the battle of hastings 1066

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The Battle of Hastings 1066

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This work has 2 sections

First Section

Why did William win and Harold

lose?

Second Section

How to write your explanation?




Section 1Why did William win and Harold lose?

The landing




The first castle




The road to Battle




The battlefield




The battle




The final stages of the battle




William’s tactics




The end




Your task is:

To explain why William of Normandy

won the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Part 1- organising the reasons why William won the battle.

Part 2 – writing a detailed explanation about why William won and Harold lost.

Part 3 – developing your written work.

Section 2Writing your explanation




Part 1:

Sorting out the reasons

This was Harold’s view of the battlefield from the top of

the hill




Task 1

On the next 2 slides is a list of reasons why William might have won the Battle of Hastings.

Some are good reasons some are not.

Your task is to copy the good reasons and paste them onto slide 7, or onto a grid. Stick this into your exercise book.




Harold’s army was tired and there were many wounded soldiers.

William’s army had lots of archers.

William wanted to be King of England.

Harold was killed in the battle – the Saxons lost their leader.

Harold wanted to be King of England.

William was a determined leader.

Good reasons Bad reasons




Edward had promised William that he would be the next King of England.

William’s army had knights on horseback.

Harold was able to take a strong position on the hill.

The Saxon army was larger than the Norman army.

William’s army was well rested and prepared.

Harold’s army fell for William’s trick.

Good reasons Good reasons




Reasons why William won the battle of Hastings




Task 1

How important?All the ‘Good reasons’ are important. Some

reasons are more important than others. Your next task is to organise the reasons into very important and quite important.

Use the next slide to organise the reasons. Use the ‘Good reasons’ only and ignore ‘Bad reasons’. Paste them onto the correct part of the chart or use the worksheet provided.




Very important Quite important




Part 2:

Writing a detailed explanation




Writing an account

Use the ‘Good reasons’ to write your explanation:

Why did William win the Battle of Hastings?

Use the next slides to help you




Stage 1

Organise your Very Important Reasons. You will use these first. Will you put them in:

• chronological order (the order that they happened) or

• order of importance?

Tip: use chronological order and write which were most important if you wish to.




Stage 2

Organise your Quite Important Reasons. You will use these next. Will you put them in:

• chronological order (the order that they happened) or

• order of importance?




Your explanation

Now write your explanation. Use a paragraph for each idea. Add details about the events if you can.

For example – “Harold’s army was tired and there were many wounded soldiers.” Explain why this was so. What had Harold’s army been doing?

The next slide will give you some ideas.This is the end of your first

draft. Now you must develop the story bit by bit

by adding new layers.




Sources from Stamford BridgeAnglo-Saxon Chronicle, D Version, entry for 1066.

The Norwegians who survived took flight; and the English attacked them fiercely as they pursued them until some got to the ships. Some were drowned, and some burned and some destroyed in various ways so that few survived and the English remained in command of the field. The king gave quarter to Olaf, son of the Norse king and all those who survived on the ships, and they went up to our king and swore oaths that they would always keep peace and friendship with this country; and the king let them go home with twenty-four ships.

Sources from Stamford Bridge

Of the 300 ships that arrived, less than 25 returned to

Norway.


http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/MEDchronicleAS.htm



Part 3:

Developing your account




Setting your explanation in the past

Now you must set your work in the past.

Make sure all your verbs are in the past tense:

• William claimed the crown of England.

• Harold was killed during the battle.




Making your explanation read well

Now you must link up events and ideas.

Look at these 2 sentences:

“Harold’s soldiers stood firm.”

“William had to break their ranks”

You could link these sentences with and or but, or put in a comma and use a connective like however:

“Harold’s soldiers stood firm, however William had to break their ranks”

This makes the piece more interesting to read. Review your work and see where you can connect sentences. There are lots of connectives on the next slide. Tip: don’t link more than 2

sentences to start with!




Make it flow with connectives

Conjunctions: and, but, if, so, while, then, since, when

Connectives: after that, finally, at first,

meanwhile, next, after a while, later

Contrasts: however, whereas, nonetheless, although




Part 4:

History skills – showing

uncertainty




Skills

So far your work has concentrated on writing skills (literacy)

Now you must use historical skills – using sources and showing uncertainty.




Showing uncertainty

In history there are lots of things we cannot be sure about. We rely on the evidence from the time. This might be incomplete or misleading.

