battle of hasting-you there!

Battle of Hasting : you are there !!!!!

Hi, my name is Nola and I have to get back in past and give some information about the battle of Hasting.

DAY 1

3, 2, 1 there we go ! We are in 1066 and I arrived in a big house. From there we could see the people working. I was in a earl family.I could hear people speaking, not english, but french. I was in Normandy.

« Come on Noah, time to go to bed » my new mum said.

DAY 2

When I woke up, I had to rember realy to act like a boy and not said « I’m from the future ». When I went down to take my breakfast, my new mu told me that I was late for my work (war training) because nomands had a professional army. Yesterday I didn’t had time to look at the country and when I was going through the village I saw that normands built wooden castle on samll hills called mottes. They were used to defend the city. The normands also used stone as well, instead of wood to constuct their main buildings such as chures, abbeys and cathedrals.

When I arrived at the war training , I saw that normands fighting methods were very differnt from thoses of the saxons. They had knights who were heavily armed soldiers who fought on horseback : they were called the Cavalery. They carried kite shape shield and coats of mail. They also had some nose guards to protect their faces. Knights fought with Swords, maces, lances or javelins.

William, Duke of Nomandy, the Normands leader, had also 2 types of foot soldiers : the helmeted soldiers in leather armor who fought with spears, swords or small hand axes. And the archers, lightly armed man who carried bows (they could kill a man at a distance of 100 m).

DAY 3

Everything was ready for war. But there was a little problem : we needed a wind from the south to make the journey to England as quick as possible. And for 1 month we waited the wind to change direction.

A MONTH LATER

One day, the wind came south and we could go ! Soldiers didn’t know how to swim and were scared of water ! The crossing was an adventure and it took us one day to reach the english coast at Pevency beach. We were expecting the English but, luckily for us, they were nowhere to be seen. At Pevency, William told us to built wooden castle on top of a motte to protect us. Other soldiers looted houses and farms in search of food and supplies.

I was hiding in the boat and was observing what was happening.

William send out some troops to tell him where the saxons were. They were at Senlac Hill. William decided to take them by surprise the next day !

And I decided to follow them in sectert.

BATTLE DAY

ORGANISATION

We had to wake up very early this morning, Saturday October 14, 1066. When we arrived we were on Telham Hill opposit of Senlac Hill (the englisch).I was hidding in a little bush not far from the battlefield. Saxons had an adventage : they were up hill and we were down hill. Seeing that the Norman soldiers felt bad. Wiliam realised this and said : « Now is the time for you to show your strenght and the courage that is yours. You fight not only for victory but also for survival. »

Then he organised his soldiers in three ranks.

The first rank was made up by archers who only wore little armour and carried only few arrows. The second rank was made up by heavely armed foot soldiers who wore chail mail and helmet and shield for protection. The third rank was made up by the knights on horsebacks in chaine mail, armed with swords and javellins.

Norman troops were also divided into 3 wings. On the left were the Breton soldiers. On the right were the Frensh and Flamish. And in the middle were the Normands.

THE BATTLE

Suddently the Normans took one step fowards and the war started. First came the morman archers but it didn’t do anything because most of the arrows when staight over the Saxons head. Then the Norman foot soldiers took place. But they had to fight up hill so the Saxon had no probleme forcing them back. Then came the norman knights. The Normans had a little succsese. From now I could hear steel striking steel and the sound of dying men.

Suddendly some foot soldiers and knights from Brittany (the left hand wing) turned into confusion by the furry of the Saxon defence. They turned and fled. I don’t know if the soldiers were really scared or this was planned. The result of that is that the some Saxon left their strong position on the hill and run after the Normans. In this rush, William fell off his horse and the Normans all thought he was dead. This means that there was no point continuing the battle for the Normans !

But William was not dead. He bravly took off his helmet and said in the middle off the battle field « look at me well ! I’m still alive, and by the grace of God I shall yet prove victory ».

From this point the battle turn to the adventage of the Normans. William ordered to surrround the Saxons who came out of the rank down hill. Twice Saxon soldiers chased Norman soldiers down the hill, and twice they were cut into pieces. Slowly the Normans with their better weapons, their archers, and their knights on horseback began to win the battle.

Now the Norman archers have to shoot their arrows up hight in the air. And this is how Harold was dead with an arrow in his eye.

The war was finally finished.

William, Duke of Normandy will become King of England.

Back to 2009

Suddenly, I heard a loud sound coming from my hand. And I knew that I had to go back to 2009 now. What an adventure !

The END