1066 All you could want to know..............

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The Armies who fought in 1066

The English

As a result of the preceding Viking wars, by 1066 the shape of the English military had changed from its earlier form of a Fyrd (militia) that consisted of war bands and hearth troops. First Æleþbald, and then his son Ælfred, had introduced the burghs, fortified towns that were strategically placed, into which the local population could seek refuge during a Viking raid. To defend the walls of the burgh the contemporary Burghal Hidage suggests that it required a man every 1.25 metres (or four men per pole in old terms). To obtain this the local thegns (land holders, what today would be classed as 'gentry') were required to have a residence in the burgh and provide one fighting man per hide of land he held to live in it. The manpower for the burgh was in addition to that required for the Fyrd, which needed to be a mobile force. Ælfred split the Fyrd into three units, one serving in the field, the others at their homes resting and ready to meet any local threat. Service was normally for 40 days. Later this became 2 months.

The result of the above was to place an obligation on the thegns and church to provide armed men in proportion to their holdings, rather than the looser arrangements that had previously existed. Originally the requirement was one fully armed man for every 5 hides of land. The value for a hide is open to interpretation, possibly the nominal amount of land needed to maintain one family. Holding 5 hides was the minimum requirement for thegnhood. Effectively, however, the hide was a financial measure for taxation purposes and towns and their folk were assessed as being worth so many hides, irrespective of the land area involved. Normally the thegn himself was expected to belong to the Fyrd, but he could either nominate another family member, hire a substitute or pay 'scyldscot' to the king to pay for his replacement. The heriot or return of arms to a lord by the estate of a dead thegn was a spear, two swords, shield, byrnie (a protective coat of either ring mail or chain mail), and four horses, two with saddles. This suggests that, in addition to the warrior, he had an armed supporter. The folk from the 5 hides that he represented provided 20 shillings to feed and keep him whilst he was in the field (a rate of pay comparable to a knights fee in post Conquest England). Failure to provide a man meant paying heavy fines and could lead to land confiscation. In addition the king, or his representative (shire reeve or Earl), could call on any free man for either military or auxiliary service. There was a law that states that a ceorl (freeman) who acquired a brynie, helmet and sword, but had no land, could not be a thegn. From this, and examples from heroic poetry of the times, it seems that it was not unusual for ceorls to be fighting in the Fyrd.

Under Knute the Danish Vikings eventually ruled in England. Knute introduced a new element, the Huscarl. Although there had always been 'hearth troops', the Huscarl was more than that. They were in many ways a 'guild' of warriors with their own rules of behaviour and code of conduct. In addition to being fighting men, they also served as royal officials. Service was on an annual basis, with older men being given land for loyal service, as had always been the practice in Germanic society. In addition to the king's Huscarls, the great earls also had their own Huscarls. It is estimated that in 1066 the king had around 3,000 Huscarls and each earl 200.



Generally speaking, the national Fyrd consisted of units of the king, earldoms, shires, hundreds, sokes and stipendiary troops. The shire and hundred men would normally expect to only serve within their own area, though men from the marcher shires bordering Wales and Scotland were expected to serve in those countries as well. The personal forces of the king and the earls served wherever they were needed.

In addition to the above the English had a navy (scip fyrd) that was organised and financed in a way similar to the Fyrd.

The standard strategy was for the king or his earls to ride with their Huscarls to wherever the danger lay and join with the men of the local Fyrd.

The battle tactics in 1066 were the same as had been used for generations. Whilst capable of fighting from horseback, this was normally reserved for hunting down defeated foes after a battle. The standard practice in battle for the English was to fight on foot in a shield wall. Here the armoured thegns and Huscarls would stand in line, often many men deep and close their shields. Part of the Bayeux tapestry shews the Huscarls' shield wall in 'close order', with overlapping shields. This would be ideal for blocking a cavalry attack, however, elsewhere it shews an 'open order' shield wall. Re-enactment groups report that a 'close order' wall drastically reduces the mobility of the shield and prevents it being used to parry an opponent's spear thrust. On this basis 'open order' shield walls would appear to be better for infantry attacks. However, as they are quick to point out, re-enactment groups may not necessarily be using shields in the same way as they were used in Old English times.



A man in a shield wall is open to attack from the man in front and the two men to his left. He is dependent on his comrade on his left to protect him against their thrusts. A man in a shield wall is dependent on both his own shield and the offensive spear thrust of his comrades. For effective use, a shield wall requires its members to stay in line, and thus avoid exposing any man to individual attack on his flanks.

After an exchange of arrows, throwing spears, axes, maces and sling shot the shield walls would clash and spears used to attack the enemy. The dreaded long axe, introduced by the Danes would be used when events allowed a more open shield wall, easily cutting down both men and horses as the Normans found out at the Battle of Hastings at Senlac Ridge. Swords were only used when spear and axe had been broken or lost. If all else failed the shield itself could be used as a weapon, especially if it was of the older round type with an iron boss, though even a blow from than a kite shield can be very painful. In addition to matching shield wall to shield wall, an offensive wedge formation, known as the swine's snout, could be used to try and break the opposing wall. The defence against such a tactic was to withdraw your own shield wall in a V shape where the 'snout' was to strike, and attack the 'snout' on its flanks. To fight effectively in a shield wall requires strong discipline and implicit trust in the men with whom you stand shoulder to shoulder. It also requires constant and dedicated practice to ensure that it holds.

Many who see the Bayeux tapestry, come to the conclusion that much of the Fyrd were little more than armed peasants (though a peasantry in the Continental sense has never existed in England). This misconception comes about for two reasons. Firstly, there is a scene depicting English armed with only shovels and picks being attacked by mounted Normans. The positioning of the illustration indicates it is either shewing a Norman foraging party or the Normans attacking men engaged in building defensive works. The second is the presence in the English force of many men not wearing a byrnie or a helmet. There are two points to be understood here. Firstly contemporary pictures often shew the English fighting or raiding in similar dress, indicating that it was not uncommon to have lightly armed skirmishers in an English army. Secondly, although not armoured, the men still have swords, shields, spear and axes, hardly the sort of thing a peasant would own, let alone know how to use effectively.

The army that only days before had defeated King Harald Hardrada of Norway, acknowledged at the time as Christendom's foremost warrior, was hardly a mob of peasants stiffened by a few Huscarls. Rather it was a balanced fighting force, mixing a heavily armed core with light skirmishers and support troops.

In addition to the surviving Huscarls and thegns of King Harold's and Earl Gryth, the men who fought at Hastings came from Wessex, Kent, East Mercia, East Anglia, and the southern Welsh marches. It is noticeable that the men summoned to gather at the hoar apple tree were from different abbeys (two Abbots died as a result of the battle) and counties than those King Harold took north with him to meet the Norse at Stamford Bridge. This would indicate a sophisticated form of selective summons that ensured fresh troops.

The Vikings

The army that Harald Hardrada brought with him to England and fought at Fulford and Stamford Bridge consisted of men from all over the Norse world. The men from Norway he brought with him had long been engaged in a war with Denmark, and were seasoned men that would have to be considered professionals. The men from the Norse settlements of Ireland would also be in that category, often hiring themselves out as mercenaries. Those from Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, the Faeroes, Orkney, Mann and the sundry isles may well have been opportunists trained to the same level as the English thegns.

