Saxon thegn   Anglo Saxon History Search Pages Home Background Landscape ▼ Changing Landscape and Language Sea Levels in AD400(Pevensey) Sea Levels in AD400(The Wash) Sea level changes last 2000 years Andredsweald and Anderida Where are the Roman Roads History of the Romney Marsh The Great Storm 1287AD List of Landscape Documents Local ▼ The Saxon Kingdom of the Haestingas The Cinque Ports 914AD Alfred the Great's fort in Hastings Battle Museum Battle History Society Villagenet Local Gazeteer World War 2 Tank database Simon the Piman(Raspberry Pi) Tourist Guides for the area Romans ▼ First Invasion 55BC Second Invasion 43AD Roman roads in Britannia Ptolemy Geographica Tribes MAP-Margary Roman Roads MAP-Roman Roads South East MAP-Roman Roads South West MAP-Roman Roads Wales MAP-Roman Roads South Midlands MAP-Roman Roads South Yorkshire MAP-Roman Locations Norfolk MAP-Roman Locations Essex MAP-Wealden Roads/Bloomeries Wealden Bloomeries 1st Century Wealden Bloomeries 2nd Century Wealden Bloomeries 3rd Century Wealden Bloomeries 4th Century MAP-Antonine Itinery I Roman Industry in the Brede Valley Decline in Roman Wealden Ironworking The Gallic Empire 260AD - 274AD Types of Roman Fortification List of Roman Documents Saxon Chronicles ▼ 914AD Burghal Hideage Locations - 449AD Ebbsfleet Locations - 455AD Agelesþrep Locations - 485AD Mearcredesburnan Stede Locations - 914AD Eorpeburnan Invaders 1 - Henghest, Horsa and Æsc Invaders 2 - The Haestingas Invaders 3 - Aelle Cymen Wlenca Cissa Invaders 4 - West Seaxe (Wessex) 449AD(2) the Welsh flee from Henghest 449AD(1) Henghest lands at Ypwinesfleot 455AD Henghest fights at Agælesþrep 456AD Henghest fights at Wippedesfleote 457AD Henghest fights at Crecganford 457AD the Haestingas !! 473AD - Welsh Flee again (Henghest and Æsc) 477AD Ælle lands at Cymensora 485AD Ælle and Mearcrædesburnan stæðe 491AD Ælle fights at Andredescester 495AD Cerdic lands at Cerdicesora 501AD Port arrives at Portesmuþa 508AD Cerdicesford and Netley 514AD Stuff and Whitgar 519AD Cerdic & Cynric at Cerdicesford 527AD Cerdic & Cynric at Cerdicesleigh 530AD - Wihtgarabyrg (Cerdic and Cynric) 534AD - Isle of Wight given to Stuff and Wihtgar 552AD - Searobyrg (Cynric) 556AD - Beranbyrg (Cynric and Ceawlin) 568AD - Wibban dune (Ceaulin and Cuþa) 1066 Battle ▼ Documentary Evidence ▼ Available Documents  1 Anglo Saxon Chronicles  2 Battle Abbey Chronicles  3 Bayeux Tapestry  4 Carmen Guy d'Amiens  5 Florence of Worcester  6 Henry of Huntingdon  7 Master Wace  8 Orderic Vitalis(Gesta)  9 William of Jumièges(Gesta) 10 William of Malmesbury 11 Quedam Exceptiones Reference to Locations Phases of the Events ▼ Phases 1066AD  1 Background 1066AD  2 In Normandy 1066AD  3 Channel Crossing 1066AD  4 The Landing 1066AD  5 Feast after Landing 1066AD  6 Building the Forts 1066AD  7 Raiding the Area 1066AD  8 Warning to Harold 1066AD  9 Stamford Bridge 1066AD 10 Harold returns to London 1066AD 11 William is Alerted 1066AD 12 Exchange of Messages 1066AD 13 Defenses 1066AD 14 Harold Reconnoitres 1066AD 15 Preparations 1066AD 16 The Night Before 1066AD 17 The Battle 1066AD 18 Harold is Killed 1066AD 19 The English Rout 1066AD 20 After the Battle 1066AD 21 The Malfosse Warriors, Weapons & Snippets ▼ Saxon - Huscarl Saxon - Fyrd(Fyrð) Senlac Hill The Malfosse The Hoar Apple Tree The Shield Wall Salt Production near Hastings The Battle of Jengland 851AD William's Ship List Norman/Viking Ships and stuff Norman bows and crossbows Harold was NOT killed by an arrow The Time Team(1066-The Lost Battlefield) List of 1066AD Weapons Battle of Hastings Index A - Setting the Scene B - Where to find the Hastings Chronicles C - The Ship list of William the Conqueror D - Ships - Drekka, Snekkja and Knarr E - Sailing - Dives sur Mer to St Valerie F - The Sailing - St Valerie to Pevensey G - The Coastline and Landscape H - New Romney Destroyed I - Why Hastings? J -Duke Williams army size and logistics K - Landscape of Haestingaport L - Hastings and its links to Fécamp Abbey M - The Landing , where was it ? Main Menu N - The two or three Castles O - The Warning to Harold and its implications P - The Long march from York Q - The Long march from York R - The Hoar Apple Tree S - The Intermediary S1 - The Hoar Apple Tree S2 - Netherfield Senlac where is it and what does it mean T - Places named in the Chronicles U - Evidence for the Malfosse V - the Battle W - The Location of the Battlefield X - Bridge collapses in the retreat Y - Analysis of the suggested_sites Z - 1066AD a Summary Observations - Arrow in the eye ? Observations - Bows and Crossbows Observations - Caltrops Observations - Huscarl(Housecarl) Observations - Norman Cavalry Observations - The Saxon Shield Wall Observations - Wooden Spades LOCATION - Hecheland where is it ? LOCATION - The Lands of Battle Abbey 1086AD Domesday ▼ Boundary of Anderida Domesday Hursts Post Domesday Hursts Domesday Manors Wasted UK Norfolk Salt Production Salt Production near Hastings The Wash at 1086 The Humber estuary at 1086 Domesday County details B ▼ Bedfordshire Domesday Population Berkshire Domesday Population Buckinghamshire Domesday Population Domesday County details C ▼ Cambridgeshire Domesday Population Cheshire Domesday Population Cornwall Domesday Population Domesday County details D ▼ Derbyshire Domesday Population Devon Domesday Population Dorset Domesday Population Domesday County details E ▼ Essex Domesday Population Domesday County details G ▼ Gloucestershire Domesday Population Domesday County details H ▼ Hampshire Domesday Population Herefordshire Domesday Population Hertfordshire Domesday Population Huntingdonshire Domesday Population Domesday County details K ▼ Kent Domesday Population Domesday County details L ▼ Leicestershire Domesday Population Lincolnshire Domesday Population Domesday County details M ▼ Middlesex Domesday Population Domesday County details N ▼ Norfolk Domesday Population Northamptonshire Domesday Population Nottinghamshire Domesday Population Domesday County details O ▼ Oxfordshire Domesday Population Domesday County details R ▼ Rutland Domesday Population Domesday County details S ▼ Shropshire Domesday Population Somerset Domesday Population Staffordshire Domesday Population Suffolk Domesday Population Surrey Domesday Population Sussex Domesday Population Domesday County details W ▼ Warwickshire Domesday Population Wiltshire Domesday Population Worcestershire Domesday Population Domesday County details Y ▼ Yorkshire Domesday Population Place names ▼ Translate my Location Celtic name snippets Jutish name snippets Roman name snippets Saxon name snippets Viking name snippets Norman name snippets Modern name snippets Villages containing HAM Villages containing TON Villages containing CASTLE Sussex Locations with ING Domesday Sussex with ING Kent Locations with ING Sussex Locations with HURST Loads of Village Translations Snippet 1 - What do eye,island,sea etc  mean ? Snippet 2 - What is a hurst ? Snippet 3 - What is a bury, a borough or burgh Snippet 4 - what is a Hythe, Hithe etc Snippet Places 1 - Tidebrook Res Battle of Hastings 1066AD - Q - Forces available to Harold The Army Harold's army at Hastings was not a single homogeneous force. It was composed of three distinct types of fighting man, drawn from different parts of the social and military structure of late Saxon England, with different weapons, different levels of training, and — as the analysis below shows — very different geographical origins. Understanding the differences between them is essential to understanding both how the battle was fought and why it ended as it did. The three types were the Huscarls (Housecarls) — professional household troops of the king and his earls; the Thegns — the minor landed nobility, mounted and moderately armoured; and the Fyrð — the select levy of freemen, primarily on foot, raised from the shires under the obligation that came with landholding. A fourth category, the Great Fyrð of all able-bodied men, was theoretically available but realistically irrelevant at Hastings given the distances and timescales involved. The numbers for each type are not recorded in any chronicle with reliability. What follows is an estimate built from Domesday Book population data, the march distances from each county to the battlefield, and cross-referenced against Master Wace's list of counties he records as contributing troops. The methodology and its limitations are set out in each section below. The Huscarls — how many? The Huscarls were the professional core of Harold's army — full-time soldiers retained on pay, equipped to the highest standard, and experienced in battle. They are consistently described in the chronicles as the most dangerous men on the Saxon side, armed with the two-handed Danish axe capable of cutting through a horse's neck, wearing ring mail and carrying large shields. No primary chronicle gives a reliable total for the Huscarls at Hastings. The figures most often cited in secondary literature — that Cnut maintained a household force of 3,000 to 4,000, and that Harold's force was around 3,000 — come from later summaries rather than