Why did Harolds army get lost behind?

Answer 1

Harold II. was informed by his messengers that his Norman cousin William had landed on England's shore near the little village of Hastings on September 28th 1066. Harold's victorious army was still worn out and tired from the encounter with the Vikings in the Battle of Stamford Bridge on 25th of September when they speedily had to march towards Hastings to defeat William, they arrived on the location in early October. Harold placed his camp on the top of a hill near Hastings and waited for William to attack.

William was well equipped when he commanded the Norman cavalry and a Breton foot regiment on October 14th, the day of the battle. The terrain was a muddy valley soaked with water from a recent rainfall, the Norman invaders got stuck in this valley facing Harold's hill. Harold would only have had to defend the Norman attacks and to protect his hill position.

The Normans had already suffered some losses and became impatient as they could not take the hill when the Breton foot soldiers heard the rumour that William was killed. Very little before their flight William strapped off his helmet, showed his face to his officers, cheered up his men and launched the cavalry attack on the hill. Now Harold tragically ordered his men to leave the hill top and to rush down to meet the enemy on the hill slope and in the muddy valley. To leave the safe hill position was a mistake to be swiftly answered with disaster. Together with his foot soldiers and cavalry William raced up the hill slope, passed by the English infantry and hopped over the camp palisades to fight with Harold who was killed by an arrow hitting his right eye before William could reach him. After the battle Harold II. was buried beneath the altar of a chapel close to the battlefield.

William moved on to London and was crowned in Winchester on Christmas Day 1066. He introduced French language, Norman culture, organisation, administration, discipline and everything else to England, ascertained the support of the English bishops and for four generations Norman kings sat on the English throne.

Christoph