The Battle of Hastings
William the
Bastard, Duke of Normandy, heard that his kinsman King Edward bad died, and also that
Harold Godwinsson had been made king of England and crowned. William considered that he
himself had a better right to the kingdom of England than Harold Godwinsson, since be was
so closely related to King Edward.’ William also felt be bad a score to settle with
Harold, who had insulted him by breaking the marriage deal with his daughter.
Because of
all this, William assembled an army in Normandy, a great number of men and plenty of
ships. On the day that be was riding from the town down to the ships. he had just mounted
his horse when his wife came over to him and tried to talk to him. When he saw her, he
kicked at her with his heel; his spur plunged deep into her breast, and she fell down dead
at once.
King Harold
Godwinsson gave King Harald’s son, Olaf, leave to return home with the remnants of
the Norwegian army that had survived the battle.
Harold then
turned south with his army, for he had heard that William the Bastard had landed in the
south of England and was subjugating the country. With King Harold were his brothers
Svein, Gyrth, and Waltheof. King Harold and Duke William met in the south of England at
Hastings, where there was a fierce battle. King Harold was killed there; his brother Earl
Gyrth and most of the English army also fell there. This was nineteen days after the death
of King Harald Sigurdsson of Norway.’
Earl
Waitheof managed to escape, and late in the evening he met a troop of William’s men.
When they saw the earl’s men they fled into an oak-wood; there were about a hundred
of them. Earl Waitheof had the wood set on fire, and they were all burned to death. This
is what the Poet Thorkel Skallason says in his Waitheof’s Poem :
Waitheof burned a hundred
Of William’s Norman warriors
As the fiery flames raged;
What a burning there was that night!
Lay under the paws of wolves;
The gray beasts of carrion
Feasted on Norman flesh.
WILLIAM had
himself proclaimed King of England.’ He sent a message to Earl Waitheof, offering a
reconciliation, and promissed him safe conduct to the meeting. Earl Waltheof set out with
only a few men; but when he reached the moor north of Castlebridge he was met by two
of King
William’s officers with a large force. They took him prisoner, and put him in
shackles; later he was .beheaded. He is regarded as a saint by the English. In
the words of the poet Thorkel Skallason:
William crossed the cold Channel
And reddened the bright swords,
And now he has betrayed
Noble Earl Waitheof.
It’s true that killing in England
Will be a long time ending;
A braver lord than Waitheof
Will never be seen on earth.
William was king of England for twenty-one years,
and his descendants have been on the throne ever since.’