Battle of Stamford Bridge
King Edward the Confessor of England died in January 1066 without having left an heir. This caused a struggle over who would be king after him. A number of claimants from across northwestern Europe thought that they should be the next king and included the King of Norway, Harald Hardrada. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Norwegians assembled a fleet of 300 ships to invade England. The Norwegian army numbered about 11,000 men. Arriving off the English coast in September, Hardrada was joined by forces recruited in Flanders and Scotland by Tostig Godwinson. Tostig was angry with his older brother Harold, who had been elected king by the witan on the death of Edward. Tostig lost his position as Earl of Northumbria and was exiled in 1065. Tostig had mounted a series of attacks on the Sussex coast England in the spring of 1066. The king believed Tostig's raid on the coast was a sign that William, the Duke of Normandy, was about to invade England.