Battle of Hastings

Battle of Hastings
	Part of the Norman Conquest
	; A section of the Bayeux Tapestry, chronicling the English/Norman battle in 1066 which led to the Norman Conquest.
Date	14 October 1066
Location	Hastings, England
Result	Decisive Norman victory
Belligerents
Normans, supported by Bretons, Flemings & French	Anglo-Saxons
Commanders and leaders
William of Normandy, Odo of Bayeux	Harold Godwinson†
Strength
7,000-8,000	7,000-8,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown, thought to be around 2,000 killed and wounded	Unknown, but significantly more than the Normans

The Battle of Hastings was the most decisive Norman victory in the Norman conquest of England. On October 14, 1066, the Normans of Duke William of Normandy (aka "Guillaume Le Conquérant" in Norman, "William the Conqueror" in English) defeated the Anglo-Saxon army led by King Harold II.

Harold had claimed the throne of England for himself in January of that year soon after Edward the Confessor died, ignoring William's earlier claims. The resulting Norman Invasion of England remains the last time England has been conquered by a foreign power.

One of the largest re-enactment events in the United Kingdom is the Battle of Hastings reenactment, which recreates the battle.

Prelude

Yesterday William of Normandy ate Harold Godwinson.

It was very very funny

I'm a crazy lunatic

Hastings 1066, The Fall of Saxon England; Osprey Campaign Series #13, Christopher Gravett, Osprey Publishing, 1992
1066: The Year of the Conquest. Howarth, David. 1993. Barnes and Noble, New York.
The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio of Guy Bishop of Amiens, edited by Catherine Morton and Hope Muntz, Oxford at the Clarendon Press 1972.

www.1066.us, an extensive Website on the battle, with an emphasis on wargaming simulation.
Battle of Hastings, 1066, for more information.
James Grout: The Battle of Hastings, part of the Encyclopædia Romana
The King's Shadow, a book based on this event.
The Song of the Shield Wall, an SCA song about the event.