While much has been written about the King Harold’s struggle to repel the Norman invaders at Hastings on the 14th of October 1066, less attention has been given to an equally important battle fought by him and his forces just nineteen days earlier at Stamford Bridge in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

This battle, although a victory for Harold, had cost him casualties as well as taking him to the other end of the country at a time when an invasion from Normandy was expected. How different the outcome at Hastings might have been if Harold had been able to maintain his main force on the South Coast in readiness for William. Harold is on record as stating,” Had I been there they never would have made good their landing”.

By the year 60AD, the Romans had been in Britain for almost twenty years. Many of the southern tribes had been defeated in battle, or in some cases, had accepted an uneasy truce with the invaders.

One such tribe was the Iceni who populated the area of what is now known as north Essex. Its king was Prasutagus who ruled together with his wife Boudicca. The Iceni were what was known as a client state, that is, not under direct Roman rule and able to largely look after their own affairs as long as they paid tribute and taxes to the invaders.

Like so many other folk heroes, Wallace has gained a place in the hearts of his countrymen as a patriotic defender of a nation’s pride. How much is true and how much is the romantic invention of Henry the Minstrel, otherwise known as Blind Harry who, some one hundred and fifty years after the death of Wallace, wrote “The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campion Schir William Wallace”, based, according to him, on the original records of Father John Blair, boyhood friend and personal chaplain of Wallace. Harry’s stories depict many events and battles that have no historical basis, but do contain some verifiable details. These writings became the source of many later tales including the film Braveheart in which Wallace is depicted as the defender of Scottish nationalism that we know today.

What do we know of Robin Hood? Was he the noble outlaw Robin of Loxley, bravely fighting against the injustices of Prince John while Richard the Lionheart was away on Crusade, or like King Arthur or Hereward the Wake, was he created by old romantic writers and balladeers from fragments of genuine history with the story being embellished with each telling? The English have ever loved their folk heroes, especially those who right wrongs and make a stand against oppression and it is not surprising that Robin’s tale endures.