The Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066 felt like the moment an old world took its last breath. The Viking Age had shaped Europe for centuries. Raids, settlements, alliances and betrayals. By September of that year, the storm that had carried the Norse across the seas finally met a force that would not break. Harald Hardrada of Norway arrived with hundreds of longships and a reputation that stretched across kingdoms. He joined with Tostig Godwinson, a brother cast out of England who wanted his pla