the Norman invasion

1. first there was a rush for the top of caldbec hill, this was won by Harold. the area was on the top of a hill with marshland eitherside.

2. william then sent his footsoldiers to attack the wall this had little effect and Harold held his position, then william tried to shoot them with his archers but they used their shields to deflect the shots. finally the cavelry was sent up the hill but this also had no effect as the horses couldn't get speed up on the hill.

3. a rumor started to spread that william had died but he showed his face to show he hadn't died. this gave the normans new energy

4. a group of harolds shield men decided to chase some retreating enemies down the hill, they got surrounded and slaughtered. after this william displayed a few fake retreats to kill harolds men.

5. harold eventually lost enough troops that there were big gaps in the shield wall this allowed soldiers to go through and kill all of the saxons. harold was killed and william had won

william won for a set of numerous tactical risks which payed off. these were:

• william held his troops at the docks in normandy until the fyrd had disbanded, this meant he could attack harold when he was weakest. but this did mean that he had to go across the channel in bad weater.
• he also had to build special boats to transport the specially bred horses williams knights had. this was the first time this happened
• as soon as william got to england he built a castle in pevensey bay.
• once in england he allowed his troop to destroy anything they liked, this would lure harold out in a rage and cause him to make stupid descisions in his anger.

the norman knights were very well trained on horses and their entire battle strategies were designed for a horse. they used lances, swords and maces as their weapons. they would also have a big kite shaped shield to protect their side and leg. the armour they wore was chainmail armour, this was a long top and trousers made out of metal rings.

the housecarls had big round shields made for locking together in a shield wall. they also had chainmail sewn into leather as their armour. they also wore helmets with a nose piece. they would use javalins, axes, swords and other weapons. a housecarl was so strong they could decapitate a hores with a single axe blow.

the normans also had normans and mercenaries as their normal footsoldiers. these were far superior to harolds fyrdsmen who were just ordinary farmers forced into battle.