Battle of Hasting

[yanmacca]

I don't know anyone on here apart from myself and HR, who would be interested in this battle, but HR may have an opinion on this.
It certainly changes the general story of this fight, rather like the BLBH. If these guys are right of course, but they have put forward a good case.
Apparently, the experts have got this all wrong, but to get the whole gist to what these guys are saying, you have to watch both links right through.
They are saying that Harold chose this ground and fought on three lines of defence, the last was his last stand. But also there was an escape route to the rear of this last line which cost the French dear to pursue, as many as 50 to 100 French knights died in this move.

link link

[Beth]

I find it of interest especially since I have found out through working on a family tree that I had relatives there. THanks for the links!

[mac]

Very interesting Ian. You know I love archaeology!

Quite a few years ago I realized that there was no archaeology at all to support the traditional battle site. So I am glad more thought has gone into on this battle.

The topographic changes over time are critical here and really support their hypothesis very well.

I hope there is more research happening.

They need to consult a sedimentary geologist with some experience with alluvial gold to refine their search for iron objects in the mal fosse.

Need I point out the importance of modern archaeology in clarifying the events at the Custer battlefield.

Really enjoyed it!!

Cheers

[yanmacca]

Thanks Mac, I was a bit apprehensive over posting such a topic here, but I am glad I did.
Harold sounds like a good commander and chose his site well, it forced the french to fight him on his terms and nullified their cavalry too.

He made those frenchies pay for every inch of that field.

Did you notice that we had a deep ravine too.

[herosrest]

The matter is ripe. No first hand accounts and as given, no evidence at Battle. One strand of this has 10,000 Saxon dead somewhere or other which would alost certainly be on the field if true and possibly explaining the lack of a fosse today. It being filled with dead and covered. However, families traavelled with their men and would recover their loved ones as did Sioux and Cheyenne.

As soon as the modern practice digs in to scratch the surface then very little of reality in the sense of material (bones, weapons, artifacts) exist. The story of the Abbey is a mystery since building on the site of the victory means exactly what? It's wide open and a story told by the victors some considerable time later and ostly second and third hand. Battles still lay ahead and the next was at Southwark where the Normans failed to cross the Thames and swung upriver towards the Brent Ford and I feel certain, moved on Northalla, land belonging to Harold's Staller 'Ansgaer'. Ansgaer led the resistance at Southwark and played an important role in the post battle.

The Saxon's were pincered by Vikings fro the North and the Norman French in the South. Much was made of the Norman's crossing from France being delayed by weather and certainly that is possible in the Channel but...... How do we know for sure. Let Harold meet the Viking ary first (Staford Bridge) while Willia the Barstard took his own sweet time...... 

The Saxon's were not putting up monuments and the truths are lost. Science will do what it does. Toss up theories and investigate them. As many theories as those willing and wishing to get down on their knees in a field. Praise the Lord!

Regards.

[herosrest]

Ansgar and the Draco - From my own undocumented research of decades ago (paperwork and records lost on a trashed hard disk) my belief is that the figure immediately right of Harold shot in the eye, in that Bayeaux Tapestry scene, is by unintended design, none other than Asgar carrying Harold's battle standard. This was a Draco - Dragon Banner 

It may be in this militaria that the truth of the red and white dragon tales of myth and nationhood, lay. link



The evidence for Harold's Dragon (Draco) banner is actually substantial although not conclusive. It is given that the banner was gifted to Rome (The Pope) by William and may be laying around somewhere in the vaults to this day, unless of course, it was golden in which case.......... 

My belief is that Ansgar was at Harold's side, carrying his banner. The Staller's marshalled Saxon horse herds as the army assembled before marching to battle. Vital to the cause and mobility. Battle at Stamford Bridge

The simple Wiki on Stamford Bridge offers interesting fodder for thought about Senlac. Leader shot in the throat. Field of bleached bones still laying 50 years later. Slaughter of the Vikings and their rally by reinforcement. Many similarities with stories from Norman Vikings of their victory all evolved during the subsequent Norman Conquest over the following decades. The fighting, slaughter and mayhem continued as the Country was subdued and the castles engineered The Conquest



A recent story - link Author's quest to prove Anglo Saxon monarch died 30 years after Battle of Hastings and is buried in Essex churchyard

Some reasonably weel understood history of The Harrying of the North mitigates Harold survivor stories, as also, 'The Harrying of the North refers to a series of campaigns waged by William the Conqueror in the winter of 1069–70 to subjugate northern England, where the presence of the last Wessex claimant, Edgar Atheling, had encouraged Anglo-Danish rebellions. William paid the Danes to go home, but the remaining rebels refused to meet him in battle, and he decided to starve them out by laying waste to the northern shires using scorched earth tactics, especially in the city of York, before relieving the English aristocracy of their positions, and installing Norman aristocrats throughout the region.



Contemporary chronicles vividly record the savagery of the campaign, the huge scale of the destruction and the widespread famine caused by looting, burning and slaughtering. Some present-day scholars have labelled the campaigns a genocide, although others doubt whether William could have assembled enough troops to inflict so much damage and have suggested that the records may have been exaggerated or misinterpreted. Records from the Domesday Book show that 75% of the population died or never returned.

[yanmacca]

Imagine though, English Heritage charging £16 to walk around the wrong field

Ian

[herosrest]

It gives visitor's a good feel for the contest at the re-enactments. A good day out...so....


I just watched a Rivian R1T beat a viper over a quarter mile drag race. Say what.... What. What. What... 800+ bhp. Beat the viper... Woooo

Top Gear.