Battle Abbey, South East England

To understand the story of Battle Abbey, we need to go back to the reign of King Edward the Confessor, who died on the 4th of January 1066, with no direct heir to the throne of England.  England at this time was a great prize, and in 1066 there were three main contenders for the throne who all had some reason to justify their claim.   These men were Earl Harold of Wessex, King Harold Hardrada of Norway and Duke William of Normandy.  Harold of Wessex had no Royal blood but his sister was married to Edward the Confessor. He was known to, and had been loyal to the King. This is at a time when there was no hereditary right established to the Crown and the day after Edward the Confessor died, Harold of Wessex became King Harold of England, and was crowned in Westminster Abbey.  Harold Hardrada based his claim on a treaty of 1038, made by his father Magnus, with Harthacnut who was King of England at the time.  William of Normandy’s claim, was that Edward the Confessor’s mother, Queen Emma, was the daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy and the great aunt of William, making him an illegitimate cousin of Edward the Confessor.  William of Normandy pursued his claim while Edward the Confessor was still on the throne. Earl Harold of Wessex was shipwrecked off the coast of France and was imprisoned by the Count of Ponthieu. William of Normandy freed Earl Harold and made him his guest.  Harold even joined William on several military campaigns and at some point during his stay, Harold took an oath recognizing William’s right to the throne of England. The question is, did he have a choice, or was he a hostage in 1064? Depending on which side of the channel you are on, we are told he took this oath either voluntarily or by force.  The history you will see in France will say, that by taking the throne for himself, Harold broke his oath and cheated William out of what was rightfully his. In England however, he is William the Conqueror, who supplanted the English nobility and replaced them with Normans. The truth is we don’t know and this allows each country to write it the way they prefer. 

Harold’s first challenge came in May of 1066, when his own brother Tostig, who had been living in exile in Flanders, landed in Eastern England but was beaten back by Earl Edwin of Mercia.  Expecting an invasion, Harold kept his forces on the Isle of Wight and along the southern coast.  By September, the weather had turned and it did not seem that either Hardrada or William of Normandy, would be arriving any time soon.  King Harold disbanded much of his army, only to discover a day or two later, that Hardrada's forces had landed on the north-east coast.  King Harold reacted swiftly and marched an army north. He managed to surprise Hardrada’s army and won the Battle of Stamford Bridge on the 25th of September.  It was reported that Hardrada’s army came to England in 300 ships, but only 30 were needed to take back the survivors. 

Only a day or so after King Harold’s victory at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, William of Normandy set sail from St Valery and crossed the English Channel, landing at Pevensey unopposed.  With the southern army either fighting in the north, or having been disbanded, William had time to construct a wooden castle, using part of the old roman fort there, before moving on to Hastings.  It is thought that King Harold was still in York when he learned of William’s landing.  The King gathered his tired troops and marched 190 miles to London, only pausing briefly to gather more troops, then marched on and met William’s army at Hastings. Each army is thought to have had been around 5,000 to 7,000 men, exact numbers are unknown. The main difference between them, was that the Normans made extensive use of cavalry and the English relied mainly on foot soldiers. Even if they travelled on horseback, they did not use the horses in battle. Instead they used the tried-and-tested shield wall, with soldiers armed with spears and swords, and housecarls using two-handed battleaxes. These two different fighting styles met face to face at Hastings. 

The two contemporary accounts we have of the Battle of Hastings come from the Bayeux Tapestry and the chronicler William of Poitiers.  Soon after dawn broke, on the 14th of October 1066, King Harold arranged his forces along the ridge that is now occupied by Battle Abbey.  The English line may have stretched for half a mile.  King Harold had his elite group of housecarls gathered around him, as well has his two brothers Gyrth and Loefwine.  The English formed a shield wall on the hilltop.  This formation was thought to be nearly impervious to cavalry. William of Poitiers tells us that the soldiers were so close together that ‘the dead could scarcely fall and the wounded could not remove themselves from the action.’  William of Normandy’s army was to the south, on what was probably scrub land used for grazing.  King Harold’s army on the ridge, was backed by forest. At 9am the trumpets sounded and battle was joined.  For King Harold to win the battle, his army just needed to stand their ground and keep their shield wall intact, while the Norman’s repeated assaults would tire them and wipe out their army by gradual attrition.  The Normans needed to fracture the English line and would try and do so with archers and infantry, allowing the cavalry to ride through and finish off their opponents. However neither of those things happened.

William of Poitiers tells us

‘It was a strange king of battle, one side attacking with all mobility the other withstanding, as though rooted to the soil.’