Good history writing must show there is uncertainty.

The next slides show some of the things we are not sure about regarding the Battle of Hastings.




How did King Harold die?

We are not sure how Harold was killed. There are 2 different ideas based on evidence. Look at the evidence on this slide and the next. Slide 24 will help you to use this in your explanation.

This extract from the Bayeux tapestry shows Harold ‘s death: “Harold Rex interfectus est” (Harold is killed). Which is Harold though? The popular idea is that he was killed by an arrow in the eye (on the left), but another warrior is being cut down with a sword. Which is Harold?




William of Malmesbury, The Deeds of the Kings of the English (c. 1140)

“..but when he fell, his brain pierced by an arrow..”

Different evidence

Scholars debate the meaning of this scene, some saying that the man slain

by the knight is not Harold, others contesting that the man with the arrow wound is not Harold, others

claiming that both represent Harold. The Latin inscription reads "Here King

Harold was killed."

William of Malmesbury, The Deeds of the Kings of the English (c. 1140)

“.. One of the soldiers with a sword gashed his thigh as he lay

prostrate ..”




You can use some of these phrases to start your sentences:

•Historians cannot be sure about…..

•We cannot be certain about…..

•It is possible that…..

•Some of the sources say that.....

•It is fairly certain that…..

You have to decide which start is best.




Part 5:

Adding background information




Background information

Sometimes you can add background information to help explain why people acted as they did. Harold’s leadership and luck are 2 important factors. The next slide gives background information.

Your task is to:

•Work out where the information might belong.

•Decide how to work it into your story.

There is more information to research in the following sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/normans/background_01.shtml


http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/normans

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/normans



Background information

The weather

William could not cross the English Channel at first

because the wind was against. When the wind turned and

William arrived in England Harold had to

go north to fight Harald Hardrada

Harold’s leadership

It was said that Harold did not divide the spoils fairly

after the battle of Stamford Bridge. This

caused many warriors to desert on the way back to

the south.

(Can we be sure of this?)




Chronicler’s remark

“In the battle both leaders distinguished themselves by their bravery.”

Origin

William of Malmesbury, written in the 1100’s


“King Harold was slain in the first onset.”

Origin

Orderic Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy

(about 1142)

Origin

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1066


“And William came upon him* by surprise before his people were marshalled

(organised).”

*Harold




Part 6:

Using sourcesAnglo-Saxon Chronicle (about 1121)

"And meanwhile Earl William came up at Hastings on the Feast of St Michael [September 28] and Harold came from the north, and fought with him before all his raiding-army had come; and there he fell, and his two brothers, Gyrth and Leofwine. And William conquered this land, and came to Westminster, and Archbishop Aldred consecrated him as king. And men paid him tribute, and gave hostages, and afterwards bought their lands."




Using Sources

Your final task here is to add sources to your story. This is important because history is based on primary sources from

the time. The writers of the time (Chroniclers) all had something to say about the battle.

Sources

The next slides give you ideas about how to introduce sources.

There are problems with sources though: Some are written many years after the event, so the chronicler did not witness the event.Some may give a biased or inaccurate account.You have to be careful how you use sources.




Introducing Sources

The Bayeux Tapestry shows that….

One chronicler wrote, “…….”

The chronicler from ….. said, “…..”

Some chroniclers said that …..

Making judgements on sources

Slide 28 explains the problems with using sources. You should include these points when using the sources in

your work.




The Bayeux tapestry tells us that:- having received the message that Edward has anointed him as his successor; William calls upon Harold to swear an oath of allegiance to him and to his right to the throne. The Tapestry shows Harold, both hands placed upon religious relics enclosed in two shrines, swearing his oath as William looks on.





" When Edward died, Harold occupied the throne, himself, "thus perjuring the fealty

he had sworn to the duke."

