The Battle of Hastings

The field of Hastings is famous for one major event in England history, the Battle of Hastings. This battle opposed King William of Normandy, referred to as “the bastard” due to his commoner mother, and Harold, who seized the throne from his father Edward the Confessor. This conflict came from the fact that Edward had proclaimed William to be his successor. The decision was initially supported by Harold, swearing upon holy relics, that he’ll serve the Norman king once his father dies. It is speculated that Harold did so because William was holding his family hostage, and the Norman wasn’t known for being the nicest person.

Anyways, once Edward died, Harold proclaimed that his father changed his mind on the succession and crowned himself the very same day. This claim is quite dubious since Edward was famous for being relatively close to the Norman and William. Furthermore, Harold had no proof of what he was saying outside of his words. He broke protocol by crowning himself the same day his father died instead of waiting for the deceased king’s funeral. But this had something to do with a certain powerful and ruthless warlord that Harold knew would come barging in.

After a long wait, thanks to the wind stopping William from reaching England, Harold prepared his army and defeated the Danish king Harald Hardrada at Stamford. Once William arrived, Harold initially decided to stay inside the walled cities since a siege was long, arduous and costly. Unfortunately for Harold, William wasn’t one to do as his opponents wished and forced the usurper out by sacking the villages. This is when the famous battle of Hasting happened.

Harold’s troops had an advantage on the terrain as they took position on the top of a hill. On the other hand, William had the tactical advantage of having archers and cavalry. After hours of unsuccessful constant assault from the Normans, they decided to fake a break in morale causing a disorganized retreat to force the Angles out of their position. This trick worked well as Harold’s troops, thinking they won the battle, immediately broke formations to pursue the Normans. Having lost their only advantage in the battle, the Norman cavalry quickly decimated the Angles, offering the victory to William. Harold was killed in the ensuing massacre, most likely by an arrow in the eye, as the legend says.

After this battle, William was crowned king of England and received his title of Conquer. He then spent the next few years of his reign ending (with extreme brutality) many rebellions against his rule.