The Fateful Year: 1066

Anglo-Saxon resistance did not melt away at the conclusion of the Battle of Hastings. By Paul Bernardi.

William, with his step-brothers, as depicted by the Bayeux Tapestry

When William, Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold II on Senlac ridge on that chill autumn day in October 1066, he must have hoped that the whole country would submit to him without further delay. But he soon found out that little had changed with Harold’s gruesome death. It would be another ten weeks before he could truly call himself King.

A battle had been fought in which England had, admittedly, lost its head of state (along with two of his brothers) along with many warriors on both sides. But in that moment and, indeed, after his eventual coronation and for several years to come, William’s position was precarious to say the least.