Location! Location! Location!

This is a must if we are to ensure the survival of the Saxon nation!

Select a position which will give the Normans  maximum aggravation!

On October 14th, the morning light illuminated the nature of the respective armies. Both were probably about 7,000 in terms of numerical strength. However apart from foot soldiers, the Normans had cavalry and many archers. The Saxons possessed neither, but their forces consisted of some 5,000 untrained and poorly armed peasants and perhaps 2,000 of the formidable, suicidal housecarls whose dedication to their king was beyond question.

Harold placed his men high on Senlac hill! It would be here that his army would fight and kill!

It would be here that Saxon England would do battle with the forces of Duke Will!

Senlac hill as it is today.

Harold would certainly not be the last property owner to decide on a birds eye view of the Sussex countryside when undertaking an important investment decision concerning essential resources. The Saxons had taken a position on a ridge which was flanked by marshes on either side and protected by thick woodland from the rear.

Why was this significant?

Harold knew that a vital element of the Norman attack would be by the cavalry! Men on horseback cannot charge effectively through dense forest which meant that he could not be attacked from the rear. The Normans would not be able to attack him from the left or the  right because horses are unable to gallop through marshy ground! Harold was forcing William to attack him uphill through a relatively narrow channel. When the Normans reached the top of Senlac hill they would be confronted by the formidable Saxon ‘shield wall’.

Harold drew his forces close and near!

Knowing that William could not attack him from the rear!

The Saxon army was protected on either side!

As through marshy land the Norman horsemen could not ride!

 

Early on the morning of October 14th, hostilities commenced! The Normans launched assault after assault and their archers kept up a deadly barrage of arrows but still the Saxon shield wall on Senlac ridge remained firm.

The battlefield from the north as it would have looked from the Saxon lines. 

Try as they might the Norman forces were unable to make a breach in the Saxon shield wall.  The Normans were constantly being driven back by a continuous volley of missiles thrown  from the Saxon ranks.

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry showing Norman cavalry attacking the Saxon shield wall on Senlac ridge.

Things were not looking good for Duke William!  Indeed the low point in the battle for the Normans was when a rumour spread that William had been killed.  William quickly dispelled the rumour by lifting the face shield of his helmet and rallying his disheartened soldiers.

The scene from the Bayeux Tapestry showing William raising the face shield of his helmet.

 

Behind their shields, us, do the Saxons await!

To break their packed ranks, we need some ingenious bait!

We must think of something soon, before it is too late!

According to some accounts, the Normans then thought of an ingenious trick! They would attack, pretend to panic and flee down the hill in apparent disarray.  The Normans hoped that the Saxons, seeing them in a state of fright, would break ranks and follow them down the hill thus creating a gap in the shield wall.

Our knights will feign fear, and run down the hill like frightened deer!

This will draw the Saxons away from the packed ridge and into the clear!

This is exactly what happened!  At an opportune moment, the Normans whirled their horses around and surrounded the Saxons  as they charged down the hill.  At the same time, other Norman  knights entered the gap in the shield wall made by the Saxons in their pursuit of the ‘terrified’ Normans! The shield wall was broken and this event rang the death knell, not only for many Saxons on Senlac hill, but also for Saxon England itself!

Rivals for the crown both the north and south!

News reaches Harold by word of mouth!

On September 25th, Hardrada headed from his camp at the banks of the Humber to travel to York to talk to the defeated local lords.  It was an unusually hot day, and expecting nothing in the way of trouble, his men had left their weapons behind them as they journeyed to York.  As they approached the city, hoping for little more than some rest and recreation within its walls, they were confronted with the awesome sight of the Saxon army.

The Saxons pounced on the near defenceless Norwegians many of whom tried to run back to the river Humber for their weapons.  One brave, enormous Viking stood with an axe on the entrance to Stamford Bridge and killed Saxon after Saxon with a circular swathe of his huge axe in a courageous attempt to buy time for his comrades to retrieve their weaponry.

Stamford Bridge on the river Derwent where Harold defeated Hardrada’s viking army.

 

Hardly cricket, old chap!

Not that we mind, we killed him with a spear from behind!

He was eventually killed by a Saxon who commandeered a curragh, and, sailing under the bridge in a rather unsporting spirit, threw a spear at him from behind.

At the days end Hardrada and Tostig both lay dead, as did so many of their men.  There were so few survivors that a mere 24 of the 300 ships that had arrived were sufficient to ferry them back to Norway.

At Stamford Bridge we slew the Viking beast!

Let us now retire to York to relax and feast!

Well, not for long!  As he savoured his victory over Hardrada, Harold received the disturbing news that William had landed at Pevensey on September 29th and was laying waste to his beloved home county of Sussex.

So gracious was the morning tide, so pleasant was the boat ride!

With great ease the sandy, Saxon beach, our Norman army soon did reach!

A lesson in the art of warfare, the Saxon king we will teach!

For William, the wind could not possibly have changed at a better time.  He was able to sail and land in England while Harold was in the north, and the southern coast lay undefended.

Thank God for Imperial Rome!  Their old fort at Pevensey would become William’s first English home!

William decided to put the old Roman fort at Pevensey to good use.  It had not been used in 600 years but the Romans had done a good job, it was still in good working order.  He would re-fortify it and use it as his base of military operations in Sussex.

The Normans went boldly forth from Pevensey’s Roman fort!

Across the fair, green land of  Sussex they plundered and fought!

The entrance to Pevensey Castle.  William’s pathway to England!

The castle had been built by the Romans as a defensive device to keep invaders out of the country.  William now used it as the polar opposite!  It would now play a crucial role in an offensive plan to allow invaders into the land!

Meanwhile, Harold’s victory celebrations at York were speedily terminated as he conferred with his commanders on how best to proceed.

For Harold the change in wind direction set forth a chain of events that would end in disaster!

Of his country, he would no longer be the master!

Harold decided on another surprise attack.  He saw the need for breakneck speed and marched the 250 miles along the old Roman roads so fast that he failed to stop for additional manpower.  His army arrived in London footsore and immensely fatigued.  On the evening of October 13th, Harold set up camp on a high ridge in Sussex, opposite William’s army.