The Norman Conquest 1066

Between late September and late October 1066, Harold Godwinson fought two full-scale battles against two different invading armies, marched his forces several hundred miles between them, and lost a kingdom in the space of three weeks. The sequence — Fulford, Stamford Bridge, the southern landing, Hastings — is one of the most compressed and consequential military campaigns in European history. This lesson traces that sequence in detail, because Edexcel Q4(b) and Q4(c) questions on why William won depend on knowing the precise order and interaction of these events.

The central interpretive question is: was Hastings lost because of William's tactical superiority, because of Harold's exhausted army, or because of Norman luck — including the wind that held William at St Valery and then carried him to an undefended coast? The answer is that all three mattered, and a top-band answer handles each without collapsing them into a single cause.

1. The Two Invasions Gather

1.1 Harold's summer watch

Harold spent May to September 1066 defending the south coast. The fyrd and the fleet were mobilised — the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records "a larger fyrd than any king had gathered before". By 8 September supplies had run out; the fyrd was sent home and the fleet returned to London, losing ships in bad weather. That same contrary wind had pinned William's transports in the mouth of the River Dives in Normandy.

1.2 Hardrada sails

While Harold's forces dispersed, Harald Hardrada sailed from Norway in early September with perhaps 300 ships and 9,000 men. Joined by Tostig and a Scottish contingent, he entered the Humber on 16 September and advanced up the Ouse towards York.

1.3 William waits for wind

William had assembled a fleet of around 700 ships and 7,000 men at St Valery-sur-Somme by mid-September. The southerly wind he needed did not come until 27 September. Some historians argue that the timing — Hardrada striking first — was the single most important piece of luck in William's campaign.

2. The Northern Campaign

2.1 Battle of Fulford, 20 September

Earls Edwin of Mercia and Morcar of Northumbria met Hardrada south of York at Fulford Gate. The English attacked Hardrada's weaker wing in marshy ground. Hardrada counterattacked along the riverbank, rolling up the English line. Edwin and Morcar escaped, but their forces were broken. York surrendered on 24 September and agreed to give hostages and supply the Norwegians.

2.2 Harold's forced march

News reached Harold at London around 20 September. He marched north immediately, covering roughly 185 miles in four or five days — an exceptional rate for an eleventh-century army, possible only because he took housecarls and mounted thegns and gathered further forces from Mercia and the east Midlands on the way.

2.3 Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September

Harold caught the Norwegians at Stamford Bridge, east of York, on a warm day when many had left their mail at the ships. The battle was brutal. A lone Norwegian is said to have held the bridge with his axe until killed from beneath by a spear thrust through the planks. In the main engagement Harold's army broke the Norwegian line; both Hardrada (shot in the throat with an arrow) and Tostig were killed. Of 300 ships that had arrived, only 24 were needed to take the survivors home. It was, tactically, a crushing victory — but Harold's army had lost many of its best housecarls and was now 250 miles from the Channel.

3. William Crosses the Channel

3.1 The wind changes

On 27 September — two days after Stamford Bridge, before Harold's couriers could have reached him — the wind veered southerly. William sailed overnight and landed at Pevensey on the morning of 28 September. He fortified Pevensey's Roman walls and Hastings, built a pre-fabricated wooden castle (castrum), and began harrying the Sussex countryside. The harrying was strategic: it forced Harold to respond quickly to protect his own Wessex earldom.

3.2 Harold returns

Harold heard of the landing around 1 October. He returned to London, gathering new fyrd levies on the way, and left London on 11 October to confront William. He did not wait for Edwin and Morcar's remaining forces, and he did not let William advance into central England — a decision debated ever since.

4. The Battle of Hastings, 14 October 1066

4.1 The ground

The battle was fought on Senlac Hill (modern Battle, Sussex), about seven miles inland from Hastings. Harold deployed on the ridge — a strong defensive position — with housecarls in the centre, flanked by fyrd on both wings. The line was perhaps 700 metres long.

4.2 The armies