Battle of Hastings
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| Battle of Hastings | |||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 14 October 1066 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Hastings, England | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Decisive Norman victory | ||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of Hastings was the decisive Norman victory in the Norman conquest of England in 1066.
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Prelude
On September 28, 1066, William of Normandy, bent on asserting by arms his claim to the English crown, landed unopposed at Pevensey. Upon setting foot on the beach, William tripped and fell on his face. Saving face, he rose, grabbing handfuls of sand and shouted "I now take hold of the land of England!" On hearing the news, the Saxon King Harold, who had just destroyed the Norwegian army under King Harald Hardråda at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire, hurried southward, gathering what forces he could on the way. He took up his position, astride the road from Hastings to London, on Senlac Hill some six miles inland from Hastings, with his back to the great forest of Anderida (the Weald) and in front of him a long glacis-like slope, at the bottom of which began the opposing slope of Telham Hill. The town called Battle in the modern county of East Sussex was named to commemorate this event.
The English force was 7000-8000 strong, and consisted almost entirely of infantry. The infantry comprised the local peasant levies (fyrd) along with the English men-at-arms (housecarls). The housecarls, most probably veterans of the Stamford Bridge battle, were armed principally with the Danish axe and shield. They took the front ranks along the line, forming a 'shield wall' with interlocking shields side by side. Behind the housecarls, the fyrdmen armed with whatever weapon was at hand took up position along the ridgeline and would have filled the front ranks if necessary as the housecarls fell.
On the morning of Saturday, October 14, Duke William 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 various Norman nobles and their retainers. The nobles having been promised English lands and titles in return for their material support. The army was deployed in the classic medieval fashion with the Normans taking the centre, the Bretons on the left wing and the 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, who had accompanied the army across the English Channel, begged his master for permission to strike the first blows of the battle. Permission was granted, and Ivo Taillefer rode before the English alone, tossed his sword and lance in the air and caught them, then charged into the English line and was promptly slain by the front line of Housecarls.
The battle
The battle commenced with an archery barrage from the Norman archers and crossbowmen. However, as the Norman archers drew their bowstrings only to the ear and their crossbows were loaded by hand without assistance from a windlass, most shots either failed to penetrate the housecarls' shields or sailed over their heads to fall harmlessly beyond. In any event, the archery failed to make any impression on the English lines.
The Norman infantry and cavalry then advanced, led by the Duke and his half-brother the Bishop, Odo. All along the front the men-at-arms and cavalry came to close quarters with the defenders, but the long 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 solid, the English shouting their defiance with "Olicrosse!" (holy cross) and "Ut, ut!" (out, out).
Batlhast.JPG
However, the Bretons on the left wing advanced too far forward of the other battles, coming into contact with the shield wall first. Inexperienced and unprepared for the savage defence of the English, the Bretons broke and fled. 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' flights was allegedly used with some 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 face 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.
Towards the end of the day, the English defensive line was in a depleted state. The repeated Norman infantry assaults and cavalry charges had thinned out the armoured housecarls, the lines now filled by the lower quality fyrdmen 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 navy 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 started forward yet again, Harold received a mortal wound, previously believed to have been pierced through the eye by an arrow (through a misreading of the Bayeaux tapestry), but in fact shown being cut down by the Norman men-at-arms (note he is wearing a crown).
The renewed Norman attack reached the top of the hill on the English extreme left and right wing. 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 Carls began streaming away from the battle as the English forces finally broke, the Normans overrunning the hilltop. Harold's personal guard died fighting to the last as a circle of Huscarls around the king and the battle standards (the Dragon standard of Wessex and the Fighting man of Harold himself. Harold was struck down in the fighting and probably emasculated by his attackers.
Aftermath
Only a remnant of the defenders made its way back to the forest; and William, after resting for a night on the hardly-won ground, began the work of the Norman Conquest.
Some of the Norman forces pursued the English but were ambushed and destroyed in the forest.
Battle Abbey was built at the site of the battle, and a plaque marks the place where Harold fell.
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 homogenous English infantry force few tactical options except defence.
References
External links
- Battle of Hastings, 1066 (http://battle1066.com), for more information.
- The King's Shadow (http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?0440220114), a book based on this event.de:Schlacht bei Hastings
fr:Bataille de Hastings nl:Slag bij Hastings pl:Bitwa pod Hastings pt:Batalha de Hastings fi:Hastingsin taistelu sv:Slaget vid Hastings he:קרב הייסטינגס