented the King from dissolving Parliament whenever he wished. Infuriated, Charles gathered 400 soldiers and marched on Parliament, in an attempt to arrest 5 of the politicians who had been pushing these bills. However, they knew of Charles’ plans and went into hiding.
A painting of Charles attempting to arrest the ministers
This failed arrest did nothing but turn more people against Charles. Fearing for his family’s safety, Charles fled up north, gathering an army. In London, Parliamentarians gathered their own armies. The country was divided, with Charles’ Royalists (Cavaliers) in the North and the Parliamentarians (Roundheads) in the South. The English Civil War had begun
Henry VIII was the 2nd king of the Tudor period, started by his father in 1485. He is known for many things, his wars, his gluttony, and his tyrannical rule, but he is most well known for the sheer multitude of wives he had throughout his reign. Here is the story of Henry’s Famous 6 Wives.
Catherine of Aragon (married 1509-1533)
A painting of Catherine of Aragon
Catherine was the widow of his dead brother, Arthur, who was originally intended to be the King instead of Henry. Henry VII had arranged for Arthur and Catherine to marry since Arthur was 3, in order to form an alliance with Spain. By the time Arthur died, Henry was 11 and Catherine was 17. The Bible says that marrying your brother’s widow is not allowed:
If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonoured his brother. They will be childless.
Leviticus 20:21
Therefore, Henry VII had to strike a deal with the Pope, in order for the marriage to go ahead. Henry VIII became king and was married to Catherine of Aragon in 1509, at the age of 18. Historians have described their marriage as “unusually good”. However things took a turn for the worse.
The Pope had gone to war with France and needed some assistance. Wanting to go down as one of the great kings who conquered France, Henry attacked. Meanwhile, Catherine was pregnant and lead a great victory against the Scottish. Unfortunately, the wars lost funding and once he returned home, he found out Catherine had given birth to a girl, Mary. This was the 5th pregnancy for her, the other 4 having all died in infancy or come out stillborn, and it was a girl. Henry needed a male heir. In addition, he and the King of Spain, Charles V, had made a deal to invade France together and Henry would take the throne, with Charles being arranged to marry Mary, despite the two of them being cousins and he was 22.
After 2 English invasions without Spanish support, Henry decided to not go on a third invasion. However, this time, the Spanish managed to capture the French King at Pavia. When Henry asked about their deal that he would get the throne, Charles turned his back on the deal, did not hand over the throne and backed out of the marriage.
Henry considered his wife to only have two purposes, keeping an alliance with Spain and giving him a male heir, both of which she could not do. It was around this time that Henry began to put on weight and his eyes drifted to one of Catherine’s ladies in waiting, Anne Boleyn.
Anne Boleyn (married 1533-1536)
A painting of Anne Boleyn
Boleyn was a stunning, smart and cultured young woman, just the ticket Henry was after. Whilst Henry had many mistresses, including Anne’s sister, Anne did not want to be just a mistress to Henry and wanted to be Queen. He’d send love letters to her, but she’d keep him at a distance, meaning he’d always want more.
He turned to Cardinal Wolsey, one of the King’s top advisors, requesting that he wanted a divorce from Catherine and wanted it done quietly. However, Wolsey went to Pope Clement VII instead of just doing it himself. And since Charles was heir to the Holy Roman Empire so had a close diplomatic relationship with Clement, everyone in Europe soon found out. However, the divorce trial went ahead. The outcome Henry wanted was predicated on the Bible verse mentioned above, especially the childless part, citing the fact he did not have a male heir as proof, arguing that the old Pope had made an error in allowing him to marry his brother’s widow and that divorce was the only solution. However, an anonymous source sent the love letters that Anne had received to Clement, leading him to believe that the reason he wanted a divorce was so he could get with Anne. Clement eventually sent a cardinal over to oversee the trial, who would consistently deny any request that Henry made, citing his gout as reasons he could not go through with it. Anne began to suspect that Clement was just delaying the inevitable, and after 2 long years of trial, he denied Henry’s divorce.
Furious at this betrayal, considering all the physical defences against France and the ideological ones against Martin Luthers Protestantism, he dismissed Wolsey and sentenced him to death, who died a year later from an illness, and began making efforts to remove Papal Influence from English life. He, along with a group of scholars and theologians, claimed that the Pope was taking over the English Church by his rule. Many supported him, and those that didn’t were executed. Henry declared himself Supreme Head of the English Church, and one of his first acts was to divorce his wife and marry Anne Boleyn.
