Why was there a rising against

Earl Tostig?
Starter: Try to work out the sentence below
Challenge: Who were they?

Harold and Tostig

They were both sons of Earl Godwin!
Who was Earl Tostig?
Tostig had been made the Earl of
Northumbria by King Edward in 1055.

Northumbria was the largest earldom,

but was the most unstable – it was
constantly under threat from Scottish
raids and was far away from the
monarchy in the south.

Large parts of it were part of the

Danelaw an area of mostly Viking
settlement which had its own laws,
customs and even language.

As Earl, Tostig’s policies were

incompatible with the customs of the
region.
The rising against Earl Tostig

In 1065, Northumbrian thegns rose up

against Tostig.

They raised an army and marched on

York, killing as many of Tostig’s
supporters as possible.

They demanded that Morcar, the

brother of Earl Edwin of Mercia, to
replace Tostig (he was a Northerner
and would have understood
Northumbrian ways more than Tostig)

Edward ordered that Harold raise an

army to crush the rebellion, but
Harold decided to agree to their
terms – by November Tostig was
exiled.
Tostig was so angry that Harold had
betrayed him that he travelled
across Europe seeking support for
an invasion of England. Tostig
therefore became a major threat.
It showed that Harold had his eyes
on the throne – he needed a united
kingdom and a war with Mercia and
Northumbria would have weakened
it. Hence why he sided with them
and betrayed Tostig.

Why is Tostig’s exile

so important?

Harold and the other earls of

England has openly disobeyed
Edward – this showed the weakness
of Edward and just how powerful
and influential Harold had become
by 1065.
Autumn 1 Assessment Task
Explain why there was a rising against Earl Tostig Read through the sample paragraph
in 1065. (12 marks) given to you. Highlight:

You may use the following in your answer:
• Taxation
• Abuse of power
For this question you need to write three
paragraphs – three different reasons why this
rising happened. Use the prompts in the
question to help you out!
Blue: when they introduce their point
Red: when they expand it with own
knowledge
Green: when they link this back to
the question by explaining how this
would have caused a rising.

Each paragraph is worth 4 marks.

Use the worksheet provided by your teacher to

help you write your answer.
The answers!
Point Evidence Explain

Taxation He taxed Northumbria too heavily. This caused resentment as many

Abuse of power
Relationship with Malcolm III
Tostig’s image as a southerner
Danelaw areas were not used to
heavy taxations.
He imposed new laws which were
unfair. He abused his power to get rid
of rivals e.g. in 1065 he had two
followers of Gospatrc killed. Later he
killed Gospatric himself as he
travelled to complain to King Edward.
Tostig was close to the King of
Scotland which meant he didn’t stop
him raiding in the area. In 1061,
Malcolm invaded and caused huge
amounts of destruction. Tostig wished
to keep strong relations so did
nothing.
Tostig was a southerner and
Northumbria had always been
governed by northerners. He did not
fit in and struggled to even
understand the language of his
people
hates him for getting rich off the back
of poor Northern peasants. They
would have wanted to replace him
with someone more fair.
This caused Northumbrians to rebel
against him as he was acting like a
tyrant and many felt Morcar would be
a more just ruler..
Many felt that Tostig did not care
about his people because of this, so
wanted to replace with him with
someone more sympathetic to their
cause e.g. Morcar.
Morcar seemed a better option
because he was a northerner himself
and would have been more accepted
by his people.