Welcome to the British History Podcast.

My name is Jamie and this is Episode 416, The Herring of the North.

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Weeks in the rain and cold, marching through mud and picking through forests had finally

in spite of Northumbria's best efforts ended with William reaching his goal.

The King had arrived in York.

Or what was left of it.

The assigned Norman Carison had burned down most of it earlier in the year.

So if William's army was looking for a break from the cold, they weren't about to find

it here.

And if Sir Ralph wanted to take off his armor, there was a good chance he would find himself

frozen to it.

Even worse, the whole reason why William and his knights had marched to York in the

dead of winter was to crush the Danish army before it could grow.

But this had taken so long that by the time they reached the ruined city, the Danes were

safely back on their boats in the harbor.

The frustration in the Norman camp would have been the only thing that was keeping anybody

...