August 10th, 2022
It turns out the book is not just about the Battle of Hastings. There will be build up and some afterwards, with maybe 30 pages on the battle itself. That is still a lot for one battle. The first chapter is a summary of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy under Wessex, from Alfred the Great to Edward the Confessor. I’ve read all of this before. Alfred, the fifth son and thus an unlikely king, reformed the English military system and waged war against the invading Danes, eventually forcing them to make peace. His son, Edward the Elder, expanded his burh system and spread Wessex authority to the Humber, which means Mercia was under his control. It helps that his sister, Aelthflaed was the Lady of Mercia. Aethelstan then spread Wessex power over Northumbria and beat the Scots in battle, forming an effective border. He could be called the first King of Britain. Aethalstan’s half-brother Edmund ruled a few years, in which York chose a new Danish king. His and his brother Eadred’s reigns are noted for struggling for control of the north against Viking leaders, both from Danelaw and Dublin. After Aethalstan, everything was unstable. Edmund’s sons Eadwig and Edgar split the kingdom, but Eadwig died after four years. Edgar’s son Edward the Martyr was not liked and ruled three years before being murdered, probably by this stepmother. This led to Aethred the Unready to take the throne in 978 at the age of 12. His 40 year reigned was marked by constant loses and payments to the Danes. Also importantly, he married and had children with Emma of Normandy, sister of Richard II, Duke of Normandy. Aethelred and his family fled there when Sweyn Forkbeard invaded and took London, becoming king for a year. He died and gave England to Cnut and Denmark to Harald. Cnut had to conquer England to keep it.
August 12th, 2022
Cnut was fighting in Denmark, so Aethelred was invited back to be king. He died in 1016 and his son Edmund II Ironside was recognized as king. He and Cnut fought, with Cnut forming alliances with the northerners and the south sticking with Edmund. Their war was essentially a stalemate and they partitioned the country. Edmund died in 1016, how is lost to history, so this deal didn’t last long. Cnut became sole king of England and exiled Edmund’s sons (to be murdered in Sweden, but they were spared and grew up in Hungary. Edward the Exile was to return to England in 1057 and died a few days later). Cnut ruled for 20 years and brought stability, despite a reputation for brutality. He installed his own loyal earls in the old kingdoms. Under Cnut, a man named Godwin came to power after serving him and ended up earl of Wessex. Cnut married Emma of Normandy to prevent the threat of Norman invasion, while Emma’s sons from Aethelred grew up in Normandy. Cnut was already married, but apparently this mattered little. His two sons from his first marriage split his kingdom when he died in 1035. Sweyn was king of Norway. Emma’s son Harthacnut was king of Denmark. Harthacnut was busy in Denmark and his half-brother Harold ruled England as regent. The north supported Harold to become full king, and Emma and Godwin supported the absent Harthacnut. An absent king is bad, so Alfread Aethling (son of Aethelred) was brought back to win support for the House of Wessex. He was betrayed by Godwin, blinded, and then died very shortly after. Sweyn died right away, Harold died in 1040, and Harthacnut became full king of England but died in 1042. Emma’s eldest son with Aethelred, Edward the Confessor, was invited back to rule England. He brought with him many Normans and married Godwin’s daughter. He was not a militant ruler, but apparently a decent one otherwise. He pushed his mother away, since it’s obvious she wanted power and was not so much interested in any particular son. It seems that during his reign the Godwin family expanded their wealth and power, while Edward also put Normans in favored positions. I would imagine this leads to conflict.
August 15th, 2022
The tension between Edward and Godwin finally exploded one day and Godwin raised an army to march on the king. The issue of the murder of his brother Alfred was brought to the forefront. Godwin did not find much support and he was exiled. Godwin and most of his family went to Flanders, a nemesis of Edward and England. Harold and maybe Tostig went to Ireland. The king’s power was not enough and after some time the Godwin family returned, armed with Flemish aid. Harold led a second army from Ireland. Southern England was reluctant to stand up to Godwin, who they generally liked. The family was reinstated to their previous positions. Tostig was given a northern earldom, but after 10 years or so was driven out. Neigher Harold nor Edward helped him, probably because he was at fault, and Tostig resented his brother and brother-in-law for the rest of his life. Edward was old and the succession was a concern. It’s been mentioned that his cousin Edward the Exile was brought back, but died immediately. His Margaret daughter married the King of Scotland, whose line would later bring Wessex blood back into the English monarchy. The main contenders were Harold and William the Bastard of Normandy, the son of his Norman cousin, whom Edward was close to. Edward may have promised both the throne and played political games with them, we’ll never know. It’s important to know that when Edward died in 1066, the Godwinson’s were very powerful, but the Normans had become so, too.
