The Norsemen and William the Conqueror (part III).

The load of the centuries: the Colosseum, Rome.
Photo: Daniel Delgado, 2010.

Many men have a natural tendency: it is a wish for trascending, to perpetuate their work and memory. It is somehow as the searching of inmortality. Due to that, we may know many events from ancient times. The commemoration of great victories or impressive achievements, have always been a favorite subject for architects, plastic artists or creators in general. Obelisks, columns, mausoleums, triumphal archs or statues, often are telling us about a glorious past. But sometimes we can find another kind of things, more subtle, such as a stele, painted pottery, some written poem, even a piece of cloth... which may be as important as all the former. But the fragility of these type of historical traces, makes it very hard to find them well preserved. 

The Bayeux Tapestry. Photo: Dennis Jarvis, Halifax, Canada, 2014. Source: France-000668-Tapestry-8-9
Lic. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0

If we take a look at the Bayeux Tapestry, very well preserved despite being almost one thousand years old... the medieval way of life and the events shown there, we may understand its significance. But, which is the story depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry? Something seems obvious: it was made for its exhibition in a great hall, maybe into a church. There, many people could behold and admire the triumph of their king, step by step. It was such as a royal publicity.

The Bayeux Tapestry, scene 1: Edward the Confessor and Harold
of Wessex. Photo: Myrabella, 2013.

By the year of 1064, Edward III the Confessor was feeling near to his end, so he had a meeting with Harold, earl of Wessex (that is showed in the tapestry). As we said before, he was the one who really held the power in England. They sure talked about the evident aspirations of the latter to the throne. Next, the tapestry shows Harold and his men setting sail. It doesn´t seem that they went on any royal mission or following instructions, for he was too arrogant to obbey king´s orders. By no means he would do that!

Etretat Cliffs, on the coast of  Normandy,France. Photo: Jean-Luc Faisans. Att.: Faisans.jeanluc at the French Wikipedia

The fact was that Harold went on an expedition, but the winds or a storm, at the end threw him to the Normandy coast. A feudal lord took him as a prisoner, surely expecting to obtain a good ransom for him. But the duke William II sent their men to rescue Harold, so the feudal lord had to give his hostage, nobody dared to displease the duke! Harold ended up at the castle of his rival for the throne of England. Everything seems to show that both had a good relationship. Despite this, would be impossible to tell if he was a guest, or a hostage with some privileges. In fact, they went together to take charge of an uprising in Brittany, to the west of the lands of the duchy... there, the behavior of Harold earned William´s praise.

The Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: Harold´s Oath, before the Duke William.
Photo: Myrabella, 2013.

Next, one of the most baffling scenes of the tapestry, shows Harold swearing on the Bible and sacred relics... Is impossible to know if he it did under constraint, but it seems implicit on the scene depicted. By the character´s attitude and some Latin words, it is about an oath of loyalty and support to William in his aspiration to the throne of England. Soon Harold was set free and could return for home.

Westminster Abbey, western facade.
 Photo: ChrisO. Source: English Wikipedia.
Lic. Creative Comm. Att.-Share Alike 3.0

As he came back to England, met again with the king Edward, who apparently was very ill by then and soon would die (January 1066). His body was placed at the recently consecrated Abbey of Westminster. As a result of it, the nobles offered the crown to Harold, showing that they had an agreement to make him the new king. Without hesitation, he accepted, only one day after the death of Edward the Confessor.

The Bayeux Tapestry, scene 30. The coronation of Harold II of England.
Photo: Daniel R. Blume, Ca. USA.
Lic. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0

On the tapestry, the next scenes contain a great symbolism. At the act of crowning of Harold II, appears a man named Stigand... who was the Archbishop of Canterbury, without the papal consent. So there is showed that the Roman Church and hence, God, did not approve the coronation of Harold as the new king.

The Bayeux Tapestry, scene 32: The Comet (Halley) of 1066.
Photo: Myrabella, 2013.

The Bayeux Tapestry, scene 33: Harold II and the comet.
Source: the Ulrich Harsh´web site. {{PD-US}}

But there is still more, when Harold began his reign, a brilliant comet was crossing the skies of England. It was a bad sign, and the king´s concern is clearly depicted in one scene... a ghostly fleet, such as a nightmare, was the announcement of a feared, but expected norman invasion. Even so, we have to make it clear that the king Harold II of England, was very far from being a coward.

The Halley Comet,1910. Unknown author. Source: Slovenian Digital Library.

