One Son Killed the Other

Act II — The Autumn of 1066 Released Approx. 5:08

About this track

25 September 1066. Tostig, driven out of Northumbria the year before when Harold sided with the rebels against him, comes back with Harald Hardrada and some three hundred ships up the Ouse. Harold rides north from London, four days on the road without stopping, and meets them at Stamford Bridge on the Derwent. Their mother is at Bosham with a spindle. She cannot pray for either of them, because if one comes home the other will not. The universal underneath is loving both sides of a fight that only one of them can walk away from.

The song is built in three acts, the way Emesa was on the Zenobia album. The Bridge is a sung march toward the meeting: the offer on the meadow, Tostig turning his horse, the shields coming up on both banks, and the hand-off line — I could not choose between them, so the river chose. The Field is two minutes with no voice at all. Guitars and drums play the battle beat by beat: the charge on men without mail, the axeman holding the bridge, the bridge falling, the raven banner going down and rising again in her son’s hand, the last charge from the ships, and one drum that slows and stops off the beat. The Letter is two seconds of silence, then the Bosham yard: geese, a rider on a lathered horse, and the spindle rolling across the floor.

The hook changes tense across the silence. Before the battle she sings one son will kill the other, and both of them are mine; after it, one son killed the other, and both of them were mine, on the same melody. The prophecy comes true without anybody saying so. The last chorus lands on and I would bury neither, which sets up Hastings and the gold. The outro is three days later: the wind changed in the south. That is the wind that brought William over, though the song never names him. The same day is told from the Norwegian side on Elisiv’s The Man on the Bridge.

Track 05 of 11 Act II — The Autumn of 1066 Setting Stamford Bridge and Bosham, 25 September 1066 Cadence Anglo-Danish battle piece in three acts — a sung march, two minutes of guitars and drums with no voice, then the news low and dry over dulcimer; a Latin requiem office under a mezzo that never lifts

Verse 1

Act I — The Bridge. Sung over a marching drum and a dry hammered dulcimer.

Three hundred ships came up the Ouse,
and my son was standing in the first,
my other son rode out of London,
four days, two hundred miles of road,
he did not stop to sleep or eat,
and every town he passed went with him.

Pre-Chorus

Guitars palm-muted, the bass dropping lower.

I sat at Bosham with the spindle,
and I could not pray for either one,
for if one came home the other wouldn’t,
so I spun, and I kept silent.

Chorus 1

Full band, tremolo guitars, the Latin office low behind her.

One son will kill the other,
and both of them are mine,
one rides out with an offer,
and one will not come home.

Verse 2

The march drives on, psaltery and dulcimer.

They met beside the Derwent bridge,
he offered back the north to him,
and seven feet of ground to Norway,
and Tostig turned his horse around.

Battle Call

Harder, never higher. The drums gather into the charge.

Brother against brother,
my blood on both banks,
I could not choose between them,
so the river chose.

The Field

Act II — The Field. No voice: guitars and drums only. The charge across the meadow, double-kick at full gallop.

Half-time, one riff held: the man on the bridge.

Blast drums. The bridge falls and the whole band breaks through.

One lead guitar melody over the tremolo, falling: the raven banner going down, and lifted again.

The last surge from the ships, the guitars smearing out of tune.

The guitars cut. One drum slows and stops off the beat. Two seconds of silence.

Verse 3

Act III — The Letter. Low and dry, half-sung, dulcimer and clean guitar, no drums.

The geese went over Bosham,
and the spindle turned and turned,
a rider came in through the yard,
his horse was white with the road,
I took the letter from his hand,
and the spindle rolled across the floor.

Chorus 2

Half-time, the full band back, the office behind her.

One son killed the other,
and both of them were mine,
one rode out with an offer,
and one lay down by the river.

Bridge

Clean guitar and her voice alone; the office falls silent.

The letter never named the wound,
it never named who held the sword,
it gave the field to one of them,
and gave the other to the ground.

Final Chorus

The biggest pass, slow and heavy — the Latin office now singing with her.

One son killed the other,
and both of them were mine,
one won it by the river,
and I would bury neither.

Outro

The office gone. Her voice alone over dulcimer, whispered. Hard cut.

Three days after,
the wind changed in the south.

The history

Yorkshire and Sussex, September 1066 · Stamford Bridge on the Derwent, 25 September · the mother at Bosham, waiting for the news

Source: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MSS C, D, E) s.a. 1066; John of Worcester, Chronicon; Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla — Saga of Harald Hardrada (c. 1230)

Named figures

Gytha Widow of Earl Godwin, at Bosham; the mother of both commanders whose armies meet at the bridge
Harold II King of England since January, her second son; marches north from London and wins the battle
Tostig Godwinson Her third son, exiled from Northumbria in 1065; comes back with the Norwegian fleet and dies at Stamford Bridge
Harald Hardrada King of Norway, who claims the English throne; killed in the battle. Husband of Elisiv of Kiev, whose album tells the same day

What this song renders

Tostig had been Earl of Northumbria until a revolt in 1065 drove him out, and Harold had sided with the rebels rather than with his brother. In September 1066 Tostig came back with Harald Hardrada of Norway and a great fleet up the Humber and the Ouse. They beat the northern earls at Fulford on 20 September and took the surrender of York. Harold marched north from London, about 190 miles in some four days, caught them by surprise at Stamford Bridge on 25 September, and won. Hardrada and Tostig were both killed. The song’s “two hundred miles” rounds the figure up.

Most of what the song stages at the bridge itself comes from later writers. The offer is Snorri’s: in Heimskringla an English rider offers Tostig his earldom back and Hardrada “seven feet of English ground,” and only afterwards is the rider revealed to be Harold. The lone axeman who held the bridge is a later addition to the C manuscript of the Chronicle. The raven banner Landwaster and Eystein Orre’s charge from the ships are saga as well. The video shows all of them and puts none of them in a caption as fact. It shows nobody being struck.

Nothing records where Gytha was that day or how she heard the news. Bosham was a Godwin estate and the family’s harbour, and the album makes it her house. The rider, the letter and the spindle are the song’s. So is the burial she cannot make: whatever happened to Tostig’s body, his mother did not bury it. Three days later, on 28 September, William of Normandy landed at Pevensey.

Verdict

The invasion, Fulford, Harold’s march, the battle and the deaths of Tostig and Hardrada are documented in the English record. The offer, the seven feet, the man on the bridge, Landwaster and Orre’s storm are saga or later chronicle. Gytha at Bosham with the spindle and the letter is the album’s staging of a mother the record does not mention that week.

See the full Truth, Saga & Legend entry →