Norway was never enough! Harald Sigurdsson grew up knowing that his destiny was to be King of Norway. But his ambition went far beyond. After Cnut’s death, he fought to win the lands he had held – Norway, Denmark and England. The story leads him from his childhood in rural Norway to his death on the bloody fields at Stamford Bridge.
He honed his ambition and his skills fighting in Constantinople and adopted the epithet “Hardrada” – hard ruler, or stern counsellor, which he preferred. Harald was a brave and courageous Viking warrior, but he was ruthlessly ambitious. Nothing – and nobody – would stand in his way. In a period of exile, he fought as a mercenary for Grand Prince Jaroslav of Kiev-Rus. He married Elisiv, the Prince’s daughter and she fuelled his ambitions.

Harold Godwinson knows what they say of him. All of them, even his own family say that he is ruthless and will stop at nothing to get his desires. But their “ruthless” is his “determined”. He has a solemn duty to ensure that England remains a Saxon land; that it will never again become a vassal state, subject to the whims and taxes of a foreign king. England has had its share of ambitious Viking warlords. He will fight them with the last drop of his blood. And now there is talk of a Norman invasion, as if England deserved no better than a bastard duke, basing his claim on a promise made by the brain-sick Confessor, more interested in sainthood than kingship. No it is time for England to become what it truly is: a Saxon Kingdom. And who is there better to bring this about than him, the bravest and most noble of them all: A Saxon Earl. He is Harold, son of Godwin, and he is destined to become King of England.

William, the illegitimate son of “Duke Robert of Normandy, is camped on the South Downs of England. He contemplates the battle that is to come. While his father went by the epithet “The Magnificent”, William lived in the shadow of his birth and was known by all as le Bâtard. But none call him that now – not in his hearing. None dare. William takes the responsibilities of Normandy while still only a boy, and he quickly becomes a feared and ruthless warrior, fighting to retain his birthright.When the opportunity arises for him to extend his arm across the Channel, he seizes it. The childless King of England, Edward the Confessor, a cousin, makes him his successor, but the English Saxons will never accept a Norman King. So an invasion is planned and a strategy developed.All that stands between him and his ambitions is a battle-weary army, following their King Harold. William has a strong sense of destiny. God is on his side. But you can never rely on divine intervention, so his battle strategy is in place. This is William’s story, tracing his journey from Boy Duke to King of England.