The Battle of Hastings

J.P.Sommerville

The Battle of Hastings

The Invasion

	Anglo-Saxon English kings had various ill-defined, customary powers to call ships to service in defense of England's shores (shipfyrd), but no standing naval forces. Some ships had been assembled near the Isle of Wight to discourage invasion, but these had dispersed by early September.
	William the Conqueror assembled an invasion force of about 600 transport ships (many hired in Flanders). These were ready by about mid-August 1066, but unfavorable winds in the Channel prevented embarkation.

William the Conqueror, Duke Robert of Normandy's bastard son by a local tanner's daughter, had acceded to the dukedom in 1035, aged eight. He proved a tough and competent ruler, defeating dissident barons in 1047 at the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes.

William pursued his claim to the English throne with a force of approximately 7,000 troops of whom about two thousand were mailed horsemen. (The exact figures are far from certain).

Harold II's soldiers were almost entirely infantry, and (unlike William's force) included very few archers. Harold's force was larger than William's, (perhaps 8,500) but many of them had just marched 240 miles south from the Battle of Stamford Bridge. In addition, although Harold's c. 2,500 housecarls were hardened soldiers, most of his shire levies (c. 6,000) were largely untrained and unarmored.

The Battle (14 October 1066)

	Harold had marched south rapidly and possibly hoped to surprise William, but was immediately confronted by the Norman forces. Harold drew up his troops in a strong defensive position on Senlac Ridge, not far from Hastings. Thickly wooded country behind made an attack from the rear impracticable.
	William made an initial attack with flights of arrows followed by an infantry charge, but this was easily repulsed by the axe-wielding housecarls. Many of the undisciplined shire levies broke ranks in pursuit of the retreating Normans, and were cut down by Norman horsemen.

The close ranks of Harold's infantry were well deployed to withstand frontal assault, but vulnerable to the continual waves of arrows launched by William's Breton archers. This missile attack was combined with the shock tactics of cavalry charge. But it seems that the arrow may have been the decisive weapon on the day, for some evidence suggests that Harold was killed by a shot in the eye.

	The fighting raged all day and it is far from clear that victory would have gone to the Normans had it not been for Harold's death. The effect of his death on morale was considerable, as it left the English withot an effective commander, for Harold's brothers Gyrth and Leofwine had died earlier in the day's fighting.
	A few English tried to rally behind Edgar the Ætheling in a final attempt at resistance centered on London, but William's army was too strong, and he was crowned king in Westminster Abbey, 25 December 1066.