The third chapter is some background on Normandy. Before the Norman invasion, the duchy was not very stable. William was worried about the Capetians, the Britons, and probably the Flemish. By 1066, however, these issues were more or less at a lull and Normandy had the power and money to cross the Channel. But the book jumps backwards. The story is that the Rollo was granted an area around Rouens by Charles the Simple to act as a buffer. By 911, there were various Viking incursions and some settlers on the north of France. The Franks had beaten the Norsemen in a battle, so they had the upper hand. Charles offered them a settlement to ward off further Vikings and to prevent the expansion of the Britons, who were not under French control. The Carolingian empire had split for good in 888 with the death of Charles the Fat, so West Francia was not in a stable position. It could easily splinter more into smaller pieces. This move was an attempt by Charles the Simple to maintain stability.
August 16th, 2022
The history then goes that Rollo expanded westward. Then his son, William Longsword, went further west and Normandy essentially took its modern shape. He was raised Christian, unlike Rollo, and he was into it. He also was on good terms with the French king. These two things probably got him assassinated and his son Richard, a 10 year old, was the new count of Rouen. With a child in charge, it was unstable and political enemies took advantage, such as the King of France. As an old man, he backed Hugh Capet in becoming the new king. He married his daughter to Aethelred the Unready, thus leading to Edward the Confessor’s birth. Then another Richard, then another Richard, then his brother Robert, who may have murdered his brother Richard. Robert was an okay ruler and had some extramarital affairs that led to William the Bastard, his heir. Robert died young on a holy pilgrimage, so William became duke at age 9. With another child in charge, it was unstable, but King Henry I of France helped him out.
Once an adult, William did not return kindness to the king. He fought with him and his neighbors, Brittany and Anjou. He married a daughter of the Count of Flanders, so they were not a threat. He struggled with the king and the Count of Anjou for years. In 1060 he was lucky and they both died. William then became secure on the mainland, gain wealth, and consider the kingship of England. The question of when or if Edward offered the throne to William is in question. He probably did, despite offering it to Edward the Exile also. Edward seemed to reconcile and accept that William would be his heir. Things get murkier when Harold Godwinson went to Normandy in 1064. It seems he was there to secure the release of his brother and cousin or nephew as hostages. They went on a campaign to Brittany, and Harold may have sworn an oath and swore fealty to William. Possibly he accepted William as his future king. It would make sense that he would do this to maintain his high position in England and not get replaced by a Norman. Allegedly he was also an avid oathmaker. He was allowed to leave with one of the hostages, not his brother. The only sources are Norman, but history makes it seem that William was surprised and felt betrayed by Harold’s vie for the throne.
August 17th, 2022
The next chapter is about arms and the armies of England and Normandy. So far it’s not super interesting. It claims that the armies were about equal in terms of technology and to kill any idea that England had a peasant army. England and Normandy had similar helmets, arms, armor (hauberk and shield). Arms were swords and spears, though a few Englishmen had axes. This may be due to Scandinavian influence, but the axe was a weapon declining in use. Normandy made more use of archers and cavalry. Bows were viewed as a poor man’s weapon and the Normans probably were using longbows. The Norman cavalry was the old style of spear stabbing and throwing. We are not yet quite in the age of the heavy calvary lancer who can charge at full speed, which will gain prominence in a few decades. Most of this data is not from archaeological record, but from the Bayeux Tapestry. Apparently, it is accepted as reasonably accurate and was made a decade or so after the events. I’m not sure if this is a recent book or a reprint from the 90s. If it is a reprint, perhaps we have more archaeological evidence. Maybe not.
August 18th, 2022
The author discuss the raising of troops and how both nations would rely on men who had to raise troops based on land or something given in return. They also had their own household men, and would pay professional mercenaries. England had a naval history since Alfred the Great, but it was not in action at the time of William’s crossing. The Norman’s mainly needed ships for transport. The author goes into some potential reasons on why the English had no archers or cavalry. For archers, it would seem the are more common in wooded areas, that is northern England. They likely existed in the south, but not in huge numbers. Possibly there were archers at Stamford Bridge raised from the local shires. Hastings was in the south and the men who had no horses would not have fought in both battles. Rasing troops from the southern shires would have produced few archers. Normans and Vikings used bows more often. For cavalry, apparently it was a matter of custom and the idea of the ideal warrior. In England, a real warrior did not ride a horse with potential for running away from battle. He fought on foot with sword or axe. The Normans, inheritors of a Frankish region and culture, glorified the mounted warrior. Chivalric tradition had a man on horse. The Normans had used mounted charges and the “fake retreat” in France and Sicily in prior battles. Another big difference in the ability to raise a force for defense versus raising a force to invade. That’s all I remember.
