Please give a warm welcome to historical fiction
author, Mercedes Rochelle, to talk about her inspirations behind her book…
The
Sons of Godwin
Earl Godwine had great plans for his children.
But he didn't understand his sons. And they barely understood each other.
This is England in the days of Edward the
Confessor, when Godwine and his sons tower over the other great families.
Harold emerges as the power behind the throne. Tostig rules the north. They
control all the earldoms except one.
What could go wrong?
We see tumultuous events of the mid-11th c.
through the eyes of Godwine's sons. Harold's story is all about Harold, but his
brothers see things differently. Their remarks are tinged sometimes with
admiration, sometimes with skepticism. Alas, Harold’s rise in fortune is not
blameless and sometimes those closest to him must pay the price of his fame.
TOSTIG AND HAROLD'S SIBLING RIVALRY
To this day, 950 years after the Norman Conquest, many of us are still fascinated by the causes of this pivotal event—and I am one of them. If Harold Godwineson hadn't been 260 miles away fighting his brother when Duke William landed at Pevensey, things might have gone differently. So where does Tostig come into this? From outlawry to Stamford Bridge, Tostig was on the wrong side of the law. In that critical battle, he seems to have been second in command after Harald Hardrada and has been branded as a traitor ever since.
It was thought by many that Tostig himself persuaded Hardrada to invade, thus forcing King Harold to rush north and defend his kingdom against the Vikings. However, this conclusion is by no means certain; nobody was tracing Tostig's movements in the early part of 1066. It's entirely possible that the Norwegian King planned the invasion on his own, and Tostig merely fell in with his army when the time came. There is no doubt that Hardrada was the leader of the Viking invasion. What exactly Tostig thought to accomplish is uncertain. Perhaps he only wanted his old earldom back. Or, he might have bargained to rule his old earldom as sub-king to Harald. Maybe he hoped Hardrada would get killed and he could rule in his stead, unlikely though that sounds.
But why was Tostig fighting against his brother,
anyway? This was the question that inspired me to write THE SONS OF GODWINE and
my upcoming FATAL RIVALRY. Why was he outlawed? How could Harold allow his brother
to go off in such a rage that he would come back with an invading army? Surely
Tostig had his reasons; such a devastating turn of events could have not come
about arbitrarily.
In a situation like this, matters usually
deteriorate over the course of time. Harold and Tostig were only a couple of
years apart. Was there rivalry from their boyhood? Did Tostig feel left out? When
Tostig became Earl of Northumbria, his brother had already been Earl (first of
East Anglia and then of Wessex) for 10 years. What did Tostig do all that time?
There was no catching up; by 1055 Harold was practically the "right
hand" of King Edward, and frequently took on responsibilities that the
king didn't want to be bothered with. When Tostig helped his brother during the
Welsh campaign of 1063, what was his reward? Harold was lauded as a great
warrior because of this campaign; Tostig barely received mention, and may well
have emptied his coffers to help pay for it. Could this have contributed to the
stress between them?
The real trouble started in 1065; up until then
Tostig had ruled Northumbria for 10 years without any major disturbance.
However, after the Welsh campaign he found himself obliged to impose new taxes
on this previously undertaxed earldom. Some have said that Tostig needed to pay
for the campaign. Other historians suggested he was urged to do so by Harold,
acting in concert with the king who wanted to bring the north more in line with
his southern provinces. There were some political assassinations that might have
contributed to the unrest, but most historians agree that taxation issues
pushed the troublesome thegns to revolt.
And what a revolt it was! Tostig was in the
south hunting with King Edward when thegns from all over Yorkshire and
Northumberland gathered in York and attacked the Earl's housecarls, catching
them totally unprepared. Although Tostig's 200+ troops tried to fight back,
they were unable to mount an organized defense and were killed almost to a man.
The rampaging rebels broke into the armory, destroyed Tostig's manors, and
raided the treasury, making off with all the carefully gathered taxes.
King Edward
Next on the agenda was to call a witan and elect
a new Earl: Morcar, younger son of Earl Aelfgar of Mercia—who just happened to
be standing by. This was a totally illegal move and the rebels knew it, so they
proceeded to rampage their way south and force the issue with the king. Enter
Harold, who was delegated to mediate for Tostig. King Edward and Tostig had
every reason to believe Harold would get what they wanted, so they were more
than horrified when their negotiator came back with rebels in tow. Morcar and
his supporters didn't trust Harold and insisted that the king be confronted personally
with all their demands. A second round of negotiations ensued, and Harold was
still unable to budge the rampaging Northumbrians. They declared that Tostig
had to go and that Morcar be officially declared Earl, or else they would
continue their depredations into East Anglia.
Tostig went into a rage and accused Harold of
fomenting the rebellion himself. In self-defense, Harold offered his sworn oath
that he was not responsible but Tostig was having none of it. Edward wanted to
raise the fyrd and teach his errant subjects a lesson, but the late season and
poor support for Tostig's cause were enough to foil the king's empty threats. Edward
eventually backed down and gave into the rebel demands, though the loss of
royal prestige was a blow the king never recovered from. Just over a month
later, King Edward was dead.
Tostig left the country voluntarily enough,
loaded with gifts from the king but still swearing revenge against his brother.
Apparently Harold washed his hands of the whole situation, for he is not
recorded attempting to offer Tostig any compensation until the battle of
Stamford Bridge. Even after he became king, Harold supported the wily sons of
Aelfgar (his former rivals) and even married their sister to prove that Tostig
was not coming back. Tostig may have found this doubly insulting. By the time
they faced each other on the battlefield, Harold is said to have offered back
the earldom if Tostig would lay down his arms. When Tostig asked what Harold
was prepared to offer Hardrada, we hear the famous line "Seven feet of
English ground, or as much more as he may be taller than other men." At
this response, Tostig righteously refused his brother's offer. (I still find
this episode a little implausible; it came from Snorri Sturluson,
whose account may be somewhat apocryphal.)
The Battle of Stamford Bridge
So his sense of betrayal was surely a driving
force for Tostig's attempted return. But there is another factor to remember: there
were plenty of precedents for an Earl to rampage his way back into favor. Earl
Godwine did it in 1052, and Harold himself was part of that reunion; his bloody
encounter at Porlock left behind 30 dead thegns and countless others. Even
Aelfgar, Morcar's father, wreaked havoc on two occasions (the first causing the
destruction of Hereford in 1055); both times he was restored to his earldom. So
Tostig was just following suit; of course, his allies were a bit more powerful
than Aelfgar's!
Purchase Links
About the author
Born and raised in St. Louis MO, Mercedes
Rochelle received a degree in English Literature from University of Missouri.
She learned about living history as a re-enactor and has been enamored with
historical fiction ever since. A move to New York to do research and two
careers ensued, but writing fiction remains her primary vocation. She lives in Sergeantsville, NJ with her
husband in a log home they had built themselves.
LINKS:
Twitter: @authorRochelle
Website: http://www.MercedesRochelle.com
Historical Britain Blog: http://mercedesrochelle.com/wordpress/
Edward
the Confessor, Detail from the Wilton Diptych, National Gallery London
(Wikimedia)
No comments:
Post a Comment
See you on your next coffee break!
Take Care,
Mary Anne xxx