Battle of Hastings Timeline

The 12th-century chronicler Wace relates that Harold ordered his men to stay in their formations, but no other account gives this detail. Harold positioned his shield wall on high ground to await the Norman attack.

The battle lasted until dusk on 14 October 1066, ending in a decisive Norman victory over the English army. William's triumph opened the way for the Norman Conquest of England.

Harold was killed late in the day as the battle drew toward dusk, shattering English resistance. A 12th-century tradition stated that Harold's face could not be recognised and Edith the Fair, Harold's common-law wife, was brought to the battlefield to identify his body from marks that only she knew.

Although 12th-century sources state that the archers were ordered to shoot at a high angle to shoot over the front of the shield wall, there is no trace of such an action in the more contemporary accounts of the battle.

The only undisputed facts are that fighting began at 9 am Saturday 14 October 1066 and that the battle lasted until dusk. The battle was fought between the Norman-French army of William, Duke of Normandy, and an English army under King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman Conquest of England.

Recent historians have suggested figures of between 5000 and 13,000 for Harold's army, while most argue for a figure of 7000–8000 English troops drawn largely from the fyrd and Harold's housecarls.

After further marching and some skirmishing, William was crowned as king on Christmas Day 1066. He was acclaimed King of England and crowned by Ealdred in Westminster Abbey.

There were rebellions in Exeter in late 1067 as English resistance to Norman rule continued to flare up in the years following Hastings.

An invasion by Harold's sons in mid-1068 and an uprising in Northumbria in 1068 challenged William's hold on England, forcing him to campaign repeatedly against resistance.

In 1069, William faced more troubles from Northumbrian rebels, an invading Danish fleet, and rebellions in the south and west of England, testing the fragile Norman occupation.

William ruthlessly put down the various risings, culminating in the Harrying of the North in late 1069 and early 1070 that devastated parts of northern England and left lasting scars on the region.

Image source: Harrying of the North

A further rebellion in 1070 by Hereward the Wake was also defeated by the king, at Ely, marking one of the last major episodes of organized English resistance to Norman rule.

Image source: Hereward the Wake

According to 12th-century sources, William made a vow to found the abbey, and the high altar of the church was placed at the site where Harold had died. More likely, the foundation was imposed on William by papal legates in 1070.

Image source: Battle Abbey

Anglo-Saxon exiles who had fled after Hastings served in the Varangian Guard of the Byzantine Empire. They fought the Normans again at the Battle of Dyrrhachium in 1081, and were defeated again in similar circumstances.

Image source: Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081)

The battle was already being referred to as 'bellum Haestingas' or 'Battle of Hastings' by 1086, in the Domesday Book, cementing the name by which the engagement has been known ever since.

Image source: Domesday Book

One skeleton that was found in a medieval cemetery, and originally was thought to be associated with the 13th century Battle of Lewes, now is thought to be associated with Hastings instead, offering rare physical evidence linked to the battle.