   #copyright

Battle of Hastings

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1500 and
before (including Roman Britain)

   Battle of Hastings
   Part of the Norman Conquest
   alt text
   A section of the Bayeux Tapestry, chronicling the English/Norman battle
   in 1066 which led to the Norman Conquest.

     Date   14 October 1066
   Location Battle near Hastings, England
    Result  Decisive Norman victory
   Combatants
   Normans, supported by Bretons, Aquitanians, Flemings & French
   Anglo-Saxons
   Commanders
   William of Normandy, Odo of Bayeux Harold Godwinson†
   Strength
   7,000-8,000 7,000-8,000
   Casualties
   Unknown, thought to be around 2,000 killed and wounded Unknown, but
   significantly more than the Normans

   The Battle of Hastings was the most decisive Norman victory in the
   Norman conquest of England. On October 14, 1066, the Normans of Duke
   William of Normandy (aka "Guillaume Le Conquérant" in Norman, "William
   the Conqueror" in English) defeated the English army led by King Harold
   II.

   Harold had claimed the throne of England for himself in January of that
   year soon after Edward the Confessor died, ignoring William's earlier
   claims. The resulting Norman Invasion of England remains the last time
   England has been conquered by a foreign power.

   On September 28, 1066, William of Normandy, asserting by arms his claim
   to the English crown, landed unopposed at Pevensey after being delayed
   by a storm in the English Channel. Legend has it that upon setting foot
   on the beach, William tripped and fell on his face. Turning potential
   embarrassment in front of his troops into a face-saving exercise, he
   rose with his hands full of sand and shouted "I now take hold of the
   land of England!" This bears suspicious resemblance to the story of
   Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain; and was probably employed by
   William's biographer to enhance the similarities between Caesar and
   William.

   On hearing the news of the landing of the Duke's forces, the English
   Harold II, who had just destroyed an invading Norwegian army under King
   Harald Hardråda and Tostig Godwinson (Harold's brother) at the Battle
   of Stamford Bridge, hurried southward from London the morning of the
   12th, gathering what forces he could on the way. He arrived at the
   battlefield the night of 13 October 1066.

   Harold deployed his force, astride the road from Hastings to London, on
   Senlac Hill some six miles inland from Hastings. To his back was the
   great forest of Anderida ( the Weald) and in front the ground fell away
   in a long glacis-like slope, which at the bottom rose again as the
   opposing slope of Telham Hill. The later town called Battle in the
   modern county of East Sussex was named to commemorate this event.

   The English force is usually estimated at seven to eight thousand
   strong, and consisted entirely of infantry (the English rode to their
   battles but did not fight from horseback). It comprised the English
   men-at-arms of the fyrd, mainly thegns (the English equivalent of a
   land-holding aristocracy), along with a substantial amount of local
   peasant levies, lesser thegns, and a core of professional warriors:
   Housecarls, the King's royal troops and bodyguards. The thegns and
   housecarls, probably veterans of the recent Stamford Bridge battle,
   were armed principally with swords, spears, and in some cases the
   formidable Danish axes, and were protected by coats of chainmail and
   their shields. They took the front ranks, forming a ' shield wall' with
   interlocking shields side by side. Behind the thegns and housecarls,
   the lesser thegns and peasant levies were armed with whatever weapons
   they had at hand. The entire army took up position along the ridgeline;
   as casualties fell in the front lines the lesser thegns and peasants
   would move forward to fill the gaps. The English, however, were still
   exhausted from the Battle of Stamford Bridge, where they had achieved
   an almost- Pyrrhic victory against the Vikings, and were in no shape to
   fight again.

   On the morning of Saturday, 14 October 1066, Duke William of Normandy
   gathered his army below the English position. The Norman army was of
   comparable size to the English force, and composed of William's Norman,
   Breton and Flemish vassals along with their retainers, and freebooters
   from as far away as Norman Italy. The nobles had been promised English
   lands and titles in return for their material support: the common
   troopers were paid with the spoils and "cash", and hoped for land when
   English fiefs were handed out. Many had also come because they
   considered it a holy crusade, due to the Pope's decision to bless the
   invasion. The army was deployed in the classic medieval fashion of
   three divisions, or "battles" - the Normans taking the centre, the
   Bretons on the left wing and the Franco-Flemish on right wing. Each
   battle comprised infantry, cavalry and archers along with crossbowmen.
   The archers and crossbowmen stood to the front for the start of the
   battle.

