United Norman horsemen clashed against the Anglo-Saxon shield wall in England's longest, most closely contested and most decisive battle in the High Middle Ages, The Battle of Hastings . William the Conqueror's victory forever changed English history and marked the beginning of the mounted knight's dominance of European military art.
William was the illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy and had to defend his position as Duke, from 1035, against all contenders; by the time he wanted to invade England, he had consolidated the most powerful duchy in France and northwestern Europe, reducing both Brittany and Maine to vassal states. His influence reached as far as Paris, where he dominated the young King Philip, and he had created a crucial ally in Flanders by marrying Matilda, the daughter of Duke Baldwin IV. William's claim to the English throne was very flimsy and lacked solid legal foundations.
Battle of Hastings Data
- Who: William, Duke of Normandy (1028-1087), invaded England with an army of 6,000 men to claim the throne of England against King Harold II Godwinson (1022-1066), who confronted him with an army of 6,300 men.
- How: Norman cavalry and archers eventually eroded the Saxon shield wall formation.
- Where: Senlac Hill, 11 km north of the town of Hastings (England).
- When: October 14, 1066.
- Why: William wanted to conquer England.
- Result: Harold and most of the Anglo-Saxon nobility were killed, and William gained the throne of England.
In 1064 William had forced his rival, Harold Godwinson, to take an oath to leave the throne of Edward the Confessor to him. Harold had no intention of fulfilling an oath he had been forced to take under blackmail and threats. As Earl of Wessex, vice-regent under Edward from 1064, brother-in-law to the king, no one had a greater or more legitimate claim to the throne of England. When Edward died on January 5, 1066, Harold was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
Stamford Bridge
Harold knew William would use his oath-breaking as an excuse for an invasion . Early in the summer, William embarked on a shipbuilding program, creating a 500-ship navy to transport his 6,000-man army (Norman, Breton, French, and Flemish) across the English Channel.
In response, Harold mobilized his 4,000-strong royal guard, the huscarls and the Saxon land militia, the fyrd . The fyrd they could mobilize about 20,000 men. As Harold rallied his men and rushed north, the North Saxon army, under the command of the Earl of Northumbria, was defeated on 20 September at Fulford Gate . Five days later, Harold surprised and annihilated the invading Norwegians at Stamford Bridge, killing Tostig and Harald at the same time.
Guillermo's invasion
In France, Guillermo had had to stay in Normandy because of contrary winds. From St. Valery on the River Somme, the canal crossing to England took barely a day. He made landfall at Pevensey Bay the next morning, and began gathering supplies, erecting his wooden forts (portable constructions, brought from Normandy in pieces), and plundering the surrounding countryside for information, food, and fodder for his horses.
News that William had landed reached Harold on October 1, in the midst of the celebrations that followed Stamford Bridge. . He hastened south, gathering the fyrd and other soldiers on the way back to London. He left the capital on October 11 heading south with an army of 6,000 to 7,000 troops. On the afternoon of October 31, Harold arrived at Senlac Hill, a place he had chosen as a possible battlefield.
As the Saxons had reached the end of the day, they would choose to rest and then launch a lightning attack in the morning. However, William himself was going to make the first move. He roused his men shortly before five o'clock in the morning, and by 0600 the Normans were marching north to meet Harold's hosts. Before leaving, Guillermo harangued them saying:You are not fighting only for victory, but also for survival .
William divided his army into three divisions, which marched with the Bretons in the forefront, followed by the Franco-Flemish soldiers, and finally William leading his own Normans. The rendezvous point was Blackhorse Hill, on the Hastings to London road, where the Bretons arrived at 0730. There, hidden from the Saxons, William left his baggage train and ordered his men to put on their mail armour. William put his armor on backwards, which was considered by his superstitious men to be a bad omen, which the cynical William merely laughed at. The Norman army marched north, to take up positions against the Saxons.
The battle begins
On October 14 at 44 years old, Harold faced Guillermo, 38 years old. Both were experienced and talented commanders, leading the best armies in Western Europe:the Normans, for the prospects of conquest and loot; the Saxons, because of the need to defend their homeland and because of their recent victory at Stamford Bridge. It was the first time that a mainly cavalry army had fought infantry in this way. The outcome would decide the nature of medieval warfare henceforth .
