68 Interesting Battle Of Hastings Facts You May Not Know

The childless King, Edward the Confessor, would have exploited the absence of the apparent heir to the crown as a negotiating chip during his tenure.

Following a rift from Godwine, the Earl of Wessex, arguably England's foremost successful figure, Edward almost likely selected William, a cousin, as the successor in 1051. Harold succeeded Earl of Wessex after Godwine's demise in 1053, at which point Harold ended up spending years solidifying his position and gaining favor amongst nobility and the church.

Harold, after that, made a loyalty oath for William and committed to maintaining William's right to the English throne, as per Norman chronicles, including the Bayeux Tapestry. Harold Godwinson was the complete name of the King of Anglo-Saxon England.

William and his army arrived on Pevensey's territory on the Sussex coast, where William was crowned and made King of England on the holy eve of Christmas day, December 25, 1066.

Battle Of Hastings Timeline

The Battle of Hastings was a great historical battle fought for the English throne and represented the great English heritage. The timeline story of the Battle of Hastings on the day of the battle is as under after the death of King Edward.

In October 1066, the English King and the English forces engaged in an offensive battle in Senlac.

On Friday, October 13, 1066, some negotiations were going on between the Saxons and Normans.

Then, in response to Edward the King's decision, English King Harold and Duke of Normandy, William, exchanged words.

William wanted Harold to resign from his position, but the King declined the proposal.

After the exchange of words, it was then that on Saturday, October 14, 1066, the Saxons, along with the Normans, prepared for the combat which marked the beginning of the Battle of Hastings.

On Saturday, October 14, 1066, William kept the Papal standard and gave combat orders to the Norman army.

On October 14, 1066, the Norman ground army started their way to the battlefield along with the archers and knights riding on horses.

The battle plan was laid out alongside the Saxon defenses with a fosse and fence.

Kent's army was ordered to attack initially, while the army of London protected King Harold.

Norman's priests, servants, and clerks observed the Norman army marching forward to the battleground in three sections on the same day.

Later that day, the Normans attacked the English army while the English army protected themselves from the attack.

The fight took a drastic turn while many got injured and even died, such as many soldiers of the Norman army who got slain in the ditch.

The fight went on for long hours. The Norman shooters created an innovative strategy.

Arrows and darts were fired high off the ground, smacking the English troops, mainly covering the face.

The daggers flew heavier than precipitation, and several people got their eyes taken out.

The right eye of Harold was shot by an arrowhead that wounded him from above.

According to the Norman shooters' approach, several additional English military personnel have fallen.

Despite this, the Saxons maintained a strong defense. The Normans also used a deception plan to fool the Saxons.

The Norman archers seemed to be retreating by the English.

The English chased the Normans, breaking several formations in the process. On horses, the English could not match with the knights of the Norman army.

The Saxon fortifications were breached. Several people were trampled as the surviving proceeded across mounds of the deceased.

The Normans slaughtered the injured King Harold and mangled the remains.

Numerous English troops escaped once the King died while the benchmark got seized.

William had conquered the Battle of Hastings, and he was now known as the Warlord.

The epic Battle of Hastings occurred from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. On Sunday, October 15, 1066, the Saxons and Normans both cremated the deceased.

After defeating the Saxons during the Battle of Hastings, William the Invader set out to capture the English.

How long did the Battle of Hastings last?

The English crown had been in peril at the Battle of Hastings. King Edward died living behind the King's court to king Harold II but not as promised to Norman King William.

Edward the Confessor most likely appointed a relative, William a Duke of Normandy, as the successor in 1051.

Owing to all Norman chronicles, in 1064, Edward ordered Harold, Earl of Wessex, over Normandy to fulfill the commitment promised to William, at which point Harold vowed to uphold William's assertion.

The English throne was meant to be handed over to the Norman King William instead of Norwegian King Harold.

Despite this, Edward gave the realm to Harold before his death, and Harold was crowned King the following morning.

As a result, William amassed considerable military. Harold II of England and William, who was Duke of Normandy, fought in the Battle of Hastings.

Before leaving for England, William gathered his contingent comprising 4,000–7,000 men, mainly on the Continent, notable shooters including crossbowmen, strong soldiers, and horsemen on cavalry.

Harold's troops totaled around 7,000 soldiers, most of them being unskilled farmers who were only partially armed.

He needed shooters and infantry, and therefore, only a quarter of England's skilled warriors had been recruited.

