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The Battle of Hastings (1066) is perhaps the most famous battles in Medieval Britain, if not Europe. This bloody day changed the course of British history and had a profound impact on the development of the modern world. It led not only to a change of dynasty in England but also indirectly to the development of the English language, law, and political institutions which have had an immense impact, far beyond the British Isles.  The battle followed in the wake of the Normans landing on the southern coast of England. King Harold II, after defeating a Viking invasion at Stamford Bridge in the north of England headed south to meet the invaders. The two sides met at Hastings in Sussex on the 16th of October 1066. The battle lasted all day and only ended with the death of Harold II. At Hastings, the Normans routed the Anglo-Saxons, and this allowed them to conquer and occupy England. The Battle of 1066 is so famous that many think they know what happened. This is not the case and there are many myths about the battle, that many people accept as historical fact.  In reality, the surviving accounts of the Battle of Hastings are all suspect. They are were either written by Anglo-Saxon writers who hated the Normans as foreign overlords, or they were authored by Normans who had an interest in misrepresenting events. This article will try and disentangle fact from fiction and truth from myth, with regard to the Battle of Hastings.

In many modern accounts, the Battle of Hastings is shown to be was a very close affair. This, as we have seen, was true closely fought battle and as long as the Anglo-Saxons shield-wall held they were able to repel the Normans. It is widely reported that the death of Harold changed the tide of battle. Until his death, the battle was headed to a bloody stalemate. The sudden death of the king of England changed the course of the clash and probably altered the course of English and global history.  However, while it is known for certain that Harold was killed during the battle his death did not doom the Anglo-Saxons to defeat . <ref>Marren, p 119</ref>. In fact, it seems that the The last Anglo-Saxon king was killed when after the tide of battle had shifted decisively in favor of the invaders from France. The feigned retreat ordered by William had worked brilliantly and his counterattack had effectively won the day for the man who would be known to history as the first Norman king of England. One of the greatest myths about the battle was that Harold’s death doomed the Anglo-Saxons to defeat and to their eventual domination by the Normans.

One of the apparently undisputed facts about the battle was that King Harold II was killed after he was struck by an arrow in the eye. This is based on one account and on a scene from the Bayeux Tapestry. This tapestry is a 70-foot-long (200 meters) work of embroidery that depicts the Battle of Hastings. It was created in the 1070s and is one of the most significant accounts for the events of 1066. It does show a man being hit by an arrow to the eye and this is widely believed to have been a visualization of the death of the last Anglo-Saxon king. However, there are different accounts of the death of Harold, but they all agree that he died in battle .<ref> Marren, p 118</ref>.  In one Norman chronicle, the Anglo-Saxon monarch was slain as he ran away, but this was probably an invention to discredit the memory of a man still revered by many people in England for many decades after 1066. There is another account of Harold’s death, that states he was hit by a number of arrows and as he lay wounded he was hacked to pieces by some foot soldiers. How Harold died on that fateful day in October 1066 will never be fully established. The and even the burial place of the last Anglo-Saxon king has not been identified .<ref>Rex, Peter. Harold II: The Doomed Saxon King (Stroud, UK: Tempus, 2005), p 119</ref>.  

In most historical accounts the Battle of Hastings is shown to be so decisive that it ended all resistance against the Norman invaders and that William was the Normans were able to impose his iron their will on England. In factThe reality is more complicated, while the Battle was decisive it did not crush all resistanceto the invaders remained. The While the English nobles had submitted to William before his coronation as King in Westminster Abbey in 1066. , Norman control was not secure, and the sons of somewhat challenged. The Harold 's repeatedly raided the coast of England from Ireland and there were sporadic revolts against William I.  In 1069 the Danes landed in northern England to support a rebellion by the Northern Anglo-Saxon Earls. The Norman king was forced to pay the Danes to leave England. When the rebels refused to do battle, William the Conqueror launched a scorched earth policy, which caused a famine. This came to be known as the Harrying of the North and some modern writers claim that it was tantamount to an act of genocide against the local population. The myth that the Battle of Hastings was the end of the conquest is not borne out by the facts. <ref>Lawson, p 118</ref> Indeed it was only in 1070 with the suppression of the Northern Earls that the conquest of the Normans is said to be completewas completed.

There are many myths around the Battle of Hastings. The first is that it was Instead of being a contest for the English crown of England between two rival claimants, in fact, the battle it was an illegitimate bid for power by the Norman king William who has only at best had a tenuous weak claim. Then there is to the incorrect belief that the march of the Anglo-Saxon army was the main reason for the defeat of Harold’s armyEnglish throne. In factNext, the Harold's army was rested before did not lose the battle that was fought on that late Autumn day. Then there is the widespread assumption that because of a forced march, nor did Harold's death turn the death tide of war, because he died after the English king was responsible for Normans had taken the Norman victoryadvantage. The brilliant strategy of a William's feigned retreat gave William I was brilliant that led to a decisive victory. The accepted version of the death of Harold II is that he was killed by an arrow to the eye, but in truthFinally, no-one knows for certain how he died. Another common misconception is that William’s victory in 1066 ended all English did not resistance and in reality, it was to be at least the Norman invaders. English rebels fought for another four years before he controlled all of his new realmWilliam consolidated control over England.