There was, in fact, no power to prevent him from establishing his
camp, for King Harold (S67) was in the north quelling an invasion
headed by the King of the Norwegians and his brother Tostig, who hoped
to secure the throne for himself. Harold had just sat down to a
victory feast, after the battle of Stamford Bridge, Yorkshire, when
news was brought to him of the landing of William.
It was this fatal want of unity in England which made the Norman
Conquest possible. If Harold's own brother, Tostig, had not turned
traitorously against him, or if the north country had stood squarely
by the south, Duke William might have found his fall on the beach an
omen full of disaster.