The Harrying of the North

From Freepedia

The Harrowing of the North was a scorched earth policy in the winter of 1069–1070 carried out by the subordinates of William of Normandy against the Danes of Jorvik. The death toll is believed to be 150,000, with substantial social, cultural and economic damage. It began when William refused to acknowledge the right of the local population to self-determination.

After the removal of Edgar Ætheling from the kingship of England, the population of Northern England found themselves without a state and the protection that the king normally provides. Due to their mixed Anglo-Danish ethnicity, they preferred as their kings Sweyn Estridsen and Canute the Holy. Despite their having never sworn allegiance to him, William considered the people rebels.

The new king brought with him an army to provide much needed security for the population, but William saw this as a threat to his rival claim over northern England, and he moved swiftly to assert himself there.

From the River Humber to River Tees, William's men fired whole villages and slaughtered the inhabitants. Foodstores and livestock were destroyed so that anyone surviving the initial massacre would soon succumb to starvation over the winter. The plan succeeded beyond his wildest dreams: the survivors were reduced to cannibalism, with one report stating that the skulls of the dead were cracked open so that the brains could be eaten.

From the Norman point of view, the tactics were a complete success, as large areas were still mainly waste when the Domesday Book was compiled over fifteen years later and further rebellions of any substance did not occur. Contemporary biographers of William considered it to be his evilest act and a stain upon his soul, but the deed was little mentioned before Whig history and was not mainstream knowledge until then.

The Council of the North was enacted to repair some of these inequities.