Was there ever a name given to the Viking that held Stamford Bridge in 1066?

by BigNero

All accounts of the battle (that I could find) tell of an axe wielding Viking that held the bridge preventing the Anglo-Saxons from crossing, cutting down roughly 40 of them by himself before meeting a rather unfortunate end. This seems like a very notable feat, enough so that he may have had a reputation as a skilled and courageous warrior among other Vikings prior to the battle. Have historians been able to come up with potential candidates for who this may have been?

y_sengaku

The transmission of the account of 'anonymous' Norwegian warrior on the bridge in the battle of Stamford Bridge (1066) might......be indeed interesting one.

  • No Scandinavian source recorded in the parchments prior to ca. 1200 includes the detailed account of the battle especially after the fall of King Harald Hardrada. None of the accounts of the battle in three major kings' sagas (royal biography) from the 13th century mentioned this warrior standing on the bridge. Generally speaking, modern historians regard them, especially the account of the most famous kings' saga, Heimskringla, written more than one and a half century after the battle irself, as not so trustworthy witness of the detailed occurrence.
  • On the other hand, English contemporary sources have some detailed account of the battle, so I assume most of the popular history authors as well as the classical study of the battle instead usually rely on them.
  • Only a variant of contemporary Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Abingdon manuscript (MS C), mentions this 'warrior standing', but not in a flawlessly manner. The original manuscript (11th century) is heavily damaged and abruptly ended in the middle of the account of the battle of Stamford Bridge itself (!), and a scribe added the episodes of this warrior as well as the arrival of King Harold of England on the bridge, presumably in much later, middle of the 12th century (i.e. ca. a century after the battle itself) (Swanton 2000: 198).
  • We don't know the exact provenance of this episode except for the scribe's hand (Middle English in the middle or later 12th century), whether this story had been originally told in the damaged original parchment. A study suggests the scribe might have not been English.
  • Two other variants of Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (MSS D, E) don't mention him at all, and their accounts seems to correspond with more concise 12th century Scandinavian accounts.

In sum, we don't know the details of this 'warrior standing' for sure, at least based on the contemporary accounts. Why the scribe mentioned him in the additional passages is also a mystery at least for me, and I personally doubt the historicity of this episode itself.

Reference:

  • Swanton, Michael (trans.). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. London: Phoenix Pr., 2000.

[Edited]: Italicalizes the name of the sources mentioned in the comment.