Ks3_-_Why_Did_William_of_Normandy_Win_the_Battle_of_Hastings_

Why did William of Normandy win the battle of Hastings' In this essay I will be writing about how William of Normandy won the battle of Hastings, the events leading up to the battle e.g. the battle of Stamford Bridge, Harold and Williams’s preparation etc and the overall conclusion of how he won and what contributed to him winning. The key question will be answered by using evidence from school books, websites and history text books. England’s Great Problem In 1066 England was ruled by King Edward the confessor, Edward was a half brother to Harold Harefoot. He was tall and very religious he looked just liked people thought a King should look but infact he was weak and couldn’t stand up to his bossy nobles. As he got older Edward got more religious and people began to believe he could perform miracles. One hundred years after he died he became know as Edward the Confessor. Before his death he realised he had a big problem he didn’t have an heir to the throne so when he died he didn’t have anyone to take his place after him. So as you can imagine it was a big challenge finding who the next King should be, but there were three main candidates so it wasn’t so hard to decide. Well actually it was because they all had different reasons why they wanted to be king so their names and reasons were: The Three Candidates Harold Hardrada. Harold was born Harold Sigurdsson in 1016. Harold was half brother to Olaf ll, who was the King of Norway. In 1045 Harold returned to Norway and two years later became King of Norway after the death of his nephew Magnus Olafssoon. Within a few years he had become known as Harold Hardrada (meaning hard-ruler). Harold wanted to be King of England because previous members of his family had ruled England before the English. Harold Godwenson. Harold was born around 1022. His father, Godwin of Wessex, was the most powerful nobleman in England. Harold became Earl of East Anglia in 1046. He also got a share of his brother Swegen's land. Harold thought he should be King, because he was the only English candidate. He was also the King’s brother in-law. Edward had promised Harold the throne. William of Normandy. William was born in 1027 and he died in 1087. His father was Robert, Duke of Normandy and his mother was Herleve of Falaise. They never married and William was known as "William the Bastard" to his enemies - though this was never said to his face. In 1035, his father died and as his only surviving heir, William became Duke of Normandy at the age of 8. William’s reasons for wanting to be King were because he was Edwards’s cousin. William made Harold swear an oath that William would be king. He said Edward had promised him the throne which was already promised to Harold Godwenson so there was trouble to come. William had said that Harold had sworn an oath that William would be king and it is said in 1064 Harold went to Normandy and William made him a friend for a while but then he turned nasty, and william forced Harold to put his hand on a box and to swear an oath to help William become king after Edward died. After Harold had sworn the oath William told Harold to open the box and the box was filled with holy relics. Harold was in serious trouble swearing an oath on holy relics was the most serious oath there was even if you didn’t know you had done it. Edgar the Ætheling. Edgar the (Ætheling means ‘crown-worthy’) had a better claim to the throne than anyone even William of Normandy seen as he was Edward’s grandson by his first wife. But Edgar was only 14 years old so was too young to take the throne so he was never a real threat. Who should be King' All the candidates had good reasons but I think after King Edward died the new King should have been William of Normandy because he had really strong points which where stronger than the other two candidates. Such as he was Edward’s cousin and that is a stronger connection than past family had ruled (Along time ago). William had said the oath or was forced to of said the oath that he William should be king which means Harold is standing against someone who he had said an oath to Harold Godwenson out. Of course people at the time didn’t find it so easy to look at the reasons and choose a candidate so it led to a battle amongst them. The Battle Tactics People probably think that this battle was all of the kings and their armies fighting head to head at the same time, but actually there where two separate battles and they were two of the bloodiest battles of all time. People also had different arguments as to who should win. First Harold Godwenson stationed his troops along the south coast waiting for William to cross. William couldn’t cross because the wind was coming the wrong way, but Harold Godwenson was still waiting, certain William would cross before Harold Hardradaa. The Battle Harold Godwenson eventually found out that William wasn’t going to come across anytime soon, but as soon as he figured that out, he was given news that Hardrada had crossed from Norway and had arrived off the north coast. So Harold had to gather up all his men and March north to meet Harold Hardradaa. Harold Hardradaa was marching down to Stamford Bridge with his men because he thought that was the perfect place for a surprise attack. The book of Kings and Queens by Tony Robinson quotes. The Viking King Hardrada once asked Harold how much land the King would give him. Harold reply came famous ”I will give you six feet. No, seven feet as you are taller than most men”. Hardrada was killed fighting Harold and his grave was found and was infact seven foot long. But Harold Godwenson was already one step ahead and had marched all his men up to Stamford Bridge and was waiting for the Norwegians with his swords and arrows ready for battle. Once on the bridge Harold Hardrada’s men looked very fierce and as well as the Norwegians great (or rather gruesome) reputation in battle. Harold Hardrada, who was huge, stood on the bridge swinging a battle axe, which could slice a man and his horse in half with one blow. That meant the English could not cross the bridge, so instead the English sent a man down the river in a barrel until he was beneath the bridge where Harold Hardrada was standing and then the man in the barrel sent an arrow through Harold H’s leg, right up through his body going all the way through his neck. Then the English hacked him and the rest of his army to pieces and the rest of Harold Hardrada’s men returned back to Norway defeated without there leader. After Harold Godwenson’s success at Stamford Bridge, he had strengthened his reputation in battle because he was now more confident because he had defeated one of the other threats to the throne. However, he had been given news that William of Normandy was crossing the English Channel, but his army was now much weaker because they had lost lots of his men and weapons during the battle at Stamford Bridge. This meant Harold had to gather what