   Legend has it that William's minstrel and knight, Ivo Taillefer, begged
   his master for permission to strike the first blows of the battle.
   Permission was granted, and Taillefer rode before the English alone,
   tossing his sword and lance in the air and catching them while he sang
   an early version of The Song of Roland. The earliest account of this
   tale (in The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio) says that an English champion
   came from the ranks, and Taillefer quickly slew him, taking his head as
   a trophy to show that God favoured the invaders: later 12th century
   sources say that Taillefer charged into the English ranks and killed
   one to three Englishmen before suffering death himself. Regardless,
   fighting was now underway.

The battle

   Hastings battleplan
   Enlarge
   Hastings battleplan

   The battle commenced with an archery barrage from the Norman archers
   and crossbowmen. However, the Norman archers drew their bowstrings only
   to the chest and their crossbows were loaded by hand without assistance
   from a windlass, so most shots either failed to penetrate the
   housecarls' shields or sailed over their heads to fall harmlessly
   beyond. The Normans therefore had no other choice other than to charge
   the English time and time again, only to be repulsed. Another tactic
   used was to pretend to retreat and then when the English chased after
   them off the hill they were fighting on, without warning the Normans
   would turn round and attack with the English away from cover. In any
   event, the archery failed to make any impression on the English lines.
   Norman archery tactics in general relied on picking up enemy arrows
   shot back at them, and as the Saxons had left their bowmen in York
   during the rush to meet William, the Norman arrowfire soon decreased.

   The Norman infantry and cavalry then advanced, led by the Duke and his
   half-brothers: Bishop Odo and Count Robert of Mortain. All along the
   front, the men-at-arms and cavalry came to close quarters with the
   defenders, but the long and powerful Danish axes were formidable and
   after a prolonged melee the front of the English line was littered with
   cut down horses and the dead and dying. The shield wall remained
   intact, and the English shouted their defiance with "Olicrosse!" (holy
   cross) and "Ut, ut!" (out, out). The Normans responded with "Dex aїe!"
   (God's help).
   View from Battle Abbey to the field where the Battle of Hastings took
   place.
   Enlarge
   View from Battle Abbey to the field where the Battle of Hastings took
   place.

   However, the Bretons on the left wing (where the slope is gentlest),
   came into contact with the shield wall first. Seemingly unable to cope
   with the defence, the Bretons broke and fled. The Bretons, due to their
   Alannic influence, were experienced in cavalry tactics and may have set
   up a feigned retreat. Possibly led by one of Harold's brothers,
   elements of the English right wing broke ranks and pursued the Bretons
   down the hill in a wild unformed charge. On the flat, without a
   defensive shield wall formation, the English were charged by the Norman
   cavalry and slaughtered.

   This eagerness of the English to switch to a premature offensive was
   noted by Norman lords and the tactic of the 'feigned' flight was used
   with success by the Norman horsemen throughout the day. With each
   subsequent assault later in the day, the Norman cavalry began a series
   of attacks each time, only to wheel away after a short time in contact
   with the English line. A group of English would rush out to pursue the
   apparently defeated enemy, only to be ridden-over and destroyed when
   the cavalry wheeled about again to force them away from the shield
   wall.

   The Normans retired to rally and re-group, and to begin the assault
   again on the shield wall. The battle dragged on throughout the
   remainder of the day, each repeated Norman attack weakening the shield
   wall and leaving the ground in front littered with English and Norman
   dead.

   Toward the end of the day, the English defensive line was depleted. The
   repeated Norman infantry assaults and cavalry charges had thinned out
   the armoured housecarls, the lines now filled by the lower-quality
   peasant levies. William was also worried, as nightfall would soon force
   his own depleted army to retire, perhaps even to the ships where they
   would be prey to the English fleet in the Channel. Preparing for the
   final assault, William ordered the archers and crossbowmen forward
   again. This time the archers fired high, the arrows raining upon the
   English rear ranks and causing heavy casualties. As the Norman infantry
   and cavalry closed yet again, Harold received a mortal wound.
   Traditionally he is believed to have been pierced through the right eye
   by an arrow (through interpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry). But The
   Carmen de Hastingae Proelio describes how Harold was cut to pieces by
   Norman knights led by William himself: and the Bayeux Tapestry shows
   him being cut down by a Norman knight, thus agreeing with The Carmen.
   It is possible that both versions of Harold's end are true: he was
   first wounded in the face by an arrow, then killed by hand weapons in
   the final Norman assault. Wace, in the Roman de Rou, notes that Harold
   was wounded in the eye, then tore out the shaft and continued to fight
   until cut down by a knight. Another theory was that Harold was struck
   in the right eye and tried to pull it out. He was later cut through the
   heart by a Norman knight, his head cut off, his guts strewn out, and
   his left leg cut off at the thigh.
   Hastings battlefield from a "Norman" point of view (2006)
   Enlarge
   Hastings battlefield from a "Norman" point of view (2006)

