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BAD DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES: VOLUME 1:: THE REIGN OF KING HAROLD III
Chapter One: Prologue
King Harald III of Norway awoke from his uncomfortable bed in the unfamiliar English town, as if he was a dead man waking in his coffin. His golden-brown Scandinavian hair and pale face quivered in what could only be fear. Or perhaps the cold ocean wind of the morning. God help him if he had contracted a plague – there was certainly no medical awaiting him in England. Only Harold Godwinson and the Duke of Normandy.
The sound of rain hitting the cabin soothed him though, to the point where he was able to rise from his bed and traverse the camp. The majority of his men had already risen from their slumber. Only a few infantry from the west side of the camp had not yet woken up. Harald III went along carefully inspecting his men, and remembering the fantastic dream he had just had. He had just watched his own death before his own eyes, he saw the arrow scorch the air, and stick itself precisely at the center of his neck, striking his jugular vein, and releasing the blood of his body for all to see. Harald had watched the blood pour down his armor, watched his grand army give up and flee. He watched the Viking Era end. After about 25 minutes of inspection, he concluded that he had been given an omen in the form of a vision of death. He ordered his men to pack up their things and march back to the shoreline – the rest of his army would be waiting there, and the ample supplies on the ship would allow him to survive any attack Harold Godwinson planned on him.
And so, as it was written by Winston Vaudeville almost 6 centuries later, Harold Godwinson attacked Harald Hardrada at Hornsea on the 23rd of September. But Harald was ready for him. After a day of fighting, he was forced to retreat, and was followed by Harald Hardrada at nearly every turn. It was not long before all of Northumbria had been captured by the Vikings. Harald was hailed as a hero among his army and eventually would be hailed as a military genius for his defense at the Battle of Hornsea. Harold Godwinson, however, would march back to London, ashamed and humiliated, and be disgraced and forgotten by the English people. The only ones who would welcome King Harold the Saxon were his family. His wife Edith would welcome him back, only to die in childbirth on November 9th, 1066. The twins would be named Edgarth and Ulf – they would begin their lives in exile, in the Cheshire countryside.
Harald Hardrada defeats Harold the Saxon at Hornsea
William, Duke of Normandy, would arrive on the scene much later, on October 9th, 1066, arriving in Sussex and pushing his way through the county. His most famous moment would come on October 20th, 1066, when he was forced to burn and pillage the town of Hastings after the town peasants rose up against William. The Rape of Hastings, as it would come to be known, would in time earn William a new title. William the Bandit. However, by the time he was able to even get close to the city of London, Harald Hardrada had arrived. Harald, upon arriving, promptly declared himself King of England and Norway, and united the two countries. Only the eastern half of the nation would declare itself sovereign territory of Norway and the Vikings – the other counties and provinces claimed independence, however Harald viewed this declaration about as well as he viewed Harold Godwinson’s battle performance at Hornsea, he would proclaim them “unorganized sovereign territories of the Viking Crown”, and promptly end any fanciful ideas of independence by occupying the provinces and towns with large Viking armies.
Harald’s rule would certainly be contested however. Most of the counties in the East would support Harald reluctantly, believing him to be the only proper and suitable King of England. The western counties, who still claimed independence, although much more quietly, would be split between William the Bandit and Gyrth Godwinson, the only surviving son of Godwin who was in prime ruling age, and was the closest to Harold himself. However, Gyrth claimed that he did not want the throne of England, proclaiming that he would prefer to live out his days out of the limelight. This was the striking blow for England. With William disgraced as the Bandit Duke, and the Godwinsons forgoing their royal ties, Harald was left as the only rightful King of England, however unfortunate it may have been for England.
Welcome to my new timeline, Bad Dreams and Nightmares. This TL came about as a result of that excellent thread about what would happen if the Anglo-Saxons kept Britain. Reading the thread, I discovered an excellent Timeline about this very subject, but the timeline inspired me to write my own take on the year 1066. I went with the third, less known option.