Harold decided to force march his army to London just two days after winning the victory at Stamford Bridge.

Harold Godwinson had an excellent military track record from the reign of Edward, particularly when he crushed Welsh resistance in his successful conquest of Wales.

The Papal approval led to the Norman army containing more than just Norman troops. There were troops from places such as Bolonge, Breton and Flanders to add further strength to William’s army.

Godwinson decided to marry the sister of Edwin and Morcar, thus binding the northern earls to him and giving them reason to fight hard for him.

Harold faced invasion from the North and from the South at the same time.

Harold had proven himself as an astute general by defeating a Viking army led by one of the most respected, successful warriors of the period.

When the Norman fleet made their moves along the Norman coast before the invasion some men were lost at sea and William enforced a huge cover-up so that his army didn’t find out such morale damaging news. When his ships were scattered on the way over the channel, William refused to panic and simply ate his breakfast calmly in front of the crew and his solders.

When the Normans landed William ordered his troops to ravage the land, partly to gather supplies but also to draw Godwinson to battle as soon as possible.

Harold decided, in London, to march to Hastings as soon as possible in an attempt to repeat the success of Stamford Bridge.

During the battle William, at great danger to himself, removed his helmet and galloped along the battlefield exclaiming that he was still alive, crushing a rumour that he had died which could have led to the disintegration of his army.

William used the various units in his army to help him to eliminate the strong shield-wall. For example the foot-soldiers were used to wear it down, the archers were asked to fire high to force the shields to lift and the cavalry was used to kill any English that came off the hill.

Some historians suggest that William waited, knowing that it would stretch Godwinson’s forces to keep them on high alert for as long as possible. He would also have known about the Fyrd term of service being two months.

Soon after hearing the news of Godwinson taking the throne, William sent a delegation to the Pope to seek his approval for the invasion. This approval led to thousands of men joining from across Northern Europe and helped to convince many of his own Barons to support him.

The Fyrd was only required to serve for a maximum of two months and by September Harold had to let them go to collect the harvest. The terms of the Fyrd were decided long before Harold’s reign.

Harold’s accidental visit to Normandy in 1064/65 meant that William was able to portray him as a liar and accuse him perjury (swearing a false oath) which was very serious in 1066.

The Northumbrian uprising led to the exile of Tostig, during the reign of Edward. This put Godwinson in an extremely difficult position.

The English fleet was used to guarding the coast and was fairly well trained but was badly damaged in a storm just before the Normans crossed the channel.

Mid-battle William ordered his men to pretend to retreat in order to try to draw the English off the hill. Each time this tempted more of the Fyrd from the strong hill position and once they were on the flat the Norman cavalry could ride the English down.

Godwinson had strong, powerful, loyal, experienced housecarls, a large number of the Fyrd and probably a few archers scattered amongst his army. William had foot-soldiers from across Northern Europe, large numbers of archers and cavalry giving him more options in the fight.

The Norman archers possibly delivered the killer blow with some sources suggesting Harold was killed with an arrow to the eye. Either way the Norman archers certainly weakened the shield wall and by firing high it made it difficult to maintain.

The cavalry was the portion of the Norman army that delivered the killer blows to any English soldiers that strayed off the hill; a cavalry charge was the Medieval battlefield’s ultimate weapon.