A Wargamer's Guide to 1066 and the Norman Conquest

Introduction

1066 is one of the most iconic dates in British history. Ask a modern Briton to name a year where something of historical importance happened and the chances are you’ll be told this year. Ask them to name a famous battle and there’s a reasonable chance they’ll respond with Hastings (otherwise, non-wargamers usually mention either Waterloo or Trafalgar). The year 1066 heralded the coming of the Norman rulers of Britain, and the beginning of the decline of Anglo-Saxon England. However, the Norman Conquest was not an overnight success, nor did all of the English earls disappear quickly or quietly. Despite this, a popular view of the coming of the Normans is, as Sellar and Yeatman tell us in their seminal, if tonguein-cheek, history of the British Isles:

The Norman Conquest was a Good Thing, as from this time onwards England stopped being conquered and thus was able to become a top nation.

(WC Sellar and RJ Yeatman, 1066 And All That, 1931)

Of course, both the Battle of Hastings and the year 1066 are important events in the history of the British Isles, but there’s much more to the military campaign accompanying the Norman invasion than a single battle and a single year.

The late-eleventh century British Isles provides a fascinating backdrop to wargaming: tactically it can be seen as the major turning point from ‘ancient’ to ‘medieval’ warfare in Britain; strategically, a powerful minority strove to control a greater, unfriendly populace; borders were threatened both from overseas and the Celtic Fringe; and the decade either side of 1066 was not short of colourful military characters. Added to this, there are two distinct levels of warfare being fought at this time: the large, kingdom-forging battles that usually came once or twice within a reign but occurred three times in 1066 alone; and small-scale skirmishes typifying the guerrilla warfare carried out in the years of conquest after 1066.

This book is not a history book – plenty of good books have been written about this period by better historians than I – it’s a wargaming sourcebook, full of the sort of data that I’ve found helpful to collect over the years to use in my games, and that I hope will point you in the right direction whether you’re getting started or are already a veteran of wargaming the British early medieval period (which will always be known to wargamers the as ‘The Dark Ages’, no matter what term historians use!). It is a wargamer’s introduction to the history of the period, focussing on the battles fought, the armies involved, and how best to transport them from the annals of history to your tabletop battlefield.

Chapter One

The Norman Conquest of Britain, 1066–1087

The exact circumstances which brought William, Duke of Normandy, to the south coast of Anglo-Saxon England in September 1066 have been a source of intense debate since history became a professional academic discipline. One reason for this is the relative scarcity of reliable primary sources. Those that do exist are partial in both senses, leaving large areas of the story untold while generally favouring, and embellishing, the case for William as a rightful claimant to the English throne. Propaganda was the name of the game and, as the famous saying goes, history is written by the winner: it isn’t only the Bayeux Tapestry that’s embroidered.

What can be said with certainty is that William felt not only that his claim was strong, but that it had the approval of his predecessor. At some point early in the 1050s, the childless English king, Edward the Confessor, seems to have indicated that his successor would be his first cousin once removed, William, and to have gone as far as promising him the throne (which did not sit well as a promise against English law). This was a bold move, coming as it did from a king who spent most of his reign struggling to suppress the control of the mighty family of Godwin, Earl of Wessex. Godwin had been Edward’s father-in-law from 1045 until his death in 1053, and had spent most of Edward’s reign working to establish the primacy of his family amongst the nobility of England and securing succession to the throne for one of his five sons.

The Godwins were what a modern person might describe as a ‘problem family’: Godwin’s eldest son, Swein, had to leave England in a hurry in 1049 after abducting the Abbess of Leominster with a view to forcing marriage upon her and seizing her lands. He subsequently had to flee again the following year after arranging the murder of his cousin and, despite being allowed back through Godwin’s influence, was exiled for life in 1051. Swein died in 1052, leaving Godwin’s second son, the militaristic Harold, as the focus of his family’s dynastic ambitions. But it was the younger, yet equally turbulent sibling, Tostig, who would come to play a central role in the events of 1066.

Against the backdrop of lawlessness which seemed to accompany the Godwinsons (as Godwin’s sons are collectively known), it was perhaps not surprising that Edward should reach out for a steadier successor in William. Edward had spent much of his life in exile, probably mostly in Normandy, following the ousting of his father, Aethelred, by Danish invaders under Swein Forkbeard, and the death of his brother, Edmund Ironside, in 1016. It is probable that he retained some sympathy for Normandy when he returned to England in extraordinary circumstances in 1041.

Edward’s royal predecessor and half-brother, Harthacnut, seems to have offered Edward some form of power-sharing agreement in the year before he died. Whether this was because Harthacnut was already ill, and wanted to guarantee the succession, or because he was forced to do so against his will by the mighty Godwin, is unclear. What is for sure is that when Harthacnut died in 1042, his successor was ready and in place.

