1066 why was it important

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the most powerful and influential figures of the Middle Ages. Inheriting a vast estate at the age of 15 made her the most sought-after bride of her generation. She would eventually become the queen of France, the queen of England and The Wars of the Roses were a series of bloody civil wars for the throne of England between two competing royal families: the House of York and the House of Lancaster, both members of the age-old royal Plantagenet family.

Waged between and , the Wars of the Roses earned Oliver Cromwell was a political and military leader in 17th century England who served as Lord Protector, or head of state, of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland for a five-year-period until his death in Cromwell was known for being ruthless in battle, and he Live TV.

This Day In History. History Vault. Recommended for you. How the Troubles Began in Northern Ireland. Battle of Saratoga. Battle of Midway. Battle of Guadalcanal. A man called William of Poitiers, claimed that he witnessed the promise being made. Nothing about a promise is mentioned in this. When William heard of what Harold had done, it is said that he flew into a terrible rage of anger.

Harold defended what he had done by claiming that William had forced him to make the promise and therefore it was done by blackmail and was not valid. William promised to take what he believed was his — the throne of England — by force. The matter was further complicated by Harold Hardrada who was king of Norway and Denmark. He believed that he was the rightful heir to the English throne because the Danes had conquered England in the past.

Of the three who claimed to be the rightful heir to Edward, only one was English. Who had the best claim? Harold was a powerful English nobleman who was experienced in government and in leading an army. William was from north France but had known Edward in their younger days. His claim lay in his belief that Edward had promised him the throne in and that he had received the support of Harold for this in With no blood ties to the English throne, William placed his claim firmly on promises made which he felt gave him the legal right to be the next king of England.

Harold Hadrada was related to Cnut who had been king of England from to and therefore he believed that this weak link entitled him to the crown.

Regardless of who claimed what, William decided that he would have to fight for what he regarded as his — the throne of England. He ordered his knights to gather at Saint Valery on the Norman coast in preparation for a sea crossing. Throughout July and August, Harold had expected William to attempt an invasion and Harold put his troops near to the Isle of Wight — where he felt William would land.

For the previous 24 years England had been ruled by Edward the Confessor, who, despite being married, had failed to produce any children to succeed him. It is thought that in the middle of his reign, in the year , the king promised the English succession to his cousin, William, duke of Normandy. Edward had spent half his life in exile in Normandy, and clearly felt a strong debt of gratitude towards its rulers. However his impeccable ancestry counted for nothing: when Edward died on 5 January it was his brother-in-law, Harold Godwinson, who claimed the throne, insisting that the old king had nominated him in his dying moments.

Harold was crowned the very next day, but soon had to fend off challenges to his rule. The first — an unexpected invasion led by Harold Hardrada, king of Norway — he successfully overcame on 25 September by winning the battle of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire. The second challenge came from William, duke of Normandy, who landed at Pevensey in Sussex three days later. The battle of Hastings is something of a misnomer. Although William, having landed at Pevensey, quickly moved along the coast to Hastings and established his camp there, the actual engagement with King Harold took place some six miles to the northwest, at a site that has been known ever since as Battle.

This location has been contested in recent years, but the arguments for alternative sites are extremely flimsy, whereas the evidence for the traditional site remains overwhelmingly strong. Having won the battle of Hastings, William was determined to commemorate his victory and atone for the bloodshed by building an abbey — Battle Abbey — and happily its ruins still survive today.

According to a host of 12th-century chroniclers not just, as is often claimed, the Chronicle of Battle Abbey itself the high altar of the abbey church was erected over the place where Harold was killed. It is a location that makes sense only if William insisted they build in that precise location, as tradition maintained was the case. Medieval chroniclers are notoriously unreliable when it comes to providing numbers for the size of armies. In reality, no medieval armies were ever this large.

In the later Middle Ages, by which time we have more reliable evidence in the form of muster rolls and financial accounts, we can see that the largest armies raised in the British Isles numbered about 35, men. But when they had to fight in France, English monarchs never managed to ferry more than 10, troops across the Channel. If these were the maximums obtained by mighty kings like Edward I and Edward III, a mere duke of Normandy is unlikely to have been able to assemble a force that was reckoned in five figures.

As to the size of the English forces, we are even less well informed. Since the fighting at Hastings lasted all day, however, the reasonable conclusion is that the two sides were fairly evenly matched.

A look at the most famous source for the battle of Hastings — the Bayeux Tapestry — suggests that the weapons used by the English and the Normans were very similar.