Transcript Document

Harold decided to force march
his army to London just two
days after winning the victory
at Stamford Bridge.
Harold Godwinson had an
excellent military track record
from the reign of Edward,
particularly when he crushed
Welsh resistance in his
successful conquest of Wales.
The Papal approval led to the
Norman army containing more
than just Norman troops.
There were troops from places
such as Bolonge, Breton and
Flanders to add further
strength to William’s army.
Godwinson decided to marry
the sister of Edwin and
Morcar, thus binding the
northern earls to him and
giving them reason to fight
hard for him.
Harold faced invasion from the
North and from the South at
the same time.
Harold had proven himself as
an astute general by defeating
a Viking army led by one of the
most respected, successful
warriors of the period.
When the Norman fleet made their
moves along the Norman coast before
the invasion some men were lost at sea
and William enforced a huge cover-up so
that his army didn’t find out such morale
damaging news. When his ships were
scattered on the way over the channel,
William refused to panic and simply ate
his breakfast calmly in front of the crew
and his solders.
When the Normans landed
William ordered his troops to
ravage the land, partly to
gather supplies but also to
draw Godwinson to battle as
soon as possible.
Harold decided, in London, to
march to Hastings as soon as
possible in an attempt to
repeat the success of Stamford
Bridge.
During the battle William, at great
danger to himself, removed his
helmet and galloped along the
battlefield exclaiming that he was
still alive, crushing a rumour that
he had died which could have led
to the disintegration of his army.
William used the various units in
his army to help him to eliminate
the strong shield-wall. For example
the foot-soldiers were used to
wear it down, the archers were
asked to fire high to force the
shields to lift and the cavalry was
used to kill any English that came
off the hill.
Some historians suggest that
William waited, knowing that
it would stretch Godwinson’s
forces to keep them on high
alert for as long as possible. He
would also have known about
the Fyrd term of service being
two months.
Soon after hearing the news of
Godwinson taking the throne,
William sent a delegation to the
Pope to seek his approval for the
invasion. This approval led to
thousands of men joining from
across Northern Europe and
helped to convince many of his
own Barons to support him.
The Fyrd was only required to
serve for a maximum of two
months and by September
Harold had to let them go to
collect the harvest. The terms
of the Fyrd were decided long
before Harold’s reign.
Harold’s accidental visit to
Normandy in 1064/65 meant
that William was able to
portray him as a liar and
accuse him perjury (swearing a
false oath) which was very
serious in 1066.
The Northumbrian uprising led
to the exile of Tostig, during
the reign of Edward. This put
Godwinson in an extremely
difficult position.
The English fleet was used to
guarding the coast and was
fairly well trained but was
badly damaged in a storm just
before the Normans crossed
the channel.
Mid-battle William ordered his
men to pretend to retreat in order
to try to draw the English off the
hill. Each time this tempted more
of the Fyrd from the strong hill
position and once they were on
the flat the Norman cavalry could
ride the English down.
Godwinson had strong, powerful,
loyal, experienced housecarls, a
large number of the Fyrd and
probably a few archers scattered
amongst his army. William had
foot-soldiers from across Northern
Europe, large numbers of archers
and cavalry giving him more
options in the fight.
The Norman archers possibly
delivered the killer blow with
some sources suggesting Harold
was killed with an arrow to the
eye. Either way the Norman
archers certainly weakened the
shield wall and by firing high it
made it difficult to maintain.
The cavalry was the portion of
the Norman army that
delivered the killer blows to
any English soldiers that
strayed off the hill; a cavalry
charge was the Medieval
battlefield’s ultimate weapon.