was left of his men and march back down south to fight another battle. The Battle of Hastings Harold’s Preparations Hearing that William had crossed the English Channel was terrible news for Harold Godwenson. He now had no time to gather extra troops and train them or make new weapons. The only time Harold’s men had to discuss tactics was while they marched to the battle ground, because Harold’s main objective was to get down to the south coast and fight William and win and he wanted to get there as quick as possible. There was no transport available, they didn’t have cars and buses in the eleventh century and had to get there in carts pulled by horses and on foot. This was very hard as it was harvest season and all the farmers and villagers wanted to harvest their crops and get back to their families. This meant that the farmers who had joined the army did not continue onto the next battle but instead went home to harvest their crops. Harold had said he would pay his other men after the battle of Stamford Bridge but his men had not received their payment because Harold had held on to the payment till after the battle with William, because he thought that this would encourage his men to fight harder as they would then receive their money. But instead this made many of his men drop out as they didn’t believe Harold and thought they would not be paid at all. This would have added to Harold’s problems and resulted in a weakened army. Yet Harold still had to fight on, because he still wanted to become King and knew to do this he would have to fight William. Williams’ Preparations Williams’s reaction to Harold winning the battle of Stamford Bridge was one of fury. He then asked for the Bishop’s and Pope’s blessing and had also asked for the barons to be on his side. He built 400 ships which were big enough to carry his 6000 horses, 3 horses for each man. He sailed over to England where he told his men to burn down all the houses and kill the men and women that stood in their way and when this was done William told his men to build him a wooden castle to wait for his arrival. Before the Battle Before the battle the Normans prayed and talked and the Saxons feasted and sung. William and the Normans had the right idea of praying and talking so everyone knew exactly what they were doing the next day, whereas Harold and the Saxons were just feasting and drinking so no-one knew exactly what they were doing and were tired and hung over in the morning. So William seized his opportunity and attacked uphill before Harold was ready, but Harold fought back and sent arrows through William’s army. Suddenly William fell to the floor and the Saxon farmers chased after the Norman soldiers thinking they had won but this was a trap and William raised his helmet to show he was still alive. Then the Normans hacked the Saxons to pieces and the war ended when Harold Godwenson was supposedly hit in the eye with an arrow and killed. From that point forward William became the King of England. William the Conqueror Having beaten Harold in the battle of Hastings, William was the new King of England and he was ruthless and pillaged villages and gave all the Monarchies jobs to French friends and sent them to find what people owned and he wrote it in a book later named the Doomsday Book. My Thoughts I think that William of Normandy should have been King because he was Edwards’s cousin. Even Harold Godwenson had said he should be King and had sworn an oath, but this is questionable as to whether the oath stood because Harold was tricked into saying it. William had helped the previous King (Edward) so had some experience. Although I thought this I think Harold Godwenson should have been the one to win the battles because he was on home land and knew where to station his men and many people would join the army to fight for their country. I think that William not being able to cross first seemed like bad luck at the time but was actually good look because he didn’t have to fight battles against Harold Godwenson and Harold Hardrada but only had to fight one which is probably why Harold Godwenson lost the title to the throne. The battle of Hastings is a well known part in history because that is the last time England was ruled by a fully English King. Evidence sources Most of the secondary evidence in this essay is written by historians who look at the situation from a neutral view but most primary evidence is bias like diaries, letters and the Bayeux tapestry. The Bayeux tapestry was made by the Normans after William was crowned king and is a 70 meter piece of embroidered linen. It tells the story of the battle of Hastings from a Norman view of the battle and the outcome. Some of the stages in the tapestry are assumed because of where letters and pictures are, like when Harold was believed to have been hit in the eye by an arrow this was because the first words ‘‘Harold is killed’’ are above a picture of a man pulling an arrow out of his eye but later in the tapestry it looks like Harold might be another person being hacked down by a man on a horse. It is on show in a special museum in Bayeux, Normandy, France, with a victorian replica in Berkshire, England. Conclusion Harold Godwenson held on to the payment for his men, this was a bad decision as his men did not believe they would get paid and many of the army dropped out on the way to the battle of Hastings as they wanted to get back to harvest crops, see family and just because they weren’t getting paid. Harold Hardrada was not really a strong contender as he had the most time out of the three candidates but instead of waiting for William to fight so he would be tired and have fewer men he rushed in to battle and lost as well as being killed. William was the strongest of the three as he waited for the right time to attack or was forced to wait which turned out to his advantage in the end as he only had to fight one battle where the army he was fighting had lost many men and the men they had left were tired, unprepared and some were even hungover. Also I think William had great skill to pray and talk with his men instead of feasting as then everyone would know what to do the next day and they would have God on their side which was good as religion was very important back then and would lift men’s moral. William was very well prepared and used the time he couldn’t cross the channel to chop down trees to make strong ships to carry horses as well as men and weapons. He made weapons and gave his time to practise with his army. Also whilst his army was training and building William talked with the nobles and made sure everything was in order before he set off for England. I will end my essay by saying that William deserved to win the title to the throne and he did, even though he turned out to be a very cruel King. My Sources! Websites: www.1066.com www.hastings.com Books: British History for Dummies; Sean Lang; 2006 Kings and Queens; Tony Robinson; 2001 The Children’s Encyclopaedia; 2000 Edition