The Battle of Hastings

Today October 14, 2009 is the 943rd anniversary of the Battle of Hastings and in all likelihood most of you have just thought 'so what'. Well, though the battle occurred nearly a thousand years ago it impacts us all today in ways we don't even realize. For instance, if it had not ended the way it did, we would sound more like the Swedish Chef when talking (think about that the next time you're reading Shakespeare).

1066 did not start as a pivotal year in world history. A French loving English king named Edward the Confessor shuffled off his mortal coil. He had no children but at this point that was not an issue since the Anglo Saxons didn't go in for all that 'royal' blood stuff. The Witanagemot - a sort of proto-parliament - elected English kings through acclamation. So they got together and elected a guy named Harold Godwinson, son of the Earl (his title not his first name) Godwin (hence the name Godwinson) of Wessex. He became Harold II and you would think that everything was okay after that but...

Apparently before Edward died, he promised a Frankified Scandinavian, William Duke of Normandy also known as William the Bastard because he was, well...a bastard (in both meanings of the word) the crown. To make matters worse, another Harold, this one from Norway, said that he deserved the throne because he was related to the king before Edward, a Norwegian guy named Canute, or Knut (no relation to the Rockne family). One wonders at what point the English Harold thought the Witanagemot did not like him. Are you with me so far?

As if that weren't bad enough, William claimed that Harold promised not to become king over some sacred bones. So he sent ambassadors to Rome and got some Papal Bull that said Harold would be kicked out of the Catholic club if he didn't give the crown to William. Papal Bulls don't understand or care much for Anglo Saxon common law. The Witanagemot and Harold said "No Way Jose!" to the Papal Poop - which must have sounded funny with a Norwegian accent - and war was inevitable at this point.

Okay, in late September the Norwegian Harold invaded England near York and the English Harold rushed to fight him at a place called Stamford Bridge. The Norwegian Harold lost the battle and the ability to exchange oxygen and the English had a very good day. But before the English could get their groove on, news that William landed near Hastings arrived and Harold force marched his army south. The two armies met (a total of under 20,000 men; pretty small by modern comparison) in a battle that lasted from just after sunrise to near sunset that day. Harold fell to an arrow (in the eye) and most of England would concede to William by Christmas.

Though the Normans won the day and brought hereditary kingship to England, they failed to eradicate the Anglo Saxon common law. In fact, thanks to Hastings, those of us of English descent cling more tightly to that Anglo Saxon heritage. In 1215 the French nobles were so Anglicized that they presented King John with a bill (the Magna Carta) demanding their (English) rights be returned. The framers of the Constitution relied heavily on the Anglo Saxon law written in their DNA to justify the revolution and they put on paper for the first time the rights we (Anglo Saxons) know are granted to us from God. Prior to 1066 every Saxon understood his rights to speak his mind, assemble for redress of grievances, to have a representative voice before the king (remember the Witanagemot), to build, buy, and carry weapons for self defense and hunting, to be judged by an assembly of their peers, and to be secure in their homes, labors, and possessions. In this modern age where our legislators are increasingly power hungry, grabbing for rights that we have held sacred since before written history, and demanding an ever increasing amount of the fruits of our labor; it is important to remember the Battle of Hastings. Hastings proves that though we may lose battles in the war between personal freedom and authoritarianism, the power of those ideals endure.