   The renewed Norman attack reached the top of the hill on the English
   extreme left and right wings. The Normans then began to roll up the
   English flanks along the ridgeline. The English line began to waver,
   and the Norman men-at-arms forced their way in, breaking the shield
   wall at several points. Fyrdmen and housecarls, learning that their
   king was dead, began streaming away from the battle; the Normans
   overran the hilltop in pursuit. Harold's personal guard died fighting
   to the last as a circle of housecarls around the king's body and his
   battle standards (the Dragon standard of Wessex and the Fighting man,
   his personal standard). Harold's corpse (through an interpretation of
   The Carmen) was probably emasculated by one of his attackers.

Aftermath

   Only a remnant of the defenders made their way back to the forest. Some
   of the Norman forces pursued the English, but were ambushed and
   destroyed in the semi-darkness when they ran afoul of steep ground,
   called, in later (12th century) sources, "the Malfosse", or "bad
   ditch". William, after resting for a night on the hard-won ground,
   began the work of the Norman Conquest. He recruited his army for two
   weeks near Hastings, waiting for the English lords to come and submit
   to him. Then, after he realized his hopes of submission at that point
   were in vain, he began his advance on London. His army was seriously
   reduced for several weeks in November by dysentery, and William himself
   was gravely ill. Nevertheless, he directed his forces to continue their
   approach on the city: in three columns they made their way to
   Wallingford on the Thames. After crossing over, William threatened
   London with a siege.

   After a few failed attempts at aggression near London, the fight had
   gone out of the remaining English nobility. The northern earls, Edwin
   and Morcar, Esegar the sheriff of London, and Edgar the Atheling (who
   had even been elected - but not crowned - "king" in a feeble attempt to
   continue the resistance) all came out and submitted to the Norman Duke.
   William was crowned as England's third king that year, on Christmas day
   at Westminster.
   Harold's plaque (2006)
   Enlarge
   Harold's plaque (2006)

   Battle Abbey was built at the site of the battle of Hastings, and a
   plaque marks the place where Harold fell, and where the high altar of
   the church once stood. The settlement of Battle, East Sussex grew up
   around the abbey and is now a small market town.

   The Bayeux Tapestry depicts the events before and at the Battle of
   Hastings.

   The Battle of Hastings is also an excellent example of the application
   of the theory of combined arms. The Norman archers, cavalry and
   infantry co-operated together to deny the English the initiative, and
   gave the homogeneous English infantry force few tactical options except
   defence.

   However, it is quite likely that this tactical sophistication was
   mostly in the minds of the Norman Chroniclers. The account of the
   battle given in the earliest source, The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio,
   is one where the Norman advance surprises the English, who manage to
   gain the top of Senlac Hill before the Normans. The Norman Light
   Infantry is sent in while the English are forming their Shield Wall (to
   no avail) and then the main force was sent in (no distinction being
   made between infantry and cavalry). Interestingly, it records the first
   retreat of William's forces as the result of a French (not Norman)
   feigned retreat that went wrong, the English counter-attack, William
   counter-counter-attacks, and it all develops into a huge melee during
   which Harold is slain by a group of four knights and therefore the bulk
   of the English army flee.

   Succeeding sources include (in chronological order) William of
   Poitiers' Gesta Guillelmi (written between 1071 and 1077), The Bayeux
   Tapestry (created between 1070 and 1077), and the much later Chronicle
   of Battle Abbey, the Chronicles written by William of Malmesbury,
   Florence of Worcester, and Eadmer’s Historia Novorum in Anglia
   embellishes the story further, with the final result being a William
   whose tactical genius was at a high level - a level that he failed to
   display in any other battle. Most likely is the simplest explanation:
   that the English were exhausted and undermanned, having lost or left
   behind their bowmen and many of their best housecarls on the fields of
   Fulford Gate and Stamford Bridge, or on the road from York. This
   weakness, rather than any great military genius on the part of William,
   led to the defeat of the Anglo-Saxons at Hastings. Even with this
   weakness, it was still a hard-fought battle that could easily have gone
   the other way.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hastings"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