It is interesting to add, that the appearance of comets was a fearsome event, taken as a bad sign till not so long ago. So is not a surprise that one thousand years in the past, they scared and caused apprehension to many people. The duke William surely knew about that wandering star... but he did not seem to consider it as a bringer of misfortune. He did not change his plans to any extent. As another curiosity: it was the same comet whose orbit was calculated many years later by a great Bristish astronomer. It was the famous Halley comet!

The Baueux Tapestry, scene 38: The Norman fleet sailing to England. Source: Ulrich Harsh´ website. {{PD-US}}

When William knew about Harold´s proclamation, soon decided to invade England. He ordered the construction of a huge fleet. In the tapestry, all the process is detailed, even the shipment of supplies and a profusion of weapons. They embarked their big horses, it meant nothing else but war. On board of their viking styled vessels, they crowded the stretch of sea between Normandy and the British island. Some have said there were about nine hundred ships, an important number, there is no doubt. They arrived to Pevensey Bay, at Susex, on september 28th 1066... but they found no resistance there. William was careful and decided to become stronger at the coastal area, near his ships, instead of moving forward through the inlands.

The Normans´ disembark in England. Unknown author embroidery. Source: Poems for Christmas, Easter and New Year
1885. https://archive.org/stream...

There is an anecdote not showed in the tapestry, but registered by tradition. The duke William, who was the last norman to disembark, slipped and fell on his knees. In the middle of an overwhelming silence, he was not daunted by that cumbersome situation. So he got up triumphant, lifting a handful of sand, while he said: "Behold, God our Lord has put into my hands the land of this country. Now is mine, and so is yours". 

The tapestry also does not show something almost decisive for the final result of these events. It happened when the king Harold was forced to abandon his deffenses at the coast. But which was the reason? As amazing as might seem: he had to go far to the north, to face... his rebel brother Tostig and a Norwegian army. They were invading England at the same time! There is no question that luck was playing on William´s side. The Norman fleet arrived to England precisely when the defender forces were near York, three hundred kilometers to the north.

The path of Harold and the Saxons (in red).
Normans´ invasion (in blue).
Tostig and Norwegians´ invasion (in violet).
Stamford Bridge, and Hastings. England 1066.

Harold actually did everything he could to keep his army concentrated at the coast of Sussex, but his northern allies could not hold the invaders off, while he kept waiting for William. In view of that, as the Norman fleet still did not showed on the horizon, Harold decided to take the offensive. They moved so fast, that they took the invaders by surprise. However, he tried to solve the situation with diplomacy... sure he was trying to save his forces to face the Normans. But it was all in vain, as they reached no agreement.

Stamford Bridge Battle, by Peter Nicolai Arbo, 1870. Nordnorsk Kuntsmuseum. Tromso, Norway. {{PD-US}}

In that way, on September 25th of the same year of 1066, they clashed at Stamford Bridge. It was only three days before the arrival of the Norman fleet. The battle ended with a complete victory for the king Harold. Tostig and the leader of the scandinavian invaders, Harald III of Norway, died on that place. According to some opinions, the latter was pretending the English crown too. But it seems that he only was supporting Tostig as an ally... which could have been his profit? is impossible to know. 

What could be crossing by Harold´s mind? His army had just walked three hundred kilometers at a forced march, to beat a powerful enemy. But it had been only to find out that a most dangerous rival had reached the island and was getting stronger everyday. With no doubt, he was very upset by that, and began to adopt a series of wrong decisions. He knew about William´s landing on October 2: the wisest thing to do should have been to rest his people and reinforce them. Anyway, they had the Normans trapped, with the sea at their backs, surrounded in a hostile country. Also, their possibility to receive any help was very little. The time factor was working out for Harold, it was a fact.

Senlac Hill. The place of the Battle of Hastings. By Christopher Clinton, 1993
Source: geograph.org.uk Lic. Att. Share Alike 2.0

And Harold did the worst, as he turned back to the south coast, almost running. After eleven days of anxiety, his exhausted army was at Sussex again... He sure trusted on their numerical advantage to engage in combat at once. But also had the option of harassing the Normans, while his main corps recovered their breathe. Harold never seemed to realize that he was gambling everything in one battle: the crown, the land, even his life! So the next day, on October 14th of the year 1066, at Senlac Hill, near Hastings Town, Saxons and Normans were face to face. That battle turned out to be one the most important in history, a real turning point for mankind.

With the Bayeux Tapestry, we will again take a look to that captivating past. With great realism, it will show us how was a battle on the medieval times. The main strategy of those combats was simply: to kill, or be killed...