Essay about 1066: the Year of the Conquest

It could be argued that Northumberland was far more successful than Somerset in ruling England due to Somerset’s failure in foreign policy. For example, Somerset thought that Scotland was the centre of his interests. His aim was for the scots to surrender the Scottish daughter, their queen to marry Henry’s son. He tried implementing this through the treaty of Greenwich in order to unite England and Scotland, but failed to meet his aim. Although he did gain an achievement when the Scottish army were destroyed at the the Battle of Pinkie, his plans to wear down Scotland with forts and Garrisons failed. It was expensive because garrisons needed to be established in Southern Scotland. As well as this, the forts that

On the 14th of October 1066, Duke William of Normandy defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. His win could be summed up by the fact that William was a better leader. Other factors that contributed to William’s victory include: William was better prepared, the English army was severely weakened as Harold had just fought off an invasion in the North of England, and Harold made a fatal mistake of prematurely entering the Battle of Hastings.

William’s father went on a pilgrimage in 1034 to release his sins. While returning home from his journey, he died suddenly. Having no other heir, William took his place as Duke of Normandy.

A reason why Harold Godwin lost the Battle of Hastings is because his army was less prepared, since some of Harold’s foot soldiers were left behind, and some died at Stamford Bridge. Because of this, Harold would have had less people in his army, and some of his best soldiers would have died as well. This would have been quite a disadvantage, as even more of his soldiers died later on, during the journey south. Secondly, another reason why the Saxons lost was that the Saxons were already exhausted from their quite recent battle, at Stamford Bridge, and they also had to go on a long journey to meet William of Normandy’s army. Due to this, as well as the Saxons would have finding it harder to fight, they would have been much more vulnerable.

Arguably the most important factor in the exertion of power over the English was the ability by the Normans to act militarily. The warlike attitude of the Normans, combined with the religious aspects that will be discussed later, provided them with a ready and capable army with which to support William’s claim to the throne. The early years of William’s rule, after the 1066 defeat of Harold, emerged as a sort of military occupation within England by the Normans. These years were crucial in the Norman advance within England. When William came to England he arrived with a large support of military men and much of these supporting military men remained in England because of their military duties. This army aided William not only in the initial battle against Harold, but later as well, through their

The Witan wanted an Anglo-Saxon to rule England. Harold Godwinson did not want the Normans in England and thought he had been tricked by William the Conqueror. He had been forced to promise loyalty to William the Conqueror as they had his nephew hostage and made him sign a sacred oath of allegiance. William was holding his nephew hostage and said he would only be released if Harold swore to be loyal to him and help William become King. This means that William of Normandy was afraid that Harold Godwinson was going to win the Battle of Hastings and not him which is quite ironic when you know who won the Battle of

The Battle of Agincourt is known as one of the greatest because of the circumstances surrounding it. Arguably, it is among the most distinguished battle wins of the English because nobody expected them to defeat the French. The reason was that the French army had four times more troops than it did, and everyone expected it to lose because of this. However, there are a number of factors that were at play that surpassed the numbers the French had and necessitated the English win. Such factors had to do with the strategies that were employed by the English, the conditions at the battlefield, and, most importantly, the leadership in place.

english rulers William and Mary started a war with France also known as King William’s War. This war

William the Conqueror: a powerful man who was taking what was rightfully his, or an illegitimate son thirsty for power, only history can tell if his actions were an act of justice. This debate contains a lot of confusion between promises, traditions overlapping, the support of the people, and proven powerful enough to rule. After understanding the conflicts at the time, history has proven that William the Conqueror proved to have a legitimate claim to the throne, much more than his competition at the time. In order to understand history, we have to look back and see how we got to this point, starting with the set-up for this situation.

The French Kings had possessed the financial and military resources of the most populated and influential state in Western Europe. This resulted into several victories over larger French forces. The first major engagement of the Hundred Years’ War was the Battle of Crécy. Edward III landed in Normandy in the year 1346. He decided to stop near Crecy in Normandy and to prepare for battle the next day. However, the French frontline made contact and started to attack without a set plan. The French made several attacks and the English checked each one in turn, mostly because of the English longbowmen. This led to a decisive victory for England.

The Normans and the Saxons do not have the best relationship. There is no respect between the two races. The Saxons feel that they are the original people from England and no invaders were going to change that. In the beginning of the movie it starts out with a jousting tournament, one can see Sir Cedric, the Saxon lord, calling the Norman people dogs. There is a strong animosity between the two groups. Cedric is a man that is a strong advocate for the old England with old Saxon rule. When the tournament begins it is seen he is wanting a Saxon winner

A few years later, Henry V landed in France with ten thousand men and besieged Harfleur, a port town along the French coast. The siege lasted for a month, and Henry marched into the town, victorious, with very few men, because most of them died from disease. He then set course for Calais, but was stopped by French forces in Agincourt. Henry had only about six thousand men and the French force had twenty thousand. Henry used the woodland to give his forces a better chance. The French, on the other hand, set up three lines with knights in front. The knights were easily taken down by English longbowmen, the second line was slowed down by muddy swampland, and the third line retreated. This was a decisive victory for Henry and his outnumbered army. Henry continued advancing to Calais. Next, Scottish and French armies join forces and raid English holdings in Normandy. The English forces were decimated by the combined forces of France and Scotland. Soon after that battle, The French and Scottish tried once more to remove English control of Normandy, but their forces were easily cut down by longbowmen. Scotland stopped aiding France in the war, and England kept their hold in Normandy. The English started to take control of most of France again, started winning more battles. “The balance of power changed in 1429, with the appearance of Joan of Arc,

“A battle Harold has lost rather than one that William won.” The Battle of Hastings was a battle fought between two powerful men hungry for the throne of England on the date October 14th 1066. William I also known as William the Conqueror was the Duke of Normandy and son of Robert I, he was of viking origin and grew up in Normandy. His quest for the throne was promised by his blood relative, Edward the Confessor, just before his death. Though he Edward promised the throne to William, Edward granted his kingdom to Harold Godwineson. Harold II, also called Harold Godwineson was an Anglo-Saxon king, a strong ruler, and a very skillful general. William being promised the throne and Harold being granted the throne led to a dispute between these

In 1066 William of Normandy invaded England. That would mark the beginning of Norman rule of the England, which would last for about four hundred years, until the end of the Hundred Years War. In a first stage, the Norman took over the power and decided to change the language of government as well as impose new institutions inspired in the French ones. However, they let low- and middle-classes speak English. In this period, loanwords come from the domains of political, social and diplomatic activity. In a second stage, which could be dated at between 1250 and 1400, French started to be used by the population. The reason was that many Normans had to permanently settle in England as Normandy was bought by the French king in 1204, and many Normans

The conflict was in the end resolved at the battle of Hastings in 1066. As Harald Goodwinson’s army first faced Harald Hardrada’s Viking attack in September of 1066 in the battle of Stamford Bridge. Harald Goodwinson’s army managed to defeat the Vikings in an exhausting battle, however, only three days later William’s army reached Hastings and Goodwinson and his army had to rush to the sight to face their new foe. Goodwinson’s army was indeed reduced and tired after the trials at Stamford Bridge, nevertheless, what followed was the longest battle in the history of medieval Britain (Kramer.33), and the result was a new king of England, the Duke of Normandy, King William the Conqueror.