King Edward the Confessor
Had no obvious successor.
On his deathbed, noble Harold he did name.
But William, Duke of Normandy,
Said, "Cousin Edward promised me.
I'm king and I shall fight to stake my claim."
But William had to think again:
He didn't have sufficient men -
With bribes of wealth and land lured troops to France.
(And for such important missions,
One needs the right conditions,
To launch a fleet and sail to take your chance.)
On the south coast, Harold waited
With his soldiers congregated,
Ready for the imminent invasion.
But his army had departed
By the time the landings started,
As another factor entered the equation.
A hoard of fierce Norwegians
Had attacked the Northern regions,
And Harold knew they had to be defeated.
To Stamford Bridge he rushed,
Where the Viking threat was crushed,
But his battle-weary team was quite depleted.....
No comments:
Post a Comment