But he had no time to grieve or exult over the death of Tostig, for the day after the Battle of Stamford Bridge, the Norman fleet, at last, felt the wind change direction. So, with great haste, the Duke went to sea, with his fleet sailing swiftly to the coast of England. Their first sight of land would have been the great cliffs at Beachy Head, and they landed in the nearby sheltering harbours of Pevensey. An old Roman fort guarded the beach. Within its now empty shell, William's men erected a prefabricated timber castle, that would later be rebuilt in stone, as if declaring that they were now the heirs to the Romans. Expeditions for food and forage from the base camp took the usual form, burning everything that couldn't be seized, striking terror into the hearts of the locals.


出于手足情意，哈罗德找到了弟弟的遗体，并将其残躯葬于约克大教堂。但他却没有时间为弟弟的死去，而悲戚抑或雀跃。斯坦福桥一战之后，挪威人溃不成军，也就在此时，海风终于转变了风向，于是公爵旋即火速出海，带领手下扬帆来到英格兰的海岸到达这片大陆。他们最先看到的便是比奇角的悬崖。他们的登陆点是位于佩文西附近的隐蔽海港，守护着海岸的一座古罗马堡垒。在堡垒的残壳之中，威廉的手下搭起了一座临时的木制城堡，后又用石头重新堆砌，仿佛在宣告，他们是罗马人的后代。从周边地区获取食物和饲料，一如既往的强取豪夺，拿不走的统统被付之一炬，令当地居民惊恐不堪。