Harold Had Won in the North. Now William Was Waiting in the South.

Harold Had Won in the North. Now William Was Waiting in the South.

On the 25th of September 1066, Harold Godwinson won a crushing victory at Stamford Bridge. Harald Hardrada and Harold’s own brother Tostig were both killed, and the Norwegian invasion was effectively broken. But within days, another threat had appeared more than 200 miles away.

William, Duke of Normandy, had landed at Pevensey on the 28th of September and soon moved his army towards Hastings. The earliest Harold is likely to have heard of William’s landing was around the 2nd of October, giving him very little time to recover from the campaign in Yorkshire before turning south again.

Harold headed back towards London, although we do not know exactly how many of the men who had fought at Stamford Bridge travelled south with him, or precisely how they made the journey. It is tempting to imagine the same exhausted army simply marching all the way from Stamford Bridge to Hastings, but the evidence does not allow us to say that.

What we can say is that Harold moved quickly. He reached London, where he paused to gather more troops before continuing towards Sussex. Even allowing for a short stay in the capital, those travelling overland may have covered roughly 200 miles from Yorkshire to London in about seven days. Another journey of around 50 miles still remained before they would meet William.

Meanwhile, William was strengthening his position around Hastings. His men constructed a wooden fortification, gathered supplies and raided the surrounding countryside. The Bayeux Tapestry shows a fortification being prepared at Hastings and later depicts a house being burned.

The raids brought in supplies and may also have helped draw Harold into battle before he had time to gather a larger army.

By the evening of the 13th of October, Harold’s army had reached the area near what is now Battle.

The following morning, the two armies would meet.

Would Harold have been better waiting for more men, or did he have little choice but to face William quickly?

For subscribers, I’ve gone into this story in much more depth, including Harold’s journey south, what William was doing around Hastings, and the difficult decisions facing Harold before the battle.

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Bayeux Tapestry, Scene 48, showing Norman knights leaving Hastings and moving towards battle. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.