6 1066 and All That1 Miracula S. Wulframni. Quoted by Haskins, p. 259 2 According to the tradition preserved by William of Apulia, at any rate. Amatus of Monte Cassino tells a different story, but in his account too, the first Normans recruited as mercenaries in southern Italy are described as originally having been pilgrims.3 Amatus of Monte Cassino, 1.2 4 Dudo, 269. He is referring to Richard I.5 The theory is Bachrach’s. See Fulk Nerra, pp. 228–9 6 Not, as is conventionally alleged, a tanner. See Van Houts (1986).7 See Searle (1986).8 Glaber, 4.22 9 Adam of Bremen, 4.21 10 William of Poitiers, 1.44 11 William of Jumièges, vol. 2, p. 92 12 Encomium Emmae Reginae, 2.16 13 Geoffrey of Malaterra, 1.3 14 Orderic Vitalis, 4.82 15 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Abingdon Manuscript), entry for 1042 16 William of Poitiers, 1.7 17 Ibid., 1.48 18 Snorri Sturluson, The Ynglinga Saga, 1 19 From an epitaph inscribed on a rune stone, memorialising adventurers who had travelled to “Serkland.” Quoted by Page, p. 89 20 The derivation of the name is widely, but not universally, accepted. The socalled “Normanist controversy” – the question of whether the Rus were predominantly Scandinavian or Slavic – has been a point of issue between Western and Russian scholars for two hundred years. See Franklin and Shepherd, pp. 28 passim, for a concise overview.21 Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos, p. 94 22 Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla. The Saga of Olaf Haraldsson, chapter 238 23 Ibid., chapter 199 24 Snorri Sturluson, King Harald’s Saga, chapter 2 25 Ibid.26 Russian Primary Chronicle, p. 111 27 Michael Psellus, p. 33 28 Snorri Sturluson, King Harald’s Saga, chapter 5 29 Ibid., chapter 12. One plausible suggestion is that Harald’s undoubted presence in Jerusalem related to the restoration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. See Ellis Davidson, p. 219 30 Snorri Sturluson,
King Harald’s Saga, chapter 16 31 Ibid., chapter 17 32 Laxdaela Saga, chapter 77. The description of the hero’s return from service with “the King of Miklagard” would surely have served for Harald’s as well.33 Adam of Bremen, 2.61 34 From a Mass for St. Olaf found in an English missal, dated to 1061. See Iversen, p. 405 35 Snorri Sturluson, King Harald’s Saga, chapter 17 36 Ibid., chapter 1 37 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle(Worcester Manuscript), entry for 1051 38 Life of King Edward who Rests at Westminster, pp. 58–9 39 Although, according to Orderic Vitalis, it was Tostig himself who arrived in Norway to make the proposal.40 Such, at any rate, is what appears to be implied by the scene that appears below the illustration of Halley’s Comet in the Bayeux Tapestry.41 Snorri Sturluson, King Harald’s Saga, chapter 22 42 Encomium Emmae Reginae, 2.9 43 Adam of Bremen, 3.17 44 Snorri Sturluson, King Harald’s Saga, chapter 87 45 Henry of Huntingdon, 2.27. The story was also interpolated into a version of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and may conceivably be authentic, for it is evident that the English were indeed briefly held up at the bridge. I include the story as a tribute to my first history teacher, Major Morris, whose blackboard drawing of the Viking being skewered through his privates first served to awaken me to the joys of medieval history.46 Snorri Sturluson, King Harald’s Saga, chapter 91 47 Life of King Edward who Rests at Westminster, p. 53 48 Battle of Maldon, p. 294 49 Regino of Prüm, p. xx.50 Widukind of Corvey, 2.1 51 The Life of King Edward, the Bayeux Tapestry, and even William of Poitiers, a gungho Norman, all imply that Harold had been nominated by the dying Edward.52 William of Poitiers, 1.41 53 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle(Worcester manuscript), entry for 1066 54 Life of King Edward who Rests at Westminster, p. 51 55 William of Poitiers, 1.38 56 Life of King Edward who Rests at Westminster, p. 81 57 William of Poitiers, 1.48 58 Orderic Vitalis, vol. 2, p. 143 59 Peter Damian. Quoted by Cowdrey (1998), p. 42.60 Gregory VII, Register, 7.23 61 William of Poitiers, 2.7 62 Ibid., 2.9 63 Ibid., 2.15 64 Carmen de Hastingae Proelio, p. 46 65 This seems to me the likeliest interpretation of Harold’s tactics, but it is not the only one. It is possible, of course, that he had always intended to fight a defensive battle – or indeed to blockade William inside Hastings, and not fight a battle at all. For an eclectic range of opinions, see Morillo. For a scythingly sceptical analysis of how little we know about the precise details of the battle, see Lawson (2007).66 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, entry for 1003 67 Carmen de Hastingae Proelio, p. 46 68 Though no source specifically names them as being present at Hastings, the description of them in contemporary accounts of the battle leaves little room for doubt.69 William of Poitiers, 2.21 70 Carmen de Hastingae Proelio, p. 49 71 That Harold was struck in the eye by an arrow is one of the most celebrated details of English history – but its fame derives principally from the Bayeux Tapestry, a hugely problematic piece of evidence. Other sources, however, some of them near contemporary, do lend credence to the tradition. See Lawson (2007), pp. 226–33 72 William of Poitiers, 2.25 73 Thorkill Skallasson. Quoted by Van Houts (1995), p. 836 74 Milo Crispin, 13.33 75 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle(Worcester manuscript), entry for 1066 76 Orderic Vitalis, 2.232 77 Hugh of Cluny, p. 143 78 William of Poitiers, 2.42.