The method of warfare and tactics used were the same as those used by the opposing English. This is not surprising considering that the English had originated in Scania, Denmark and the North Sea coast of the Netherlands and Germany. In addition the Viking wars had seen the settlement of many men from the Norse lands, thus reinforcing their commonality.

The Normans

Whilst William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy had the support of some of his nobles, who brought with them their contingents of armed retainers, much of his army consisted of younger sons and mercenaries from France, Brittany, Flanders and even Germany.

William's army consisted of distinct elements: cavalry, infantry, archers, sappers and support troops.



The French (a more accurate description and one used by both the English and Normans at the time) cavalry were mounted on light horses that were, however, heavier than the ponies used by the English for transport. They wore brynies and conical helmets that were common to them, the English and the Norse. Their primary weapon was the spear. The Bayeux tapestry shews them being used over arm, using the advantage of the height given by being on a horse, and couched as a lance. The tactic of a 'charge' was denied to them at Hastings by the steepness of the hill, and the English shield wall. In addition to spears the cavalry are shewn welding swords, maces and long clubs.

The French infantry at Hastings would have been similarly equipped to the English thegns and huscarls, but without the dreaded long axes. Surprisingly on the tapestry there do not appear to be any light skirmishers other than some of the archers.

The archers William employed appear to have used the common short bow, though it is possible that crossbows were used as well as they were starting to become common in French lands around that time. Some of the archers wore brynies, whilst others were unarmoured. In the last surviving panel of the Bayeux tapestry, where the defeated English are shewn being persued by the French, one archer is mounted.



At that time pitched battles were not anyone's preferred way of waging war, given the individual risks to those involved, especially the leaders. However, the English had leant during their long struggle against the various Viking attacks of the previous 200 odd years that, in order to stop the invader, you have to trap him and force a battle, otherwise he would retreat only to appear somewhere else.

William, on the other hand, was a typical adherent to the contemporary Continental method of warfare with its raids, harrowing and sieges, as expounded in the De Re Militari, a work of the late Roman period by Vegetius. Senlac was the first pitched battle where he commanded, and only the second he had taken part in. The earlier pitched battle William had been in was Val-es-Dunes, which had been primarily a cavalry battle. Whilst William would have been familiar with the shield wall, he was certainly unused to facing an army so well trained in its use as the English, and he would never have had to face the dreaded long axes as welded by the Huscarls. William's lack of experience in overcoming a solid shield wall is shewn in his initial tactic of sending up first infantry, then cavalry against the English. His success did not come until the very end when, in a desperate final fling, he used cavalry, infantry and archers in a combined attack and even then it was a lucky arrow that won him the battle rather than the vaunted cavalry.

 

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The Battle of Fulfod

The storm on 12 September1066, which had caused damage to the English fleet and forced that of William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy into the port of St Valery allowed the fleet of the Norwegian king, Harald Hardrada to sail down the east coast of Scotland. In addition to his own Norwegians, battle hardened during their recent war in Denmark, he had Danes, Swedes, Irish Norse, Icelanders, Greenlanders, men from the Faeroes, Orkney, Mann, the north of Scotland, Cumberland and the sundry isles. The fleet was about 360 ships strong giving a possible force of 12,000 fighting men. After a couple of minor landings along the English coast, Harald sailed to Scarborough on the Northumbrian coast. On or around 15 September he landed and burned the town. The fleet then sailed down to the Humber River, which it reached on 18 September. Sailing up the Humber, then up the river Ouse, the Vikings reached the village of Riccall where they beached the ships and made camp. They were about 19 km from York, which was the capital of Northumberland. For many years York had been the capital of an independent Viking state and Harald Hardrada may well have expected a warm welcome; Tosti, on the other hand, having been expelled as Earl of Northumberland and had many of his men killed in the city, would have been more circumspect. The next day, having donned their armour, the Vikings marched on York.

Outside the city Earl Morcar of Northumberland, his brother, Earl Edwin of Mercia, and Earl Waltheof of Northampton waited for him. With the three young and inexperienced earls were their Huscarls and such elements of the Fyrds of their shires as they has managed to assemble in the short time they had had since the invading fleet had been sighted.

Although outnumbered, the English had the advantage of terrain. The battleground they had chosen was a swampy meadow situated between the Ouse and the road the Vikings had been following from Riccall to York. The English army formed up in a line whose right flank was anchored on the eastern bank of the Ouse, then stretched across the Fulford meadows to the track, and finally to a ditch on the other side of the track. Here the ground was soft marsh, thus protecting their flank. The line was several ranks deep, with Huscarls in the front of the centre. Behind them, and supporting the flanks were the Thegns and ceorls of the Fyrd.

Hardrada lined up his army opposite the English. He put his best men in the centre of the line, where he was stationed, and on the left side of the line, where they stretched out to the eastern bank of the Ouse. This ground was considerably firmer than that on his right flank and would therefore enable him to use his best troops to the best advantage. He stationed his less experienced troops on the right flank, extending them to the point where the ground became too soggy to support a man's weight. He expected nothing more of his right flank than to hold their ground against the more experience English who were facing them. He unfurled his battle banner, Landwaster and waited for the English to advance.

The English came, and soon the Viking right flank began to crumble and they gave ground along the track. To counter this, Hardrada ordered his left flank to spread out toward the centre so that they could hold the left and as much of the centre as possible without weakening the shield wall too much. He then called on his personal hearth troops, who were gathered around him in the centre, and wheeled them to the right and struck the advancing English on their left flank.

Being struck so suddenly and unexpectedly by a force that was superior both in numbers and experience, the English left flank was quickly destroyed and dissolved into small groups who fought desperately as they were driven back, not toward their old line, but toward the ditch and the bogs. The morale of Harald's right flank, now the pressure was off them, quickly revived and they joined the rout. Slowly and bloodily, the Vikings commenced to roll up the English army. Soon the English right, over by the Ouse, was bent backward. The entire English line then collapsed and the army fled in disorder.

Following the battle, York acknowledged the inevitable, and surrendered to Harald and Tosti. In exchange for not having the city subject to sack, the burghers had to supply food, transport and hostages. It is thought that it was also demanded that Northumberland supply, not only more supplies, but fighting men. There must have been a feeling of hostility, however as, to ensure that they would fulfil their commitments, Harald Hardrada demanded an additional 100 hostages.

The date and place for the delivery of the hostages was Sunday, 25 September, at Stamford Bridge.

 

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The Battle of Stamford Bridge

News of the attack on and burning of Scarborough around 15 September 1066 by the Viking invaders under King Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, and Tosti the expelled Earl of Northumberland was speedily brought to King Harold Godwinson who was in London. He had to make the difficult choice of whether to remain in the south to face the threat from William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy or go north to support his brothers-in-law, Earls Edwin and Morcar against the invasion of his brother, Tosti, with his ally and claimant to the English throne, Harald Hardrada.

