帝国征程27

What's more, it was now harvest time.

So, with who knows what misgivings and uneasiness, on September the 8th Harold demobilised the fyrd and sent the soldiers home.

He was right to feel uneasy.

Just 11 days later Harold had a very nasty shock - his younger brother was back.

Tostig, together with the Norwegian King, Harold Hardrada, had landed in Northumbria with as many as 12,000 men.

Tostig had spent his time in exile looking for allies to pursue his vendetta against Harold.

And it was a real coup for him that he'd finally enlisted the support of the awesome King of Norway.

Hardrada was quite simply the most feared warrior of the age.

Built like a Norwegian cliff face, he had a reputation for super-human strength and elaborately creative cruelty.

Hardrada also had a flimsy claim to the English throne that went back to Canute,

and he wasn't one to flinch at a military challenge that could win him for disputed crown.