14 October 1066, from about 9 in the morning
The first attacks
The fighting begins at about 9 in the morning. Harold’s army stands in a dense shield wall along the top of the slope, with woods on its flanks and wet ground in front, and the king and his standards at the centre, where the high altar of Battle Abbey was later built. William draws up his army below in three divisions: the Bretons with men of Anjou, Poitou and Maine on the left under Alan the Red, the Normans in the centre under William himself, and the French with men of Picardy, Boulogne and Flanders on the right under William fitzOsbern and Eustace of Boulogne.
Norman horsemen ride against the English shield wall, a scene of the Bayeux Tapestry, about 1070Wikimedia Commons, unknown embroiderers, Public domain (Bayeuxtapestryscene52.jpg)
Each division has archers in front, spearmen on foot behind them and horsemen in reserve. The archers open the battle, shooting uphill with little effect, as their arrows strike the shields or fly over the ridge. The foot then climb the slope and are met by spears, axes and stones, and the horsemen who ride up in support fail to break the wall as well.
Sources
- Christopher Gravett, Hastings 1066: The Fall of Saxon England (1992), pp. 59 to 67.
- Matthew Bennett, Campaigns of the Norman Conquest (2001), pp. 40 to 42.
- M. K. Lawson, The Battle of Hastings: 1066 (2002), pp. 190 to 192.
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