Hereward the Wake (c1035-c1072)
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The story, facts, legend and biography of Hereward the Wake have merged into one. It is difficult to 
separate fact from legend. The exact date of his birth is unknown but he was a Saxon, with Danish 
ancestry, who was born into a wealthy Saxon family who held lands in Lincolnshire prior to the Norman 
invasion. Hereward the Wake was believed to have been a hot-headed young man who argued with his father, 
became involved in a dispute with the English King Edward the Confessor and was subsequently exiled 
to Europe at the age of 14.

The news of the defeat of King Harold in 1066 brought Hereward the Wake back to England. The Normans 
had seized his father's estates. The new Norman owner had not only taken the land, but had also slain 
his brother, whose head was set above the door of the house. Hereward the Wake exacted revenge on as 
many Normans as he could and then nailed the Norman heads above the door of the family house - he is 
said to have killed 14 Normans single-handed. Hereward the Wake had no alternative but to leave his 
lands and rebel against the Normans. He fled into the fens, where he was harboured by Abbot Thurstan 
of Ely. The Fens are an area of former wetlands in the counties of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and 
Norfolk in eastern England - they were thickly forested in the Middle Ages.

In February 1067 the English, led by King Harold's mother Gytha, resist the Normans at Exeter but were 
defeated by the Normans. Another rebellion in the North also resulted in the defeat of the English. It 
is possible that Hereward the Wake joined these Saxon English rebellions. He was certainly in contact 
with the Saxon rebels and the family of King Harold.

In 1070, four years after the Battle of Hastings,  Hereward the Wake made plans for another rebellion 
with the brother of King Harold, Earl Morcar of Northumbria. The Danish king Swein Estrithson sent a 
small army to England and established a stronghold on the Isle of Ely, where they were joined by the 
English rebels including Hereward the Wake and Earl Morcar. Hereward the Wake then led a raid on 
Peterborough Cathedral as he wished to save the treasures and relics from the Normans. He shared the 
gold he had taken with the Danes, who then deserted Hereward the Wake and returned to their homelands. 
The Normans tried to gain access to the Isle of Ely across causeways at Stuntney, Little Thetford and 
Aldreth but were ambushed by Hereward the Wake and his followers and failed to reach the rebels base. 

The threat posed by Hereward the Wake was seen as serious. Abbot Thurstan of Ely, fearing for the 
future of his abbey, betrayed Hereward the Wake and showed the Normans the secret way across to the 
Isle of Ely. Earl Morcar was captured. Hereward the Wake and a handful of his men managed to escape. 
They hid from the Normans in the forests of the Fens.

It is not known how long Hereward the Wake lived as outlaws in the forests of the Fens. But he 
apparently held out against the Normans until King William was persuaded to come to terms. Hereward 
the Wake was given his lands back and reference to his lands are made in the Domesday Book.

Hereward the Wake was seen as an English hero and as a symbol of resistance to oppression. It is 
therefore not surprising that some of the legends about Hereward the Wake were later incorporated 
into the legends about Robin Hood.