Hereward the Wake

Hereward the Wake, also known as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile, was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman famed for leading resistance against the Norman Conquest of England. He became a symbol of rebellion during the years following the 1066 invasion, with his stronghold centered on the Isle of Ely in eastern England. According to legend, he moved through the marshy Fens—an area spanning parts of modern Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk—rallying local support and waging a guerrilla-style campaign against William the Conqueror’s rule.