Breton Infantry, Norman Army, The Age of Arthur--three figures with kite shields (thrusting underhand (red), thrusting overhand (blue), stabbing downward (yellow))
$148.00
Item Number: NM-58A
Breton Infantry, Norman Army, The Age of Arthur--three figures with kite shields (thrusting underhand (red), thrusting overhand (blue), stabbing downward (yellow))
THE AGE OF ARTHUR
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS 1066
THE NORMAN ARMY
The 1066 Norman army included many groups of knights who were trained to fight side by side under the same leaders. This meant they were disciplined and skilled in co-ordinating “feigned flight”, and then turning and cutting down their pursuers.
All the sources agree that the battle of Hastings was a very bloody affair. The Battle began at 9am on Saturday 14th October 1066, and both sides were still engaged at dusk, which was around 5pm. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, speaks of “great slaughter on both sides”. William of Poitiers, describing the aftermath, wrote that “far and wide, the earth was covered with the flower of the English nobility and youth, drenched in blood”.
For the Godwinson family in particular, the battle was catastrophic, for not only King Harold, but two of his younger brothers, Leofwine and Gyrth, were among the fallen. (Another brother, Tostig, had been killed three weeks earlier at Stamford Bridge). It is estimated that the Norman Army 7,000 strong, suffered around 2,000 casualties.
BRETON INFANTRY
Although there are some references to Breton infantry at Hastings, they seemed to have been depended so exclusively on cavalry, that the infantry were known as being very poor. There is very little known during this period of the Bretons fighting on foot, a source around 1120 records Bretons as being seven times better fighting on horse than on foot.
Due to be released in AUGUST 2024.