King Harold decided to go north to settle the matter of the invasion at hand. Once that threat had been dealt with, he could make a quick return to the south to guard against Duke William's threatened invasion. It is apparent from this decision that Harold was not aware that William was poised to sail, and the only thing that prevented him from doing so was the unfavourable wind. Probably Harold had heard about William's fleet being mauled during the Channel storm of 12 September, which had destroyed part of his own fleet. There is also the hinted possibility that the fleets had clashed prior to the storm. This and the fact that the autumn storm season was about to start may have been influential in him deciding to go to Yorkshire and deal with the Viking threat.

On 20 September, the day of the Battle of Fulford, Harold and his brother Gryth set out with their Huscarls and royal Thegns for Yorkshire. The mounted force met up with elements from the West Mercian and East Anglian Fyrd on the way north. The road distance from London to York is approximately 320 km. On Sunday, 24 September, only four days after leaving London, the army rode into Tadcaster, which is about 16 km south-west of York. They had averaged an incredible 80 km per day!

Tadcaster was situated very strategically for Harold. At this point, the Roman road that Harold had taken north was very close to the south bank of the Wharfe, only 3.5 km from where Hardrada had left his fleet. Harold quickly learned of the defeat suffered by the Earls Edwin and Morcar at Fulford. Harold then sealed off Tadcaster, and placed guards at other strategic points on the way to York. Secure in the knowledge that his presence in the area was unknown and that he had taken all necessary precautions to keep it that way, he allowed his army to rest and recuperate in the meadows around Tadcaster and continued to gather intelligence.

Morcar's sailors, whose small fleet was moored at Ulleskill, informed him that Hardrada and Tosti, and their entire army, had left York and returned to their fleet at Riccall. People who had been in York when it surrendered to Hardrada informed him that the city of York had been compelled to give supplies and hostages to the Vikings. He also heard that the Northumbrians had been commanded to bring additional supplies and 100 hostages to the Vikings at Stamford Bridge.

Based upon the information he received, Harold decided that his best course of action was to go to York early the next morning, re-establish his authority there, and then take his army to Stamford Bridge, where his sudden and unexpected appearance would catch Harald Hardrada and Tosti off guard.

King Harold and the army departed Tadcaster on Monday morning, 25 September and rode to York. From there, with the few armed men the city could provide, he proceeded to Stamford Bridge, which is about 9 km or so to the north-east. Harold's army kept to the Roman road then halted at Helmsley Gate, just out of sight of Stamford Bridge. There they waited as the Vikings leisurely arrived for the meeting. So relaxed were the Norse that many sunbathed whilst others went swimming in the river Derwent. When he determined the time was right, Harold ordered the Huscarls and Fyrdmen forward.

As Harold's army came over the rise on the hill and the sun reflected off their helmets, spears and long axes, the Vikings were stunned. The complete surprise that Harold wanted had been achieved. As they were only expecting a hand over of supplies and hostages, Harald Hardrada, Tosti, and the Viking army had divested themselves of their armour, which they had sent back to the ships. Adding to their woes was the fact that they had left about a third of the 5,000 men remaining to them after the fight at Fulford to guard the ships.

The Vikings were caught with their force divided with a smaller group on the northern end of the bridge with the English bearing down on them, whilst the larger part was on the southern end.

Harald Hardrada did not know the lay of the land and had no plan in mind because he had not expected a battle. King Harold's rebel brother, Tosti, had been Earl of Northumberland for 10 years and was well acquainted with the area and knew his brother's fighting capabilities first-hand. He urged Hardrada not to accept battle but to immediately retreat as quickly as possible back to Riccall. Hardrada considered this, but decided to give battle because he knew Harold's Huscarls would surely close in upon his flank and rear before long. He may also have reasoned that Harold would have sent a small force ahead to Kexby, to secure the essential crossing of the Derwent at that place, thereby blocking any further retreat to Riccall.

Deciding to accept battle, Hardrada quickly dispatched a messenger back to Eystein Orre, the commander of the contingent he had left behind at Riccall, ordering him to bring up the other third of the army to Stamford Bridge as quickly as possible. Then, he quickly evacuated most of his men who were on the north bank, to the south bank, leaving a small rear-guard to hold the bridge. Hardrada and Tosti had just enough time to form their best armed men into a line of defence along a ridge about 300 yards south-east of the Derwent.

The rear-guard at the bridge was not able to hold out long against the English and was quickly overwhelmed, though one saga tells that after his comrades had been killed, a lone berserk held the English at bay. An English warrior got into a boat and had himself rowed under the bridge. Through a gap in the planks he stuck the berserk with his spear.

Once over the bridge, the English formed themselves into a long line several ranks deep, facing the enemy deployed along the ridge above them.

King Harold rode up and offered his brother, Tosti, his earldom back if he would lay down his arms and join him, possibly knowing that the offer was unlikely to be accepted, but knowing that, if it were that it were, it would damage the Viking army's morale. Tosti asked what English lands Harald of Norway could expect if he dismissed the army. King Harold's reply was that as Harald was taller than most, he would grant him seven foot of good English soil!

After the entire English army had crossed the bridge and deployed into the line, King Harold ordered them forward. The Vikings lack of armour would have counted against them. The English were also at a disadvantage having had a19 km march that morning from Tadcaster to Stamford Bridge. The slaughter on both sides was high and the battle was balanced, when first Harald, and then Tosti fell. Even though both of their leaders were killed, the Vikings fought on in small groups. They were still valiantly defending themselves when Eystein Orre arrived with the reinforcements. However, these troops proved to be of no assistance. The forced march they had been compelled to make on this unusually hot day had spent their energy, and they too, were quickly overwhelmed and Eystein Orre was killed.

The Battle of Stamford Bridge was a resounding victory for King Harold and an overwhelming defeat for the Norse. The Vikings who survived the battle straggled back to Riccall under hot pursuit of the English. There was a last-gasp defence at the fleet but this was quickly ended and the surviving Vikings capitulated to King Harold. Desiring total victory but not maddened with blood-lust to kill all the enemy, Harold rounded up all the surviving Vikings and let them go. Amongst the captives was Olaf, Harald Hardrada's son. Of the 360 or so ships that brought the invaders, only 36 were needed to take the survivors home!

 

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The Battle of Hastings

Following his overwhelming victory on 25 September 1066 over Harald Haradrada at Stamford Bridge, King Harold assembled his battered army in and around York. Whilst celebrating the victory feast the news arrived that William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy, had landed near Pevensey in Sussex.

Harold departed York early on 1 October 1066. Leaving behind those unfit to travel and the northern earls to gather reinforcements, he rode back to London as quickly as possible and arrived in London on 05 October. He left the northern earls to call in fresh troops with the help of a newly appointed royal staller, Marlswein. In London King Harold and his brothers Gryth, Earl of East Anglia, who had been with him at Stamford Bridge, and Leofwine, Earl of East Mercia, who had been overseeing the south of the country in the king's absence, began to make plans for their campaign against the Normans.

To London were summoned those elements of the East Anglian and Mercian Fyrds not taken north to Stamford Bridge. Refreshed and reinforced Harold, Gyrth and Leofwine took their Huscarls and those Fyrdmen they had with them through the Sussex Weald to the Hoar Apple Tree on the Sussex downs. There they waited, blocking the road to London, the principle port of the land, and Winchester, where the royal treasury was kept. Harold needed to contain the Normans, to prevent their horsemen gathering supplies, to stop them moving inland to build castles from which they could raid. All the while men from the Wessex Fyrd flocked to join him.

