High Ground at Stake

RETAILER: DISPLAY UNTIL AUGUST 30 Wielding his wooden baculus-normally a symbol of authority-as a weapon, Bishop Odo leads the knights of his half brother, William the Bastard (Duke of Normandy), in an effort to break through the Saxon phalanx on Senlac Hill in The Battle of Hastings, 1066, by Torn Lovell. Occupying the ridgetop was Harold, his shield wall surely invincible. Attacking up the slope was William. The outcome would be truly historic .... By Don Hallway n the city of York the celebration had gone on for days. Revelers thronged the streets, and the sound of rejoicing I went on late into the autumn nights-and nowhere with more gladness than in the great hall where sat the king. For Harold Godwinson it was the supreme moment. Only the previous week the city had been conquered by Norwegian invaders whose king, Harald Hardraada, contested Harold's right to rule. But in the greatest battle England had ever seen, Harold's Anglo-Saxon army then had surprised and slaugh tered the Norsemen at Stamford Bridge. Only Duke William of Normandy now remained to challenge Harold. And, with no Norman invasion apparently threatening, Harold seemed at last undisputed king. But then came the rude shock the evening of October 1, 1066-a weary rider brought news that Duke William had invaded after all! His army was already laying waste the coun tryside around Hastings, to the south. Worse, Harold's already once-mauled troops were three times farther than William's from London. The king sent messengers ahead to gather reinforcements and at dawn led his exhausted men south to defend his crown for a second time in just days. The stage for this particular confrontation, however, had been set long before. The drama of disputed succession went back to when the line of Anglo-Saxon kings descending from Alfred the Great had culminated in Edward, called the Con fessor. But Edward, half-Norman and raised in Normandy, was not well liked by the native aristocracy led by his father- 58 59 Aside from such cruelty, he was, at 23, star" as a sign of change and misfortune, few men could doubt a natural leader. Distantly related to Harold's warnings. Edward, he was Norman and he felt The call to arms drew men from all over southern England. I secure enough at home to aspire to rule Each earl brought along his personal retinue of bodyguards, 1 England. To the childless king, he could or housecarls. These professional soldiers, well equipped with have seemed a natural heir to the English knee-length hauberks of chain mail and yard-long, kite-shaped crown, and though no official agreement shields, were expert with all weapons, especially the great, rwo was made, William went home with the handed Viking battle-ax and the short, single-edged blade impression it would be his. called the seax (or "sax"). They had fought with Harold in But the Anglo-Saxon earls soon re Wales and formed the hard core of his army. turned to power and forced Edward to The rank and file came from the peasant levy called the banish the Normans. Godwin died soon fyrd, vast in number but inexperienced and poorly armed. after, and his son Harold inherited his Worst of all, their tour of duty was limited to about two position as Earl of Wessex, the power months, cut short by the need to return to their farms in time behind Edward's throne. Good-natured for the harvest. and likable, Harold proved an able diplo So Harold found his army, perhaps the most powerful in mat and commander, fighting so skill Europe at that time, dwindling in strength as the summer fully in Wales that the Welsh delivered came and went, with no sign of the expected Norman inva their king's head as a peace offering. As sion. In fact the Normans, who were no sailors, were awaiting virtual ruler of England he came to a favorable wind to carry them to England. The Norwegians be known as Dux Anglorum, Duke of attacked first, drawing the English north and leaving the the English, and Dei Gratia Dux, Duke southern coastline undefended. As a result, the Normans by the Grace of God, and even Sub landed unopposed at Pevensey on September 28. regulus, Underking. Harold brought his battered force back from Stamford Bridge By 1064, Duke William was well aware on October 6. While his men regrouped in London, the king of the threat the earl posed to his ambi visited the shrine of the Holy Cross at Waltham, where a tion. When Harold came to France on miraculous stone crucifix of unknown origin supposedly stood. a diplomatic mission and was taken pris Historians and strategists have since faulted Harold for not oner by a neighboring count, William waiting longer in London