The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 when the invading Norman army of Duke William of Normandy and the Anglo-Saxon army of King Harold Godwinson of England met in battle in east Sussex to decide who would wear the English crown. The Normans landed at Pevensey and waited for Harold's army to march south from its victory over the Vikings at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, and the exhausted Anglo-Saxon army formed a shield wall on Senlac Hill. The Normans attacked the shield wall before retreating after a rumor spread that William had been killed, upon which the Anglo-Saxons broke formation to pursue the Normans. However, William rode past his men and rallied them, and they easily overwhelmed the scattered Anglo-Saxon pursuers. The Normans then attacked what remained of the shield wall, and Godwinson was killed by an arrow to the eye. With Harold dead and the Saxons beaten, William became the next King of England, ending the Anglo-Saxon era and starting the Norman era of England.
Background[]
In January 1066, King Edward the Confessor of England died without naming an heir to the throne, setting off a succession struggle. England's wealthiest and most popular aristocrat, Earl Harold Godwinson of Wessex, claimed the throne for himself, and the Anglo-Saxon people fiercely supported his claim. However, Edward had been rivals with Harold's father Earl Godwin of Wessex and had supposedly promised the throne to his distant cousin, Duke William of Normandy. William disputed Harold's claim to the throne and assembled an army of Norman warriors and foreign mercenaries to invade England and seize the throne for himself. A third contender, King Harald Hardrada of Norway, claimed that his predecessor Magnus the Good and the late Danish-English king Harthacanute had agreed that, if either died without heir, the other would inherit his lands. On 20 September 1066, the Viking invasion army defeated the Saxons at the Battle of Fulford and captured York, but Harold rose the fyrd, assembled his huscarls, and defeated and killed Harald at the Battle of Stamford Bridge five days later. Three days after Stamford Bridge, William and his army of 7,000 troops landed at Pevensey, marching inland to establish a beachhead. Harold was then forced to march his beleaguered army south to confront the Norman threat, gathering more soldiers as he marched. The two armies met near Hastings in east Sussex at the present-day town of Battle.
Battle[]
The Norman cavalry attacking the shield wall
The Anglo-Saxon army positioned itself on Senlac Hill, 6 miles from William's base at the castle of Hastings. The 9,000-strong Saxon army formed a shield wall, protected on both flanks by thick forests and marshy land unsuitable to Norman cavalry. The 7,000-strong Norman army launched an assault on the shield wall, but the Breton division on William's left broke and began to flee. This, combined with rumors that William himself had been slain, led to a general rout among the Normans. Harold's men then began a large-scale pursuit of the Norman forces, but William rode past his men and reassured them that he was alive. He then led a counterattack against the scattered Saxon pursuers, overwhelming them. The Norman cavalry then launched attacks against the shield wall and made feigned retreats to lure them out before overwhelming them. At the same time, William had his archers fire past the shield wall and into the vulnerable troops behind it, and Harold himself was struck in the eye with an arrow. With Harold mortally wounded, the Saxon army began to collapse, and Harold was then trampled by Norman knights who pursued the Saxons. The Saxons lost their king and over a third of their men in the battle, while the Normans also lost around a third of their men. However, Harold's death allowed for William to crown himself King of England on 25 December 1066, and he crushed several Saxon uprisings over the next few years.
Aftermath[]
The Norman conquest of England was an epoch-making moment in English and world history. The proud and fierce Anglo-Saxon kingdom was conquered by the invading Normans, and the Normans formed the new aristocracy of England, with French being spoken at court, the Normans becoming feudal landholders over Anglo-Saxon peasants, the Middle English language developing as a synthesis of Old French and Anglo-Saxon, and the English culture developing a distinct identity due to the combined influences of Germanic and Western European cultures.