The battle of Hastings

It is the year 1066, and England's king, Edward the Confessor, is dead. The succession to his throne has been claimed by three men. Harold II of Wessex has no claim to the throne except his own word. William I of Normandy lays claim to the throne through his great aunt. Harald Hardrada of Sweden claims "rights" through his nephew. As the battle begins, one man's army will join with another's, holding a united front to the third. It is this third combatant that is to become the focus of this battle.

Duke William I of Normandy claimed England after the death of Edward the Confessor in 1065. However, he did not immediately move into his claim. In the wake of William's seeming disinterest, Harold II of Wessex ( who, it must be noted, had sworn, the previous year, to be William's vassal) considered the grounds safe enough to claim the throne for himself. Upon hearing of this brave move by his vassal, William became enraged. And so comes the beginning of the Battle of a Day, Hastings, the year 1066.

After he had taken Holy Communion, the duke of Normandy hung holy relics around his neck; the same ones upon which Harold had sworn to be his vassal. With that, William was completely prepared.

Upon learning that Harold had begun his march from London, William called his men to arms. Though the exact size of the Norman army is unknown, military historians estimate that it was somewhere between 7,000 and 50,000 men. It is also estimated that around two-thirds of William's army was a mixture of infantry men and archers, leaving a relatively small percent of knights among the ranks.

William assembled his army into a marching column about two to four miles long.

Archers and crossbowmen were positioned in front, infantry in the middle, and the small company of knights brought up the rear.

In the midst of this last group rode William himself. He had chosen to ride among his knights, but it had not been a choice made out of cowardice. Necessity prompted William to choose that place in the line. The knights were William's most valuable asset, and the least accessible one from the head of the column. The instructions William gave his knights were vital; they were to ride past the field of battle and come around behind Harold's army.

William I of Normandy, upon hearing of Harold's march, had summoned his men to battle. But why? What did Harold have access to that William did not? What did Harold posses that William wanted?

London, the seat of England's power: the throne. Harold had claimed it for his own and was determined to keep it. When news of William's landing reached him in London, Harold panicked. His army was neither as well-trained or as well-equipped as the Normans were, and he most likely felt outnumbered. After a final, panicked frenzy Harold settled down and began to watch William carefully.

When William made no move to march the sixty miles from Hastings to London, Harold's panic died completely. In its place was a wish to see "justice" done for the harassment Hastings' peasant farmers were experiencing from the Normans. But as he marched from London, Harold realized that he had not planned a destination. Quickly, he chose Senlac Hill for his camp, a wise move indeed for a man prone to erred judgement. Senlac Hill was ideal for two reasons. One, it lay directly between London and Hastings. William would have to pass through the area to reach London. But the second reason was of far more importance to Harold. The hill's ridge, facing toward Hastings, was steep and difficult for horses to negotiate. Unfortunately for Harold, he had no idea that William would actually have very few horsemen because he had wanted to bring along as many fighting men as he possibly could.

As it's been mentioned before, things did not go completely without trouble. Both William and Harold experienced difficulties, though William saw far more than Harold. Originally, William had planned his landing at Pevensey, but weather and the discovery of spies forced him to quickly reroute his armada to Hastings. In itself, landing at Hastings was far better than Pevensey would have been. Had he landed at Pevensey, William and his army would have been captured by the large-scale force residing in the Earldom of Pevensey, all of them loyal to Harold.

Upon landing, William rebuilt the wooden structure that had been established the year before but later torn down by Harold. At first William settled down in a siege of Hastings, attempting to draw Harold to himself instead of marching directly on London. However, it seemed Harold was indifferent to William's harassment of the local peasants. This cowardice on Harold's part enraged the Duke of Normandy, and he prepared to march on London. But William's siege had not gone completely unnoticed, and it had sent a clear message to Harold. However, when it looked to Harold that William was ready to put down roots in Hastings, he could no longer stand what he saw as "William's passive strategy." On October 11, 1066, Harold led his army out of London and toward Hastings.

Though there had resided many changes, it has been mentioned before that there were three contenders for the throne. Had it not been for the "intervention" of the final party, Harold might have had a chance against William. Harald Hardrada was king of the Swedes when Edward the Confessor died. He was more feared than loved by his own people, and his plans for England were large-scale. Like all Vikings, Harald was resourceful and conniving. From written documents of the time period, it is clear that he alleged, at first, to support both William and Harold, but

pledged loyalty to neither.

