My thoughts on 1066 events

                        Death of Harold II - A question of When not Where     In this blog I will outline my case that it is a matter of "when" Harold Godwinson was killed and not "where" that is the driving force behind the actual "where". Consensus view Let's start with the accepted view of the battle of Hastings. According to historians, the battle started at 9 o'clock (Tierce) in the morning and lasted until 6 o'clock in the evening. The time of Harold's death is put at 6 o'clock (Vespers). As the retreating English fled, they were pursued by the Norman knights but put up a rear-guard action which surprised the knights. This resulted in a number of casualties which was notable.  Additionally, according to most historians, is that the battle was fought in one location and was continuous.  The upshot of this is that no matter when Harold died, he died at the location of ...

As you know I maintain that there were at main three engagements on 14th October 1066 namely Huscarls v Norman Army, rest of the English Army v Norman Army and the Malfosse incident.  I think I have three independent early sources for this in the BT, the Carmen and Gesta Guillelmi. The evidence on the Bayeux Tapestry are the scenes 51 and 52 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli ) If you compare the relevant cameos from the scenes you will find that the horses are presented in the same orientation ( facing inward). The only difference between the cameos is the state of the Huscarls between the horses. In the former, the Huscarls are presented as being in their "shieldwall" whilst in the later cameo the Huscarls are being "mopped up". Notice also that only Huscarls are being depicted with the exception of a solitary archer - the King is not present.  Secondly, we have the evidence that comes from the Carmen which is as follows :-  Accordin...

The Bayeux Tapestry : The Pivotal Frame Frame "None" ( Scenes 53b to 56 on Wikipedia Tituli)   Let’s start by agreeing what the Bayeux Tapestry shows. My source is David M Wilson’s book “The Bayeux Tapestry” although I will use the Wiki references.   The start of the frame is shown underneath the black horse facing left in Scene 53b where there is what looks like a drooping branch followed by a patch of raised ground with spikes protruding. Between the hind legs of the said black horse there is a fallen knight. This is followed by four horses in various stages of distress before the ground is shown to rise. On top of the rise (Scene 54) are unarmoured men with spear and shield. In the foreground there are two fighters, the one in black looks to be better equipped than the others with axe and sword while his compatriot just looks scared and is facing towards the rear of the defended ridge. Above and slightly to the right of the scared spear holding Englishman stands another ma...

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. ...

New Interpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry   I will use   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli    as the source for the Bayeux Tapestry illustrations so as to create a common point of reference. I will use scene numbers to refer the reader to the exact point on the Tapestry where I would like to direct their attention Structure of the Tapestry    I will be referring to “frames”, "cameos" and  referring the reader to the equivalent “scenes” on the Wiki page. Frames, which are more suggestive of movement in a cartoon, are individual pictures on the Tapestry that can be viewed in isolation. For instance, one such frame on the Tapestry starts at the left-hand side of Scene 52b and finishes just to the left of centre in Scene 53 (black horse and rider facing left). However, a frame can have one or more “cameo”s depicting events that happened in close proximity timewise My interpretation of the Bayeux Tapestry starts on ...