By October 14, 1066, at daybreak, William's force proceeded near Harold's force, which was on a hilltop of 10 mi (16 km) in the north-western region of Hastings.

The defensive line eventually broke, gradually overmatched even though the day advanced.

King Harold II was slain early in the evening, as per the Bayeux Tapestry.

As night approached, the English dispersed, leaving William the victor from one of humankind's greatest audacious bets making Norman's conquest successful.

Thanks to King William's triumph, the Battle of Hastings propelled England closer to regular contact with the Continent, particularly France.

This mainly resulted in a nearly complete substitution of said English nobility and a Norman nobility and corresponding organizational restructuring throughout the higher clergymen and bureaucratic authorities.

English became gradually replaced by Latin on legal documentation and other records, and finally with Anglo-Norman throughout all sectors; handwritten English did not emerge until about the 1300s.

When did the Battle of Hastings end?

While narratives in many sources dispute one other, Harold seems to have perished later during the conflict. This also marked the end of the war. 

William from Poitiers merely acknowledges his demise in passing without elaborating on how it happened.

The Tapestry isn't helpful since it depicts a man with just an arrowhead protruding from his eye adjacent to a collapsing combatant having struck using a weapon.

The words 'Here King Harold has been killed' are written above those statues. It's unclear whether a person is supposed to be Harold, perhaps both.

The legendary version of Harold suffering from such an arrowhead to eye first appears inside a chronicle about the Normans penned through an Italian priest, Amatus of Montecassino, in the 1080s.

Harold succumbed to death with an arrowhead towards the eye, which penetrated further into the brain, according to William of Malmesbury, who also said another knight injured Harold at the very same moment.

The spear narrative is repeated by Wace. The Carmen claims Duke William assassinated Harold, although such an accomplishment certainly or undoubtedly has been documented somewhere.

Much more improbable is William of Jumièges' narrative, which sees Harold falling early the following day in his first battle.

According to the Chronicle of Battle Abbey, nobody understood what murdered Harold because it occurred in the heat of the combat.

Ian Walker, a contemporary researcher of Harold, claims that Harold succumbed to an arrowhead through his eyes. At the same time, he also gives another claim that Harold might have been killed by Norman knights while severely injured through the eye.

Following a discussion of the numerous tales, a further historian of Harold, Peter Rex, believes it seems impossible to say precisely about Harold was killed.

After the death of Harold, the English soldiers were left without a commander; therefore gradually started to crumble, marking the end of the war.

Many soldiers escaped; however, the imperial household's warriors rallied beside Harold's remains and battled until the last point.

The Normans went on to pursue the retreating forces, as well as the fight was ended except for a last-ditch effort there at 'Malfosse.'

It's uncertain precisely what occurred just at Malfosse, 'Evil Ditch,' or how it unfolded.

Until being vanquished against the Normans, several Englishmen regrouped and gravely injured Eustace of Boulogne at the tiny stronghold or series of ditches.

How many people died at the Battle of Hastings?

The majority of said English casualties, an estimated 4,000, remained left upon the battleground to be gathered mostly by the relatives.

At the same time, the Norman dies, estimated to have been around 2,000, had been cremated at the burial site one block from the north of the designated battlefield near Battle Abbey, East Sussex, according to a few sources.

However, the corrosive regional soil caused rapid disintegration, making current archaeological procedures useless for locating skeletal remnants.

At Hastings, about one in seven Norman aristocrats died, whereas the number of English aristocrats killed was nearer around half.

Harold's forces would then have to launch an assault to engage Harald Hardrada near Stamford Bridge before retreating to confront William in Hastings.

Several English military soldiers had already been slain, while others that remained should undoubtedly fall exhausted.

Harold's troops were enticed into abandoning the good strategic posture by William's army pretending to retire.

Therefore, the army of William was capable of turning around and assaulting Harold's vulnerable state.

Throughout the fight, William had such a larger contingent of warriors.

Norman cavalry was good. He had quite a good number of horsemen and highly trained shooters in addition to ground infantry.

This provided his team with a significant edge in the strategies and assaults they could still use.

William had been on a horse and possessed a commanding knowledge of the overall battleground.

When word got out among his soldiers that he had been murdered, he raised his headgear to prove he was not dead.

On the other hand, Harold had been on foot after being unable to prevent his troops from abandoning his decorum and following after William's withdrawing soldiers down Senlac Hill.