A Beginners Guide to the Battle of Hastings

I am actually going to classes, I swear. I’m working my way through Chaucer, which I find myself reading with a northern English accent accent-dentally, and learning about early church liturgical dramas and medieval history starting with the fall of the Roman Empire. But I also have to find something interesting to write about every week so this weekend I followed a group of early Medieval reenacters to an English Heritage event for the 949th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. 

I caught a ride with two members of Milites De Bec, a local reenactment group, and was packed into the back seat along with a Norman kite shield and various pelts. Since England seem to have something against straight roads we wound our way along and arrived at Battle Abbey. For clarification; the Battle of Hastings, didn’t happen in Hastings, it took place about 7 miles north, but after the battle, as penance for the bloodshed, an abbey was built on that site and the town of Battle grew up around it. When we got there we began setting up both camps; at the top of the hill was the authentic camp; Norman tents on one side of the battle field and the Saxon camp on the other. Then down the hill and through the woods was the ‘plastics', normal tents where most of the reenacters slept. There is a strong rivalry between the Saxon camp and the Norman camp, which I cleverly perceived by the very casual mention of ‘the Saxon dogs’ and seeing a Saxon knight spit after using the word ‘Norman’. It’s very subtle but you pick up on these things.  

History Lesson to save you the trip to Wikipedia: After Edward the Confessor died in January with no clear heir, there was much contention for the crown. Harold Godwinson had himself crowned king despite the belief that Edward had named William Duke of Normandy as his successor. While Harold defeated another contender in the north, the Normans landed in England and Harold had to head south to meet them. On the 14th of October 1066 the armies met; Harold, king of England and leader of the Saxon army of 7,000 and William, Duke of Normandy leading a 10,000 strong mix of infantry, archers and a large calvary force. The battle lasted for about 9 hours, from 9 am until evening fell. Harold was slain, possibly by an arrow in the eye, near the end of the day and the battle ended with a decisive Norman victory. This battle marked the final significant resistance to William’s conquest of England. And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.  

To people who may avoid watching movies like "The Mummy" with me due to the ongoing commentary of inaccuracies; I would advise not going to a medieval festival with reenacters, they take it to a whole other level. Wandering though the traders tents there are frequent raised eyebrows, snickering, explanations, and pointing to the less-than-authentic wares that are sold to the public. Most of the members have been doing events like these for years, and many have backgrounds in history and academia so I was more than happy to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. Apparently, Milites De Bec had a previous Canadian member so I’ve just become ‘new-Kyle’ as Canadians are of course interchangeable. One phrase that has become a very prevalent statement in these first few weeks is: To North Americans 200 years is a long time and to a European 200 km is a long way. 

I did find my new ideal job; English Heritage has a hired group of Event Photographers who take pictures at all of their castles and historical events. Application please. For day one I was just the photographer, as you are not allowed to carry modern items when you are in ‘kit.’ Day two I was happy to borrow people’s spare pieces and walk about in period dress. I even got to take part in the battle, albeit as a water carrier. I was invited to actually join in the fight but not knowing the rules and hearing complaints that the Vikings were being particularly vicious this year, I passed. 

Standing on the original battle field with 400 fully armed men and women, pounding their spears and swords on their shields and shouting for "Godwinson" or “Normandy” and if you follow Shakespeare’s advice and ‘into a thousand parts divide one man’ (Henry V) you can begin to understand the scale and gravitas of what was going on. Waiting behind the lines with a bucket of water and a cup, having the cavalry circling around and seeing the sides attacking one another is impressive. While the generic battle is scripted, a Norman victory so that we’re not rewriting history, the single fighting is legitimate, with a set of rules and tactics that would have been similar to the fighting styles of the day. It looks like absolute chaos from any angle, trying to break down Saxon shield walls while not getting skewered yourself. You begin to understand the importance of banners and household heraldry; when I was trying to find them in my camera I could normally just make out the blue and yellow shields and standard in amoung the armour and swinging swords. 

Besides the main battle they have living history exhibits, which are all the reenacters sitting around eating, sewing, weaving, carving, wrestling, and just answering any questions the public has. I walked around the abbey museum in the main gate (as most of the abbey was destroyed by Henry VIII after that whole spat with the Catholic church) and was reading about St. Benedict’s Rule, which is actually the same thing we’re learning about in my history class. To me, this is the coolest thing about going to school here, you read and then you go and see where it happened.

As soon as the public leaves and the sun sets, fires are lit in both camps and you can hear the cheers and the songs ringing clear. I joined one fire, and was regaled with an impromptu staging of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - except this one had AK-47s and a dance-off - might need to research that one. For most of the reenacters, this is purely a hobby, but the detail, skill and expense that goes into the crafting of their kit is amazing. From hand sewn embroidering on sleeves to the great shirts of mail, everything is authentic. The estimate I was given for a standard fighting kit (shoes, leg wraps, tunic, gambeson, mail, shield, helmet and spear) would be about £600, but of course that all depends on quality and bargain hunting exspearience. 

I’ve been to Medieval and Renaissance Faire’s before, but it’s amazing to be a part of one and see the amount of care and passion that goes into these events. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for chain mail on the cheap!