Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 57.djvu/79

 standing between the brothers. Ailred (col. 394) relates how as boys they fought together in the presence of the king and their father, and how the king prophesied of their future quarrel in manhood and of the deaths of both, and the story is repeated in the French versified life of the king founded on Ailred's work (Lives of Edward the Confessor, pp. 113–14). Henry of Huntingdon, evidently representing a popular tradition wholly opposed to facts, says under the year 1064 that Tostig, whom he describes as older than Harold, was jealous of the king's affection for his brother, that one day while Harold was acting as the king's cupbearer at Windsor Tostig kept pulling his brother's hair, and the king thereupon uttered his prophecy; that the quarrel went on, each brother committing acts of rapine and murder, until at last Tostig, hearing that Harold was about to entertain the king at Hereford, went thither, cut his brother's men to pieces, mixed all the viands prepared for the feast together, and threw into them the limbs of those whom he had slaughtered, and that this was the cause of his banishment (see Norman Conquest, ii. 623 sqq.).

To the great grief of the king, Tostig was forced to go into exile, and on 1 Nov. left England with his wife and children, took refuge with his brother-in-law in Flanders, and spent the winter at St. Omer (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, u.s.). In 1066, when Harold succeeded to the throne, Tostig went to Normandy to Duke William, his wife's kinsman, who had married Judith's niece (d. 1083) [q. v.], offered to help him against his brother, and with his consent sailed from the Cotentin in May (, pp. 492–3), landed in the Isle of Wight, compelled the inhabitants to give him money and provisions, sailed eastwards doing damage along the coast till he reached Sandwich, whence he sailed before Harold could catch him, taking with him some seamen of the place, some with and some without their goodwill. He sailed northwards with sixty ships, entered the Humber, ravaged in Lindesey until he was driven away by Edwin and Morcar, many of his followers deserting him, so that when he reached Scotland, where he took refuge, he had only twelve ships. Malcolm received him, and he abode with him during the summer (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ‘Abingdon and Peterborough;’ )

It is said that Tostig went to Denmark and asked his cousin, King Sweyn, to help him against his brother, that Sweyn offered him an earldom in Denmark, but said that he had enough to do to keep his own kingdom, and could not undertake a war with England (Saga of Harold Hardrada, cc. 81–2), and that he then went to Harold Hardrada, king of Norway, who promised to join him in an invasion of England (ib.) It is, however, doubtful whether Tostig went either to Denmark or Norway during the summer of 1066, though if the invasion that he had made in the spring may be supposed to have been undertaken with the consent of Harold Hardrada, he may have gone to Norway earlier in the year. In any case it is probable that the Norwegian invasion was planned independently of him, though his application to the king, which may well have been made by messengers during the summer while Tostig was in Scotland, no doubt encouraged the Northmen (Norman Conquest, iii. 720–5). Their vast fleet sailed to Orkney, and while Harold Hardrada was in Scotland, Tostig met him and did homage to him. He joined his fleet in the Tyne, bringing with him such forces as he had. The invaders sailed along the coast of Yorkshire, did some plundering, burnt Scarborough, entered the Humber, and disembarked near Riccall. They were met at Gate Fulford, close to York, by an army under Edwin and Morcar, which they routed on 20 Sept., and on the 24th were received into York, where the inhabitants promised to join them in their march to the south. They then encamped at or near Stamford Bridge, where on the 25th Harold of England met them. The saga of Harold Hardrada relates that when the English army first came in sight Tostig suggested to his ally that it might contain some of his party who would be willing to join them, that as the army advanced he advised Harold Hardrada to lead his men back to their ships, and that, when his advice was rejected, declared that he was not anxious for the fight (c. 91). It is said that he commanded his own men, who were drawn up together under his banner, and that before the battle began his brother Harold sent a messenger to him offering him peace and restitution to his earldom, but that he refused to desert his ally, with whom the English king would make no terms (cc. 92, 94). When Harold Hardrada fell and the battle stayed for a little while, Tostig, we are told, took his place under the dead king's banner, and received an offer of peace for himself and such of the invaders as were left, but the Northmen rejected the offer (c. 96). All this is legendary. The invading army was defeated, the larger part of it falling in the battle, and among the slain were Tostig and, it is said, some Flemings probably of his com-