The Battle of Hastings - Early Stages

Battle lines are drawn

he English lined up along a curving ridge of high ground stretching roughly west to south-east. The land fell away down to where the Normans were positioned. Several streams flowed down from the ridge and formed a few marshy areas at the bottom of the dip. The marshy areas prevented the Normans from out flanking the English and forcing them to attack head on. William commanded the largest section of his army at the centre. On the left he put the Bretons, men from the Brittany area, and on the right he placed the mercenaries who had been paid to fight.

The Normans attack first

The Normans were the first to attack. The men on foot climbed the hill and engaged the English shield wall. The English would have been throwing all kinds of missiles down at the invaders apart from arrows as it seems the English did not have many archers in their army. The Norman archers would have been firing their arrows over the heads of their men into the sheild wall. After the infantry came the cavalry and the knights.

The English Fight Back

The first attack by the Normans was not enough to break though the strong English lines and on the left of the battle field the Bretons were been beaten back. The Bretons took such a pounding that they broke ranks and fled back down the hill with some of the English following. The main Norman army then began to fall back down the hill. A rumour went round that William had been killed. If this rumour had been true the Norman army would have accepted defeat and fled, but the rumour was false and William, seeing his army coming back down the hill, rode out with his helmet removed to prove he was still alive and commanded a troop of horsemen to deal with the English who had come down the hill.

After this skirmish both sides fell back to regroup.