Edward’s entire reign was played out under the shadow of Godwin and his family. He married Godwin’s daughter Edith, whether willingly or not, in 1045. By that stage, he had already raised three of the Godwinsons to rank amongst the highest nobles in the land. Most notably, he had made Harold, Godwin’s second son, earl of East Anglia. This served to cement the family as the powerbrokers of the country.

Edward was no doormat. He made a number of attempts to free himself of the Godwinsons, picking fights over the behaviour of Swein Godwinson (whom he exiled) and insisting on appointing his own candidate as archbishop of Canterbury in the face of Godwinson opposition, in 1051. Indeed 1051 seems to have been a pivotal year for Edward’s resistance to the Godwin family. In addition to seeing the settlement of the dispute over the archbishopric and exile of Swein Godwinson, it is also the most likely year in which Edward would have offered the succession to William.

As Edward’s reign progressed, it became clear that no heir was likely to be forthcoming. By the mid-1060s, when Edward was probably around sixty years old, the battle lines were fully drawn. On the one side stood William of Normandy, in all likelihood Edward’s anointed heir, and on the other Harold, the eldest surviving Godwinson.

At this point occurred one of the most hotly debated incidents in the immediate pre-invasion period: Harold Godwinson’s appearance at William’s court, probably at some point in 1064. As ever, in the absence of an impartial and authoritative source, theories regarding Harold’s appearance in Normandy abound. He may, as Norman sources claim, have been travelling to William’s court in order to swear fealty to William, or as an emissary confirming Edward’s choice of William as successor. Later sources with an Anglo-Saxon slant insist that he was travelling to Normandy to negotiate the release of hostages held by William, and had no intention of augmenting William’s claim. He may simply have been shipwrecked whilst on another mission entirely – even a fishing trip. What is certain is that having initially been captured by Guy of Ponthieu he was handed over, perhaps with some reluctance on Guy’s part, to William.

Norman sources are clear that during his time in Normandy, Harold was treated as an honoured guest. He even took part in one of William’s campaigns in Brittany. What is of paramount importance to the Norman chroniclers, however, is that he swore an oath, on holy relics, to uphold William’s claim to the throne of England. Some years later the episode would be immortalized in the opening scenes of the Bayeux Tapestry.

Whether Harold actually swore the oath of his own free will or whether he did so under duress is of key importance – and unfortunately for us, completely unknown. What is certain is that within a couple of years he had set the oath aside.

Edward the Confessor died on 6 January 1066. Immediately afterwards, Harold was crowned king. According to tradition, this could only have taken place with the approval of the most powerful magnates in the country. These included two of his surviving brothers, Gyrth and Leofwine, but notably excluded his other brother, Tostig, who had recently been ousted from the earldom of Northumbria and sent into exile. Two of the men likely to have been closely involved in Tostig’s misfortune, the earls Morcar and Edwin, were present, however, suggesting that the turbulent nature of the Godwinsons had erupted into outright confrontation between the brothers.

Harold’s rule was by no means secure, nor widely welcomed. For a start, quite apart from Duke William, there was at least one other claimant with a much stronger claim. Edgar Atheling, grandson of Edmund Ironside, had a much more impressive royal bloodline. Atheling was only a teenager at the time, however, and Harold was the seasoned warrior lord on the spot, with powerful friends and, perhaps, the deathbed assent of his predecessor.

William’s response to the news that his own claim to the throne had been set aside can be imagined. Norman sources paint a picture of righteousness, angered by Harold’s apparent betrayal, though it’s fair to believe that the hard-bitten William would not have been over-surprised at Harold’s opportunism. Whatever his thoughts, his immediate actions made it clear that he realized that he would have to fight for the throne of England. He first appealed to the Pope, Alexander II, and obtained papal endorsement for his military adventure. With God on board, he then set about securing the agreement and support of his Norman lords. This may not have been easy: there was no absolute requirement for Norman vassals to serve overseas, and the gains would not have obviously outweighed the risks. However, by holding a series of councils and pressing his claim on their allegiance firmly, William gained the confidence of his feudal underlings. In addition, he recruited large numbers of mercenary knights from northern France and further afield.

The logistical problems facing William were formidable. Normandy had no historically obvious naval tradition, and would certainly have been able to raise fewer suitable ships than Harold could. However, a document known as the Ship List (a twelfth century monastic copy of an apparently authentic original) indicates that William set about acquiring a large number of ships through his feudal vassals. By purchase or manufacture it seems likely that he was able to raise around 700 vessels of many different types, from longship-style warships to deeper-draught merchant ships suitable for transporting horses. By the summer of 1066, William stood ready.

Harold, too, was geared