The Saxons- Senlac Hill

The Battle of Hastings

The Saxons- Senlac Hill

26^th of September 1066

I am so exhausted from the battle we had yesterday, it was very challenging but I am happy we won the battle. This morning I woke up and had some bread for breakfast and it was very nice. My friends and I went out and gathered all our supplies from the battle that were still useable and went back to our place and relaxed. Today I am having a rest day I will read some books and have conversations with my friends about some prodigious moments of the battle. Yesterday evening I was very tired so I went to bed early to get some good night sleep.

10^th of October 1066

T0day we had to practise for our battle. We had to practise for the whole day and we had to use such heavy shields and arrows. It was very weary and it was also very early in the morning, we had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. in the morning. We are now more prepared for our battle that will take place sometime soon at Senlac Hill. I am really looking forward towards this battle and we will win this easily because William does not have very good tactics. Harold is going to be the new king of England!

14^th of October 1066

At around 9:00 a.m. the trumpets sounded and the battle began. The first person who attacked was William. The archers fired waves of arrows towards us, we held our long shields close together to form a shield wall. Many arrows fell short, others came stuck in our shields. The arrow attack lasted just a few minutes, and then it faded away as the Norman archers ran out of ammunition. Our troop stood firm on the bridge. By midday the Norman army was very tired. Suddenly, the cavalry and foot soldiers fled back down the hill and got chased by our (the Saxons) soldiers. Then a wild rumour spread among the troops that William had been killed. It was a dangerous moment for the invaders, when panic could easily have set in. Instead what happened, William raised his helmet and showed his face to his troops. When his army saw he was alive his army rallied again. By the early afternoon our and Williams army had both lost many men but I was still alive (luckily)! William realised to win the battle he had to find a way to break into our shield-wall. Remembering how we earlier had broken rank to chase his men down the hill, he ordered his cavalry to charge, then turn and flee. It was a very clever tactic, and it worked. We thought that the Normans were retreating, so we chased after them but we got tricked. Norman arches then showered arrows on to the ridge, breaking holes in our line. The battle was turning into Williams favour.  At some point Harold was killed, he got an arrow in his eye. As he fell back, a Norman warrior on horseback hacked at him with his sword. I looked behind when Harold got a arrow in his eye and at the point I looked back I saw the arrow coming towards me.........................

(Rosanne)

A Norman Archer

Battle Of Hastings

Journal Of A Norman Archer

10/10/1066

Today we (the Normans), have landed on the beach off the south coast of England (Bayeux tapestry). The Saxons do not know that we are here, but I don’t think they will want to fight us with all our equipment, such as our bows and swords and our horses…  I will have to be getting some sleep now, I have a feeling I will be needing some sleep!

George

11/10/1066

We are burning the houses here on the south coast… I bet you Harold is getting very angry all right (Battle Of Hastings)! We are resting most of the time, mainly because we are waiting for Harold to come and fight us. Because I am resting today, I will have time to explain everything. When we get to the battlefield at Hastings we will be lining up our defenses, with the archers at the front and the men and the horses behind us. The army will be split up into three sections: The Normans are going to be in the middle, the Bretons were on the right and the Europeans will on the left. The archers are going to be put in front of the three groups. Hopefully we win this battle! A bow is made of wood, the body, and the string used to fire the bow is made of hemp, which is a very reliable and strong material. Long bodkins are used for piercing chainmail armor, while short bodkins are used for piercing armor plate. The bows can fire up to an area of 275 feet, which would make great defense. A maker of bows, arrows, and extra equipment for bows, such as arrows, was called an Artillator (Medieval Bow and Arrow).

George

13/10/1066

Harold is really close to Hastings. We marched up a little bit to Hastings and started to get our gear prepared (Battle Of Hastings). We had a big feast last night for our energy we were going to use the next day. We will easily defeat them.

George

14/10/1066: Dawn

We are about to fight the Saxons… the battle plan has been set up as said before, and we look a lot stronger than they do. They don’t have any horses or archers, they only have soldiers and these men I believe are called Housecarls, as they say. We are getting our arrows fired up, so I will have to put the book down. I wonder how the battle will go.

