The Anglo-Saxon Era Ended in 1066, at the Battle of Hastings
Edmund Ironside’s assassination left the path open for the Danish king Canute to become king of England and inaugurate a short lived Scandinavian dynasty. Canute ruled until his death in 1035. He was then followed on the throne of England by his sons Harold Harefoot (reigned 1035 – 1040), and Hartachanut (reigned 1040 – 1042).
Harthacanut’s death in 1042 triggered a succession crisis, and a struggle for the English throne between King Magnus the Good of Norway, and Edward the Confessor, Edmund Ironside’s half brother. A wily Anglo-Saxon, Godwin, Earl of Wessex, intervened, and playing kingmaker, secured the throne for Edward the Confessor – the second to last Anglo-Saxon king – and became the power behind the throne.
Edward had grown up an exile in the court of the Dukes of Normandy, and was half Norman himself, his mother being the daughter of a Duke of Normandy. He thus had strong Norman ties and attachments, which would cause serious problems down the road and bring the Anglo-Saxon era to an end. Trouble began in 1051, when Edward’s reliance on Norman advisors led to a falling out with Godwin, Earl of Wessex. Godwin was banished and stripped of his lands, but he returned with an army and forced Edward to restore him to power.
After Godwin’s death in 1053, he was succeeded by his son Harold Godwinson as England’s most powerful figure. When Edward the Confessor died childless in 1066, Harold was crowned as king of England. The new king’s title was disputed, however, by his younger brother, Tostig, and by Duke William of Normandy. The latter was related to Edward the Confessor on his mother’s side, and claimed that he had been promised the English throne upon Edward’s death.
King Harold gathered his forces in readiness for a seaborne invasion from Normandy by Duke William, but contrary winds kept the Normans on the other side of the English Channel. It would be Harold’s brother, Tostig, who would strike first. Allied with the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada, Tostig landed with a largely Scandinavian army near York, in the north of England.
Harold, who had had been encamped in the south of England, waiting for an invasion from Normandy, led a forced march north to York, and surprised his brother and the Norwegian king by his unexpected arrival. In a hard fought battle at Stamford Bridge on September 25th, 1066, Harold won a decisive victory that claimed the lives of most of the invaders, including those of Tostig and Harald Hardrada. Of the 300 ships that had landed the invading army, only 24 were needed to carry the survivors back to Norway.
King Harold did not get to savor the victory for long, however: two days later, the Channel winds finally changed, allowing Duke William to finally land his army in southern England. So Harold assembled his weary troops, and retracing his steps, led them on another forced march back to the south of England, gathering reinforcements along the way as he rushed to meet the new invasion.
Harold approached Duke Williams at Hastings with about 7000 men – a force representing only half of England’s trained soldiers. Harold was advised to wait for reinforcements, but chose instead to offer battle immediately, in order to stop Williams from devastating the countryside. Thus, the Anglo-Saxons met the Norman invaders at the Battle of Hastings on October 14th, 1066.
The Anglo-Saxons assembled atop a protected ridge, where they formed a shield wall, with king Harold occupying the center of the line. However, their tactics and military doctrine, derived from their own Germanic tribal history and reinforced by generations of warfare against the Vikings who fought in similar fashion, were outdated. The Anglo-Saxons were an entirely infantry army, lacking archers and cavalry. Duke Williams had both, and that would eventually spell the Anglo-Saxons’ doom.
The battle commenced with mounted charges by Norman knights, which were beaten back by the Anglo-Saxon shield wall. However, a pair of feigned retreats drew sizeable numbers of Harold’s men from their battle lines into disastrous pursuits, that ended with the pursuers getting surrounded and destroyed. That thinned the Anglo-Saxon lines, and by late afternoon, Harold was hard pressed, when a random arrow struck him in the eye, killing him.
The leaderless Anglo-Saxons fought until dusk, then broke and scattered. The victorious William secured the countryside, then advanced upon and seized London. Now known as William the Conqueror, he was crowned as King William I on December 25th, 1066, bringing the Anglo-Saxon era to an end. The new king established the Norman Dynasty, and inaugurated a new era that reoriented England from the Scandinavian world to that of Continental Europe.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Sources & Further Reading
BBC History – Alfred the Great
Britain Express – Edward the Elder
Encyclopedia Britannica – Alfred, King of Wessex
Encyclopedia Britannica – Saint Augustine of Canterbury
English Heritage – What Happened at the Battle of Hastings
History Extra – 10 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About the Anglo-Saxons
Realm of History – 10 Things You Should Know About the Anglo-Saxon Warriors
St. Columba Heritage Trail – Who Was Saint Columba?