The Battle of Hastings: one day that changed a kingdom
Story 2 of 6
On 14 October 1066 the English army of Harold II and the Norman army of William met near Hastings in southern England. The fighting lasted all day, and by the evening Harold II was dead. On Christmas Day that year William was crowned in Westminster Abbey in London as King William I, remembered ever since as William the Conqueror.
No foreign army has managed to conquer England since.
Bayeux Tapestry, scene 57. The Latin HIC HAROLD REX INTERFECTUS EST means "Here King Harold is killed". The famous story that Harold II died from an arrow in the eye comes from this scene, where a soldier seems to be pulling an arrow from his face. Historians still argue about whether that figure is Harold at all, or whether Harold is the man being cut down by a horseman next to him.
Photo: Myrabella, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Quiz
In 1066, who defeated Harold, the Saxon king, at the Battle of Hastings?
Alfred the Great was an earlier king who fought the Vikings. Robert the Bruce and Edward I lived later, in the Middle Ages.
Quiz
Is the statement below TRUE or FALSE?
Since the Norman Conquest of 1066, no foreign invasion of England has succeeded.
True. After 1066, no foreign army ever conquered England again.
