Which battle did Harald Hardrada and Tostig win before Stamford Bridge in 1066?

Harald Hardrada and Tostig won the Battle of Fulford before the English victory at Stamford Bridge in 1066.

Fought on 20 September 1066 just south of York, Fulford pitted the Norwegian invasion army, reinforced by Tostig Godwinson’s supporters, against the northern earls Edwin of Mercia and Morcar of Northumbria. The English forces were defeated, although both earls survived.

The victory opened the way to York, which surrendered to Hardrada and Tostig. King Harold Godwinson then force-marched his army north and surprised the invaders at Stamford Bridge on 25 September. Hardrada and Tostig were killed there, only weeks before Harold himself fell at Hastings.

Fulford is sometimes confused with Stamford Bridge because the battles formed part of the same Norwegian invasion. Brunanburh, fought in 937, was another major English victory against a Scandinavian-led coalition, but it occurred more than a century earlier.