Dear SLAL (not-related with ASOIAF) as a chilean im not very acquainted with UK history, I’m trying to understand what were the major factors in Willem the Conqueror victory over the saxons english nobles. Could you help me with a little details or a useful link? I would be very grateful. I expect that you understanded me, thanks and great blog!

warsofasoiaf:

I understand you just fine.

Well, one of the big things to understand is that King Edward the Confessor, when he died in 1066, didn’t have a clear heir. It was rumored that he roused himself from his coma long enough to commend the kingdom and his family to Harold Godwinson for protection, but that’s hardly a declarative: “Hey everyone, Harold Godwinson is my heir. Harold Godwinson, of the house of Godwin should inherit the throne.” When King Edward died, the
Witenagemot (an assemblage of the major figures of England both ecclesiastic and secular) elected Harold, but this was contested by two figures: Harald Hardrada of Norway and William the Conqueror of Normandy.

Harald based his claim off a verbal agreement between King Harthacnut (the predecessor to King Edward) and King Magnus of Norway uniting their two lands upon their death if one of them had no heir. He also allied with Harold’s brother Tostig, who had Northumbria taken from him thanks largely to the Northumbrian dislike of Tostig’s high taxes which he used to pay his housecarl mercenaries. Harald enjoyed initial success against the earls of England, but Harold marched rapidly from London (shades of Eddard being able to move so quickly to beat Jon Connington at Stoney Sept) and surprised Harald’s force at Stamford Bridge, winning a great victory and killing both Tostig and Harald Hardrada himself. However, his army was bleeding, and he’d face another threat.

William the Conqueror was from Normandy, which is where Edward the Confessor spent much of his time in exile before ascending the English throne. William based his claim that Edward had sworn that William would succeed him. William landed while Harold was in the north, and he was able to bring a good number of Norman nobles eager for lands in England. Harold moved to intercept, and the battle was drawn at Hastings. Harold seized the high ground, and William attempted to use feigned retreats to lure the English out of their shieldwall to better employ his cavalry. During the battle, Harold died. It’s not clear how Harold Godwinson died, but most accounts suggest that he took an arrow to the head (the Bayeux tapestry says the eye, others to another part of the head, either way, those tended to be fatal).

There are a few reasons why Harold lost at Hastings. One, Harold had little cavalry, affording him few tactical options against the more diverse Norman force. For two, and what I believe to be the most important factor, is that the English kept taking William’s bait and advancing from their position to be swept and encircled by William’s cavalry forces. Three, Harold had to deal with two separate invasions which exhausted his manpower. And finally, the random chaos of the battle that caused Harold to die was certainly bad news for the Saxon factions. Sometimes, you just get a bad break.

Hope that helps. You might want to ask @racefortheironthrone for his take. He’s a professional historian. I’m an amateur.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

So one factor not mentioned has to do with rest. Harold did an amazing job force-marching his men from Stamford Bridge to Hastings, but it left him with a tired and hungry army – and tired and hungry soldiers are particularly vulnerable to running out of energy in the midst of a battle.

Regarding the cavalry, they weren’t actually a problem as long as the Saxons held the high ground and remained in formation – the Norman cavalry, which didn’t have the couched lance and tended to throw lances instead, simply bounced off the shield wall and there’s lots of depictions of horses falling backwards down the hill with a spear or an axe buried in their heads. Indeed, the retreat of the Bretons shows how ineffective the cavalry were in the opening phases of the battle. (This is a major reason why I think Roose Bolton threw the Green Fork – there’s no feigned retreats to give him an excuse for abandoning the high ground).

But discipline was the key factor. As long as the Saxons held the high ground, they won – the moment they left the shield wall and ran down the hill, they died. Harold was the key figure keeping the Saxons in position, ordering that on no occasion should they chase the Normans. He had problems making this stick with the less professional elements of his army, especially when the rumor of William’s death created what looked like a perfect opportunity, and of course, once he died of a random arrow shot, command completely broke down, much of the army fled and was chased down, and only stood their ground and fought to the death.