| On Edward's death Harold was chosen king by the witan and was guarding the coasts of England against William when Tostig and Haardraade appeared in the north. After a brilliant dash northward, Harold defeated them at Stamford Bridge in September, at the very moment that the Norman invaders arrived in the Channel. Rushing southward after his victory, Harold confronted the Normans, who had already landed, with a reduced, wearied, and shaken force, and was beaten and killed in the Battle of Hastings, or Senlac >(Oct. 14). (See The British Isles) | 1 |