August 19th, 2022
The next chapter discusses the year 1066 leading up to the Battle of Hastings. The year began with Edward the Confessor’s death in January. It seems at some point that Harold Godwinson became the favored man for the throne. Possibly this was after the 1064 trip to Normandy. Regardless, the people of England accepted him as their king. The other options were not great. A Norman, a Norseman, and a 15 year old (Edgar the Aethling) were the other options. Times were too uncertain to accept a teen king, and foreigners were not favored. The southerners of Wessex would have no problem with Godwinson on the throne, and the northerners must have been okay with it given the other options. Once crowned, Harold married a daughter of either the earl of Northumbria or the earl of York, thus creating a political link to the north. Smart move. The northerners were having a hard time with the Scots at this time and would also have benefited from strong ties with the south.
Once Harold was king, brother Tostig landed an invasion force on the Isle of Wight. He was reinforced by the Orkneys, under the control of Harald Hardrada of Norway. Harold raised his troops and navies for this, but no fighting came of it. By summer, Tostig was raiding and then took refuge in Scotland. The main fighting occurred when Harald Hardrada invaded. Hardrada was a famous Viking warrior, served and commanded the Varangian Guard and essentially forced himself on the throne of Norway. He invaded England in September and obviously was allied with Tostig. The first battle was on September 20th at Fulford Gate near York against earls of Northumbria and York. It was a English defeat with heavy losses and the Norsemen took York. Five days later, Harold had brought what mounted men he could the 200 miles north and surprised the Norsemen at Stamford Bridge. Caught completely off-guard, the English fought and defeated the Norse army. Hardrada and Tostig were both killed, as were most of the Norse soldiers. The surviving Norsemen were allowed to leave England. Harold had proven himself to be a good military leader. The timing was not good, however. A few days later, the Normans landed on the south coast. How much of this timing was calculated or just luck, who knows. The predictions of Edward and the appearance of Haley’s comet may truly have foretold that the English never had a chance. Now Harold had to take his victorious army and go south to raise troops, which he had raise and released earlier in the year due to Tostig’s presence.
August 22nd, 2022
This chapter is just the author discussing and explaining the sources historians have for the battle. No one who was at the battle actually left a record. The closest sources were William’s bishop William of Poiters, who was not in England during the campaign but came shortly after. Other important sources are another William of Juriemge, a couple of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, and the Bayeux Tapestry. There are some other sources, but they are from decades later and may not be reliable.
August 23rd, 2022
The penultimate chapter is about the battle itself. The first half of the chapter discusses the lead up to the battle. A lot of it has been mentioned before, though there is more detail in this chapter than I will be able to remember. The main idea is that William landed at Pevensey on the Sussex coast. It was unguarded and William landed easily. Then they raided the area, Harold’s personal holdings, to draw him out. William, as the invader, needed a battle quickly and a victory immediately. He could not hold out forever. Knowing this, it’s generally accepted that Harold should not have engaged him and should have penned him in. Harold took his mounted men and raced to London. Here he rested and sent word out to gather the southern foot soldiers. It seems unlikely he was unable to get archers, another reason he should have waited. He was probably riding the high of total victory over Harald and wanted to repeat the same blitzkrieg tactics. The forces were allegedly meant to meet at the battlefield, a hill with an old apple tree (which usually marked the border between shires, here where 3 shires met) a couple miles from William. There is some debate over where the battle was fought because there are two hills and one of them has an abbey that was built to allegedly mark the spot. The author disagrees with the abbey’s self-proclaimed history and believes the actual hill was a couple miles further north. Since there are no firsthand accounts, we may never know the exact spot. How can there be no archaeological evidence? You’d think there may be some bones or arrowheads or equipment lost on the field.
