All History Guide: Your guide to history on the Internet..
Now in paperback
This is a footnote from John Speed’s Map of 1610,
The reverse of the map has a travelogue from which the following commentary is extracted:
| Matters of martial note, are the battailes fought at Battlebridge (of which it takes the name) where Harold, King of England had a great victory against the Danes, who with a fleete of two hundred saile, greviously annoyed the Ile of Britaine: Where Harald, the King of Norway was slaine and Harold of England, beside the honour of the field, found a great mass of gold. |
This is inaccurate in many of the observations but refers to what we now call the battle of Stamford Bridge. However, it does illustrates the caution that must be exercised with the naming of battles. The battle of Hastings for example took place some 7 miles away at Senlac Hill, subsequently named for the abbey built there and now know as Battle.