Meanwhile Harold called the fleet out. The southern ships were to be joined by a number of the captured Viking fleet and Earl Morcar Northumberland. Together they would be used to blockade the Norman fleet in Hastings' harbour.



With the English army blocking them in and effectively stopping their foraging raids the Normans sat with their backs to the sea. Harold sent a messenger to William offering him the choice of either sailing away unmolested, or being destroyed. With an army of mercenaries for whom he had no money, only promises of future plunder, William rejected the offer. He had no option but to fight, and he needed to do so before Harold had gathered enough men to put the stop in the bottle.

On 13 October William heard that the English army was at the Hoar Apple Tree on Caldbec Hill and stood his men to arms in case of a night attack. At first light he moved his already armed army forward whilst the English slept, tired from their journeys to the assembly point. Watchers soon alerted King Harold of the Normans' move and he advanced his men to Senlac Ridge, about 800 metres south. Senlac Ridge is approximately 1,000 metres long and flanked on both sides by woods and marshes. William's only exit from the peninsula to the mainland was now blocked. Here, on the best possible defensive ground in the area, the English gathered around the dragon banner of Wessex and Harold's personal banner, 'The Fighting Man', woven for him by Edith Swan neck. The mail coated Huscarls and Thegns formed the shield wall with the more lightly armed Fyrdmen behind. The strength of the army is estimated to be between 7,000 and 8,500. Facing them, downhill, was William's mixed force of infantry and cavalry of about the same strength.



The armies were drawn up by 09:00 and the battle proper began about 10:00, after William's archer's had advanced to within 100 yards of the English. Having laid down covering fire, the archers then retired as the infantry moved forward to assault the shield-wall in hand-to-hand combat. As they got within range of the English, a rain of thrown spears, arrows, maces, sling shot and arrows struck them. Those who made it to the shield-wall found the Huscarls and Fyrdmen to be more than a match and quickly retreated.

The cavalry replaced them. The slope of Senlac is too steep, even now after years of landscaping by the monks of Battle Abbey and weathering to allow a charge. Rather the mounted men used the extra height gained by being on horseback to stab over the shield wall with their spears. They were no match for the English, especially those wielding long axes, a weapon that could cut down both horse and rider with one blow.

This first attack almost ended in disaster for William. The unexpectedly high rate of casualties, coupled with the ensuing confusion and noise came close to causing a general panic throughout his army. The left-hand division, which comprised of Bretons, was overwhelmed. The defeated infantry's palace was taken cavalry, which was also quickly beaten off and galloped back to their starting position to regroup. This was taken as a retreat and the confusion soon deteriorated into panic. The Breton division disintegrated into complete disorder and crashed into the men of the Norman centre.

No one is sure if what happened next was planned or not, but many English, possibly led by Earls Gryth and Leofwine, followed the fleeing Bretons, slaughtering as they went. The Norman flank was beginning to fold. Before the advantage could be exploited however, William rallied the cavalry and charged those of the English who had left the safety of the shield wall. The English counter attack faltered and then failed as the horsemen cut them to pieces.

There was now a pause in the battle.

During this lull in the battle, William set his attention to regrouping the Breton division. William admonished their commander to ensure that, during the next attack, his division should stay on line with the central division during the advance; not to get ahead of it or behind it. This cohesion between the two divisions would serve to protect the Breton division.

King Harold used the lull to shorten the shield wall and bring into it some of the men who were still arriving.

Duke William commenced his second attack shortly before noon. It was a repeat of the first attack; first archers firing their arrows straight at the shield-wall, followed by the infantrymen slogging up the hill to fight hand-to-hand with the English, then the cavalry in an attempt to break through the shield-wall with their sheer weight and superior stance. This time, however, the Breton division did not break, but nor did the shield wall!

William maintained this rhythm through the early afternoon. The repeated attacks were causing him a great number of casualties but the English were also taking losses, especially amongst the Huscarls, whose ranks had already been thinned at Stamford Bridge.

It was during one of these attacks that William was unhorsed when a Huscarl axed his mount. The rumour that he had been killed spread along the ranks and the Normans started to waiver. To counter this William took of his helmet and hauberk and rode along the lines to shew that he still lived.

As the day progressed, all of the combatants were becoming exhausted. With dusk due around 18:00, Harold knew that all he and the English had to do was hang on. The Normans were reaching the point where they were exhausted and had still to penetrate the shield wall.

William made a last throw of the dice. Whilst his archers fired on a high trajectory so that their arrows would arc over the shield-wall and plunge into the ranks behind them, he mounted a final assault.

At about 17:00 the English faltered. A chance arrow had struck King Harold in the eye and laid him low. The English reeled as the news spread. The Norman horsemen pressed the attack, striking the line where Harold's banners flew. The shield wall collapsed and there they stuck down and killed Harold Godwinson, the last King of the English.

One of the Normans, Ivo of Ponthieu, went so far as to mutilate King Harold's body by hacking off his limbs. As a reward, William sent him back to Ponthieu in disgrace.

Although Harold was dead, many of his men continued to fight. The Huscarls and royal thegns died to a man to protect the body of their lord. The Fyrdmen, on the other hand, took to flight. The Normans started in pursuit down the northern slope of Caldbec Hill. There the fleeing English and possibly newly arriving troops, lured the Norman horsemen into a deep fosse. The trapped Normans tried to manoeuvre their panicking horses out of the closed valley whilst the English tormented them with a hail of missiles before descending to the floor of the fosse and finishing them off. There they slew as many of the invaders as has fallen in the main battle. William called off the pursuit, and returned to the ridge, where he remained for the night.

Duke William sent his trusted companion, and friend of Harold to find the dead king's body. In his search he was aided by Harold's hand fast wife, who recognised the mutilated body by marks, possibly tattoos which many of the English at the time bore. William had it buried under a cairn on the cliffs overlooking the sea. Later tradition tells us it was taken and interred before the high altar of Harold's foundation of Watham Holy Cross.

The Norman writer, William of Poitiers, says that that the English army that day consisted of '…a vast force of English who had come in from all regions. Some were drawn by their love of Harold, all by their love of their country, which they, albeit misguidedly, wished to defend against the aliens'. Indeed, during all the fighting that year the English had shewn themselves united in their desire to protect their homeland from the invaders.

At the battle of Fulford, elements of the Northumberland Fyrd, lead by Morcar Earl of Northumberland, had been joined by parts of the Mercian Fyrd lead by Morcar's brother, Edwin Earl of Mercia. Also there were some of the Northampton Fyrd headed by Earl Waltheof of Northampton. Waltheof as the son of Siward, the Danish Earl of Northumberland under Knute and Edward the Confessor, and Ælfed who was descended from earlier Earls and kings of Northumberland and could well have claimed a greater right to the earldom. Instead, he joined the army fighting Harald Hardrada.

The remains of the army that was defeated by Hardrada at Fulford joined King Harold and his brother, Earl Gryth of East Anglia. They had brought with them their own Huscarls and parts of the Mercian and East Anglian Fyrd to fight and beat the Vikings at Stamford Bridge.

