Essay on William the Conqueror

He left many of his foot soldiers behind and exhausted the others. He had a traditional Saxon army, his housecarls fought on foot with axes (“The Norman Conquest”). King Harold’s plans were destroyed to deal with Duke William’s invading force from Normandy. Viking forces greater than those expected from the Normans. Harold had to move his army to defend his kingdom from the Vikings (Alchin). The leaders of Harold’s army had swords and javelins, but the rest of the men were inexperienced fighters and carried weapons such as iron-studded clubs, scythes, and slings (“Battle of Hastings”). Harold was forced, albeit reluctantly, to release the levied men from service and stand down his navy for the coming winter. This left him only his professional mounted infantry (Alchin). In the end Duke Williams invaded

William was a better leader because although Harold had the upper hand in the battle and they were losing, William managed to outwit and defeat the English. In the Bayeux Tapestry there is a scene depicting that in the days preceding the

William also made many skilled tactical decisions that helped him win the battle. Before the battle William had made sure he had a large variety of troops to fight the Anglo-Saxons. At the start of the battle William positioned his men well so they could easily move about. When William's soldiers were unable to penetrate the Anglo-Saxon's shield wall he faked a retreat. The Anglo-Saxons broke ranks and chased after William's troops. The Norman army then turned around and were able to kill the Anglo-Saxons that had

However, Alfred was not content with being on the defensive. He also attacked the Danish-held City of London in an attempt to diminish the lands ruled under Dane law (Bruce 4). No Anglo-Saxon king was ever strong enough to coerce a recalcitrant peasantry. Except Alfred who decided to allow half the men liable for service to remain at home while the other half was out against the Danes (Stenton 261).

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.

The beginning of the Norman Conquest took place seven miles from Hastings, England on Senlac Hill. Childless King Edward the Confessor, the last king of the Anglo-Saxon royal line, was killed on January 1066, which set a struggle between several claimants to his throne.William his successor in 1051 was involved in a marriage with a lack of an heir promising the throne to different parties throughout his reign as king, including Harold Godwinson Harold was crowned (Jan 5, 1066)

William the Conqueror is widely known to the world as the very first Norman King of England, William I. Before his reign over England, he was the Duke of Normandy, William II. In September 1066, William prepared a fleet to invade England, and in this conquest he defeated Harold II in the Battle of Hastings to claim the throne of England, effectively removing the Anglo-Saxon reign over England, and establishing the Norman Dynasty as rulers of England. The above quote is from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a written history of the Anglo-Saxons, which also included the reign of the Norman king, William the Conqueror. This particular quote is a contemporary description of William the Conqueror, written by an unknown scribe.

land in the north of England after both the Earl and Anne died. He was

Over the years since the 830s, the Vikings had started attacking England. They continued their persistent attempts to invade and had gained control of much of the north and east of the country. Alfred led his military in protecting the people and defending his kingdom . Some attacks were lost and some won. Alfred would sometime pay the Danish armies to leave.

William was born the city Falaise, France in the year 1028. Nobody knows the day William was born. He was conceived by an unmarried French woman to the duke of Normandy. William died in the year 1087. His father died when he was eight years old therefore making him the new duke of Normandy. William was a very powerful figure in the medieval world as he became the King of England. William had to first face Harold Godwinson to become king. There armies battled each other but it was William who came out on top. This battle today is known as the battle of Hastings. He won by “retreating” to get Godwinson’s army off the hill so they didn’t have the advantage, they did this twice and on the second time it worked and was victorious. Even though William

The battle of Hastings was a very interesting battle, the outcome was not as expected. The Anglo-Saxon people had a very

Beforehand however, Harold Godwinson was prepared in the south for William’s invasion but the wind’s positioning in Normandy meant that William could not set sail yet and unluckily for Harold, Harald Hadrada decided to attack at this very moment which meant that Harold had to march his army north-east to fight Harald, whilst at the same time William had arrived in England and was preparing his men for battle, feeding them and letting them have some rest, whilst Harold’s were fighting and his numbers decreasing. Eventually Harald Hadrada was killed and Harold Godwinson won the battle, but news soon came through that William had invaded in the south and Harold had to march his men then after just fighting a big battle and, for this reason, many of Harold’s men deserted

On the 14th of May 1264, the forces of Simon de Montfort, Gloucester and the Londoners were set arrayed against the loyalist forces of King Henry III, Richard of Cornwall and Prince Edward (later to become King Edward I). The loyalists suffered a massive defeat at this Battle of Lewes and among those captured, aside from Richard of Cornwall and perhaps the King (Prestwich indicates the unsure nature of the King's capture 46), were the northern barons (Scottish lords) of Balliol, Bruce and Comyn. (Jenks 132) Prince Edward also became a hostage as part of an exchange after the battle. These same men who fought together and were held captive by the de Montforts

Harold Godwinson was not fit to be king. Obnoxiously beastly and unwanted he cared nothing for the people. Lying and cheating were his norm. When he wanted something Harold was willing to do anything to obtain it. What was it that he craved? Power. Not being at all brave, in fact, quite the opposite, Harold was always saying stupid stuff to make people leave him alone, Harold was not at all brave, moreover, he was a poor military officer, it should be obvious that he was lacking much of the experience required to take on kingly duties.

The confessor by the name of Edward lost his life in the year 1066 5th of January, and the following day Harold Godwinson became the next king. According to history, the Duke of Normandy who was later known as William the Conqueror on the spot started the process that would to him get conquest of England through the battle of Hastings on the 14th of October (Bartlett). There are many questions; there is only one source that can be able to explain this with very numerous details on the events that led to the actual happenings and the battle. In this history, there are many questions that are asked but the most intriguing one is how was William able to amass the men and the ships that needed to carry out the expedition. Nevertheless, referring to William of Poitiers and William of jumieges the invasion had been planned after the consideration of the two councils that was called by Duke in the spring of that year. Therefore, the fleets were prepared following the spring and the main work during the summer, as written by William Jumieges there were around 694 ships beside the other boats and skiffs that were unnumbered had a main purpose of carrying arms and the harnesses.