1066 and the Norman Conquest
In 1066 England had three kings, two invasions and one arrow-strewn hillside, and the country's language, land and landscape were never the same again.
Published
Quick Facts
- What happened
- William, Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold II at Hastings and took the English crown
- Battle of Hastings
- 14 October 1066, fought at Senlac Hill, now the town of Battle in East Sussex
- Coronation
- William was crowned in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066
- Kings in 1066
- Edward the Confessor, Harold Godwinson and William (with Edgar Ætheling proclaimed but never crowned)
- Earlier battle
- Harold beat Harald Hardrada and Tostig at Stamford Bridge on 25 September 1066
- Harrying of the North
- Brutal campaign of 1069–70 that devastated northern England
- Domesday Book
- A survey of England's land and wealth, completed in 1086
- Famous record
- The Bayeux Tapestry, about 70 metres of embroidery, made in the 1070s
The year with three kings and two invasions
On 5 January 1066, Edward the Confessor died childless. Within hours, Harold Godwinson, the most powerful earl in England, was crowned in Westminster Abbey. Within the year, he would be dead. Harold had two serious rivals abroad. Harald Hardrada, the Norse king, claimed the throne through an old agreement between earlier kings. William, Duke of Normandy, claimed that Edward had promised him the crown, and that Harold had sworn to support him. Harold spent the summer guarding the south coast against William, who was waiting for favourable winds. Then the food and the men ran out, and the fleet was stood down in early September.
A forced march and a field of arrows
Just as the south relaxed, Hardrada landed in Yorkshire with hundreds of ships, joined by Harold's exiled brother Tostig. They beat the northern earls at Fulford on 20 September. Harold marched his army north at astonishing speed and surprised the Norwegians at Stamford Bridge on 25 September. Hardrada and Tostig were both killed. It was a crushing victory. Then, days later, William's fleet landed at Pevensey. Harold turned his exhausted army back south and met the Normans near Hastings on 14 October. The battle lasted most of the day, which was unusually long for the period. Norman cavalry and archers faced the English shield wall on the ridge. Harold was killed, and the English line finally broke. William did not walk straight into London. He marched around the southeast, and the leading English figures submitted to him at Berkhamsted. He was crowned on Christmas Day.
Did Harold really get an arrow in the eye?
Probably the most famous image of 1066 is Harold with an arrow in his eye. The truth is murkier. The Bayeux Tapestry shows a figure beside the words "Harold Rex interfectus est" (King Harold is killed). One man is pulling an arrow from his face, and another is cut down by a horseman. Which one is Harold, or whether both are, has been argued for generations. Early written accounts disagree about how he died. Another myth is that the tapestry is a tapestry at all. It is embroidery: wool thread stitched onto linen. And it was probably made in England, perhaps in Canterbury, for William's half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux.
Conquest by castle
Winning one battle did not give William a kingdom. He needed to hold it, and he did so with timber castles raised at speed, at Hastings, Dover, London, Warwick, York and many other places. Revolts flared, especially in the north. In 1069–70 William answered with the Harrying of the North, burning crops and settlements across Yorkshire and beyond. It is one of the harshest episodes in English history. The Domesday Book of 1086 shows how thoroughly the land had changed hands. A small group of Norman and French families now held most of it, and the old English elite had largely been displaced. Stone soon replaced timber: the Tower of London's White Tower began under William.
Why you speak a bit of French
The Normans spoke a form of French, and for generations it was the language of court, law and the upper class. English survived among ordinary people, but absorbed thousands of French words. That is why English often has two words for similar things. The animal in the field is a cow, sheep or pig, all Old English. The meat on the table is beef, mutton or pork, all from French. The Conquest also pulled England towards Europe, reshaped its church, law and landholding, and fed a feudal system. Argument about what was lost and what was gained has never entirely stopped.
Where to see 1066 today
Battle Abbey stands where William vowed to build a church after his victory. The high altar was reputedly placed where Harold fell, and today a marker commemorates the spot. The battlefield walk is open to visitors. The Bayeux Tapestry is in Normandy, but a Victorian replica is displayed in Reading Museum. Pevensey Castle still has its Roman walls and Norman additions, while the White Tower in London and the great keeps of Dover and Colchester show what Norman power looked like in stone. Stamford Bridge, in Yorkshire, has a memorial to the earlier battle that came days before Hastings.
Notable people
- William the Conqueror
- Harold Godwinson
- Edward the Confessor
- Harald Hardrada
- Tostig Godwinson
- Odo of Bayeux
- Edgar Ætheling
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