A Wargamer's Guide to 1066 and the Norman Conquest by Daniel Mersey

Author:Daniel Mersey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2017-06-18T04:00:00+00:00

Hastings, 14 October 1066

Then came William, eorl of Normandy, into Pevensey on Michaelmas eve, and as soon as they were prepared, they built a stronghold at the town of Hastings. This was made known to king Harold; he gathered a great army and came against them at the ancient appletree. William came upon them unawares, before they had gathered; the king, nevertheless, fought very hard against them with those men who would stay with him, and there were many killed on both sides. There king Harold was killed, eorl Leofwine his brother and eorl Gyrth his brother, and many good men. The French held the field of the dead as God granted them because of the people’s sins.

(The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, translated by Anne Savage)

So said the Chronicle of the Battle of Hastings. However, the longest prose account of the campaign around Hastings was written by William of Poitiers in The Deeds of William, duke of the Normans and King of the English (circa 1071), which is generally considered to be a reliable – if biased – record of the battle:

The terrible sound of the trumpets announced on both sides the beginning of the battle. The Normans boldly and swiftly launched the attack … So the Norman infantry [meaning those armed with crossbows and bows] advanced closer, provoking the English, and causing wounds and death with their missiles. The latter resisted bravely, each according to their means. They threw javelins and all sorts of darts, the most lethal of axes and stones fixed to pieces of wood. Under this deadly hail you might have thought that our men would be crushed. The mounted warriors came to the rescue, and those who had been in the rear found themselves in the front. Disdaining to fight from a distance, they rode into battle using their swords. The great war-cries, here Norman, there barbarian, were drowned by the noise of battle and the groans of the dying. So for a time both sides fought fiercely. The English were greatly helped by the higher position which they held; they did not have to march to the attack, but remained tightly grouped. Their numbers and the strength of their army, as well as their weapons of attack, which penetrated without difficulty shields and other pieces of armour were also to their advantage. So they resisted vigorously or repulsed those who dared to attack them at close quarters with swords. They even wounded those who threw spears at them from a distance. So, frightened by such ferocity, the infantry and Breton mounted warriors both retreated, with all the auxiliary troops who formed the left wing. Almost the whole of the duke’s army yielded…. The Normans believed that their duke and Lord has been killed. Their retreat was not a shameful flight, but a sorrowful withdrawal.

The prince, seeing the greater part of the enemy camp setting out in pursuit of his men, hurled himself in front of the fugitives, and stopped them by striking them or menacing them with his lance.

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