Harald had a "blood" tie to the throne of England through his nephew, who "coincidently" died at the same time Edward lay dying at Winchester. Harald, in his dreams of power and his wish to claim a land for his sons, set sail for England.

Harald, unlike Harold, was not foolhardy. He took no chances concerning William's strength, or Harold's for that matter, and alleged to assist both in their separate struggles.

However, that assistance went only as far as Harald's own ambitions allowed. To his close captains, he expressed his hope that the other two would kill each other off.

However, Harald's plans backfired on him, ending not in his coronation, but in his death. In a fit of panic aroused by William's accusations of treachery on his part, Harald threw himself completely behind Harold, to no avail. By noon on October 14, 1066, Harald Hardrada was dead.

William's horsemen, sent at last to the fore of the battle, decimated the Swedish ranks and slaughtered their king.

In light of recent remarks mentioning faults in various battle plans, it would now be best to explain some details of the battle itself. First, it must mentioned that this battle did not actually occur at Hastings. Although, because of William's seige of Hastings, it is popularly referred to as the Battle of Hastings, it would be both more accurate and less confusing to refer to it as the Battle of Senlac Hill, considering that the battle itself occurred about ten miles from William's landing point.

Now, considering that every battle has its pros and cons, the advantages and disadvantages of this battle must be weighed.

The Normans. William chose Telham Hill as his battle camp, for it was well fortified naturally and within a mile of the English's camp. For their first few hours at Telham Hill, William's army was virtually undetectable. They were able to scout the land without much interference, and thus William was able to plan his first attack with full knowledge of his battle ground. Unfortunately, William could not send spies to Harold's camp because they would be detected too easily. The greatest amount of William's frustration, however, was aimed at the fact that the wooded area surrounding Telham Hill, though good for cover, left precious little room for manuvering.

The Normans did not have all of the advantages, and certainly not all of the disadvantages. Harold experienced his own senses of triumph and frustration. Harold's greatest advantage was that he could muster men from local areas to fight with him. As it's been mentioned before, he was also fortunate that his camp on Senlac Hill was very protected against a mounted attack. However, Harold's problems far outweighed his ability. The organization of his army into some semblance of a capable fighting force took Harold several hours. In fact, Harold was still preparing his troops when the Norman attack began.

Harold also had trouble with his position for Senlac Hill had no cover whatsoever, and the hill itself was of no great help against the Norman infantry. Had Harold been aware of William's presence sooner, he most likely would have been prepared sooner. The examination of battle is only begun with knowing one's strenghts and weaknesses. Now the tactics of the battle will decide which man had the better battle plan.

Both men were fair generals, though only William had proven himself before to be a master tactician. The Norman duke was cool, careful, calculating and ruthless, as well as swift to take advantage of an enemy's mistakes. William knew that the longer the battle continued, the stronger Harold would become. William continued to press forward, hoping to wear Harold down quickly.

When William accused Hardrada of treachery, Harold willingly accepted the Swede, which proved to be Harold's biggest mistake. But it also brought Harold's main weakness to the fore; he trusted people too much. Every time the Normans "retreated", he pulled back his attacks and rested on what he figured were victories, until the Normans quickly regained strength and pressed forward again.

Had Harold been less trusting, and William less brutal, the battle would surely have continued for many more days, and Harold might have won.

Amongst the confusion of battle, many details are lost, even those most important. However, the details of Harold's death were both widespread and well-known. Once, toward dusk, the archers of William's army fired an arching volley of arrows up Senlac Hill. Harold looked up just as the arrows came swooping down upon his camp. One arrow drove its way through his eye, killing him. And so ended the battle, and so began the Norman conquest of England.

After Harold's death, William's rise to power was quick, though unpopular. Because of his cruelity he was despised by the people and was never referred to as the king, but always as William the Conqueror. He conquered England more by force than any other means. Piece by piece England fell under his sword, but Hastings has remained the most significant victory.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Asimov, Isaac, The Shaping of England, Boston, Houghton, 1969.

Butler, Denis, 1066, the Story of a Year, New York, Putnam, 1966.

Clarke, Amanda, The Battle of Hastings, London, Dreyerd, 1988.

Dupuy, R. Ernest, "Battle of Hastings," Encyclopedia of Military

History, New York, Harper, 1977.

Lloyd, Alan, The Making of a King; 1066, New York, Holt, 1966.

Whitelock, Dorthy, The Norman Conquest; It's Setting and Impact,

New York, Scribner, 1966.

Young, Peter, Hastings to Culloden, London, Bell, 1964.