On this hillside, on Saturday the 14th of October 1066,
a single battle between a few thousand men
permanently changed the course of history in England and beyond.s
It was said to have taken place at the Grey Apddsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsple Tree
Nowadays, the site is known simply as "Battle".
The English occupied this ridge,
standing shoulder-to-shoulder, many armed with huge axes.
To protect themselves, they overlapped their shields forming the shield wall.
This was the traditional way of fighting; tried and tested over the centuries.
Confronting them was something startlingly new in English warfare.
The Normans were drawn up in three lines.
First the archers, then the infantry, then the mounted knights.
It said that william hung around his neck the very saints relics on which [Harold] had sworn his oath
With the papal banner fluttering in the breeze he must have been confident that God and the saints were backing him
Harold's Army was baffled weary and exhausted from the Long March South
Fighting began about nine o'clock in the morning
[Norman's] charged Uphill
The War cries on both sides were soon drowned out by the clash of arms and the shrieks and groans of the wounded
and the dying
Harold's men were packed so densely behind their solid shield wheel that the dead were unable to fall
Couldn't break the English line
The rumor spread amongst the Normans that William had been killed the men on the left flank panicked and began to Rush down the Hill
The English above broke ranks and followed them
But William had not been killed he pushed back his helmet to reveal his face and called out
I live and with God's help will conquer yet
The Normans immediately Rallied turned on the English who are pursuing them and cut them down?
the English Line was broken [Norman's] charged in
The Bayeux tapestry shows all the confusion and desperation of the battle
In the [11th] century it was customary for the bishops to join in though. They were forbidden to shed blood
Here's Bishop. Odo William's half-brother. He's carrying a huge [club]
That way he could break a few arms or heads without any bloodshed
bodies fall in a heap of twisted and broken limbs
The Hillside must have been saturated [with] blood
Then came the decisive moment the death of King Harold
[two] early accounts of the battle say that an arrow struck the king in the eyes
The King was Dead and the world was coming to an end
Harold's body was so mutilated that it couldn't even be found
It was recognized eventually legend has it by his mistress, Edith the swan --Neck
Who identified it by certain secret marks Known only to her and along with Harold?
Anglo-Saxon England died on this Battlefield
one of Williams Chaplains describes the scene the flower of English Youth the flower of English nobility
covered the ground far and wide
filthy with Their own blood
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It said the william refused to bury the English dead they lay rotting for days
He would later relent and build an Abbey here as penance for the carnage of the battle
[its] altar is said to have been built on the spot where harold fell
but in the immediate aftermath of the battle William felt no remorse [a]
Week after his victory this bastard descendant of viking pirates set off on the March to London
He was now William the conqueror soon to be William King of England
the future belonged to the Normans
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