Due to his current wife’s Protestant beliefs, they began taking all the valuable assets and money from Catholic churches, on the grounds of fraud, by selling fake fragments of the cross and selling vials of “Jesus’ blood” which they allegedly got from ducks. Whether these accusations were true or not is still up to debate. Catholics who were unhappy about the dissolving of the monasteries were executed.
A photo of a monastery after the dissolution
He funnelled the money into hobbies, like partying, banquets (in which they’d eat 5000 calories a day), playing music and jousting. On one such jousting occasion, Henry got into a horrible accident at Greenwich Palace. He was thrown fully armoured from his horse, also fully armoured, and the horse then fell on top of him. He was unconscious for two hours. Historians believe that this incident accelerated his fall into tyranny. Anywhere between 57,000 to 72,000 people were executed during his reign, the most famous of which was his one wife, Anne Boleyn.
Just like Catherine, Anne had been pregnant 4 times, having been able to bare only one daughter, Elizabeth. Rumours also circulated that Anne had been going around, insulting his manhood. Henry called upon his new advisor, Thomas Cromwell, to deal with Anne. Cromwell, not wanting to end up like Wolsey, he found a musician, who had been openly flirtatious with Anne, and forced a confession that Anne was committing adultery with him. Anne ended up being charged, as well as incest, conspiracy to kill the King and perversion. The jury found her guilty, a jury that included her uncle and ex-fiancee, and she was sentenced to death, being executed on May 19th 1536.
Jane Seymour (married 1536-1537)
A painting of Jane Seymour
The next day, Henry married one of Anne’s ladies in waiting, Jane Seymour. She was soon pregnant and, the devout Catholic she was, requested that he reestablish the monasteries. Henry bluntly told her to remember what happened to Anne, as he was tired of his previous wife meddling with his business. By October 1537, Seymour had given birth to Edward, Henry’s first and only male heir. Unfortunately, Jane died only 12 days later due to complications with the birth. Henry mourned her loss for 2 whole years. Cromwell had eventually lined up for Henry to marry Anne of Cleves.
Anne of Cleves (married January to July of 1540)
A painting of Anne of Cleves
Anne was the sister of a German Duke, but Henry went off appearances alone, despite having gained a lot of weight and not being able to exercise it off due to a leg injury he obtained in the accident and Greenwich Palace. The painting shown above is the one he was shown by Cromwell, who assured him that she was beautiful. However, upon arriving in England, she did not meet Henry’s standards saying that she resembled a Flanders Mare, a breed of horse. He in fact found his wife so incredibly unattractive that he had Cromwell executed for recommending her to him, and he never wanted to consummate the marriage. Mind you, by this time, Henry weighed around 300lb or 136kg and was oozing puss from his leg due to the accident. Only 6 months later he divorced her.
Catherine Howard (married 1540-1541)
A painting of Catherine Howard
Whilst Cromwell was being executed, Henry married Catherine Howard at the age of 49, whilst she was only 17. Naturally, being married to an almost 50-year-old obese man who leaked puss was not the most desirable choice for a young attractive woman so she allegedly began having extra-marital affairs. She was swiftly executed in 1541 for her “treasonous” behaviour
Catherine Parr (married 1543-1547)
A painting of Catherine Parr
Henry eventually married Catherine Parr, his sixth and final wife. She apparently cared for Henry very well, helped convince him to restore his two daughters to the line of succession, after Edward, and was somewhat of a family mediator. They disagreed on their theology a lot but other than that small hiccup the marriage was somewhat successful, until Henry’s gluttony finally caught up to him in 1547 and he passed away at the age of 55. Parr passed away only 1 year later at 36, due to issues with the birth of her only daughter, Mary Seymour.
Over many many years, the Pope had been used as a puppet by European countries to gain leverage and power in politics. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Charlemagne requested of the Pope to be nominated Holy Roman Emperor. This formed a circular power struggle, wherein the Pope had power over the Holy Roman Emperor but the Holy Roman Emperor had power over the Pope. This created multiple feuds spanning over centuries in Europe, especially in Northern Italy.
Northern Italian City states began becoming independent, picking an either pro-Emperor (Ghibelline) or pro-Pope (Guelph) side. Many states switched between the two. One famous conflict was between the Ghibelline Mondena and the Guelph Bologna. The two cities had been feuding for years and this conflict between the Pope and the Emperor was the final push.