At Hastings were men of the Wessex, East Anglian and Mercian Fyrd. One source says that Earl Waltheof and men of Northampton arrived too late to take part, but fought in the fight at the fosse. Earls Edwin and Morcar had been gathering the men of Northumberland to join Harold, though they arrived in London only after the defeat on Senlac Ridge.

William the Bastard became king of England, but he spent the rest of his reign trying to hang onto it. The English only accepted the twisted tangled web of Wyrd that God had cast over them when William's English born son, Henry, married Edith of Scotland. For in that lady the ancient blood of the royal house of Wessex flowed. Only then were the descendants of William the Conqueror truly heirs to the throne which William had stolen.

 

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CONQUEST AND RESISTANCE

ENGLAND 1066 TO 1088


Everyone in England knows the date 1066, for in that year England changed forever. Most will connect 1066 with the Battle of Hastings, but Hastings was the culmination of a series of major events that had taken place that year. When the saintly and childless King Edward died the king's council, the Witan, gathered to elect a new king. Finding no suitable member of the Royal Family, they decided to make Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, the new king. Of Danish Royal blood through his mother, he had in fact been effectively running the kingdom for several years. Under his care England had prospered.

Harold faced a challenge to his new throne from the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada, who claimed to be Christendom's best warrior. Harald invaded the north of England with a fleet of 360 longships manned by men from all over the Viking world. After defeating the local army at Fulford, he took York. King Harold Godwinson marched 200 miles in six days, caught the Viking army off guard and killed Hardrada and most of his men. The English victory was such, that only 24 longships were needed to get the Viking survivors home. Whilst celebrating the victory feast news was given to King Harold that another challenger had landed, Duke William the Bastard of Normandy. Harold gathered the remnants of his army and rapidly marched south to meet the new threat. Outside Hastings, blocking the strategic roads to the main city of the realm, London, and Winchester, where the treasury was, and with reinforcements still arriving, the English army was defeated. King Harold died and with him fell his household troops and the flower of the English nobility.

The impression of many people, especially those not of English birth, and including a surprising number of history academics, is that that was that, having lost their king, most of the nobility and the best fighting men, the English then stopped resisting the Norman's and that the Conquest, as such, took effect immediately King Harold died. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the rear guard action at the Battle of Hastings, know as the Fight at the Fosse, where Norman casualties were higher than even those of the main battle, to the final quenching of resistance some twenty years later, the Normans knew little peace from their English subjects. Indeed has it ever ended? Those who know the English class system with its continuous snipping would say that the struggle against the 'Norman Yoke' continues to this day.

After Hastings William advanced on London by a circular route that started via Kent, burning a ring of fire around the country's main city. The advance was resisted and met much armed resistance. Meanwhile the Witan had proclaimed as king the young Edgar Æþeling, last scion of the old Wessex royal line. William moved towards London to enforce his will before the remaining English nobility were able to regroup around Edgar and start an organised resistance. Indeed an attempt to secure the southern approach to London Bridge by part of his army had failed at Southwark. As a result of this and William's problems with the local populace resistance to his foraging parties, that he was forced to take a considerable detour to Wallingford, well west of London, before he could find a safe and defensible place to cross the Thames. Even then it was uncertain what the reaction of the Londoners would be to his army. London, upon the advice of Aldred, Archbishop of York, and Earl Morcar of Northumberland together with his brother Edwin, Earl of Mercia, submitted. Even so there was an armed skirmish, which resulted in the massacre of many Londoners.

William's coronation was on midwinter's day, and shortly after he returned to Normandy taking the surviving English nobles with him.

The English resistance first showed itself, not in armed defiance, but in stubbornness, when the monks at Peterborough not only elected one of their own to replace the recently deceased abbot, but sought out Edgar Æþeling, whom they declared was the true king, to approve the appointment. William was not amused and sent armed men to display his wroth. Fortunately William was always gold hungry and allowed himself to be bought off with a hefty fine.

But the real trouble in 1067, was brewing in the hilly Marcher land of the Welsh border. Here two Norman Earls who belonged to families settled in the area during the reign of King Edward the Confessor, used the confusion caused by William's seizing of the throne, to extend their land holdings at the expense of the local English thanes. They attacked those lands held by Edric, soon to become known as 'the Wild'. This Edric is thought by many to be the Edric the Steersman who commanded the Channel fleet in 1066. There was already bad blood between Edric and his Norman neighbours and now it exploded into open warfare. In revenge for raids on his land Edric, in alliance with two Welsh princes, Bleððyn and Rhiwallon, devastated Herefordshire and eventually sacked Hereford itself, before retreating back into the hills ahead of the new king's revengeful army.

Meantime, King Harold's mother, Gytha encouraged the people of Devon to rise up and William had major problems subduing them, especially in retaking the city of Exeter. At the same time, the other main claimant to the English throne, Edgar Æþeling, had escaped the Norman king's clutches and gone to Scotland with his family and a large number of important men. The south was also restive and later in the year, the men of Dover invited Eustace of Boulogne to help them in their insurrection. This uprising was soon put down without the presence of King William himself. The people of the north were also chafing under Norman rule. William advanced upon them with his army, burning and laying waste as he went, The men of Northumberland lacked the confidence to take part in a battle and either submitted or fled into Scotland to join the other refugees there.

In the autumn two of King Harold's sons, who had gone to the Norse east coast of Ireland, came and raided the west country, where the Celtic Cornishmen joined them in arms. They plundered and ravished the countryside to such an extent that eventually even the English lost patience and joined with local Norman garrisons to expel them.

In the following year of 1068, King William appointed a certain Robert de Comines, Earl of Northumberland, without asking the locals if they would accept him instead of the English Earl Morcar. The result was that the men of Northumberland massacred Robert and 900 of his men whilst they were staying in the city of Durham. Edgar Æþeling took advantage of this and came from Scotland and received the men of Northumberland at York. William moved up fast from the south and surprised the Northumbrians. Hundreds were slain and the city torched.

1069 and Harold's sons were back, raiding the west country again. Unfortunately for them they met defeat at the hands of Earl Brian of Penthievre, and fled back to Ireland. At the same time Edric the Wild and his Welsh allies had broken out from their Marcher hills and took Shrewsbury before moving on to Chester. William had to leave them to their own devices as he had his hand's full dealing with an uprising in Northumberland lead by Morcar and his brother Edwin supported by the Danish king, Swein Esthrithson, who also had a claim to the English throne. Fighting alongside them were the Earls Waltheof and Gospatrick, together with Edgar Æþeling. The Normans in York were slaughtered, with Earl Waltheof's exploit of slaying a hundred Frenchmen with his long-axe as they tried to escape through a gate, ending up in heroic verse. William moved north again laying waste as he went. The Danes took to their ships and commenced raiding the east coast, seeking assistance from their relations in the Danelaw part of England, which included the marshy wetlands of the Fens, where other trouble was brewing. William left part of his army to watch them whilst he crossed the Pennine hills to face the threat posed by Edric and the Welsh princes, who now had a formidable army bolstered by the men of Cheshire and Staffordshire. William rode with his men and joined Earl Brian, who had marched up from the West Country after beating Harold's sons. Edric became wary and withdrew to the hills with his Herefordshire and Shropshire men. The Welsh, with the remaining English, marched on and were defeated at the battle of Stafford. William then devastated the land about and laid it waste. A further revolt in the West Country, that seemed to be aimed at individual Normans, fizzled out in the face of forces drawn from London and the south east and through internal dissent amongst the insurgents.

