The Harrying of the North
Charles Dickens laments William the Conqueror’s brutal rampage through rebellious Durham and Yorkshire.
1069-1070
King William I 1066-1087
A scene from the Bayeux tapestry.
From the Bayeux Tapestry Museum, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry, showing a herald bringing news of William’s defeat of King Harold, and to the right, the burning of a house. The tapestry (actually an embroidery) is thought to have been made at Canterbury for Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and William’s half-brother. Odo acted as William’s regent when the king was in Normandy. His cruelties made him hated throughout the land, more so than William, who as Dickens reminds us could be astonishingly brutal when he felt the need.
Introduction
The Harrying of the North was William of Normandy’s rampage through the lands around Durham and York in the winter of 1069-70. Following victory over King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William was crowned King of England on Christmas Day that year, but the people of England, and their Viking friends in Ireland and across the North Sea, did not meekly acknowledge their new lord.
TWO sons of Harold, by name Edmund and Godwin, came over from Ireland, with some ships, against the Normans, but were defeated. This was scarcely done, when the outlaws in the woods so harassed York, that the Governor sent to the King for help. The King despatched a general and a large force to occupy the town of Durham. The Bishop of that place met the general outside the town, and warned him not to enter, as he would be in danger there. The general cared nothing for the warning, and went in with all his men. That night, on every hill within sight of Durham, signal fires were seen to blaze. When the morning dawned, the English, who had assembled in great strength, forced the gates, rushed into the town, and slew the Normans every one.
