War Art 22: 1066 - Battle of Hastings

A battle that shaped the world as we know it took place on October 14, 1066. Edward the Confessor died in January of 1066 and left no son to fill his place as king of England. Though he was said to have favored William I of Normandy as a successor, a powerful Anglo-Saxon nobleman named Harold Godwinson claimed the throne for himself. This made William furious. In October of that year, William brought an army of some 8,000 cavalry, infantry, and archers to England's shores. Harold was busy at the time, putting down the Viking army of King Harald Hardråda, another claimant to Edward's vacant throne. Having barely defeated the Norse army, Harold was informed of the landing by William and his Normans. He hustled back to Hastings with some 7,500 men to confront them. The two forces met at Senlac hill, some six miles inland from Hastings. The Anglo-Saxons took the high ground and set up a defensive wall of shields. The Normans attacked early in the morning with a hailstorm of arrows, followed by infantry and cavalry charges. The battle went on for most of the day, with charges being repulsed, renewed, and repulsed again. Finally, late that afternoon, Harold II was struck down in a final charge and died on the ground, ending the battle. William was installed as king and the Normans supplanted the Anglo-Saxons as rulers. Whether you consider this fair or unfair, remember, without a Norman conquest, we wouldn't have had Richard the LionHearted, or such magnificent Norman vs. Saxon fictional tales of people like Robin Hood or Ivanhoe. Also included toward the end of this montage is the complete Bayeux Tapestry. The embroidered tapestry, which runs 230 feet from end to end, shows the events lkeading up to the invasion and the battle itself. It was probably completed in about 1077, just eleven years after the battle. The original hangs in Bayeux, France, with a replica in Reading, England.

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• art
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• 1066
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• hastings
• norman
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• anglo-saxon
• william
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• harold
• II

[RoManLP15]

The battle of hastings is not the worlds best strategic battle...

Military leaders and many other historicans dont like this battle.

William made an frontal attack against an enemy who was prepared, it was doomed to fail, but then Harold was hitten by an arrow in his eye. That led to confusion in the saxon army and they retreated...

[bestjonbon]

Agreed. William's battle plan sucked. But the battle of Hastings changed the world in many ways for a long, long time, so it becomes an important battle anyway.

[Ravensteinzh]

@bestjonbon By "the world" I am sure you mean only Britain and Europe.

[bestjonbon]

Hi, Ravensteinzh. They say the fall of a leaf can change the world. This small battle had influence far beyond its narrow local area.

[Ravensteinzh]

@bestjonbon The same then can be said about almost every single battle fought that decided the fate of a single nation.

[bestjonbon]

That's true. And IS said about almost any battle between nations. Especially if one side wins and changes everything in the conquered nation.

[OneofInfinity]

@aclock2 Some random n00b with a lucky shot

[tommi7678]

@legomyeggo713 Ok, Bretons...and there were many other mercenaries from northern germany.

castrated? :) thats new for me ;)

[legomyeggo713]

@tommi7678 No the left flank of the Norman army composed of Bretons ran and got chased by the undisciplined saxons then the Norman cavalry came in and killed the saxons that chased the Bretons then the Duke realized he could send his men up and down the hill and trick the saxons and then the duke did that until harold was hit in the eye by an arrow but harold didnt die so the duke led a cavalry charge into harold and his men and decapitated disemboweled him dismembered him and castrated harold

[tommi7678]

@RoManLP15 I've read, that the Anglo-Saxon Warriors on the flanks run behind the flewing French Normans and would be slaughtered. And this happened two times. So the Anglo-Saxons and the flanks got weak.

(sorry for english...my 'saxish' is better)

[aclock2]

One lucky arrow changed the history.

[UDI1995]

@bestjonbon

And well I do have to note that william couldnt do anything else either: Arrows didnt do much, retreat will probably reasult in their rear getting attacked by the anglo-saxons, and they couldnt get around the shield wall.