The Battle of Hastings: Sources and Interpretations

The Battle of Hastings is a unique collection of materials focused on one of the most significant battles in European history. It includes all the primary sources for the battle, including pictorial, and seminal accounts of the battle by the major hi... Read more

The Battle of Hastings is a unique collection of materials focused on one of the most significant battles in European history. It includes all the primary sources for the battle, including pictorial, and seminal accounts of the battle by the major historians of the last two centuries. Stephen Morillo, in his own important piece, first sets the scene, describing the political situation in western Europe in the mid-eleventh century, and the events of 1066. He then introduces the sources, reviewing the perspective of their medieval authors, and traces the history of writing about the battle. An important companion to the sources and interpretations is the set of original maps of the major stages of the battle, from first contact in the early morning of 14 October 1066 to final pursuit in the late evening darkness. Sources: WILLIAM OF POITIERS, WILLIAM OF JUMIEGES, ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE, FLORENCE OF WORCESTER, BAYEUX TAPESTRY, CARMEN DE HASTINGAE PROELIO Interpretations: RICHARD ABELS, BERNARD BACHRACH, R. ALLEN BROWN, MARJORIE CHIBNALL, E.A. FREEMAN, J.F.C. FULLER, JOHN GILLINGHAM, CAROL GILLMOR, RICHARD GLOVER, CHRISTINE and GERALD GRAINGE, DAVID HUME, STEPHEN MORILLO. STEPHEN MORILLO teaches history at Wabash College, Indiana; he is the author of Warfare under the Anglo-Norman Kings and a number of other studies of Anglo-Norman warfare. Less