It's late September of the year 1066. William of Normandy lands in Sussex with an army 7,000 men strong to join the fight for the English throne. King Harold Godwinson rushes back south to London to mount the resistance against yet another invader. A few weeks later, the two armies met in the decisive encounter on the hills near Hastings, a turning point in English history. Northwestern Asia Minor, the hot summer of the year 1035. Duke Robert of Normandy was on the return from his Jerusalem pilgrimage when he caught a lethal disease and died shortly after at the age of 35. When news reached Normandy, young William the Bastard was being prepared to act as his father's successor, fulfiling Robert's will. William's early reign was full of hindrances due to his illegitimate descendancy, as his father never bothered to get married, but was aided by prominent supporters including the archbishop of Rouen. He reached adulthood and started independent rule. His early years as a Duke of Normandy passed under the constant struggle for power, during which William honed his political and battle-commanding skills. In 1051 he received the message from his distant relative, childless English King Edward, who named William as his successor and the next King of England. Being involved in the internal quarrel with the powerful House of Godwin, Edward probably used the absence of an heir as a tool in his political game. Godwin and his sons tried to prevent the rise of Norman influence in the Anglosaxon royal court, and were banished by Edward, who then chose William as his heir. Although Godwin got back to England with an army some months later and reclaimed his position, he apparently accepted the King's choice of successor. Godwin died a few years later, but his sons had risen to power and gained control over the major earldoms of England. The oldest living son Harold succeeded his father as Earl of Wessex, and became the king's trusted advisor. Meanwhile to the south, William pursued the expansion of his rule, and by the year 1065 he reigned, either directly or indirectly, over the entire northern French coast from Brittany to Flanders. Then, in December of 1065 King Edward fell into a coma and died at the beginning of 1066, which immediately triggered the fight for the now empty throne. Some claim, that the old king regained consciousness shortly before his death and entrusted the kingdom to Harold, who decided to snub Edward's earlier will and crowned himself on the funeral day. Upon hearing the news, William immediately claimed his right to the English throne, but he wasn't the only one interested. Harald Hardrada of Norway based his claim on an agreement made 30 years earlier between King Hardacnut and Danish King Magnus. It's worth mentioning, that prior to his death Edward promised the English crown to yet another man, Edward the Exile, whom he recalled from banishment ten years earlier. He was already dead by 1066, but his son, Edgar Aetheling inherited his rights and appeared as another pretendent, though he lacked strong support compared to other candidates. This may look quite complex, and probably was. Large-scale conflict was inevitable, war preparations begun on both sides of the Channel. Just when winter passed by, William ordered shipwrights to build a war fleet capable of transporting a large army to England. While thousands of trees were being cut down, William gathered all the nobles willing to back his cause. He managed to attract help from around the France, Brittany and Flanders, promising wealth and positions. William of Poitiers stated, that The Bastard obtained the blessing and support of pope Alexander II, but that is questionable at best. He finished preparations in early August, gathering a total number of 7,000 men. In order to lead and maintain cohesion within his diverse army William must have been a talented organizer and a respected leader. Although ready to do so, he didn't rush to invade England, because of unfavorable north winds. It was also possible that he knew Harold Godwinson expected the Norman Invasion with his army camping near the Isle of Wight. But in early September Godwinson was forced to disassemble his troops due to depleting supplies and harvesttime being just around the corner. A few weeks later, the wind finally changed and William departed the Norman coast on the 27th September. He reached English shores the following day and landed in Pevensey Bay in Sussex. An anecdote says, that upon landing William slipped and fell on the ground, scaring his superstitious folk. But he played it cool, grasped a handful of soil and proclaimed: „England is ours!”. The Normans were probably aware, that Anglosaxon forces were busy to the North, striving to repell the Viking Invasion of Harald Hardrada, so they took their time, marched west to setup a temporary camp near Hastings, and fortified the town. From there William mustered his troops and launched parties to plunder the region. Meanwhile, Godwinson feasted in York to celebrate his bloody victory over the Norsemen near Stamford Bridge after an exhausting, 4-day march. When he learned of the Norman landing to the south, he promptly ceased the celebrations and together with his best men rushed back to London in yet another rapid movement. He reached the capital in one week, and spent an additional week to prepare for the upcoming encounter. Harold kept all of the housecarls who survived the bloodbath of Stamford Bridge, but gathered fresh fyrd units. Godwinson's army was roughly a similar size to the Norman army. He could have probably waited a few more days, to allow more soldiers to join, but Harold's confidence after the last battle and eagerness to relieve the people harmed by the Normans pushed him to set off as soon as his force was ready. Godwinson hoped to use the element of surprise like he did versus the Vikings two weeks earlier, but on the day prior to the battle William's scouts found out that the Saxon army had departed London and was marching south. Upon learning that William had set out for Hastings, Harold started to seek out a suitable place to deploy his units, and finally decided to hold a defensive position on top of the hill 10 kilometres northwest of the town in between forested and marshy terrain. The composition of Harold's army didn't change much since Stamford Bridge. He relied solely on infantry, comprised of professional housecarl units and a poorly armed and disciplined fyrd formation levied days prior to the battle. In contrast, William commanded a mix of infantry, archers and cavalry. His army deployed into three divisions, roughly corresponding to the origin of the troops. The front line was formed by archers, who had their back secured by infantry units. The mounted force was held in reserve as a third line. While holding a good, defensive position on higher ground, with his flanks covered by marshes and woods on both sides, Harold barely could do anything more than just defend, his housecarl ranks were thinned out after the last battle and were unable to play a more active role. The majority of fyrd units, though fierce and determined to fight for their land were mostly poorly armed and unskilled peasants, that posed a limited threat to the enemy. The battle was started by Norman archers who attempted to weaken the tightly-packed Saxon lines, shooting uphill at an unfavorable angle, with little effect. Arrows either bounced off the shieldwall or landed far behind the English positions. Then, William sent the infantry units to engage in melee fighting, hoping to break Harold's shieldwall. Advancing Normans suffered a barrage of axes, stones and spears, but eventually reached English front ranks and hand-to-hand combat began. Casualties rose on both sides, Norman infantry failed to punch a hole in the Saxon line, so William sent idling cavalrymen, hoping to crush Harold's solid defense. But decently armoured mounted troops, while good at melee, lacked long lances and armored horses, which limited their effectiveness as true shock units, capable of breaking enemy lines. Battle raged for hours. Due to heavy losses, many fyrd units were forced to replace the fallen housecarls in the first line. Normans lost many men aswell, even Duke William got his horse slain under him twice, which caused a rumour that he was dead. Around midday, William's left flank comprised of Bretons retreated, and many of the other units followed. It is not clear, whether it was a real flight or just a feigned retreat planned and performed by William. Many of the battlefrenzied Anglosaxon militia pursued the running enemy, disobeying Harold's order to remain in formation, thus crippling their only chance for victory. The Normans stopped the retreat and attacked drawn off English units, which were soon surrounded and crushed by Norman cavalry. Harold's remaining troops fought bravely for the rest of the day, struggling to withstand William’s now dominant forces, at the cost of very heavy losses. When the sun was about to set over the horizon, Harold's brothers Gyrth and Leofwine were slain. Shortly after the last Anglosaxon King of England was struck in the eye by an arrow, which triggered a final massive rout of the then leaderless Saxon forces. William won the battle, and had the road to London wide open, where he ascended to the English throne two month later. The Battle of Hastings marked the beginning of the Norman Conquest, which took several years and heavily influenced both English and European history.
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