Tuesday 16 October 2012

The Battle of Hastings

This weekend was the annual re-enactment of the 1066 Battle of Hastings - Sunday was the anniversary. I've been planning to go see this since I became an English Heritage member at the beginning of the year, as I think the idea of ~1,000 blokes dressed up in chain mail with swords, shields and horses etc. carrying on is completely and utterly awesome. Perhaps a little nerdy, but awesome. If I was a bloke I would totally be on the field and not just spectating - though I've since been told by Mr M that he spotted women in the re-enactment. I'd love to be a part of the cavalry, but can you imagine me with a lance and armour and shield?! The weight of the lot would mean I'd surely fall off it before I even got to the battle.



Anyway I was fortunate that 8 other people signed up to join Mr T and I and it made for a great day, despite the inclement weather (we were poorly prepared from a weather and food perspective), mud, and ruined shoes - read more about our day's fails and successes (and the Battle Abbey site) in Miss E's post here. Luckily it wasn't all bad and we were blessed with periods of sunshine, else it might have been a different story. And on a final weather note,  English Heritage actually cancelled the Sunday activities due  to safety issues from the mud so it was lucky that we went on Saturday.

The Battle of Hastings story 

Note: I have paraphrased this super brief high level summary from the voiceover man who did the commentary on the day. Given that the reenactment took place at Battle Abbey  I assume what he said is accepted as being fairly historically accurate (and hopefully I heard correctly!)

The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 - a pivotal day in English history where Duke William of Normandy defeated the Harold Godwinson and claimed the English throne (note that the battle actually occurred in a place now known as Battle, and not Hastings itself!). The story goes that Harold Godwinson crowned himself the king on the same day that Edward the Confessor was buried. William subsequently declared war, as he claimed that Edward the Confessor had promised him the crown.

William arrived unopposed in Pevensey and was making his way up towards London when he was met by Harold Godwinson and troops, who had hastily returned South after holding off a Viking invasion up North. Harold was fighting with a bunch of  hungry tired troops which would was an obvious disadvantage, nevertheless he did have the benefit of the high ground and a sturdy shield wall.



William on the other hand had the benefit of a blessing from the pope, a well disciplined army, and a cavalry with knights and lances. The cavalry was so unusual that the Normans were actually surprised that the English weren't up to speed with warfare etiquette and didn't understand that they were only supposed to attack humans, not the horses.



Back to the fight. William's men hit the shield wall again and again with minimal success, sending in the archers, infantry and cavalry in turn. There was plenty of "Nor-man-dy! Nor-man-dy!" cries which were matched by "Oot, Oot, Oot". At some point a rumour started that William had been killed and the men started to retreat. The English saw this as their opportunity and started to pursue them ... which left a hole (or holes) in their shield wall (you know where this is going right?)



It turns out that William was not dead after all and he subsequently rode up and down the lines of men to prove that he was still alive. His men regained their enthusiasm and broke through the English ranks. Harold's brothers are killed and then Harold himself gets an arrow in the eye. And so ends the battle with carnage everywhere and the spectators can all get out of the rain and head home.



Other comments and pictures from the fight

  • It may not have been a huge challenge for William to rally men to his cause as he had packaged up the fight for England as a crusade, complete with a papal blessing (though it could well have been a personal vendetta against Harold - guess we'll never know for sure!) It was quite difficult to gauge who is fighting for who, since the lower ranks didn't have uniforms and everyone brought weapons and armoury from home. Wonder how many people were accidentally killed as a result of this.

  • The axe was one of the most common weapons accessible to everyone - swords are too expensive for the common man to have lying around the place, but everyone needs to chop wood.

  • The Norman cavalry was well disciplined and there were knights that were professional soldiers and undertook horseback training 6 days a week (but never on Sundays of course). Here are some photos of the cavalry demo from the day. My favourite horse is the little fat looking one - could be a Shetland pony? I also heard a guy next to me say that he thought one of the horses was a dressage horse from the way he trotted.




Archery 



 

Last time we went to Hastings and visited Battle Abbey, Mr T decided he *had* to have a mini bow and arrow. This time though we got to try archery with a full size bow and arrow! I was particularly pleased that I managed to hit the target board on all 3 shots, though JLO pointed out to me that I never hit the actual target. D'oh. And for some amusement here's a steamy owl, presumably drying off in the sun after the rain.



 

 

Falconry
There was a fabulous falconry display on the day by Raphael Historical Falconry. The star of the show was the Peregrine x Gyrfalcon hybrid (one of the fastest creatures on the planet) which did a number of swooping moves and laps around the place before catching his dinner mid air. Did you know that hybrids can't reproduce? So apparently you will never see a second generation hybrid. Anyway, I was really really pleased to be able to snap these pics:



There were also the owls. Its actually only been the last century that people have been able to get better value out of owls after figuring out they hunt by sound and not sight. Oh, and by the way, don't bother buying a plastic owl from the garden centre to drive the seagulls out of the garden - it doesn't work! I'm loving the expression in these pics; I can't decide whether its suspicious or thoughtful or something else.

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