The Battle of Hastings

The Battle of Hastings

Overview

The bloody battle fought near Hastings, England, in 1066, created much more than an impressive list of dead nobility. It profoundly changed the history of England. Because of the battle's outcome, Norman influence united the country, lifted the island nation into a place of prominence in European affairs, and strengthened the Catholic Church's sway. No Hastings, no modern England.

Context

Edward the Confessor was a gentle, frail man, well-suited for a monk. Unfortunately, he wasn't a monk. He was the King of England. His mainstay was Earl Godwin of Wessex, and, after the Earl's death, Godwin's eldest son, Harold, who was a brave and competent man, well-loved by most Englishmen.

William, Duke of Normandy

William, Duke of Normandy, was a shrewd, calculating soldier and ruler with concentrated designs on England's throne. According to William, the vacillating Edward had promised him that he would be heir to the coveted position. Whether or not this was true, it gave the wily Duke some justification in his claims, while an unplanned shipwreck and a brilliant though shady plan gave him an advantage over his most likely opponent, Harold Godwinson.

Harold in William's Hands

While on a voyage, probably in 1064[1], adverse winds wrecked Earl Harold on the French coast, where he quickly came into William's hands. The Duke treated him honorably and the two became friends, William bestowing costly gifts upon the Earl, and Harold aiding the Duke against a revolt of Breton subjects. This seeming friendship lasted some time, but Duke William never forgot his ambitious object. According to the Normans, William "invited Harold to make a pact with him whereby he himself should become King of England, and Harold Earl of the whole splendid province of Wessex. . ."^[2]. Harold agreed. Unbeknown to the noble Englishman, however, the altar over which he swore this oath contained a sacred relic, binding Harold even firmer to his words.

Although the wisdom of swearing this oath can be disputed, if Harold had not sworn, it's likely that he would never have returned to England alive.

Vikings

Edward the Confessor died on January 5, 1066, and a successor was needed. The Witan, or Council of England, refused William's claims, and instead decided to elevate Earl Harold. The Earl accepted, regardless of his oath, and prepared to defend his position against all disputants. William, he soon learned, was not the only impending threat--another man wanted England's throne, and he had an army to help.

Battle of Stamford Bridge

King Harold Hardrada of Scandinavia, along with Earl Harold's traitorous half-brother, Tostig, landed with their army in early September and began to ravage and plunder the area. King Harold led an army of levies and faithful house-carls, or "house men," against the invaders. They met in what became known as the Battle of Stamford Bridge, a fierce and bloody conflict which ended with the defeat of the Vikings and their expulsion from the country. There was little time, though, for jubilation. The Normans had come.

The Battle of Hastings

A fleet of European adventurers and Normans under Duke William landed at Pevensey Bay in East Sussex on September 28. Harold rushed across England with his core of house-carls, reduced but not destroyed by the Battle of Stamford Bridge. As he recrossed England towards the Normans, Harold's ranks swelled with hastily collected and poorly armed levies. According to Winston Churchill's account, it was "in the evening of October 13 [that Harold] took up his position upon the slope of a hill which barred the [Norman's] direct march upon the capital."^[3]

The hill was originally called "Santlache" by the English, meaning "Sandy Stream," probably because of a narrow stream that wound down the mound. After the battle the Normans changed the spelling slightly, so that it read "Sanguelac," or "Blood Lake." The name was shortened for records with customary British brevity to Senlac, by which it is still known. Whether Santlache, Sanguelac, or Senlac, though, it was about to become a bloody scene.

A Saxon Warrior

On the morning of October 14, 1066, the axe-men of King Harold formed their famous shield-wall and prepared for the enemy's attack. The trained house-carls held the center, while the inexperienced levies were given the flanks. They had no cavalry, as horses were only a means of transport for the sturdy warriors, who preferred their feet on the ground and a trusty comrade at their shoulder for battle.

William arranged his men in three lines. The archers advanced first, to shake the shield-wall with their missiles. Next, the men-at-arms cleared away the palisades and impediments, to allow the third wave's attack. Here was massed the pickings of the chivalry of Normandy, France, and a variety of other nations, massed together with the hope of plunder, land, and the blessing of the church for their efforts against the perjured King Harold.

As usual, historians disagree on the numbers of men engaged. William probably had somewhere between five to seven-thousand, and Harold had a few thousand more, though many of his men were insufficiently accoutered.

As planned, the archers began the battle with their bows, unanswered by the bowless English. Though annoying, the arrows failed to break the firm shield-wall. Upon this, William's mail-clad knights thundered into battle, shouting their war-cry, "God help us!", against which the English screamed their own, "God Almighty and the Holy Cross!"^[4]

Undaunted, the shield-wall repulsed every attack. Men fell by the scores, skewered by Norman lances or crushed by English axes. Discouraged, the Norman's left flank fell into confusion and retreated. The zealous levies instantly broke rank, regardless of King Harold's strict orders, and fell upon the retiring horsemen. For a moment the battle appeared to favor the English, but Duke William ordered his center into the levies' flanks, decimating the broken ranks, and saving the day.

The cavalry advanced again, and again they were fiercely resisted. Dead men and horses lay in heaps, but the shield-wall still held. Seeing this, William remembered the levies' fatal mistake, and resorted to stratagem. He feigned a retreat. The levies took the bait and rushed after the Normans with cries of victory. As soon as they were strung out over the hilld, William's horsemen turned and mercilessly butchered the tricked English, while the loyal house-carls in the center formed themselves for the last desperate stand.

William's archers released flights of high-arching arrows over the shield-wall with deadly effect. King Harold glanced to the sky, and a descending arrow pierced his right eye, felling him to ground. Enraged at the fall of their leader, the house-carls continued to fight until darkness allowed the few survivors to escape, but all knew that the victory was Duke William's. The Battle of Hastings was over. England would never be the same.

Impact

The Battle of Hastings was the decisive combat of the Norman conquest. Other minor conflicts took place for years, but the combatants were insufficiently organized, and could never again present a unified face, as when under King Harold. Norman and Saxon civilization eventually blended together and formed the foundation for England as we know it today. Winston Churchill, in his Volume One of A History of the English Speaking Peoples, thus summed the change:

The spirit of the long-vanished Roman Empire, revived by the Catholic Church, returned once more to our Island, bringing with it three dominant ideas. First, a Europe in which nationalism or even the conception of nationality had no place, but where one general theme of conduct and law united the triumphant martial classes upon a plane far above race. Secondly, the idea of monarchy, in the sense that Kings were the expression of the class hierarchy over which they presided and the arbiters of its frequently conflicting interests. Thirdly, there stood triumphant the Catholic Church, combining in a strange fashion Roman imperialism and Christian ethics, pervaded by the social and military system of the age, jealous for its own interests and authority, but still preserving all that was left of learning and art.^[5]

Recommended Resources for Further Study

A History of the English Speaking Peoples, Vol. 1, by Winston Churchill
Wulf the Saxon, by G. A. Henty
The Battle of Hastings Website: http://www.battle-of-hastings-1066.org.uk/
Collier's Encyclopedia, Volume 11, Battle of Hastings