1. AA. During the battle William, at great danger to himself, removed his helmet and galloped along the battlefield exclaiming that he was still alive, crushing a rumour that he had died which could have led to the disintegration of his army.
BB. William used the various units in his army to help him to eliminate the strong Saxon shield-wall. For example the foot-soldiers were used to wear it down, the archers were asked to fire high to force the shields to lift and the cavalry was used to kill any English that came down the hill.
L. The Fyrd was only required to serve for a maximum of two months and by September Harold had to let them go to collect the harvest. The terms of the Fyrd were traditional and had been in place long before Harold’s reign.
F. Harold had proven himself as an intelligent and shrewd general by defeating a Viking army led by Hardrada, one of the most respected and successful warriors of the period.
G. When the Normans landed William ordered his troops to ravage the land, partly to gather supplies but also to draw Godwinson to battle as soon as possible. The longer his army remained in England, the longer it was at risk, living in enemy territory.
K. Harold’s accidental visit to Normandy in 1064/65 meant that William was able to portray him as a liar and accuse him of perjury (swearing a false oath) which was very serious in 1066.
CC. Mid-battle, William ordered his men to pretend to retreat in order to try to draw the English off the hill. This was called the ‘feigned retreat’ tactic. Each time this tempted more of the Fyrd from their strong hill position and once they were on the flat the Norman cavalry could ride them down.
DD. Godwinson had whichever strong, powerful, loyal, experienced housecarls were left after fighting the Vikings, a large number of the Fyrd (peasants) and probably a few archers scattered amongst his army. William had foot-soldiers from across Northern Europe, large numbers of archers and cavalry giving him more options in the fight.
E. Harold faced invasion from the North and from the South at the same time.
J. Soon after hearing the news of Godwinson taking the throne, William sent a delegation to the Pope to seek his approval for the invasion. This approval led to thousands of men joining from across Northern Europe and helped to convince many of his own Barons to support him.
D. Harold decided to marry the sister of Edwin and Morcar, thus binding the northern earls to him and giving them reason to fight hard for him.
EE. The Norman archers possibly delivered the killer blow with some sources suggesting Harold was killed with an arrow to the eye. Either way the Norman archers certainly weakened the shield wall and by firing high it made it difficult to maintain.
C. Godwinson had an excellent military track record from the reign of Edward, particularly his victory over King Gruffyd of Wales.
N. The English fleet was used to guarding the coast and was fairly well trained but was badly damaged in a storm just before the Normans crossed the channel.
I. Some historians suggest that William waited in Normandy, knowing that it would stretch Harold’s forces to keep them on high alert for as long as possible. He would also have known about the Fyrd having to leave to collect the harvest in September.
B. Harold marched his army to London just two days after winning the victory at Stamford Bridge and from London he went immediately to Hastings. They had already marched from the south to York and fought a battle. They would have little rest.
M. The Northumbrian uprising led to the exile of Tostig, during the reign of Edward. This put Godwinson in an extremely difficult position. He ended up not backing his brother up and this ended with Tostig convincing the Vikings to invade.
FF. The cavalry was the portion of the Norman army that delivered the killer blows to any English soldiers that strayed off the hill; a cavalry charge was the Medieval battlefield’s ultimate weapon.
H. Harold decided to march to Hastings as soon as possible in an attempt to repeat the success of Stamford Bridge. He wanted to take the Normans by surprise too and thought it could work twice.
A. There was a storm in the sea just as William first tried to set off and some of his men drowned. He kept it quiet and had them secretly buried so that it wouldn’t destory morale.