The Harrying of the North
Over the winter of 1069, William the Conqueror unleashed a brutal wave of violence across northern England. But was this a moment of madness, or a calculated war of terror?
Throughout English history, bloodshed and violence has always remained a constant theme — with civil wars and foreign conquests providing English rulers with the opportunity to exact violent reprisals against their enemies. The Norman conquest of England, which is for many the most famous tale in English history, is no exception to this rule. In 1066, William the Conqueror led his troops across the Channel and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, leaving England in the hands of a foreign duke from Normandy.
Although the battle itself has become perhaps the defining moment in English history, much less attention has been paid to the bloodshed that followed the Norman invasion. And one campaign in particular shocked even William’s contemporaries for the sheer brutality inflicted on the English people. In 1069, William undertook what has since been dubbed the Harrying of the North — a violent and bloodthirsty scorched earth campaign that would inflict mass suffering upon the people of northern England.