to rebuild his forces. Possibly the secured his release. The two men seemed enemy army was simply larger than he expected, or the victory to take an instant liking to each other. in York made him overconfident, but more likely Harold Harold joined William on a raid into simply wanted to pin the Normans down. Hastings, at the Brittany; the duke knighted him in the foot of the north road to London, stood on a peninsula Harold Godwinson routs an invading army jointly led by his Norman fashion. This in itself implied the berween the tidal River Brede and the harbor of Bulverhythe. rebel half brother, Tostig, and King Harald Hardraada of earl owed William allegiance-it seems, If Harold's army could block any Norman advance overland, Norway at Stamford Bridge on September 25, 1066. Hastings furthermore, that Harold swore an oath and his fleet stop any retreat or resupply, winter would win 7 Miles of fealty on the bones of a saint. If he ~ the war for Harold. The Normans were deployed into three divisions, each with ever had any royal aspirations, the con The site on which he chose to do battle could not have archers, infantry and cavalry-and all in the valley. On the tention long has been, he relinquished been better suited for his purposes. The only road out of the lefr, the mercenaries of Brittany, Maine and Anjou followed them that summer in Normandy. peninsula was straddled by a crossridge, flanked by ravines the Breton Count Alan Fergant. On the right, Count Eustace On the other side of the Channel, impassable by cavalry. Behind the ridge rose the forest of of Boulogne commanded the French and Flemish. William's meanwhile, Edward suffered an apparent Andredsweald; at its foot lay a marshy valley that the Anglo Normans formed the center, led by his own half brother stroke on Christmas Eve 1065, reviving Saxons in their Germanic tongue called Santlache, "sand lake?' Bishop Odo, who later commissioned the famous Bayeux only long enough to designate Harold The French later corrupted this name, as they did with most Tapestry depicting the battle. The duke set up his command Godwinson his heir. Whether he really of the Anglo-Saxon language, to Sanguelac, "lake of blood?' post across the valley, beneath the papal banner. reneged on an oath of fealty to William Today the site is known as Senlac. William at first donned his mail hauberk backward, seem - will probably never be clear. Events On the evening of Friday, October 13, after a hasty, 60-mile ingly an evil omen. But the duke just laughed as he turned - moved fast-the assembled English march from London, Harold's army took command of the it around. "My dukedom shall be turned into a kingdom;' nobles confirmed Edward's decision. ridge. His men, it is alleged, spent the night drinking and he said. TOP: In this section of the Bayeux Tapestry, Harold Godwinson occupies a disputed Edward was buried, and Harold was singing bawdy songs. More likely they were exhausted. And Before the battle commenced, a Norman minstrel by the throne. ABOVE: William's initial tactics at Hastings were conventional: soften up crowned the very next day. in their camp some miles away, the Normans used the time, name ofTaillefer begged William's permission to strike the first the Saxon formation with missiles, break it up with infantry and complete the rout Duke William, as leader of an always if their own chroniclers are to be believed, in prayer. For his blow. As the two armies watched, he then cantered his horse with cavalry. The failure of that strategy compelled him to use more imagination. warring realm, could hardly ignore such part, William, unprepared for a long campaign in enemy up the hill to the shield wall, singing and tossing his weapons an affront to his honor. And so, locked country, could be thankful Harold had offered battle so soon. in the air. So dumbfounded were the Anglo-Saxons by this in-law, Godwin Earl of Wessex. In 1051 the earl and his sons by circumstances into conflicting paths, both he and Harold Early on the sunny Saturday morning following, the two display that he managed to kill at least two of them before staged an unsuccessful revolt, and Edward exiled them. During laid plans for the invasion that must surely follow. armies, each more than 7,000 strong, faced one another across being himself overwhelmed. this high point of Norman influence at the Anglo-Saxon Many of the Norman nobles were unconvinced an inva the valley of Senlac. Along the crest of the ridge stood the It was about 9 a.m. "The terrible sound of trumpets on both court, young Duke William paid a visit to London.

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