HAROLD GODWINSON'S CORONATION, IMAGE: MATTHEW PARIS

In the events passing, Harold had met other opposition to the throne up north, whose claim was weak, Harald Hadrada of Norway. Godwinson’s military might was at full stage in the Battle of Stamford Bridge, surprising the Norse army and catching them with their trousers down. The beauty of Harold’s tactics was on full display. His Fryd slaughtered Hardrada’s army through the use of a shield wall, pressuring the enemy whilst protecting themselves. Godwinson proved undefeatable until hearing the news of William landing on Pevensey Bay, who had the backing of the Pope. In 4 days, Harold and his Fryd had marched 180 miles to Hastings, stopping in London on the way to refresh with a new army and new men, allowing those who fought near York rest, which in reflection is a poor choice as these men were the most experienced in warfare after Stamford Bridge.  

On the 14th of October 1066, now being an anniversary of a sombre day, Harold’s army met with a well-plenished Norman army, who had begun building the Motte and Bailey castles and raiding local villages. An army with equal numbers of roughly 6,000-8,000, the Saxons positioned themselves on Senlac Hill, ready with their shield walls. The Anglorum army consisted mainly of peasants, armed with Scramasax (Seaxs) and spears, which were quite common as 86% of Anglo-Saxon burials with weapons contained these spears. The more noble, privileged men enjoyed having armour; these were called Housecarls. There were roughly 3,000 housecarls in England, and they wore chainmail, normally carrying a Dane Axe or a sheathed sword. They were trained for their role and had a quite high position in Saxon society. Their helmets, according to the Bayeux Tapestry - yes, an unreliable source, but any source in that era matters - wore a nasal helmet. Few Saxon knights would have been lucky enough to wear such ineffable helmets similar to the Sutton Hoo. However, the most vital piece of equipment needed in the Anglo-Saxon army was the shield (trust me, I would know from personal experience after a reenactment of the Battle of Hastings in early key stage 3). The Shield Wall crushed the Nordic army led by Hadrada, and with enough strength and organisation, it was frustrating to pass, but one small problem would ultimately lead to the total destruction of the wall. The Norman army, on the other hand, was more equipped altogether. Foot soldiers would carry swords and a kite-shaped shield. William had many knights who were on horseback, these horses being bred for such occasions, carrying a lance or even a mace, which more high-ranking troops carried. 

Now, without going into detail, the Battle of Hastings lasted roughly 9-11 hours. The Normans were initially unsuccessful in breaching the Fryd’s round shield wall, blocking any attacks made by foot soldiers, frightening any cavalry units who approached and thwarting rains of arrows. It was impenetrable well and truly. In the middle of the battle, there had been a rumour circulating in the Norman ranks of William the Bastard’s death, to which William responded by taking off his helmet among his French troops as if the rumour had gained any momentum, the Norman morale would have depleted. This rumour, however, circulated to the Saxon wall as well, and this is where the dream called England started to decline. A few men then fell out of their shield wall, pursuing the Norman army in hopes they would retreat, leading to a counter-attack by the Norman troops. However, it all went wrong through the indeliberate feigned retreat. At a certain point in the battle, the Normans had retreated and as energetic and unorganised at this particular moment the Saxon army was, they chose to hunt down and go on the offensive, for the Normans to turn around and murder frontline men, thinning out the shield wall and opening gaps for the Norman army to burst through. Harold Godwinson died from an arrow in the eye and thus began William’s bloody colonisation of England, what was once Anglorum.

William raided and burned villages in great chevauchee style as a way of introducing himself and his regime. For the 21 years he reigned, he responded to any rebellion with brutality and completely colonised England. The 1069-70 Harrying of the North was a genocide carried out by William, driving people of Northern England into poverty, spreading famine and destroying crops and homes. Over 100,000 people had been killed, and according to William’s Domesday Book (1086), 75% of the population had died or never returned. People were forced into cannibalism. The Bastard, too, wanted to make England militarily stable, establishing over 1,000 Motte and Bailey castles, which, when doing deeper research, are quite clever in how they were structured. 

William colonised Anglorum. He forced the French way of living, particularly with the noblemen, onto the population. William restructured one of the best hierarchies the world had seen at the time from King, Earls, Thegns, Peasants/Ceorls and Slaves to King, Nobleman, Knight and Peasant, centralising the overall power. William, too, with his marcher earldoms, which bordered the rebellious Welsh, saw a tax-free haven for his most trusted noblemen, encouraging people from Normandy to come over and enjoy sunny England. Even the church wasn’t safe; not only was the architecture revised but so was the overall structure, as there used to be two Archbishops who were allowed to marry along with many other privileges. 

Overall, the true English identity was extinguished. Now, to be fair, a lot of Saxon culture had disappeared, arguably due to Christianity in the 600s, but the very infrastructure of the Germanic way had been breached. In a way to establish control over England, William sought that Norman culture had to become Anglo-Saxon culture. Our language had dissipated. David Mitchell, the fantastic comedian and actor, who has starred in shows such as Peep Show and Would I Lie to you?, exclaims in his exempt book, titled Unruly, that the “Old English, the language of the Anglo-Saxons, ceased to be used by the nobility or in the administration of the kingdom. It was replaced by Latin and Norman French”. Mitchell remarks that this change was undeniably different for the Anglo-Saxon population as “it would be like all of our political leaders … suddenly speaking Hungarian or Japanese”, noting that it’s a “world away from leaders just having a posh accent”, being different from how “people such as David Cameron pronounce words like ‘round’ and ‘pound’” in an Etonian manner, though in terms of how insufferable William of Normandy and David Cameron are, there is not much to differentiate. 

Our language and vocabulary, our way of living, and our social structure, church, and culture would be different, but thank goodness, history survives on so many figures such as Harold Godwinson are still subject to recognition. So, when revising such a monumental day as the 14th January 1066, don’t look back to it as a French victory led by William the Bastard but as an event which could have changed England both in the past and the present. An England that could have been.