Interesting alternative history link; thank you!

 

It seems that many a time in the history of England, monarchs have been challenged & sometimes undone by the machinations of relatives (Edward II, Richard II, Henry II, & now Harold II; is it the number?)

Gee , even I forgot Tostig was envolved with good ol' Harald - Who , I think had at least as great a claim to the throne as any - If I remember correctly , Tostig wanted Denmark in return ...

     Evidently Tostig, were he living today would be in a mental ward somewhere or on some serious medication.  He was definately unbalanced beyond the norm of the period.  At one feast attended by his brother Harold and King Edward, he is said to have physically assaulted Harold, shouting hysterical curses because Harold gave the king a goblet of wine.  It was evidently quite a row and took several strong men to seperate them.  Edward was annoyed with Tostig's behavior and told him to depart forthwith.  Tostig, typically blaming the whole incident on Harold, gathered up his huscarls, rode hard to a new hunting lodge Harold was building at which he was supposed to soon entertain the king, ransacked the place, murdered the local villagers, cut the throats of Harold's servants and sealed their bodies in wine casks, to improve the wine's flavor he said. 

      All of which Harold discovered when he arrived soon after. 

      When he was Earl of Northumbria Tostig succeeded in two years to arousing the citizens to such a fever pitch of resentment that they revolted against the Crown and marched south en masse to demand Tostig's immediate removal or face civil war.  Edward sent Harold out to mediate with them, since their numbers were far greater than the royal army, and after disscussing the situation with the northerners, Harold returned to King Edward and told him the northerners were justified in their complaints and that if Edward wanted to keep his throne Tostig had to go.  Harold placed what was just and the safety of the kingdom above hurting his brother's  feelings, which I think personally shows a lot of character on Harold's part.  Tostig was banished immediately after and never forgave what he considered Harold's betrayal, once again blaming the whole thing on him.  He spent the next year trying desperately to convince anyone he could think of to aid him in an invasion of revenge against his brother, approaching Count Baldwin of Flanders who ended up giving him a few ships with which Tostig harried the southern English coastline, but were easily beaten off by a far from sympathetic populace and caught in a storm.  He also approached William of Normandy and  the King of Scotland, who both no doubt smiled politely and sent him packing, but eventually convinced King Harald Hardrada of Norway, who never needed much excuse to fight anyway, that with his help Harald could claim the English throne, that he, Tostig, could rally vast numbers to his cause, murder his brother and retake Northumbria.  The Skald Snorri Sturllsson says of Tostig something to the effect that: "he was a dark scowling-browed man who had few friends."