Building the Invasion Fleet

     Craftsmen with axes, adzes, and other tools are finishing off the planks and timbers. The work was probably done at Dives-sur-Mer, on the Normandy coast near the town of Caen. Approximately eight hundred ships were built in a few months.

William's Ships Cross the English Channel

     Harold had assembled a fleet off the Isle of Wight and planned to attack William before his ships could be built, but the winds failed him. William sailed from Saint Valery at the end of September, and landed without opposition at Pevensey. Harold had been forced to send his ships to London to refit.

William Takes Counsel

     After William crossed the Channel from Normandy to England he held a council of war with two of his half brothers, Bishop Odo of Bayeux and Robert of Mortain.

The Battle of Hastings Begins

     Harold's house-carls (bodyguards) fight against the Norman cavalry from behind the shield-wall. A single unarmored bowman is a reminder that Harold did not have many archers. In any case, the light arrows they used were of little use against armored knights.