Origin

Deeds of the Norman Dukes by William of Jumièges (a Norman

monk) – early 1070’s


“The duke (William), with serene countenance, declaring aloud that God would favor his as being the righteous

side…”

Origin

William of Malmesbury, written in the 1100’s




Information about the writers



William of Malmesbury (c. 1080/1095-c. 1143), English historian of the 12th century

The education William received at Malmesbury Abbey included a smattering of logic and physics; but moral philosophy and history, especially the latter, were the subjects to which he devoted most attention. He made a collection of the histories of foreign countries from which he conceived an idea to produce a popular account of English history, modelled on the great work of Bede

In fulfilment of this idea, William produced about 1120 the first edition of his Gesta regum anglorum (Deeds of the English kings (449-1127)), now considered by modern scholars to be one of the great histories of England. It was followed by the first edition of the Gesta pontificum anglorum (Deeds of the English Bishops) in 1125. Subsequently William wrote on theological subjects. A second edition of the Gesta regum anglorum was dedicated to Earl Robert of Gloucester in 1127.

William also formed an acquaintance with Bishop Roger of Salisbury, who had a castle at Malmesbury.



The Bayeux Tapestry• The most famous source for the battle of Hastings is the Bayeux

Tapestry, a visual account of the period between Harold’s captivity in Normandy and the end of the battle of Hastings. However, like every source, the tapestry has its problems. The first is that it has been heavily restored during the nineteenth century. Some of the restoration has introduced significant changes into the tapestry, most notably for the death of King Harold, where the famous arrow in the eye is probably a restorer’s error. Fortunately, several sets of early drawings of the tapestry survive, and we can use those to check on the accuracy of the restoration. The earliest known drawings of part of the tapestry were probably made by the daughter of the governor of Normandy between 1689 and 1704, and were discovered after his death in 1721. They came to the attention of a French historian, Antoine Lancelot, who recognised that they might be drawings of a very early tapestry. His work attracted the attention of Bernard de Montfaucon, a classical scholar who was then involved in producing a collection of sources for medieval French history. By 1728 he had been able to trace the tapestry to Bayeux Cathedral. His collection of sources, Les Monumens de la Monarchie Francoise, included the original drawings in the first volume while the second volume included drawing made by Antoine Benoit that completed the set. At almost the same time, Lancelot also published a set of drawings based on Benoit. These drawings provide us with our best idea of what the tapestry originally looked like.



• A second problem is that we do not know for sure who the tapestry was made for, where it was made, or when it was made. Surviving records can only take us back to the fifteenth century. However, the most popular view is that it was made for Bishop Odo of Bayeux, who appears prominently in the tapestry. Odo fell from power and was imprisoned in 1082, giving us a date range of 1067-1082. Finally, Odo was earl of Kent, and three of his Kentish tenants are named in the tapestry, suggesting that is was probably made in Kent, possibly in Canterbury.

• Taking all of this into account, the tapestry is still an incredibly valuable source. It provides us with a visual representation of the armies that fought at Hastings, providing us with evidence for English archers and light infantry as well as the armoured soldiers of the shield wall. It hints at details of the battlefield and the events of the day. It also suggests that the Normans and their allies were equipped in a very similar way to their English opponents. However, the tapestry can be overused. As an example, one of the ships shown transporting William’s army to England contains seven horses, and this figure has been used to limit the size of William’s army. Even if these scenes were meant to be used in this way, there are also boats containing ten, four and three horses in the same scene. The tapestry is a visual source, and should be treated as such.



Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

• Probably the most important English source relating to the events of 1066. Two versions of the chronicle, the D and the E, cover the events of 1066. Unravelling the history of the various versions of the chronicle is never straightforward. The E version survives in a manuscript written in the 1120s at Peterborough Abbey, but based in part on a chronicle produced at the monastery of St. Augustine at Canterbury. The connection can be traced clearly until 1061, but some aspects of the E version for 1066 suggest that the Canterbury chronicle was still available for that year. The E versions’ account of Hastings is very short, but may have been written very soon after the battle. The D version provides a longer account of the battle. It is not at all clear where this version was produced (Worcester has been suggested). The D version ends in 1079, and soon afterwards was probably being used as a source by John of Worcester. Both versions are generally sympathetic to the Godwins, although the D version contains the popular idea that the English defeat was a punishment for their sins.



www.schoolhistory.co.uk/games

Part 7:

Additional ResearchThere are lots of History challenges on the website

Schoolhistory. Use the hyperlink below to go to the games. Try Fling the Teacher. Click Play – History –

Normans. There are plenty of others when you have done that.

Find out more about the claims to the throne. Click on William.Find out more about

Saxon way of life. Click on the helmet.

the battle of hastings 1066

Documents

william of normandywon

battle of hastings

good reasons

list of reasons

williams army

detailed explanation

written work

lots of archers