George.

14/10/1066 Noon

I am hiding behind a tree, this will have to be as quick as possible. Our arrows did not affect the Saxons at all. Some of our men are being chased down to a marsh ahead, and they are chasing down our Bretons like a pack of dogs. Axes, sword, bows, all of these weapons were spilling guts and livers out of the Normans and Saxons… its such a bloody mess out here! William, our leader, will have to think of something soon or we might lose the battle! We are both getting weaker, and somebody will have to go down (hopefully not us!)

14/10/1066 Sunset

We are still fighting those Saxons… they are slaughtering us and they still haven’t broken their shield wall!!! It is starting to get hard to write, using my bow again and again. Our horses have gone past the gap where the Saxons started chasing our Bretons, and they have killed a handful of Saxons, but they haven’t made much of a difference. Oh, William has got a magnificent idea! We should fire our arrows into the air and then when they land they will go on top of the Saxons so that we can easily win the battle! We launched them into the air and they started falling. (Bayeux tapestry). The shield wall slowly retreated and the Saxons were running in random directions. Our soldiers ran in and just slaughtered and beat them to death. The arrows either killed or severely injured most of the Saxons, and this is how we won the battle.

George

17/10/1066

We are celebrating with a feast and in about 2 months time William will become King Of England. I am sure he will make Britain a great place… I will now have a good job and plenty of food. I am happy I joined the army! I am slowly turning old, and I think I will no longer be in the army.

George

24/06/1779

I decided to go back to the Battlefield where the Battle Of Hastings was fought… I found this diary of my dear brother, George. It is an old diary and |I will keep this safe for my life. The battle was very brutal, according to George. George passed away 2 years ago, and I will keep this forever.

Oliver

Robert Bound

The Battle of Hastings 1066

31 September 1066

Last week was the battle of Stamford Bridge. Today we Saxons, left to travel down south to meet the Normans. I am scared, but I’m a soldier and shouldn’t be. You see a couple months ago, I along with other peasants in my village we were told that we must join the Saxon Army. I was worried because all I know is how to farm. I had absolute no experience as a soldier. Today we walked 30 miles. This journey will be long and hard. I am lucky I’m not a Housecarl because then I would have to carrying 50 pounds of chain mail! I am part of the Fyrd, men who are forced to fight even with absolute lack of experience. I carry an axe and shield. Now and then, I did get to use a sling for firing stones in the battlefield. We have no chainmail, which can be good for walking but terrible for fighting. Luckily, I always end up at the back of the army so I am less likely to get killed. The journey has been very long and my feet feel like they were going to fall off. The king hardly lets us stop to rest. Harold Godwineson is determined to beat the Normans more then he was determined to beat the Vikings in the recent battle. I know I am a soldier and should be brave but I’m terrified. I wish I could go back to my small village and farm. I absolutely hate being a soldier. King Harold let us stop for a few hours to rest but I was so tense the whole time. I couldn’t even think straight because I was so nervous. I hate the Housecarls; there are so bossy and loud. The king is frightening and seems very stressed. I feel dirty and my stomach rarely gets full. My shield and axe are tremendously heavy. During the rest, I barely close my eyes because soon enough the king hurries us up and we’re back to marching. We are not even close to Sussex where the Normans were said to be. How can we win this battle? What would England be like if we lost this battle? I can’t stand all the blood and gruesomeness. I can’t kill someone without flinching. Oh how I wish England could be a peaceful place again!

