Kingdom of Norway Kingdom of England ~3,000 from Northumbria The Battle of Fulford was fought on the outskirts of the village of Fulford,[1] just south of York in England, on 20 September 1066, when King Harald III of Norway, also known as Harald Hardrada,[a] a claimant to the English throne and Tostig Godwinson,[b] his English ally, fought and defeated the Northern Earls Edwin and Morcar.

The largely inexperienced Saxon army led by Morcar at York and Edwin at Tadcaster moved to block the invaders.

[6] The only surviving male member of the royal family was Edgar the Ætheling, the young son of Edward the Exile, who was aged about fourteen.

Sources indicate that Harold moved north to confront them; however, in the end he secured their loyalty by marrying their sister, Edith, the widow of Griffith of Wales.

[10][11]Then, as William was not ready to get involved at that stage, Tostig sailed from the Cotentin Peninsula, but because of storms ended up in Norway, and made his pact with Harald Hardrada there.

[14] In Orderic Vitalis's version, it says that in the month of August Hardrada and Tostig set sail across the wide sea with a favourable wind and landed in Yorkshire.

Morcar's troops pushed Harald's back into the marshlands, making progress against the weaker section of the Norwegian line.

However, this initial success proved insufficient for victory to the English army, as the Norwegians brought their better troops to bear upon them, still fresh against the weakened Anglo-Saxons.

Edwin's soldiers who were defending the bank now were cut off from the rest of the army by the marsh, so they headed back to the city to make a final stand.

[17] It was arranged that the various hostages should be brought in and the Norwegian army retired to Stamford Bridge, 7 miles (11 km) east of York, to await their arrival.

[17] Because of the defeat at Fulford, King Harold II had to force-march his troops 190 miles (310 km), from London to York.

[22] It is probable that Harold's intention was to repeat his success at Stamford Bridge by catching Duke William unawares.

[20] The Anglo-Norman chronicler Florence of Worcester commented that although the king (Harold) was aware that some of the bravest men in England had fallen in two recent battles and that half of his troops were not assembled, he did not hesitate to meet the enemy in Sussex.