William now dealt with the Northumberland problem, a problem that had grown with the stepping up of revolt in the Fens lead by a local landholder, Hereward the Wake. After a hard march north along a route determined by violent resistance, broken bridges and swollen rivers, William took and re-entered York without a fight. The Danes had fled and the men of Northumberland, dispirited by William's ability to advance despite the hazards set before him by both nature and English, fled into the hills, pursued by King William's men. With grim determination, William's army set about destroying homes and crops, and extinguishing all human and animal life from the Humber to the Wash. Those that avoided violent death died from exposure or starvation.

The bloodletting didn't stop William from celebrating Christmas at York, complete with a feast served on silver plate especially brought up from Winchester. Christmas over, William chased the men of Tees around the Cleveland hills. William's harrowing of the north had its effect on the leaders of the northern rebellion, as Waltheof and Gospatrick both came to an accommodation with him. The king made his way back to York in atrocious conditions, seeking bands of Englishmen as he went, and suffering heavy losses of men in the process. Here he re-erected the castles the Anglo-Norse had burned down and re-garrisoned them. He was now able to turn his attention to Chester, which was defiantly refusing to recognise him. Chester was at the northern extremity of the Welsh Marches and at the same time offered access to the Norse based in Ireland, should they decide to help their relations living in Cumberland.

In January 1070, a Norman army set off across the Pennines in bad weather through land that offered them no sustenance as they themselves had laid it waste. William's army suffered badly in the hills to both weather and English attacks. The men, who were mainly mercenaries from the northern provinces of France, mutinied, so he abandoned them to their fate. With a reduced force consisting of only Normans, he arrived at Chester, and it submitted without a fight. He then busied himself building castles to hold the north down. He also spent money on buying the Danes, under their leader, Jarl Osbjorn, off with a large Danegeld.

The revolt in the Fens, lead by Hereward, had been strengthened by refugees from the harrowing of Northumberland, including Earl Morcar. At the same time Osbjorn taking the bribe had weakened it. However, whilst his brother, Jarl Osbjorn, and his fleet had been bought off, King Swein of Denmark and his new fleet hadn't! What happened during the years 1070 and 1071 is as much legend as recorded fact. We know that William made at least two unsuccessful attempts, either in person, or through a lieutenant, to take the Isle of Ely where Hereward and his forces were based. We also know that Hereward kept his Danish allies paid by allowing them to sack Peterborough and its Cathedral, now controlled by a Norman Abbot. What we do not know are the exact happenings, or the sequence of events. Eventually Swein, perhaps seeing himself in a no win situation, allowed himself to be bought off. The Normans took later Ely after local monks betrayed secret causeways through the Fens that would allow an army access to the Isle. Although Ely fell in 1071, Hereward escaped and, with a band of followers, remained a thorn in King William's side for many years to come.

1072 and the trouble came from the Scots with their numbers swelled by many English, including Edgar Æþeling. William took an army across the border and confronted Malcolm King of Scots at Abernethy. Malcolm accepted the inevitable and made peace.

By 1073, William felt that at last he had conquered England. Just as well, as his French subjects in Maine were revolting. The army that William took with him to bring his French subjects to heel was largely English. These Englishmen showed that they had watched their Norman masters well, for they devastated Maine in the same manner as the Normans had Cheshire and Northumberland. But, apart from some banditry, England was quietly brooding both that year and the following.

The storm broke in 1075 with the "Revolt of the Earls. The two Earls were both half English and half French, and both had supported William in his claim for the throne in 1066. Ralf, Earl of East Anglia, was English on his father's side and had been born in Norfolk, but grew up in Brittany. Roger, Earl of Hereford, English on his mother's side and born in Hereford, was Ralf's brother-in-law. They plotted to bring in Danish support, they also tried to bring in both Edric the Wild and Earl Waltheof. Waltheof declined to be involved in the plot, but also declined to betray them. If successful, the simultaneous rising of the Earls would have cut England in two. Somehow the timing got out of alignment and William was able to crush Roger, before dealing to Ralf. The only memorable event was the defence of Norwich by Ralf's new bride, Emma, where she withstood siege for three months after her husband had left to seek aid from the Danes. The fleet of 200 ships arrived too late to lift the siege. Of the Earls: Ralf made it to his Breton holdings to be joined by his wife, and there he continued his fight against the Normans. His punishment was losing all right to his English lands. Earl Roger was also disinherited. Unfortunately for him he had been captured and spent the rest of his life in prison. Earl Waltheof, having refused to take part in the revolt, had none-the-less to swear an oath of secrecy. Taking the advice of Lanfranc, the Archbishop of Canterbury, he revealed the whole plan to King William. At first the king accepted Waltheof's protestations of innocence but, some say on the information given to him by his niece Judith, Waltheof's wife, he later charged the Earl of Northumberland with treason and had him beheaded. The English and many Normans were aghast at the execution. Soon miracles were reported at Waltheof's tomb and it rapidly became a place of pilgrimage. Many contemporaries said that King William's luck changed from then onwards as a result of Divine judgment.

William's troubles were now mostly in France or the borders with Scotland whence Malcolm and his English supporters came to raid. The Welsh too were a cause for concern. The only major problems from the English came in 1080, when the men of Gateshead slew the Bishop of Durham and a hundred Frenchmen, and 1086 when Edgar Æþeling was again in revolt. But to the very end of his reign, the following year, William was threatened by the Danes, who knew that any landing they made on the East Anglian or Northumberland coasts would find support from their relatives in the Danelaw.

Even during those later years, when it seemed that the English were getting used to having Norman masters, things were not that peaceful. Evidence of this is the Murdrum fine. Because of the high rate of homicide being suffered by the Normans and their French allies, King William legislated that all Frenchmen who settled in England after the invasion were to be in the king's peace and therefore he was their protector in an alien land. Its introduction was recognised at the time as being necessary due to the hatred of the Normans by the English and their attacks on them. The fine was a high one of 46 Marks. The sum was to be paid by the lord of the dead man to the Crown if the perpetrator was not hastily caught. If the killer could not reimburse the victim's lord, then the Hundred where the crime had been committed had to.