August 24th, 2022
The battle began around 9am on Saturday, October 14th. The English were formed on the top of their hill in their typical shield wall defensive position. This steep slope gave trouble to the French archers and cavalry. William also had crossbowmen, whose bolts allegedly could wreck an English shield. Nonetheless, the Normans opened with an infantry advance, which the English staved off. The shield wall advanced and the Normans began to flee. Rumor was that William was dead. William and Odo attempted the rally the troops, and William had to remove his helmet to convince the surrounding soldiers he was there. William led men back to the battle. This real retreat was followed by the classic feigned flight, which drew out men from the shield wall, who were killed to a man. Several of these fake retreats were able to thin the English numbers, though the shield wall was still impenetrable. The English were further picked off by archers. The English may have lost two commanders earlier, Gyrth and Leofwine Godwinson, younger brothers of Harold. In the third phase of the battle, the Normans sensed the English were on the ropes and went hard on the assault. It was late in the day and William had to win by nightfall, which probably was in the 6 o’clock hour at this time of year. In this period of fighting, Harold was killed. He most likely was killed by an arrow through the eye. A cavalryman then hacked him with a sword and was allegedly reprimanded by William. The story that William and three others killed Harold seems to be a later invention and false. The tapestry appears to depict the former event. With all their commanders dead, it was only a matter of time until the English broke. Maybe they planned to fight until nightfall and retreat. They broke before that. The Normans and their cavalry chased the survivors through the night. There is a story about a Malfosse, or “evil ditch”, which has warped and become confusing through the years. If we trust William of Poitiers, the English had a ditch in reserve, either for a last stand or to halt the attackers. A good number of Normans were killed in this ditch until William led a charge against it. Possibly this trench was an invention, but it sounds plausible. Thus ended the day long battle that the English nearly won. My sympathies lie with the conquered, though the conquerors will one day “become” the English. The more I read the book, the more I wanted Harold to be king. 10 months is a good run, I guess.
August 25th, 2022
The final chapter of the book is obviously about what happens after the battle. William stopped his men from chasing the English and camped on the battlefield. He took care of his dead and left the English to their dead, or possibly there was a mass grave. Apparently, Harold’s body was difficult to identify and had to be identified by “marks”. He was likely buried in an unknown grave. William then took it slow, marching to Dover and then Canterbury. There was some resistance on the way and it was put down without mercy. The northern earls and Stigand of Canterbury had declared for the Aetheling, but after William’s show of force, they all declared for him. All who surrendered were shown mercy. Willaim took London after putting down an opposing force and was crowned by the archbishop of York on Christmas Day. There may have been some rioting against him, in which his soldiers burnt down some part of the city. William then took hostages and returned to Normandy in March. He had to conquer the rest, but needed to make sure Normandy was securely his. He got a hero’s welcome. England was still full of “rebels”. First, his ally Eugene of Boulogne tried to steal Dover from Odo of Bayeux (William’s half-brother) with some English but was defeated. He apologized later. One of Tostig’s men was given a high position in York or Mercia, and we know northerners did not like Tostig or southerners in general. English rebellion was coordinated and was haphazard. The Aethling and the Northern Earls rebelled, allied with Scots and Danes. Obviously it didn’t work and the Normans put down rebellion and built castles wherever they went. 1068-1070 were the big years for northern rebellion.
August 26th, 2022
Finished the book. The final chapter continues with opposition to William. In 1068 Exeter rebelled and was put under siege by the Normans. Part of the city was knocked down and the Normans built a castle within the walls. The sons of Harold had fled to Ireland and the led some raids along the west English coast. It was a disaster and Harold’s sons are lost to history after this. I looked this up separately, but it is interesting. Harold’s daughter Gytha was married to Vladimir Monomakh of Kiev and thus an ancestor of Alex Nevsky and Ivan the Great and Ivan the Terrible. She is also an ancestor of Edward III’s wife, and thus all subsequent English monarchs. Harold would be the Greatx10th grandfather of the Black Prince’s generation. The bastard Tostig’s descendants became kings of Norway for a a period. Back to the topic at hand, Edgar the Aetheling and his Scottish allies with the Northern Earls rebelled against William. William paid of the Danes who landed in support of Edgar. To put down the rebellion, William declared total war. This is known as the Harrying of the North. He essentially starved the entire northern half of England into submission. Maybe as many as 100k people died. It is a disgusting time period that taints the Norman reign. In 1071, King Malcolm of Scotland married the Aetheling’s sister, which brought tension between the two kings. Their granddaughter or great-granddaughter married William’s grandson Henry I, I think. This tied the Normans to the House of Wessex. So the English kings past Edward III are related to William the Conqueror, Alfred the Great, and Harold Godwinson. In 1075, the northern earls revolted again with Danish aid, and William had to put it down. Obviously none of the rebellions were effective. By this time, William had replaced most of the earls and bishops and archbishops with his own Frenchmen. Nearly half of English noblemen had died in the war and subsequent fighting. The obvious outcomes of Hastings are the establishment of the Norman control of England and the installment of Frenchmen in high roles. The military followed the Norman fashion. English gained many French influences. Life among the lower classes was probably not much changed, outside of the destruction of warfare. Of course, the war and Williams responses had terrible effects. Many English were dead and many towns and countryside devoid of life. Later, English would not have had so much interest in the affairs in French if the kings had not been landholders. English, European, and World History would have taken a completely different course if not for October 14th, 1066.