Battle of Hastings: Clues from Documentary Sources

Clues from Documentary Sources

Carmen de Triumphomannico

According to the translation of the Carmen (Tyson, 2014) by Kathleen Tyson we have this

Line 341           Ordine post pedites sperat stabilire quirtes

Line 342           Occursu belli set sibi non licuit

Line 343           Haut procul hostiles cuneos nam cernit adesse

Line 344           Et plenium telis irradiare nemu

Which according to Tyson translates to:

He intended to station his lancers behind his infantry

But encountering battle he was not allowed

For he saw the approach of enemy columns not far off

And the woods full of gleaming weapons.

That, to me, speaks of William being involved with one engagement but seeing more troops not far away unengaged. This corroborates to me that there were two engagements.

Also, we have the lines 363 and 364

Line 363           Ex inproviso diffudit silva cohorts

Line 364           Et nemoris latebris agmina prosiliunt

Translation

Suddenly, a company [of English] emerged from the forest

And the column rushed from wooded cover.

The “Carmen” then describes where the King was -

Line 365           Mons sylvae vicinus erat • vicinaque vallis •

Line 366           Et non cultus ager asperitate sui

 …

Translation

Nearby was a wooded hill, neighbouring the valley,

Its terrain was rugged and uncultivated.

 …

Line 373           Ascendit montem rex bellaturus in hostem

Line 374           Nobilibusque viris munit utrumque latus

Line 375           In summon montis vexillum vertice fixit

Line 376           Affigique jubet caetera signa sibi

Translation

The King ascended the summit that he might wage war in the midst of his army,

And the nobleman flanked him either side.

At the summit of the hill a streaming banner was planted.

[King Harold] ordered the other battle standards planted by it.

Unless the English were daft enough to attack uphill a superior force, the “hill” that Battle Abbey sits on cannot be the hill mentioned in Line 365 as the Normans mustered in the area of their upper fort.

Finally, the Carmen makes mention of Gyrth, brother of Harold, unhorsing William in lines 471 through to and including 475. According to the Carmen, this comes after the rally of the knights at the second encounter and before William unseats a friendly (?) knight and steals his horse. However, according to the Bayeux Tapestry, Gyrth is killed during the mopping up operations at the end of the first encounter. Which is right?

William of Poitiers

Awaiting funds to buy the book as I cannot find any references online.

Orderic Vitalis

Awaiting funds to buy the book as I cannot find any references online.

William of Malmesbury

Presently trying to decipher.       

Henry of Huntingdon (Forester, 1853)

Henry describes Harold as “making a rampart” out his troop deployment on page 212 [ Book IV AD 1067-1071] and even describes the static defences in front of Harold’s troops.  This description reminds me of Scene 54 of the Bayeux Tapestry.

The Chronicle of Battle Abbey

From “The Battle of Hastings 1066: The Uncomfortable Truth” (page 93) (Grehan, 2012)

The Chronicle was written in order to convince the Bishop of Chichester that William had ordered the building of the Abbey “in the exact spot where his enemy had fallen”. Unfortunately, the document is considered a forgery made by the Abbot to convince the Bishop of Chichester of the rightness of the Abbey to remain a “Royal Peculiar”. As with any skilled forgery, the document must have been a blend of truth and fiction. Over the years, most historians have come to believe the part that I consider false and dismiss the other parts of the manuscript.

Since no archaeological evidence has been found on the official battle site perhaps it is time to re-examine the Chronicle and re-evaluate it. 

An extract from the “Chronicle of Battle Abbey” states:

“… They studied the battlefield and decided that it seemed hardly suitable for so outstanding a building [my emphasis]. They therefore chose a fit place for settling, a site not far off, but somewhat lower down, towards the western slope of the ridge. There lest they be seen to be doing nothing, they built themselves some little huts. This place, still called Herste has a low wall as a mark of this.

…”

So, the monks had a look at the battlefield and deemed it unsuitable for a magnificent Abbey. They chose a location that was both lower in elevation and closer to the ridge that runs from Battle to the other side of Hastings than the battlefield itself. The present-day location of the Abbey seems to fit in with the monks’ choice.

Also, it seems part of the battle was fought not on the pinnacle of a hill but rather in a dip on a plateau. This describes the fields between Wadhurst Lane and Ashes Wood. If this part of the text is true then the locations, Senlac Ridge, mini-roundabout and Caldbec Hill cannot be battle locations because the places are all rather prominent locations.

“… Accordingly, when the King enquired meanwhile about the progress of the building, it was intimated to him by these brethren that the place where he had decided to have the church built was on a hill, and so dry of soil and quite without springs [my emphasis] and that for so great a construction a more likely place nearby should be substituted, if it pleased him. When the King heard this he refused angrily and ordered them to lay the foundations of the church speedily and on the very spot where his enemy had fallen and the victory won.”

So here the monks actually describe the real battlefield – it was on a hill with no nearby springs. Again, Battle Abbey fails the test as does the mini roundabout site because they are ridge sites.  Caldbec Hill passes this test but fails the previous.