How William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings

William the first, more commonly known as William the conqueror was a the duke or Normandy, an area of France who successfully invaded England. At the time England was ruled by Harold Godwinson, who was famously hit in the eye during the battle with an arrow. However the Norman victory over Harold wasn't as simple as history might often paint it out to be, as well as which his reasons for invading weren't purely tyrannical.

The beginning of the tale of the Norman invasion actually begins with the previous king of England, Edward the confessor. Edward had died childless, meaning that there was no immediate successor to the throne. This brought about three claimants, Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, William, Duke of Normandy, and Harald Hardraada king of the Vikings.

William had several claims to the throne which he believed put him above the other contenders. Firstly he had a blood claim, because his aunt was Edward the confessors mother. Secondly he had sheltered Edward during a different invasion in which he was exiled, during which he claimed that Edward has promised him the throne. William had also rescued Harold when he was shipwrecked, who supposedly pledged his allegiance to him as a result.

Harold's rise to the throne was largely a matter of being the only one of the three claimants actually in England at the time the kind died. Because of this he was able to galvanize support and pressure the nobles into supporting him over anyone else. Harold would not rule for long however, and in October of the same year that he had taken the throne, he would be killed in battle.

When it became clear that William was planning to invade England, Harold began to build up an army and to create a fleet of ships to guard the channel between England and France. However just as he had his defenses in place, news reached the royal court that the king of Norway Harald Hardraada had invaded and taken York, a large city in the north of the country. As well as which, Harold's treacherous brother Tostig, who had also raised an army to attack Harold with.

Harold rushed his army to the north to prevent Harald from becoming too entrenched, and promptly defeated him at the battle of Stamford bridge.the reason being that Hardraade was under the impression that Harold was ready to surrender to him, and so only had around half his force with him during the actual battle. Harold then had to return immediately to the south, where William had crossed the channel and had made a camp in Hastings.

After rushing from one battle to another, Harold took to the field against William, and despite the fact that William had picked the field, Harold had the higher ground. The field itself was narrow, and had marsh land on either side, meaning maneuvers were difficult. William also had several advantages over Harold, having both cavalry and archers, which Harold had very few of.

The beginning of the battle was seemingly going well for Harold, who despite the exhaustion of his men managed to smash the front lines of Williams foot soldiers with his own. After suffering heavy casualties, Williams foot soldiers fell back, which lead to many of the English troops to pursue them down the steep slope, effectively ending the battle. William was able to send his cavalry around the fleeing and pursuing soldiers, who reportedly defeated Harold's remaining soldiers and personal guard. Several hours in to the battle, Harold was hit in the eye with an arrow, although it is disputed as to whether this was fatal or not.

By the end of the day however, William was victorious, and proclaimed himself to be the new king of England. It was not all smooth sailing for William however, as he faced numerous uprisings and rebellions from various regions of the country. As well as this he was eventually defeated in battle by his brother Robert, and died several years later after falling from his horse in France.