THEBATTLE OF HASTINGS14 OCTOBER 1066

WHEN KING EDWARD DIED IN 1066, THREE MEN WANTED TO

BE THE NEXT KING OF ENGLAND• HAROLD GODWINSON, an English

nobleman popular with the other nobles and with the ordinary people but not related to the royal family

• HARALD HARDRADA, King of Norway, who was descended from earlier Scandinavian rulers of England

• DUKE WILLIAM of Normandy in northern France, who was distantly related to earlier English kings

Harold was accepted as King by the Witan (King’s Council)

Harald Hardrada landed in northern England but King Harold and his army surprised and defeated the Norwegians, killing Hardrada. This 19th century painting shows the Norwegian

king in blue in the centre of the picture.

While the English army was still in the north, William landed on the south coast of England

King Harold had to march back three hundred miles to oppose the Norman army

On 14 October 1066, three weeks after their victory over the Norwegians, the English army took up position on the top of a hill near Hastings, on the road

William would need to take to reach London. Here is the hill and the monastery which was built on it after the battle

And here is the view the English had as they looked down from the top. The Normans probably formed their battle line

somewhere near the single line of trees in the centre of the picture

This is model shows the probable positions of the opposing armies. This time we are looking up the hill again, from behind the

Norman army. The English are in two lines with the best trained and best-equipped soldiers in front

The English army was larger but the Normans had more knights on horseback so King Harold kept his men standing at the top of the

hill. Here they could form a barrier with their shields

The Normans, who were attacking uphill, failed to break through the English line and, when they heard a rumour that William had

been killed, they turned and fled. William himself took off his helmet and rode in front of his men, urging them to return to the fight.

Many of the English had made the terrible mistake of rushing down the hill to chase the enemy. When the Normans turned to fight again, they found it easy to attack the English as they were no longer protected by a solid wall of shields

After this success, the Normans twice pretended to flee. Again the English chased after them but suffered heavy losses when

the Normans turned round and attacked again.

After more heavy fighting, the Normans finally broke through the English lines and King Harold himself was killed. The remaining English fled

from the battlefield and William had won.

After the Norman victory, William took away the lands of nearly all the English nobles and gave them instead to his own followers. The Normans built great castles all over England to protect themselves.

The ordinary people farmed the land as before and continued speaking English but the ruling class was now French-speaking.

Gradually the Normans became more English but you still needed French to show you were important. In 1300, more than two hundred

years after the Battle of Hastings, an English writer, Robert of Gloucester, wrote these words (translated from the French he wrote

in).

• `... unless a man knows French he is thought little of. But humble men keep to English and their own speech still. I reckon there are no countries in the whole world that do not keep to their own speech, except England only.'

During the 14th century English finally replaced French as the language of the law courts and of the schools but the

English language was now very different from the English spoken before the Battle of Hastings:

• Before 1066, English, like modern German, had many different endings which had to be added to verbs and nouns to show their grammatical role. By 1400, most of these endings had disappeared.

• Before the Normans came, English usually combined simple words and syllables of its own to make new words, just as modern German and Chinese do. After 1066 English began to borrow foreign words instead – chiefly from French but later also from many other languages

Because the battle had such important results, 1066 is a date everyone in Britain remembers, even if they forget everything else they learned in school history lessons. There are also many resources available on the

Internet for those who want to learn more about the battle and its background:

• Woodlands Junior School in Kent has a lot of useful information on its history homework site, which is the source for several of the photos in this presentation: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/bt.html

• Another site lets you see the whole of the Bayeux Tapestry, a 70-metre-long piece of embroidered cloth telling the story of Harold and William in pictures with Latin captions. The tapestry was made on the orders of William’s brother, who was a bishop in France:http://hastings1066.com/baythumb.shtml

You have already seen several scenes from the tapestry. Here you can see William crossing the English Channel and also

pictures of an earlier voyage by Harold to France

Here you can see the death of King Edward, Harold receiving the crown and the appearance in April 1066 of Halley’s Comet, which

many thought was a sign that disaster would come

Here we can see royal meals being prepared. The Latin words mean: `Here meat is being cooked and here the servants have served it. Here they have

taken their meal and here the bishop blesses the food and drink.’

The battle is frequently re-enacted. Many photos were taken at a re-enactment in 2006, in which thousands of people took part

Here are some of the Norman cavalry. Notice the chain mail they are wearing. Only a minority of the soldiers in

each army could afford this

Here is an English soldier with a lot less protection!

And here is King Harold himself

OVER TO YOU…….• Use one of the websites mentioned above to find out more

about the Battle of Hastings. Write about 150 words and illustrate your answer with one or more pictures from the Internet

• The sites below give you detail of two other battles which are frequently re-enacted.

Find out when the battles took place, who were the two sides, what they were fighting about and how often re-enactments take place

http://www.gettysburgreenactment.com/index.htmhttp://www.fusiliers.net/wargaming20.htm

The Earliest Recorded Reference to Nottingham

868 Her for se ilca here innan Mierce to Snotengaham, 7 þær wintersetl namon; 7 Burgræd Miercna cyning 7 his wiotan bædon Æþered b Westseaxna cyning 7 Ælfred his broþur þæt hie him gefultumadonb, þæt hie wiþ þone here gefuhton; 7 þa ferdon hie mid Wesseaxna fierde innan Mierce oþ Snotengaham, 7 þone here þær metton on þam geweorce, 7 þær nan hefelic gefeoht ne wearþ, 7 Mierce friþ namon wiþ þone here;

(from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a year-by-year account of English history written in Old English and begun in the late 9th. Century)

Modern English translation868 In that year the same[i.e Danish] army went to

Snotengaham [i.e. Nottingham] in Mercia [a kingdom in central England] and took up winter quarters there. King Burgred, of Mercia and his council asked Ethered, king of Wessex [the southern English kingdom] and his brother Alfred to help them fight against that army. They entered Mercia with the forces of Wessex and came to Snotengaham where they found the Danes inside the fortress. There was no serious fighting and the Mercians made peace with the invaders.