The first thing that needs to be established is that Bologna had a well. A traditional well with a bucket. By this time, this system of collecting water had become antiquated, but by lord did Bologna love this bucket.
In 1249, a large battle ensued, ending in a Bolognese victory, to which they catapulted a live donkey into Modena
Yes, someone actually drew this image of a live donkey, prepped on the catapult. He looks so shocked and bemused. I don’t think he knew what was about to happen
Ever since the battle, the two cities would take groups into each other’s territory and wreak havoc on the other side. On one such trip in 1325, perpetrated by the Bolognese, the Modenese had enough
In the South West of their territory, the Bolognese had two forts guarding their area, Monteveglio and Zappolino. The Modenese lay seige upon and eventually captured Monteveglio
Around this time, a myth circulated that Bologna’s bucket had been stolen by Modena and this was the real reason for the war, whilst actually the bucket was most likely never stolen and the reason for the war was probably just their fort being taken.
Bologna split their forces. One half was to take back Monteveglio and the other half was stationed at various points along the river dividing the two territories. Modena managed to bait the Bolognese forces into going North before crossing the river at the south. Whilst the Bolognese expected them to break the siege at Monteveglio, they instead took Zappolino. Not being able to afford the loss of both of their forts, Bologna moved all their forces to defend Zappolino.
The forces encountered one another outside Zappolino and after a fight at sunset, the Modenese won, and chased the Bolognese back to Bologna. Upon arrival, they did not lay siege. Instead they set up camp and partied for the next three days, before stealing Bologna’s bucket and leaving.
A peace treaty was agreed upon, wherein Bologna would pay war reparations to Modena if Modena agreed to give back all stolen territory. Modena kept the bucket. It sits on display in Modena City Hall to this day.
Finally, the wind had changed direction and William could finally set course for England. Harold, being all the way up in York, had to go all the way back down. He set up camp in London, hoping for William to come to him, but William burned down villages, forcing Harold’s hand.
Harold’s forces placed themselves a top a hill in Hastings, with the Norman troops at the base of the hill. After a long stand off, The Norman Infantry charged up the hill. Then William brought the infantry back down and sent the cavalry up instead, this repeated for a few hours until something changed.
Some suspect that soldiers believed William had been killed. Others say it was a tactical decision. Others say that the Normans were just tired. Whatever the case may be, the Norman soldiers fled down the hill. The Saxons followed, allowing the Normans to encircle them and decimate them. Harold Godwinson was killed during this, the leading theory being that he was shot in the eye.
A tapestry depicting Harold’s (alleged) fatal wound
William was crowned King of England on Christmas Day, 1066. When the crowd cheered outside Westminster Abbey, William believed it to be a riot and burned down the village. After a long campaign of suppressing rebellions and burning down more villages, William was accepted as the official King of England.
After a breakneck 4 day long trek from the south of England to the North, Harold Godwinson and his army encounter Harald Hadrada and his men at Stamford Bridge, who were unprepared for battle. Despite such a disorganised army, legend has it that one berserker Viking held off the Saxon troops on the bridge until the Saxons came from underneath the bridge and stabbed him in the crotch. This defence gave the Vikings enough time to get prepared and form a shield wall. However, a lot of these Vikings were so unprepared that they didn’t even wear helmets or armour. They were defeated quickly and Harald was killed in the battle, bringing the Viking Era of Britain to a swift conclusion.
Winds were coming down from the north, keeping William in France. Harold waited on the English coast. Eventually, he began running out of supplies for his troops and disbanded his army. But these winds took Harald, assisted by Tostig Godwinson (Brother of Harold Godwinson), down to the Shetlands, Orkneys and, finally, North England. The vikings set up camp and pillaged York for food, water and supplies.
Two earls, Morcar of Northumbria and Edwin of Mercia, went north to meet Harald, at Fulford. The battle was in a marshy stream. The armies stood on either side, staring the enemy down. The stream cleared and the armies charged. Sword and spears impaled the enemy. The Vikings and Saxons(English) reported that Morcar was a brave leader fending off every viking in his way, and soon did Harald. Harald was in the reserve. He ordered the reserve to come from behind and attack the Saxons. He killed everyone in his path. When Harold received the information, he traveled from London to York, gathering his army on the way.
