Revelations concerning the Battle of Hastings which introduced William the Conqueror to the throne of England | EUROtoday

The Battle of Hastings, which led William the Conqueror to grab the throne of England nearly 1,000 years in the past, continues to be the topic of revelations: a British historian has simply shed new mild on the defeat of King Harold’s Anglo-Saxon military.

On October 14, 1066, this battle between the Saxons and Normans opposed almost 20,000 combatants and introduced England beneath Norman domination.

Harold Godwinson, the final Anglo-Saxon king of England, is alleged to have been killed by an arrow within the eye, a scene featured on the Bayeux Tapestry, which is able to quickly be loaned to the British Museum in London.

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Historians have lengthy claimed that Harold arrived at Hastings, on the English south coast, with an exhausted military after an extended march, which might have led to his defeat.

A number of days earlier than this battle, on September 25, he had fought and defeated the Vikings in northern England. He then marched his military to struggle William the Conqueror over a distance of 200 miles (about 322 kilometers) in ten days.

Seaway

But for Tom Licence, professor of medieval historical past on the University of East Anglia, this “forced march” is an invention courting again round 200 years in the past.

“It never took place. In reality, this journey took place largely by sea,” his college summarized in a press launch.

According to Tom Licence, “for more than 200 years, historians have repeated an erroneous interpretation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, one of the earliest and most complete written accounts of English history.”

“Only a mad general would have sent his men on foot when ships were available,” he continues.

Harold, quite the opposite, carried out “a sophisticated land and sea operation”. His males had time to relaxation earlier than Hastings.

The final Anglo-Saxon king of England is alleged to have tried, in useless, a naval encirclement maneuver towards the Duke of Normandy. He would have needed to lure his military on the Hastings peninsula.

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After Hastings, which stays England’s most well-known battle, William was topped at Westminster Abbey, London, as William I, and reigned till his dying in 1087.

Michael Lewis, curator of the exhibition devoted to the Bayeux Tapestry on the British Museum, hailed it “a fascinating discovery”. Professor Tom Licence’s analysis “shows that there is still much to discover about the events of 1066”, he pressured.

With AFP