Signed,

Robert Bound, Saxon Soldier, Member of the Fyrd

The Battle Of Hastings

16^th October 1066

The battle of Hastings happened 2 days ago on the 14^th of October 1066. It started at 9:00 in the morning. We could all feel the tension and the nervous energy. I was scared out of my wits but stood strong. We were stood on top of Senlac Hill, which gave us a slight advantage. We were packed together so tightly I couldn’t feel my arms. Our shields were pressed together. Our shield wall was our best defence because when layered together side by side, we created a huge, strong wall that we knew nobody could break. We waited for the Normans to make a move first and they did. The Norman archers shot their arrows towards us but failed and fell short. Most of them just stuck to our shields. Then a few minutes later William ordered his soldiers to charge uphill and that’s when we starting pelting them with arrows, spears and sling stones. Unfortunately, many Normans survived and started fighting hand on hand with swords. But still, they did not break our shield wall. When William realized his army was not getting anywhere he ordered his Calvary, which were the men on horseback. We fought on them too and they also could not break our shield wall. At about midday, the Normans fled down the hill chased by some of our English soldiers. But this ruined our shield wall. Now there was a huge gap! William chased after our broken up soldiers and soon enough, both sides had lost many men. We closed the gap quickly and stood firm on the ridge. Then suddenly William ordered the Calvary to charge. They charged but then turned around and fled. We believed that the Normans had retreated so almost all of us chased after them. This was a huge mistake because it had broken up the shield wall! The Normans pelleted us with arrows and soon everyone in our army was pretty much dead. The Normans were scary and fierce. When the arrows pelted us, I got hit on the arm. Blood was pouring out but I had to keep fighting. I also got one on my leg but the wound wasn’t as deep. I could hear screams of pain and the death cry of soldiers. They said King Harold had died with an arrow in his eye but I am not entirely sure. This symbolized that Anglo-Saxon England was gone and we had lost the battle. I was lucky I didn’t get killed but I am deeply wounded. The Normans have taken charge now. All the survivors must go home and live a new way of life. Never will life be the same again.

Signed,

Robert Bound

Anglo-Saxon soldier

Member of the Fyrd

(By: Mia)

Soldier's Journal

A Saxon Journal

Oct. 9, 1066

We just defeated Harald Hadraada’s troops we still can’t believe that it was so easy. Some of us were killed but we gained victory. We were still there relaxing after the battle when we suddenly got word that William, Duke of Normandy had burned and pillaged villages wanting to fight Harold Godwinson. We were forced to march right away.

Oct. 10, 1066

We have been marching for a day and we are a bit tired and hungry. Since Iam a housecarl, I have to carry really heavy armour, a heavy sword, and a battle axe, which, all together weighs around 20 kilos. It is all worth it because we are excited from the Battle at Stamford Bridge to fight another one to protect our country.

Oct. 11, 1066

We are still tired and hungry, we’ve only taken short breaks when needed, but they are no help to our condition. The soldiers are starting to lose their eagerness in fighting by marching such a long time, but I still won’t stop writing my journal.

Oct. 12, 1066

We are mostly half way back to London. I don’t know how we’ll make it, my hands are starting to grow tired from writing.

Oct. 14, 1066

We marched for 6 days quickly back to London. We were very tired and still have to block the Norman’s way to London with a fight.

We met them in Battle, England, we stopped on top of Senlac Hill so we could have an advantage with also our strong shield wall.

They were split into groups that I could recognize with the soldiers from Brittany on the right, the Norman soldiers in the middle, the lower country soldiers on the left, the archers in the front, and the cavalry in the back.

First, they tried to shoot arrows at us but we were too high up on the hill and they couldn’t hit us. Next the infantry came up to us to fight with their swords and spears. Shortly after that, the cavalry rode across the shield wall while we tried to hit them with our battle-axes. After that the soldiers of Brittany retreated and some of us came after them, and we were fools for doing that because when they stopped other Normans came up behind us and defeated them.

The rest of the Norman army got the same idea and in groups at different times “retreated” and we were still fools to follow them more and they slowly decreasing our numbers.

They made another plan and sent out their archers and placed them at the bottom of the hill even though they couldn’t get their arrows to us in the beginning, but I think they have something up their sleeves. Then they started shooting their arrow at us again not straight, but up into the air and the arrows started raining down on us and I saw many people get killed by them even Harold himself got killed by an arrow to the eye. I luckily fled and hid from the Normans.

Dec. 25, 1066

Today William, Duke of Normandy was crowned king of England.

(Duncan)