The Battle of Hastings

William of Normandy won a day-long battle near Hastings and became King of England. The Norman conquest brought lasting changes to English law, language and landholding.

Whether Harold died from an arrow in the eye is debated.

Context

The battle came at the end of a crowded year. Harold Godwinson had been crowned in January 1066, then marched north to defeat the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada at Stamford Bridge in late September. Within days William's fleet landed on the Sussex coast, and Harold hurried south to meet him.

The fighting took place on 14 October on a ridge a few miles from Hastings, at the spot later occupied by Battle Abbey. It lasted much of the day, and the English shield wall held for a long time before breaking. Harold and his brothers were killed, and William was crowned in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066.

Our best pictorial evidence is the Bayeux Tapestry, an embroidered linen strip about 70 metres long, probably made in England not long after the conquest. One scene shows a figure with an arrow near his eye, but scholars disagree about whether this is Harold, and written sources give conflicting accounts of how he died.

The conquest replaced much of the English ruling class with Norman lords, and the Domesday survey of 1086 recorded the new pattern of landholding.