Loud trumpet blasts at 09:00 heralded the start of the battle, as William's three divisions began to climb the slope of Senlac Hill. The archers in the lead loosed a cloud of arrows on the Saxons, with little effect. The Saxon response with javelins, spears and axes proved much more effective against the advancing Normans. As they had the gentler slope, the restless Britons were the first to crash into the shield wall and were driven back by fierce Saxon resistance. Puzzled by this and the inability of the archers to make a dent in the shield wall, the Bretons withdrew at around 10:00 – 10:30. The retreat turned into a rout as the undisciplined fyrd militia left the safety of the shield wall to pursue the fleeing Britons.
Guillermo's attack
William gathered a part of the Norman cavalry, which was advancing, to help the Bretons. He launched a charge of armored horsemen against the fyrd, catching the Saxons by surprise, who, less armored and in the open, were annihilated. William withdrew his other two divisions, halting for half an hour, to regroup and launch another attack. William, personally taking command, began the second attack at 11:00.
Attacks were launched in waves against the shield wall for two hours. The Normans managed to open a few breaches; however, Harold and his commanders, including his brothers Gyrth (Earl of East Anglia) and Leofwine (Earl of Kent), plugged the gaps and rained down a hail of missiles on the enemy. Harold's banner and the Wessex dragon pennant were placed in the center of the Saxon lines to encourage the defenders.
imminent rout
Around 13:00 the Flemish and French soldiers began to flee from the hill. His commander, Eustace, seized the papal standard, regrouped her fleeing men, and ordered them to return to the fight. William had already lost his Spanish stallion and was fighting on foot when word reached him that it had died. Eustaquio gave the duke a horse to ride and show himself to his men. Guillermo tore off his helmet so his soldiers could recognize him and yelled: Take a good look at me. I am still alive and by the grace of God I will still be victorious! . Had the Saxons held the line from him indefinitely, he would have been forced to retreat back to Hastings and back across the channel.
At 14:00 William called his men and they regrouped under the hill to rest and feed his starving soldiers. Harold used this truce to shorten his thin line.
Having lost a quarter of his army, some 1,800-1,900 men, and in five hours of almost continuous fighting, as well as a tremendous number of horses, William saw that many of his armed horsemen were now fighting hard. foot. He decided that the entire army would attack in a single all-arms formation combined.
The third and last attack saw the advance of the entire army, with the archers in the rear, from 15:00, at a slow pace. The Normans took half an hour to reach the Saxon line. William had ordered the archers to shoot as high as possible while the infantry, dismounted horsemen, and still-mounted cavalry devoted their full effort to attacking the shield wall. Having created a breach in the wall, the Norman cavalry poured in and, with their pikes, swords and spears, tore apart the most defenseless part of the Saxon army. After 16:00 the gap became unstoppable and the fighting degenerated into group actions and hand-to-hand combat. This fight continued until 17:30. Then the fyrd began to retreat and fled into the woods, while the huscarls continued to fight until they were crushed to death. A large group gathered around Harold's banner as William joined his men on the hill and his third and last horse died beneath him. Harold led his men, setting a personal example for his huscarls . However, they were not enough to repulse the Normans. Gyrth and Leofwin, leading their own huscarls , they were dead.
The last straw was the death of Harold himself. He was shot down by the Normans as he led the last of his huscarls. As night fell, small groups of Saxons continued to fight until they were able to slip away into the surrounding fields. They regrouped and ambushed their Norman pursuers at Oakwood Gill, a small stream north of Senlac Hill, and managed to bring down Eustace of Bologna. It was a small consolation for Harold's death.
Consequences
Both sides had lost more than 2,000 men, and the Normans well over a third of their army. For William, it was a triumph against all odds that led him to be crowned as King of England on December 25, 1066 . The Saxons would continue to resist their Norman invader for decades after their defeat at the Battle of Hastings, but were ultimately defeated.