In view of the strength and longevity of the English resistance to the Norman Conquest, why did it fail? A vital element was King William's determination and immense energy that saw him going from one end of the country to the other, fighting the flames of resistance and stamping on the smoldering embers of resentment. Another important element was that, once an area had been secured, castles were raised and garrisoned to keep the locals in check. But the key element was that the viable leadership of any English resistance was effectively neutralised when King Harold was killed at the Battle of Hastings. There was no king, and therefore no leadership or heart in the remaining English. Until a new king was elected, the defence of the realm devolved on the noble ealdormen - who were either dead, or recovering from Stamford Bridge or Fulford. Under the ealdormen came the king's thanes and shire-reeves (people like Edric the Wild or Hereward the Wake, Harold's son Swein or any one of a myriad other resistance leaders who remained a problem to the Normans) who did continue the fight against William in their own regions. Those English nobles who were left after the defeat on Senlac Ridge seemed to be driven solely by their own personal quest for survival, co-operating with each other on occasions, only to head off on their own agenda when it suited them. Without decisive leadership, no English army could take the field. That was advantageous to William, giving him time to recover, take London and Winchester and force the acknowledgement of his accession from the remaining members of the Witan. But it did take until 1075 until William felt confident in his control of England. Then it was the turn of Anglo-Norman barons to rebel against him, claiming a wish to return to the laws and rights of Englishmen during the rule of Edward the Confessor. And always there was the threat of Viking invasion, supported by the men of the Danelaw.

Slowly the English and Normans came together through the necessity of living side by side and also through marriage. With many of the rank and file Normans, and their French colleagues, being men of small worth, they had little option, but to mix in with their English neighbours, leaving their noble masters to carry on the illusion of being truly French. But even they, with their children being raised by English nannies and their English reeves and stewards managing their estates, became first Anglo-Norman, and then English. An Anglo-Norman chronicler, Orderic Vitalis, who wrote in 1125, even applauded the continued resistance of the English to William the Bastard!

Sources: Ordericus Vitalis - Ecclesiastical Historii, Geoffrey Gaimer - Gesta Herwardi, William of Malmesbury - De Gestis Regum Anglorum, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

 

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King Harold's Family's Fate


After the Battle of Hastings, William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy sent William Mallet, who had befriended Harold when he was Earl of Wessex, to find Harold's body. Mallet identified it, with the help of Harold's hand fast wife, Edith, by the marks on his body (probably tattoos). Despite an offer by Harold's mother, Gytha, to buy the body for its weight in gold, William had it buried under a cairn overlooking the seashore. To quote the Norman chronicler, William of Jumieges: 'It was said in mockery to be appropriate to leave him as keeper of the shore and sea which he had sought to defend in his insanity.'

No doubt William did not wish Harold's grave to become a focus for English devotion. Later, if the tradition and records of Harold's personal church, Holy Cross Waltham Abbey in Essex, are true William relented and the body taken and reburied in front its high altar. In 1120 it was moved to a nave in as the number of pilgrims was becoming an embarrassment to England's new nobility. When the abbey was dissolved in Henry VIII's time the church was considerably reduced in size and the nave demolished. The assumed site of Harold's body now lies in the church grounds.

Recently there have been claims that Harold was in fact buried in the Godwin family church at Bosham. The claims mainly come from the finding of bones and hair in a grave near the altar that date from the period. The bones and hair colouring match Harold's. However, as Harold's father, Godwin, and Harold's cousin, the murdered Beorn, were both buried there it is more likely to be either of their bodies, rather than Harold's. There is not much known of the fate of King Harold's family after 1066.

Of his hand fast wife Edith, nothing further is written, and no legends are told of her fate. The Godwin family did have ties with the nunnery at Wilton, where Harold's daughter, Gunnhild was after the Conquest, and she may have retired there. Alternatively she may have retired to the nunnery of St Omer in Flanders. His wife, Queen Alditha, gave birth to King Harold's son, Harold at Chester in 1067. The revolts against William, now crowned King of England, led by Alditha's brothers, Edwin and Morcar, led to William's nightmare winter march from Yorkshire in the winter of 1069/70 that led the brother's defeat at Stafford, the fall of the Chester and the harrowing of land about. Alditha fled with her infant son to Dublin, and disappeared from recorded history.

King Harold's mother, Gytha had earlier held out against the Norman invaders when, during William's return to Normandy in 1067, she fortified and held Exeter in Devon, the fourth largest city in the land. When William returned, he faced many revolts led by local English leaders, but it was to Exeter that he first turned. The mid winter siege lasted 18 days and a large part of the Norman army perished in the process. The city finally capitulated when the expected support from local thegns did not eventuate. Whether King Harold's sons by Edith, Godwin, Edmund and Magnus, were present is not recorded. Gytha fled before the surrender and sailed with Harold's daughter Gytha and his sister, Gunnhild to the island of Flatholme in the Bristol Channel.

The setback at Exeter did not curb Harold's cubs and they went to Dublin with their huscarls to seek aid from King Harold's friend, King Diarmait. In the summer 1068 they were back with a force of Dublin Norse mercenaries. They attempted to make Bristol their base, but the locals proved to be unsympathetic, so they were forced to try and take it by storm. The reason for the resistance may have been a fear of William's known wroth, or a dislike of the Hiberno-Norse mercenaries rather than disloyalty to the Godwin family. The city held, and the brothers sailed off with the booty they had taken from the surrounding countryside. They landed in Somerset near land that had been held by the Godwins for years, they might have intended to raid the Taunton mint. The local Fyrd led by Eadnoth Staller met them. Eadnoth had been a loyal supporter of their father but after his death at Senlac had submitted to William. The battle was hard fought with big casualties on both sides and Eadnoth's death. It is thought possible that Magnus Haroldson also died on the battle field as he is never heard of again. There is, however, at St John in Lewis, Sussex, an inscription dated from the time that records the presence of a Magnus a prince of the royal northern race. As Sussex was the homeland of the Godwin clan it may be that Magnus, possible crippled, spent his remaining life there as an anchorite.

Godwin and Edmund were back the following year of 1069 with a fleet of 60 ships. Their attempt to retake Exeter was foiled by the Norman garrison in their newly built castle and strengthened city walls. Frustrated, the brother raided Somerset and Cornwall. Rounding Lands End they headed for the Godwin holdings of Nettlecombe and Landford Budville. The lack of local opposition made the brothers incautious and they were caught and defeated by a large Norman force under Count Brian. In the battle and subsequent encounters the brothers suffered heavy losses and only a remnant returned to Ireland.

The failure of the Haroldsons to re-establish a base in England caused Gytha and the family with her on Flatholme to seek refuge with Count Baldwin VI of Flanders. Baldwin and the Godwin kin were tied by the marriage of Tostig Godwinson to Baldwin's aunt, Judith. Whilst Gytha and her daughter Gunnhild entered the nunnery of St Omer, where Gunnhild died in 1087 after performing many good works, the brothers Godwin and Edmund journeyed to the court of their cousin, King Swein of Denmark.

Swein had already made an attempt on claiming the English throne for himself, lending aid to both Earl Waltheof and the northern thegns, and Hereward the Wake in the fens. In the confusion following Swein's death in 1074 all track of the brothers is lost and they are heard of no more. Their sister, Gytha, had been sent by Swein before his death to marry the Russian Prince of Smolensk, Vladimir Monomakh.

The marriage proved fruitful and Gytha gave Vladimir a large brood of offspring, possibly as many as eight sons and three daughters. Gytha died on 07 May 1107 before her husband had achieved the pinnacle of his power as Grand Prince of Kiev. Their eldest son was Msistislav, known to the Norse world as, Harold. This Russian Harold had a daughter, Ingibiorge. She had a son who became King Valdemar of Denmark.

