(2) England: Military History and Notable Events

937 - Battle of Brunanburh (All Facts)

• Battle in which King Athelstan and his Anglo-Saxon forces defeated the combined invading forces of the Kingdom of Strathclyde including Olaf and the Irish Vikings, Constantine and the Scots, and the Britons

• Battle in which both sides suffered severe losses but in which the invaders were eventually forced to flee

• Battle which allowed King Athelstan to call himself “King of the English and ruler of all Britain”

991 - Battle of Maldon (All Facts)

• Battle in which the English were defeated by Olaf Tryggvason, the Norwegians, and the Vikings, who overcame the heroic English defense and after which they continued to advance deep into England until they were bought off by English King Aethelred II “The Unready”

1002 - St. Brice’s Day Massacre (All Facts)

• Massacre in which at least 37 Danes were killed, including Sweyn Forkbeard’s (the King of Denmark at the time) sister Gunnhild, on the orders of King Aethelred II “The Unready” of England

• Massacre which fueled Sweyn Forkbeard and the Danes to invade England

1016 - Battle of Ashingdon (All Facts)

• Battle in which King Canute of Denmark defeated Edmund Ironside of England in which they agreed to split England in half between the two

1030 - Battle of Stiklestad (All Facts)

• Battle in which Canute the Great and his “Farmer Army” forces defeated Olaf Haraldsson and his forces to become King of Norway as well as King of Denmark and King of England

  • Olaf Haraldsson becomes a hero and saint after his death

1054 - Battle of Dunsinane (All Facts)

• Battle in which Earl Siward of Northumberland and his English forces supported Malcolm Canmore’s right to the Scottish throne after his father had been killed by Macbeth, who was then defeated, along with his Scottish forces, in the battle

1066 - Battle of Stamford Bridge (All Facts)

• Battle in which Harold II and his English forces defeated King Harald Hardrada and his Norwegian forces, successfully preventing a Norwegian invasion of England

1066 - Battle of Hastings (All Facts)

• Battle in which William the Conqueror and his Norman-French forces, defeated Harold II and his Anglo-Saxon forces, completing the Norman-French Conquest of England and initiating the reign of William as King of England and the founding of the House of Normandy Dynasty of England

• Battle in which William commanded a mixed force of around 7K Norman-French, Breton, and mercenary soldiers and crushed the army of his rival for the English throne, King Harold, on windswept Sussex

  • Battle after which the Norman-French claimed William was the rightful heir to the English throne and that King Harold II had conceded this

• Battle which saw a struggle between two opposed styles of combat, including

  • Mobile Norman-French archers

  • Stoical, close-packed ranks of English infantry armed with lances and axes

• Battle which saw Harold II and his Anglo-Saxon forces dominate for much of the battle

• Battle in which

  • William and his Norman-French forces approached through a wood near the top of Sandlake Hill, eight miles inland, and dismounted and formed up in tight formation on the high ground

  • William’s Norman-French troops attacked with archers in front followed by armor-clad infantry

  • William and his Norman-French forces rolled uphill in human waves which boke time and again

  • William, on horseback, stayed close and kept control as a conspicuous target who had three horses killed under him

  • William dismounted, removed his helmet in order to be recognized, and, spear in hand, ordered back into the battle the French front ranks who had at last panicked and fled, their own knights having cut them down

  • The Anglo-Saxon English then, observing the beginning of a rout, freed at last from their role as bowmen’s targets, ran forward in hot pursuit

  • The English, however, were hit on both flanks by French cavalry, which was probably the most decisive moment in the battle

  • William and his Norman-French forces, turned near-disaster to their advantage, using the ploy to encourage the Anglo-Saxon English to break ranks

  • In such confusion, the Anglo-Saxon English leaders were exposed as ready targets and Harold II’s two brothers were killed in a hail of arrows and spears

  • William and his Norman-French forces continued to squeeze the core of Harold II’s army until only a few dozen remained standing

  • Those survivors, knowing all was lost, retreated in good order to make a last stand on ground which gave them the best chance to sell their lives dearly, in a steep valley cut by ditches and unsuitable for the Norman-French cavalry

  • However, William, his lance broken, led a party of men from Boulogne into the enemy at this position

• Battle in which Harold II, despite having lost one eye, fought on magnificently against William and his invading Norman-French forces so much so that when his body was recovered it was virtually unidentifiable

1070 - 1071 - Harrying of the North (All Facts)

• Series of military campaigns waged by William the Conqueror to subjugate Northern England, whose Northumbrians, Anglo-Scandinavians and Danes had been rebelling against him

• William the Conqueror paid the Danes to go home, ending Hereward “The Wake’s” rebellion against him, but the remaining rebels refused to meet him in battle

• So he decided to starve them out by laying waste to the northern shires using scorched earth tactics, especially in Yorkshire in York in Northumbria

• Afterwards, he relieved the English aristocracy of their positions, and installed Norman aristocrats throughout the region