Freigned Defeat

A rumor arose in the Norman ranks that William was dead, causing panic. Many of the Saxon fyrdd pursued the fleeing Normans down the hill. William raised his armies morale by loudly announcing that he was still alive. The Normans with new strength fought hard against the Saxons, Harold's brothers Gyrth and Leofwine were both slain on the battlefield.

The Battle of Hastings took place on October 14th 1066.It was between Harold Godwinson and William the Duke of Normandy. Edward the confessor (King or England) died of old age.Before he died he promised 3 mens to claim the throne of England.These mens were Horold Godwindon,Willam of Normandy and Harald Hadrada.Each of these mens thought they were the best to claim the throne of England but in oder to find out There was Battles (stamford bridge) .After the battle of Stamford Bridge, Harold Godwinson heard some bad news. This was that William had invaded.At the end William of Normandy was sucessful but why?

William the conqueror in the battle of hastings. September 27 is when things started going William’s way, the wind shifted and started moving them right into England. Directly after reaching shore William decided to make his move and as stated in the document "William I." “William rallied the fleeing horsemen, however, and they turned and slaughtered the foot soldiers chasing them. On two subsequent occasions, William’s horsemen feigned retreat, which fooled Harold’s soldiers, who were then killed by their opponents. Harold’s brothers were also killed early in the battle. Toward nightfall the king himself fell, struck in the eye by an arrow according to Norman accounts, and the English gave up.” (par.1) this quote shows that William knew what he was doing and did the right thing and also that he wasn’t scared. William was about to become a ruler of another country.

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.

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.

However, Edward did something very odd—he promised the crown to William, Duke of Normandy—a cousin through Edward’s mother, Emma. This perplexingly odd promise was made even stranger when, according to the Bayeux Tapestry, Harold was shipwrecked off the coast of Normandy and brought to stay at the court of William. There he supposedly swore an unbreakable oath, giving William his loyalty and support in his path to the crown. He returned to England. Yet when the king died, his dying words seemed to be appointing Harold “protector” of England, which was interpreted as “king”. So Harold was named the king, breaking his supposed promise to William. Furious, William invaded England. Freshly crowned, Harold was not only dealing with this Norman threat, but also an invading Norwegian Viking army, led by Harald Hardrada, who, like William, also believed he had a claim to the throne. Harold easily defeated Harald’s forces at the Battle of Stamford Bridge (near York), but then was forced to drive his tired, bedraggled army to Hastings to confront the invading Norman troops. There, at the famed Battle of Hastings, William became William the Conqueror, decisively defeating the English, killing Harold, and winning the crown.

3. William was called William the Bastard because he was illegitimate and illiterate, but he was still the Duke of Normandy. Since he was his father’s only son, he was the heir. (1)

However, an argument contradicting this idea lies in the persona of Richard, Duke of York, who was the King’s closest adult male relative and the most famous and influential of the great magnates in 1450. Also before 1453 York was heir presumptive. He was descended from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York and fourth son of Edward III on his father’s side. On his mother’s side he was descended from Lionel of Clarence, Edward’s second son. York’s close blood relationship to the king could admit him to the throne. Not only did he claim the descent from King Edward III, but also claimed to the throne. The Battle of St. Albans is the straightforward proof of it. He evidently felt that he had a sense of duty and a right to play a fundamental role in government. Richard was an obvious threat to Henry’s kingship: unlike the last one he was a competent politician, a distinct warrior and a father of healthy sons. In other words, his power of personality harmonized his goal, which by 1450s, had come to embrace the crown of England.

Given the fact we were vastly outnumbered, Harold had no choice but employ a defensive strategy against William (Ibeji 2011). He created a wall of English shields, in the hopes that the superior Norman numbers would eventually break themselves and, indeed, for a short period this was the case: the Normans struck against the English shields to little avail (Ibeji 2011). However, as the Bretons began to turn and flee, their Duke rallied them: "look at me, I'm alive and with the aid of God I will gain the victory!" (Ibeji 2011). The Normans began to gain in strength. We were weary with the fighting and the Normans began to break down our defenses.

Robert goes into great description as to why a crusade general, who is supposed to be brave, would leave the battle. Bohemond unwillingly and reluctantly leaving the battle implying bravery as Bohemond was bleeding to death yet he reluctantly leaves the battle. According to the source, no one forced Bohemond leave and the troops retreated following Bohemond’s example.

Henry 's father, King Henry VII, unified the divided country when he killed the last Plantagenet King, Richard III. The country had been divided in a civil war known as 'The War of the Roses ' with two sides of the Plantagenet dynasty, the House of Lancaster and the House of York, fighting over the throne. Both houses were descendants of two of the sons of Edward III. The House of Lancaster,descended from John of Gaunt, was represented by a Red Rose. The House of York, descended from Edmund of Langley, was represented by the white rose. By 1461, the Yorkists had succeeded in becoming the royal house in England. With the Yorkist King Richard III becoming increasingly unpopular, Henry Tudor ,a descendant of John of Gaunt, gained the support of the country and decided to put Richard

793, with “... an attack on the Lindisfarne monastery off the coast of Northumberland in northeastern England…”(“Vikings”). The Vikings continued their the raids on Great Britain over several decades, and by the mid-ninth century they had control over the Northern Isles of Scotland, most of mainland Scotland, and the Hebrides. During the attacks on England, “Viking armies...conquered East Anglia and Northumberland and dismantled Merica, while…King Alfred the Great...became the only king to...defeat a Danish army…”(“Vikings”). In A.D. 878, Alfred the Great made a truce with the Vikings, and a treaty was made around A.D. 886 that most of England was under the control of the Danish. The Vikings rule over England ended around A.D. 952 when Erik Bloodaxe, the last Scandinavian king, was killed. After the death of Erik Bloodaxe, England was united into a single kingdom. The Vikings began raiding England again in A.D. 991, and reconquered the English kingdom in A.D. 1013. The new and powerful Scandinavian empire, composed of England, Denmark, and Norway, was ruled by Canute, the son of Sven Forkbeard, leader of the Viking raids on England that started in A.D. 991. The Vikings lost control over England again in A.D. 1066 when William, Duke of Normandy was crowned the king of England. William, Duke of Normandy’s crowning marked the end of the Viking

Timothy J. Henderson’s A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and Its War with the United States (2007) and Amy S. Greenberg’s A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico (2012) offer two narratives of the United States –Mexican War. Both authors conclude that the United States justification for war with Mexico was without warrant; however, they contradict their central arguments that actions of the United States, and President James K. Polk, were not justified by letting their biases overshadow their arguments. Although, their approaches do significantly contribute to the understanding of the United States-Mexican War. Amy Greenberg’s book examines the perspective of the war from the United States first antiwar movement. Greenberg utilizes quotes throughout her work of critiques of the war from

A viking raid led well known vikings by names of Ragnar Lothbrok, Halfdan, and Inwaer, conquered what is today north and east England. The viking raid resulted in viking control over East Anglia and Northumbria, a very well known kingdom during the anglo-saxon period. Despite being able to take over the great kingdoms of East Anglia and Northumbria, the vikings were unable to conquer the kingdom of Alfred the Great. Although the Danish Vikings had great power in these kingdoms, Alfred the Great was eventually able to defeat them, and eventually led to the reconquest of the lands taken by the

Afterwards, life in Normandy went on pretty much as usual. Some of their men did not return, but there were always more warriors to take their place. The thanes that had fought for William took over English lands, and got as much out of them as they could, so they were more prosperous than before. The Normans drank their wine, and continued with their violent lives. However, the English never became Norman, and they did get their country back.