At a time when battles were often decided within the hour, the Battle of Hastings went on for 9 hours.  For many of those hours, the Normans repeated their assaults on the English line. William of Poitiers writes: 

‘The Normans and their allies, observing that they could not overcome an enemy which was so numerous and so solidly drawn up, without severe losses retreated, simulating flight as a trick…among the barbarians there was great joy some thousands of them threw themselves in pursuit of those whom they believed to be in flight.  Suddenly the Normans reined in their horses intercepted and surrounded and killed them to the last man.’

Dusk was approaching and William’s army made one final effort to take the ridge.  The story goes that William instructed his archers to shoot their arrows high into the air, instead of directly at the English line. This allowed the arrows to fall vertically, behind the English shields, causing many casualties, then the Norman infantry came on again. It was during this assault that King Harold was killed, he was supposedly killed by being hit with an arrow to his eye. This was the turning point and the English forces fled.  William of Poitiers states: 

‘The Normans, though strangers to the district pursued them relentlessly, slashing their guilt backs and putting that last touches to the victory.  Even the hooves of the horses inflicted punishment on the dead as they galloped over their bodies. ‘

On the 25th of December 1066, William of Normandy, was crowned as King William I of England.  Legend tells us that just before the Battle of Hastings, Duke William made a vow that should he be victorious, he would establish a monastery on the site of the battle.  Whether the story is true or not, this is exactly what William the Conqueror did. Some have suggested that was an act of public atonement. Whatever his reason, he had four monks from the Benedictine Abbey of Marmoutier on the Loire, travel to England to create this new monastery.  William wanted the Abbey to be built on the scene of the fiercest fighting and its High Altar was to be built on the very spot where Harold had been killed.  This caused some major building issues, as the site had to be levelled.  Monastic sites were usually chosen for their landscape, and here they had no choice of location.  The bottom of the field was swampy and the slope of the hill and narrow ridge, caused problems. The bedrock was porous sandstone and there was no water supply. The monks wanted to use a nearby field but William insisted on the location and of course, the King had his way. 

The King’s treasury met all the construction costs.  The monks lived in temporary wooden accommodation while the Abbey was being built and the hilltop was levelled, and extended.  By 1076, the Choir was completed and this was consecrated so that it could be used.  In 1094, 18 years later, the church was finished and consecrated in the presence of King William II, the Conqueror having recently died. Before his death though, he managed to secure the future of the Abbey, with generous gifts and endowments.  The most important of these, was the part that stated that all the land within a league,  or 1½ miles in all directions, from the High Altar of the Abbey church, would have the freedom from secular authorities.  This meant that the Abbot would answer to no one; he would virtually be King of his 3 mile radius.  This right would be a struggle for the Abbey to maintain. 

In 1147, Bishop Hilary of Chichester, challenged Battle Abbey’s claim to the exemption granted to the Abbey by the Conqueror, and excommunicated Battle’s Abbot.  The Abbot appealed to the King and this argument went on for the next 10 years. The Abbey even forged a document, detailing William the Conqueror’s vow to found the Abbey before the battle, in order to support their case.  Eventually Bishop Hilary appealed to the Pope and in May of 1157, both Abbot and Bishop were summoned to the King’s court at Westminster to put their cases to King Henry II.  The King sided in favour of the Abbey but the matter continued. Then, in 1211, the monks paid 1,500 marks to King John, who in turn confirmed the Abbey’s liberties. In 1230, the Bishop of Chichester appealed to the Pope for a ruling and a compromise was reached, preserving enough of the Abbey’s privileges to recognise it's special status, while allowing the Bishop to exercise some control over the Abbey. 

The Hundred Years War with France, which began in the 1330’s, affected the Abbey and all the land and settlements on the south coast of England, and many were victims of French raids.  The Abbot of Battle, who was the major landowner in the area, organised the coastal defences between Romney March and the Pevensey Levels.  In 1338, the Abbot of Battle mustered all available men to guard the port of Winchelsea, which was a landing point for the French.  He also strengthened the Abbey’s defences and built the substantial gatehouse that remains today. As the raids continued, the Abbey provided food and clothing for refugees fleeing inland.  In the summer of 1377, Hastings was attacked by the French and Abbot Hamo of Battle led his forces in the successful defence of the town.  The records record his warrior hauberk (coat of chain mail) and crossbow.  Battle Abbey today is only a fraction of what it once was, the battlefield is more intact than the Abbey but enough remains to be able to understand the layout of the monastery.