October 14 - The Battle of Hastings

This Day in History: 14 October 2020

 

14 October 1066

 

954 years ago, today, the Battle of Hastings began. William the Conqueror had landed in England a few weeks prior, at Pevensey, with around 7,000 troops and cavalry. After he seized Pevensey, he marched to Hastings, where he paused to organise his forces. On October 13, King Harold II, the new king of England, arrived near Hastings with his army, and the next day, William led his forces out to battle. Edward the Confessor had promised to make William his heir after his death, but on his death bed, Edward granted the kingdom to Harold Godwinson instead. The Battle of Hastings was initiated by William disputing his claim to the throne.

 

King Harold was eventually defeated by William's forces. At the end of the bloody, all-day battle, Harold was killed by an arrow to his eye. He was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. After his victory, William marched on London and received the city's submission. On Christmas Day, 1066, he was crowned as the first Norman king of England, ending the Anglo-Saxon phase of English history. William I proved to be an effective king, conceiving the 'Domesday Book', a census of the lands and people of England. Upon his death in 1087, his son, William Rufus, became William II, the second Norman king.

 

Want to find out more about the Battle of Hastings? Click here for more information, or here for more about William the Conqueror. 

King Canute

King Canute (or Cnut - on the right of the picture above)was the Viking King of Denmark and Norway who captured the throne of England, conquering the country and ruling it from 1016-1035. Yet the only thing he is really known for is "trying to stop the tide coming in". Recent articles about the Ryan Giggs affair (Nonsuch HP is reasonably confident we can mention his name now without getting sued!) have suggested that he has acted like "King Canute" in trying to stop everyone talking about him on Twitter - ie once the cat has been let out of the bag (mixing metaphors a bit) you can't put it back in.

However, this BBC article suggests that the Canute legend is unfair. The first written account of his reign, by Henry of Huntingdon, suggests that Canute did indeed go down to beach at Bosham, Sussex, and order the waves not to come any further onto the land. However he didn't do this because he was power-mad, but because he knew that his order would fail, and would prove that there were some things beyond his control. In other words, it was an early lesson in the limitations of political power. Indeed Professor Simon Keynes regards him as quite a remarkable king rather than the pompous buffoon of legend. However, Canute in real life was unlikely to have been that humble. His successful conquest of England and his clever marriage to Emma of Normandy, widow of the Saxon King, suggests that he was a remarkably talented soldier and politician.