On the 28th of September 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, landed at Pevensey in Sussex. Three days earlier Harold Godwinson had been at Stamford Bridge, near York, fighting Harald Hardrada and his own brother Tostig. Both were killed and the Norwegian invasion was broken.
William had been ready to cross for weeks. His fleet gathered near the mouth of the River Dives during August, but sailing depended upon the wind and for about a month it was against him. A storm on the 12th of September drove the ships east towards Saint-Valery at the mouth of the Somme, which meant more waiting.
They eventually sailed on the 27th.
William’s own vessel was the Mora, given to him by his wife Matilda. Around it sailed hundreds of other ships carrying the invasion army, its horses and equipment. We cannot put an exact number on the fleet. Medieval writers disagreed and some produced enormous figures; English Heritage puts the likely number somewhere between 700 and 1,000.
They crossed during the night and reached Pevensey before dawn.
Pevensey looked rather different from the place we see now. The Roman fort stood much closer to the sea, with marshland around it, and its great walls had already survived for centuries. William’s men made use of what was already there, creating a temporary fortification within the Roman enclosure, repairing sections of the walls and cutting a ditch across the peninsula.
The Bayeux Tapestry also gives us some of the practical details of the invasion. Men are shown unloading armour and equipment, horses are brought from the ships and food is prepared. William had brought far more across the Channel than soldiers alone.
Pevensey was only the first stop. On the following day the Normans moved towards Hastings and established themselves there. William’s men took supplies from the surrounding countryside and there was burning and pillaging in the area while they waited.
Harold and his family held extensive lands in Sussex, so William had landed in a part of England closely connected with the English king.
The news reached Harold more than 200 miles away after what had already been a punishing campaign. English Heritage records that he had travelled more than 200 miles in the space of a fortnight before Stamford Bridge. Some of those same men had then fought a major battle.
Harold came south again, stopping in London and collecting more troops before travelling on towards Sussex.
There were only nineteen days between Stamford Bridge on the 25th of September and Hastings on the 14th of October.
Harold and many of his men had covered an enormous distance and fought one major battle before they ever faced William’s army.
What do you make of Harold’s decision to head south so soon after Stamford Bridge?
Bayeux Tapestry, Scene 38, showing William’s fleet crossing the Channel and arriving at Pevensey. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
No comments:
Post a Comment