Key Events of the Conquest

Key events prior to 1066

In 1016, Cnut of Denmark invaded England. He eradicated all opposition in a pogrom in Winter 1017, and ruled thereafter with a combination of Danes and newly promoted English Earls who profited from the Danish Conquest. Edward (the Confessor) fled to his father-in-law in Normandy. He finally regained the throne in 1042.

William's later chroniclers claim (after the fact) that Edward the Confessor offered William the crown and sent Harold to pledge it to him in the Winter of 1064/5. In fact, reading between the lines we can see that Harold was shipwrecked in Normandy whilst trying to visit France, and took advantage of the situation by trying to secure the release of his brother & nephew who were held as hostages in the Norman court.

The events of 1066

• January 1066: Edward the Confessor dies. Harold gambles and makes a bid for the Crown, supported by all the magnates of England. William does nothing, despite the so-called oath.
• Early 1066: Tostig comes to Flanders looking for aid in his projected bid against Harold. Whether he makes a deal with William is a moot point, but certainly William sees this as his chance to invade. He starts to gather his forces. These were made up of 'feudal' levies, in which the knight owed service to his lord in return for land. However, William manages to double the projected strength of his forces by promising English land to anyone who turns up. The final strength of his army is c. 8-10,000 of which c.2,000 are cavalry. He starts constructing a fleet at Dives to transport them all across.
• May 1066: Tostig makes an abortive attempt to invade England. Harold calls out the English levy (the fyrd) to defend against an expected thrust from William, but it never comes. By 8th September, Harold has to disband the fyrd and let it go home to harvest its crops.

The eve of conquest

• 20th September 1066: After sailing up the Ouse with more than 10,000 men in 200 longships, Harald Hardrada and Tostig defeat the hastily assembled forces of Earls Edwin & Morcar at Fulford outside York. The army of the Earls is decimated and Edwin & Morcar are unable to play any more part in the campaigns of 1066. This leaves them free to make their peace with William after Hastings, but need not be seen as premeditated.
• 25th September 1066: Harold responds by scraping together a scratch force made up largely of his own housecarls and personal followers, and racing north, calling up the shire levies as he passes through. In four days, he has marched 180 miles, and surprised the Norwegian army outside York at Stamford Bridge. Harold offers Tostig his earldom back if he will turn on Harald, but Tostig refuses. Legend has a lone berserker axeman defending the bridge until the sneaky English paddle under the bridge in a barrel and thrust a spear up through the wooden slats. Harald & Tostig both fall at the head of their men.
• 28th September 1066: Having sailed his fleet to St Valery sur Somme, William waits for the wind to be in the right direction. It changes 2 days after Stamford Bridge, and William's fleet makes landfall at Pevensey completely unopposed. He marches to Hastings - a good harbour from which he can withdraw easily if necessary, and begins building a castle.
• 1st October 1066: While at York, Harold learns of William's landing. He marches back down Ermine Street, stopping to pray at Waltham Abbey (which he had founded) on the way. By 12th October, he is back in London and gathering what forces he could to face William.

Hastings

The Battle of Hastings ©

• 14th October 1066: Harold takes up a position blocking the Norman advance to London on Senlac Ridge at the site of Battle with an army of little more than 5,000 weary and footsore men. He intends to fight a purely defensive battle, sitting behind the famous Saxon shield wall and letting the Normans break themselves against it. This works well, beating back repeated waves of Norman infantry followed by cavalry. It works so well in fact that the Breton knights on the Norman left begin to run. Seeing victory in their grasp, the English right charges down the slope after them, exposing themselves to a devastating counter-attack led by William himself.
• However, William is unhorsed and a shout goes up that he is dead. Everything hangs in the balance; but William sweeps off his helmet and rises to rally his troops. Yet the pause had given the English time to regroup, and the Normans batter themselves uselessly against the reformed shield wall. As the day drags on, the numbers began to tell and the English shield wall begins to crack.
• Late in the day, Harold takes an arrow in the eye and as his men mill around him, four Norman knights break through and hack him down. Legend has it that his body was so mutilated that it could not be recognised until it was identified by his devoted mistress, Edith Swan-neck.
• Oct-Dec 1066: A state of war continues until Christmas 1066, when a deal is struck between William and the English magnates in which he guarantees their positions in return for their support. William is crowned King of England on Christmas Day in London by Archbishops Ealdred and Stigand. Edwin, Morcar and Waltheof swear allegiance to him.

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About the author

Dr Mike Ibeji is a Roman military historian who was an associate producer on Simon Schama's A History of Britain.