Another of King Harold's daughters by Edith, Gunnhild, was a nun at Wilton. She may have fled there after the defeat at the Battle of Hastings, but more likely she had been sent there originally to be educated as her aunt, King Edward the Confessor's wife Edith, had been. Initially she remained there as a refugee from the Normans, using the veil as her protection. With her was Edith, Edgar Æþeling's niece, later to be the wife of King Henry I of England. Gunnhild may have sought refuge from the Normans, but later they seem to have used the nunnery as a prison to prevent her from being involved in any threat to their power. The threat and controversy did in fact arise, but from a Breton rather than an English source. Alan the Red, Earl of Richmond, abducted Gunnhild in August 1093.

Alan had been given lands that had belonged to Edith Swan Neck. Alan must have felt that, being married, though maybe only in the hand fast manner, to Edith's daughter, would help him gain the co-operation of the locals. Gunnhild seemed happy with the arrangement. Whilst living with Alan the Red she defied the attempts of Anslem, Archbishop of Canterbury, to get her to go back to the nunnery, saying that she had never formally taken the veil. Anslem later found out that she had in fact taken vows. Meantime Alan the Red had died and Gunnhild had taken up with his brother and successor, Alan the Black! Despite the strong terms he used in trying yet again to unsuccessfully get Gunnhild to return to being a nun, Anslem remained very respectful acknowledging her noble and royal lineage.

The Normans had early on captured King Harold's other son by Edith, Ulf. He spent the whole of the reign of King William I in prison. His uncle, Wulfnoth Godwinson, who had been one of the hostages taken by Archbishop Robert to Normandy following the return of the Godwin kin to power in England during 1052, had spent his life from then until his death in 1094 as a prisoner. Despite being included in the amnesty of the dying King William I, Wulfnoth had continued a prisoner under William II (William Rufus), Ulf was more fortunate and gained his freedom as a result of the same amnesty. William I's eldest son, Robert Curthose who had been given Normandy as his inheritance, knighted him. His later fate is unknown for certain, but many think that he fought with Robert in the First Crusade.

King Harold son, Harold, by his Queen, Alditha, was born in 1067 after his father's death. When Chester fell to William I, Alditha fled to Dublin taking Harold with her. Ultimately young Harold journeyed to Norway. Here, so the chronicler William of Malmesbury tells us, he was received well by King Magnus. The reception we are told, was the result of King Harold's mercy to Magnus after the defeat of the Viking army at Stamford Bridge. Harold next appears amongst the followers of King Magnus off the Isle of Anglesey. Here a battle was fought against the Norman earls of Shrewsbury and Chester. A great historical irony was Earl Hugh of Shrewsbury being killed by an arrow!

Of young Harold no more is known. However, there were many tales that told that King Harold had survived the Battle of Hastings. One of these, the Norse saga Jatvarþar, has King Harold as a hermit living near Chester. It says that it was there that King Harold spoke to King Henry I, a fact attested to by two Latin chronicles. It may well be the hermit King Harold that Henry I spoke to was in fact Harold Haroldson.

The current English Royal family traces their decent from William I (the Conqueror). Through the marriage of William's son Henry I to Edith, the niece of Edgar Æþeling, they are also descended from the Royal House of Wessex, and thus the old kings of the English. However, through their decent from Valemar of Denmark, both Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Phillip, have the blood of King Harold II, last King of the English also flowing through their veins!

 

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Nice post Hannibal.

Elizabeth's bloodlines to William II are a little thin though wouldn't you say?

A great turning point in history, and one which ultimately benefited England.

 

[Agelastus]

A magnum opus indeed!

Orre's intervention at Stamford Bridge is known in Norse legend I believe as "Orre's Storm", a fitting tribute to Viking ferocity in battle.

I didn't actually know the details of Harold's family's fate (haven't studied the period in enough depth I guess.) Fascinating stuff. Oh, and Sean9898, since all modern English monarchs base their claim and descent on a line extending from the various sons of John of Gaunt, that's actually almost as tenuous as the Valdemar lineage link.

As for it ultimately benefiting the English, that's a sticky question. One thing you see most surprisingly from the period is the continuation of English institutions, even if now staffed by Normans. The administrative and legal systems of England were actually far more effective and advanced than the comparable institutions in Normandy, so William left them in place (quite wisely) despite the Norman veneer.

 

[Agelastus]

Sudden memory.
I thought the legend of the arrow in the eye was considered apocryphal these days? The Bayeux Tapestry was tampered with when restored, and the original line of the stitches was actually into the helmet on that figure. Moreover, Harold was the figure with an axe being cut down by the mounted Norman to the left of the doctored figure.

 

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Excellent site, if a little slow
http://www.battle1066.com/

William of Malmesbury, d. 1143, contempory account
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1066malmesbury.html

Amusing game of Hastings
http://www.rjtarr.freeserve.co.uk/1sts/battleofhastin

Agelastus, imo, there is now doubt that Harold is hit in the face, it may or may not be in the eye, either way he has already lost both brothers earlier in the battle, now with night coming on, blood obscuring his vision , and after a hard days fighting, he adopts, or forced to adopt, a less agressive role. At this point i believe a hit squad of a mounted troops were able to target him, this was/is a tactic from earliest warfare, take out the badass. A badass king is just harder to get at.

With the line becoming fragemented, the normans would be able to occupy parts of the crest, level ground, from here their mounted advantage was more effective, a group would then specificly target the king and standard, both Harolds standards, the Red Dragon and Fighting man, are taken in the battle and sent to Rome. Now this is not a very chivalric notion, but its practical and effective, nor at the time was it sanctoned by the Pope to use crosbows against fellow christians, you dont see them on the Tapestry for example, yet we know they were used. So was i contend, hit squads, deliberatly used to take out the enemys badasses.

Hannibal
ops forget about the tapestry, its a medieval slide show, slide a, face shot, slideb, leg hack. both refer to Harold.

 

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Originally posted by Hannibal Barca


Amusing game of Hastings
http://www.rjtarr.freeserve.co.uk/1sts/battleofhastin

I actually managed to do worse than the real Harold.

 

[Agelastus]

Originally posted by Bylandt


I actually managed to do worse than the real Harold.

How on Earth did you manage that!

March north, rest, stay on hill-not particularly complex.

Hannibal
It may be a medieval slide show, but it was still tampered with to make it fit the legend during restoration. Does bring the calssic account slightly into question.

 

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http://www.clarku.edu/~piltdown/map_report_finds/resor_tapest.html

Not much i can say really, sewings not my strong suit.

Hannibal

 

[Agelastus]

Thanks, Hannibal-wanted more details on the butcher's hack the various restorers have made of the tapestry.

 

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Do you have any more information on the Flemish contribution at Hastings, Hannibal?

Did you know that William the Conquerer promissed to pay an annual rent of 300£ to the Flemish count as repayment for his contribution? When this was stopped in 1093, Robert the Frisian, Count of Flanders, began assembling his troops to invade England himself. He died, however, before he could execute his plans.

Now, wouldn't that have been great: a Flemish conquest of England! It certainly would have improved your cuisine.

 

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In a word, no. Ive got a few refrences in the ASC, looked up a few links regarding Counts of flanders etc, but nothing very intresting come up. Sorry.

Hannibal