On this hillside, on Saturday the 14th of October 1066, a single battle between a few thousand men permanently changed the course of history in England and beyond.s It was said to have taken place at the Grey Apddsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsple Tree Nowadays, the site is known simply as "Battle". The English occupied this ridge, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, many armed with huge axes. To protect themselves, they overlapped their shields forming the shield wall. This was the traditional way of fighting; tried and tested over the centuries. Confronting them was something startlingly new in English warfare. The Normans were drawn up in three lines. First the archers, then the infantry, then the mounted knights. It said that william hung around his neck the very saints relics on which [Harold] had sworn his oath With the papal banner fluttering in the breeze he must have been confident that God and the saints were backing him Harold's Army was baffled weary and exhausted from the Long March South Fighting began about nine o'clock in the morning [Norman's] charged Uphill The War cries on both sides were soon drowned out by the clash of arms and the shrieks and groans of the wounded and the dying Harold's men were packed so densely behind their solid shield wheel that the dead were unable to fall Couldn't break the English line The rumor spread amongst the Normans that William had been killed the men on the left flank panicked and began to Rush down the Hill The English above broke ranks and followed them But William had not been killed he pushed back his helmet to reveal his face and called out I live and with God's help will conquer yet The Normans immediately Rallied turned on the English who are pursuing them and cut them down? the English Line was broken [Norman's] charged in The Bayeux tapestry shows all the confusion and desperation of the battle In the [11th] century it was customary for the bishops to join in though. They were forbidden to shed blood Here's Bishop. Odo William's half-brother. He's carrying a huge [club] That way he could break a few arms or heads without any bloodshed bodies fall in a heap of twisted and broken limbs The Hillside must have been saturated [with] blood Then came the decisive moment the death of King Harold [two] early accounts of the battle say that an arrow struck the king in the eyes The King was Dead and the world was coming to an end Harold's body was so mutilated that it couldn't even be found It was recognized eventually legend has it by his mistress, Edith the swan --Neck Who identified it by certain secret marks Known only to her and along with Harold? Anglo-Saxon England died on this Battlefield one of Williams Chaplains describes the scene the flower of English Youth the flower of English nobility covered the ground far and wide filthy with Their own blood you It said the william refused to bury the English dead they lay rotting for days He would later relent and build an Abbey here as penance for the carnage of the battle [its] altar is said to have been built on the spot where harold fell but in the immediate aftermath of the battle William felt no remorse [a] Week after his victory this bastard descendant of viking pirates set off on the March to London He was now William the conqueror soon to be William King of England the future belonged to the Normans you