The One Where England Gets a New King

After our pleasant morning at Bodiam we were off to something a little bit different – a re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings of 1066. This is an annual event that’s held over the weekend closest to the anniversary of the battle – October 14 - and since we happened to be in the neighborhood, we thought we would check it out. Having never been to anything like this before we had no clue what to expect . But the weather was gorgeous and we figured if it was lame, we could always leave. Chip was looking forward to taking pictures and trying out a new zoom lens he bought a few weeks before the trip. He got a little carried away – he took over 500 pictures!!

Interestingly enough, the Battle of Hastings didn’t happen at Hastings at all, but on a site about 6 miles northwest of the city. Following his victory, William of Normandy (later known as William the Conqueror) built an abbey on the site and a town grew up around it. Appropriately, the town is called Battle.  After almost 950 years, the battlefield remains largely the same except for the area where the buildings were constructed.

After parking in a makeshift grassy car park behind the battlefield, a fairly long walk brought us to the battlefield. It was like a fair – there were food and drink booths and a medieval atmosphere with tents selling various items, people cooking over fires and all decked out in (what looked to me anyway) authentic looking clothes. We’ve never seen anything like it!

All of the different designs and colors of the shields was amazing

Getting ready for battle

After grabbing a couple of hamburgers (their line was the shortest), we decided to stake out a place down towards the “end” of the field where there were very few people. We knew it probably wasn’t the ideal spot, but there wouldn’t be anyone in front of us and there was room to spread out a little. 

(The English.  King Harold is to the far left of the picture in the long red tunic with his back turned)

At 3:00 the event started. It was a little bit like a sporting event with an announcer to introduce the “teams” and main “players” as well as to provide a description as to what was going on. Sometimes the announcer made it sound like a WWW event and I kept expecting to hear, “Let’s get ready to rumble!”

(The Normans, along with Bretons and French.  Duke William is on the black horse.  Unfortunately we were behind the Norman force so mostly, we saw their backs!)

The road to Hastings had its beginnings when King Edward the Confessor died in 1066 childless. In an era where hereditary succession was not necessarily the rule, and with Edward’s closest relative barely a teenager, the king chose his brother in law, Harold of Wessex, to be his successor. Harold was also the most powerful noble in the country and head of the royal army.

But there were two other claimants to the throne: Harold Hardrada of Norway (who based his claim on a treaty made between his father and the King of England at that time, Harthacnut) and William of Normandy (whose claim was based on being a distant – and illegitimate – cousin of King Edwards). Everyone probably knew it was just a matter of time before someone came to stake their claim.

(the English "shield wall"; if you look closely slightly right of the middle of the picture you can see an arrow shot by the Normans)

To make matters worse, Harold had a very jealous brother, Tostig, who decided to join forces with Harold Hardrada. In mid- September 1066, the pair launched an invasion of England, landing at York. Harold and his army went north and on September 25, the pair was defeated. Unfortunately for Harold, it was at this time that William of Normandy made his move, crossing the channel and landing on England’s southern coast. Harold gathered his army and marched south to meet the new challenger.

It is estimated that the armies numbered between 5,000 and 7,000 men each. Although each was well armed, the Normans held one distinct advantage – the use of cavalry.  The English fought on foot.

 Harold and his men were along the high ridge (where the buildings are now and where we were standing when we took this) with William’s army below. Although most battles of this era were over within an hour, the battle at Hastings lasted close to nine hours.

Towards the end, Harold was hit by an arrow that went through his eye, killing him. Tired, and with their king dead, the English fled. William the Conqueror was crowned King of England on Christmas day.

Watching the battle was interesting.   Although the announcer was explaining what was going on, sometimes it was hard to hear and/or understand what he was saying.  It was obvious that some of the guys were really getting into it!

After the battle was over, we decided to walk up the hill and take a look around the abbey and wait for traffic to clear out a little. 

William built a large Benedictine abbey on the northern part of the battlefield and due to his generosity it became one of the richest monasteries in England.

The church was situated so that that the high alter could be placed on the spot where Harold had been killed.   A plaque marks the spot now.

The buildings that remain today are largely from the 13th century, including the large gatehouse with defensive features which would be useful in the event of a French attack. . Sadly in the 1530’s it was disbanded during the Dissolving of the Monasteries by Henry VIII who gave the property to his friend, Sir Anthony Browne. Browne demolished many of the buildings including the church and turned the abbot’s lodging into his private residence.

In 1721 the estate was sold to Sir Thomas Webster whose family owned it for more than 100 years. During this time much of the land was sold off (to pay gambling debts) and the buildings were neglected. The estate was sold again in the 1850’s to the 4th Duke of Cleveland who restored much of the property and used it as a residence. The Webster family bought Battle Abbey back in the late 1800’s. After WWI, the house was leased to Battle Abbey School which continues to occupy the building (pictured above) today – what a great place to go to school!!

During WWII, the abbey was used to house troops and in 1944, troops from Battle participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy – nearly 900 years after William of Normandy crossed the channel to England. What comes around goes around...On February 3, 1943, the gatehouse was nearly a victim of German bombs when one landed nearby. Fortunately only minor damage was inflicted. In 1976 the abbey was once again put up for sale and was bought by the government with the aid of the donations of a small group of Americans who wanted to commemorate the bicentennial celebration of American independence.


*All information is from the Guidebook.


Cheers!