The Saxon Housecarls at Hastings - 1066

On January 6, 1066, Harold Godwinson became King Harold II following the death of his brother-in-law, Edward the Confessor.  By late summer, he was faced with two imminent attempts to invade England.  The first came in the northeast from his traitorous brother, Tostig, and King Harald Hardraada of Norway.  Tostig, Hardraada, and the Viking army landed in three hundred ships at Fulford, near York.  They quickly dispatched forces led by local earls and began to advance southward.  Harold II, who had been waiting in London to see which invasion would occur first, marched north.  His quick forced march (two hundred miles in four days) took the Vikings by surprise at their encampment near Stamford Bridge.  Hardraada and the Vikings had no desire to meet Harold's legendary bodyguard, the housecarls, so Tostig was sent to negotiate.  When an agreement could not be reached, Harold and the Saxons attacked.  Tostig, Hardraada and almost every Norseman were killed. 

While celebrating his defeat of Hardraada at a victory feast, Harold received word that Duke William the Bastard had landed at Pevensey in the south with 7,000 men.  Harold gathered his forces, marched south to London, and by the evening of October 13, deployed his forces along Battle, or Senlac, Ridge near Hastings.  The battle developed into a deadly engagement between the Saxon infantry and the Norman cavalry and archers.  Initially, Norman arrows were harmlessly deflected by Saxon shields, and Saxon axes and spears shattered the first Norman charge.  Overcome by confidence, the Saxon infantry unwisely followed the retreating cavalry in reckless pursuit and were cut down by the Norman reserve.  Harold reformed his forces and the Saxons braced for additional charges.  The battle evolved into relentless pounding on the Saxon line by the Norman cavalry.  The Saxons more than held their own and inflicted heavy casualties. 

Just before evening, William feigned a general withdrawal and many Saxons again broke ranks to pursue.  The knights wheeled round and destroyed the Saxon infantry in the open field, but Harold and his housecarl bodyguard remained intact and just as formidable on the ridge. William ordered final charge.  This time he first had his archers aim not at the Saxon shields but release their volleys into the air so the arrows would fall on the Saxons from above.  The tactic worked, but the Harold and his housecarls fought on until an arrow struck the king in the eye.  As Harold struggled to pull it free, four Norman knights (one of whom may have been William) attacked.  One speared Harold in the chest, and a second nearly decapitated him with a sword.  As he fell, the other two Normans delivered additional blows.  With Harold's fall, the Saxon forces panicked and retreated into the nearby woods except for the housecarls who fought to the death around the body of their dead king. 

• During the negotiations at Stamford Bridge, Harold offered Tostig one-third of the kingdom.  Although tempted, Tostig realized that the Vikings would not be satisfied with this offer and asked Harold what he would give to Hardraada as well.  "Seven feet of English ground, or as much more as he may be taller than other men" came Harold's famous reply.

• While Harold's last words are unknown, a chronicler recorded the housecarls' final battle-cries as "Ut!  Ut!  Godemite!  Olicrosse!  (Out!  Out!  God Almighty!  Holy Cross!)"

When Leopold III of Austria led his 5,000 knights and 1,500 infantry into Switzerland in 1386, it was the culmination of numerous attempts by the Hapsburgs to force feudal claims upon the cantons.  In the past, the highly respected Swiss infantry had always successfully defended their freedom.  The citizens were summoned to arms, and 1,500 men assembled to meet the Austrians at Sempach.  As the immediate terrain was not conducive to a cavalry charge, Leopold ordered his men to dismount and form into bristling phalanx of spearmen.  Although unplanned, this trapped  the Swiss.  For the Swiss to attack a force that was four times larger seemed suicidal, and to withdraw they would have to retreat over ground that favored a cavalry attack.  Their cause appeared  hopeless until one man, Arnold von Winkelreid devised a plan. 

Arnold convinced his comrades to form a wedge, and he stood at the apex of the triangle.  At the command to charge, the Swiss rushed forward with Arnold at the point.  As he approached the Austrians, he stretched out his arms and legs and hurled himself into the enemy line, simultaneously impaling himself on ten spears.  The Swiss rushed through the gap that Arnold created and broke the Austrian line.  Those Austrians on the flanks and in the reserve panicked and began to flee the battlefield.  This was fatal mistake for any army to make when fighting the Swiss.  They pursued the Austrians relentlessly and killed them almost to a man, Leopold included.  The Austrians never attempted to invade Switzerland again.

• As Arnold von Winkelreid lunged at the Austrian spears, he is alleged to have shouted "Make way for liberty!"  Although this sounds like no more than a battlefield legend and a similar incident is also said to have occurred over a century later, a man named Winkelreid is, in fact , listed in records of the Swiss killed that day, and at least one contemporary ballad records the deed as happening at Sempach.