from "The war of the Godwinsons" by Maelcun of Exeter
After four long years of war, hunger and death walked the land. Many families had been driven from their homes by fear of raiders, and much good land was abandoned to wolves and bandits. The forests crept into the meadows. The low people felt God had abandoned Aengland, as plagues spread through the land, following the ragged dispossessed who tramped wearily in search of sustenance.
One day at Corfe, I found a young girl dead by the road, around her mouth was the green vomit of those who, hunger driven, have gorged on grass. A crying girl-child suckled at her dry breast.
Thus were the glorious reaving-days bards sing of, and which old axe-bitten warriors remember so fondly. And well they might, for there was always food enough for the killers, and those we paid to glorify our sins.
In June of 1086 a council of the Earls was held at Winchester. The true King Harold, his brothers Edgar Haroldson, Earl Magnus and Earl Edmund were joined by the sons of Morecare and Eadwine. Earl Edmund spoke most gravely of the state of Aengland, and vowed that no peace would be known in the land until the usurper was dead or in King Harold’s power. It was known that Harold the usurper had made ready an army of Danes to attack us, and that he was massing his host in London. In addition to this, Earl Magnus, who had friends amongst the Jews of London, had received news that fighting men of Sweden were expected in July, and that Harold MacHarold’s agents were buying up provisions in readiness for a long campaign.
All present agreed that MacHarold was planning a campaign of conquest, and that the Earldoms of the English would be forfeit to these foreigners as spoils of war. There was great anger at the usurper, and a great preoccupation. The Earls and the King were of one mind, they should bring Harold MacHarold to battle before the gentiles of Sweden arrived.
So an Aenglish army again marched on London. King Harold led the Wessexmen to battle, in his 20th summer . He was followed by Wihtgar Eadwineson, Earl of Mercia, Earl Edmund of Cornwall, at the head of the knights of the Aenglish and the Bretons, Earl Magnus of Devon, who led the infantry of the Southwest, and the retinue of Edgar Haroldson, who marched with the men of Morgannwg.
We gained the Thames at Staines, unopposed, for the supporters of Harold Godwine MacHarold in the borderlands fled our host, warning their false liege of our arrival. We camped at Brentford, awaiting the usurper, but after two days he showed no sign of leaving the safety of London’s wall. So Earl Edmund ordered us to strike camp for the Wallbrook where Earl Harold’s Danes were camped. So on the morning of the twenty-first day of July, the usurper Harold MacHarold, and his Kentish, East Anglian and Danish allies faced King Harold in battle at the Wallbrook, this battle will be known forever as the battle of the 5 brothers.
Few men in battle understand what is happening around them, for the fear and rage blind them to all but their comrades at their side and their foe in front of them. It is a wall of steel and blows which opens suddenly into a field of fleeing men, if the day is won they are foemen, if it is lost they are allies. That day I fought at the side of Earl Magnus, locked in the deathly embrace of a Danish shieldwall, the slaughter was terrible, and many of my comrades were slain. After hours of fighting the Danes broke and we pursued them to the gates of London, cutting with the savage glee of men who know they have survived another battle. That is all I know first-hand of this battle, but I have since spoken to men who fought in both armies, and I will endeavour to set down what happened as best it can be deduced.
Our armies met in the shallow valley of the beck, the infantry of the two armies was evenly matched, and a savage attritional struggle, body against body endured for most of the day. In the centre of our line were the men of the west, commanded by Earl Magnus, facing the Danes of Knud Copsigson. To our left were the men of Wessex commanded by King Harold, square to the Kentish led by Godwine, the son of old Earl Leofwine. Earl Edmund hoped to harry this flank with his cavalry and lure the usurper’s inferior personal cavalry to the slaughter at the flattest point of the valley. Tight to the wall of London, our Welsh and Mercian allies faced the East Anglians, under Earl Sweyn, on the higher bank of the valley behind the Welsh, our archers fired volleys on the rear ranks of the enemy, on the other side our enemies did the same from a slightly worse position.
Earl Edmund initially harried the ranks of the Kentishmen, but their rear ranks had brought long staves to ward of the Cavalry and the marshy terrain prevented them from getting behind the Danes, so instead he attempted to reach the archers on the drier ground on the other bank of the Wallbrook. At this point Harold Godwine MacHarold charged the Wessexmen with his cavalry, the strength of the charge upset their lines, and forced King Harold to bunch his troops to stop the Saxon Knights from splitting our shieldwall, our archers and the enemy’s concentrated their fire on this melee. Realizing the King was in danger, Earl Edmund raced back to aid him with his Breton knights, they smashed into the Saxon cavalry and sent the usurper fleeing away from London. Sensing a chance to slay his twin brother Edmund pursued ferociously, but Harold MacHarold gained the higher ground and ordered his men to charge back down the hill at Edmund's Bretons. The knights met in a savage horseback melee, for an hour there was a brutal conflict which only ended when Harold MacHarold was unhorsed and cut down by a Breton named Conan Bihan.
Earl Edmund ordered his twin brothers head cut off to be shown to his troops. It was a good thing that the usurper fell when he did, for the line of Harold King was bent and close to breaking, the Kentish advantage in numbers was beginning to tell. But when Ealdric of Lyme rode behind our lines holding on high Harold Godwine MacHarold’s head by his bloodied grey hair, our foes broke, and, exhausted we chased down the Danes and the East Anglians to the gates of London. We men of the West and our Welsh brothers looked in askance at our Wessex comrades, for they had not pursued the enemy and had let almost all the Kentishmen escape.
What we did not know was that King Harold III lay dead at the heart of his warband, slain by a single arrow, which had somehow crept between the nose and cheek guards of his helmet, and struck him in the left eye.
Aengland had started the day with two kings, it finished it with none.