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The Battle of Hastings

© Elizabeth Batt

The year was 1066, and Edward the Confessor sat upon the throne of England. Having reigned since 1942, Edward was sick, old and ready to die, who would replace him? This was a difficult decision because Edward had no heirs to his kingdom, but there were four people ready to step into Edward's shoes.

William of Normandy claimed that Edward had promised him the throne and as a distant relation to Edward, William felt that he had every right to claim it.
Harold Hardrada, King of Norway, who owned land left to him by the previous king Canute felt that this allowed him to be king.
Edgar Etheling, Edward's very young nephew and closest relation alive felt that his claim to the throne should be honoured.

Finally when Edward the Confessor died on January 5th, 1066, Harold of Wessex - perhaps the most popular choice of the people claimed, like William of Normandy, that Edward had promised him the throne upon his deathbed.

So who would be king out of these four?
Well the decision was left to the King's counselors, and their choice was Harold of Wessex. Harold quite naturally accepted the throne, but he knew that he would have to defend it. Sure enough, an invasion was coming, but not firstly from William, as Harold had believed.

The first attack took place on September 25th in the north and Harold Hadrada was the invader. It became known as the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Harold went to meet Hadrada and after a bloody battle he repelled the invaders and his throne was secure…well, for another three days at least!

The Norman Invasion was a completely different matter and on September 28th, William of Normandy landed in Pevensey in the south of England. Again Harold rode forward to defend his kingdom. Harold was not in the best of positions to fight another battle though. His army was weakened after their defence up north and Harold, eager to reach the south as quickly as possible left many of his highly trained army behind. Harold arrived with 7000 men, the same number as William had, but out of those 7000 men, Harold had just a couple of hundred of his best soldiers.

The two armies came together at Hastings on October 14th, 1066 and the battle lasted almost all day long! The Normans did not have much success at first and at one point they began to pull back because they were certain that their leader – William of Normandy had been killed. When William showed his men that he was still alive, they rallied quickly. Now pretending that they were pulling back became their greatest opportunity for victory. Harold's men were goaded into chasing the retreating soldiers and this decision cost them the battle. Swift of foot, the Norman soldiers turned their horses and surrounded Harold's army, killing them in their tracks. The Normans used this tactic twice and Harold's army fell for it both times. Weary now, the English were defeated and Harold lay dead among them. The Battle of Hastings was over.