contemporary sources. The one figure in a primary source is Florence of Worcester's incidental mention of 80 Huscarls on a single ship during an earlier campaign. This gives a useful data point but not a total. Two pieces of evidence suggest the Hastings figure was considerably lower than 3,000. First, Domesday Book compiled in 1086 records only 33 landholding Huscarls still alive in England — men who had received grants of land and therefore left a documentary trace. This is not a count of all surviving Huscarls, but it implies catastrophic losses at Hastings followed by significant emigration, many joining the Varangian Guard at Byzantium where Saxon axemen remained in service for decades after the Conquest. Second, the battle itself lasted approximately seven hours against a substantially larger and better-equipped force — a performance more consistent with a professional core of around 1,000 than with 3,000 men who, if present in full, might have been expected to break the Norman line entirely. The estimate used throughout this page is approximately 1,000 Huscarls at Hastings. This is consistent with the secondary literature's lower estimates, with the Domesday survival evidence, and with the tactical picture the battle presents.   The Huscarls — mounted household troops The Huscarls were the professional core of Harold's army — full-time soldiers retained on pay, equipped to the highest standard, and experienced in battle. They travelled on horseback at approximately 40 miles per day. The table below shows when Huscarls from each county could have reached the battlefield. County Route to Battle Arrive at Battle Huscarls feasibility Wace Bedfordshire Via London 8 Oct 23:18 ✓ Could participate ✓ Berkshire Via London 9 Oct 18:10 ✓ Could participate ✓ Buckinghamshire Via London 9 Oct 05:29 ✓ Could participate ✓ Cambridgeshire Via London 9 Oct 02:29 ✓ Could participate Cheshire Via London 12 Oct 02:44 ~ Borderline (arrives 12 Oct) Cornwall Via London impossible ✗ Too far Derbyshire Via London 9 Oct 08:13 ✓ Could participate Devon Via London impossible ✗ Too far Dorset Via London 12 Oct 15:30 ~ Borderline (arrives 12 Oct) ✓ Essex Via London 10 Oct 00:00 ✓ Could participate ✓ Gloucestershire Via London 10 Oct 12:20 ✓ Could participate ✓ Hampshire Via London 10 Oct 06:56 ✓ Could participate ✓ Herefordshire Via London 12 Oct 00:30 ~ Borderline (arrives 12 Oct) Hertfordshire Via London 8 Oct 15:25 ✓ Could participate ✓ Huntingdonshire Via London 9 Oct 05:13 ✓ Could participate ✓ Kent Direct / via London 9 Oct 21:36 ✓ Could participate ✓ Leicestershire Via London 10 Oct 05:13 ✓ Could participate Lincolnshire Via London 10 Oct 05:54 ✓ Could participate ✓ Middlesex London muster 8 Oct 06:41 ✓ Could participate ✓ Norfolk Via London 10 Oct 18:36 ✓ Could participate ✓ Northamptonshire Via London 9 Oct 00:56 ✓ Could participate ✓ Nottinghamshire Via London 9 Oct 06:41 ✓ Could participate ✓ Oxfordshire Via London 9 Oct 10:48 ✓ Could participate Rutland Via London 9 Oct 16:17 ✓ Could participate Shropshire Via London 10 Oct 16:22 ✓ Could participate Somerset Via London 11 Oct 13:42 ~ Borderline (arrives 11 Oct) ✓ Staffordshire Via London 10 Oct 17:49 ✓ Could participate Suffolk Via London 9 Oct 23:39 ✓ Could participate ✓ Surrey Via London 9 Oct 08:13 ✓ Could participate ✓ Sussex Joins column at Lewes 11 Oct 01:32 ~ Borderline (arrives 11 Oct) ✓ Warwickshire Via London 9 Oct 15:46 ✓ Could participate Wiltshire Via London 11 Oct 09:00 ~ Borderline (arrives 11 Oct) Worcestershire Via London 11 Oct 07:12 ~ Borderline (arrives 11 Oct) ✓ Yorkshire Via London 10 Oct 12:56 ✓ Could participate ✓ Key: ✓ Could participate = Huscarls arrived before 14 October with time to prepare ~ Borderline = Arrived 11–12 October, could participate but with less preparation time ✗ Too far = Could not reach Battle in time Wace ✓ = county listed by Master Wace as contributing troops Travel assumptions: Huscarls at 40 miles/day (multiple horses + armour); news reaches York 2 October; battle 14 October. Total estimated: approximately 1,000 Huscarls (Harold's, Gyrth's, and Leofwine's households combined). This figure is based on Domesday survival evidence (only 33 landholding Huscarls recorded in 1086) and the seven-hour duration of the battle, which is more consistent with ~1,000 professional troops than the 3,000–4,000 sometimes cited in secondary literature. The Thegns — mounted nobility The Thegns were the minor landed nobility of late Saxon England, holding their land by royal grant or inheritance and owing mounted military service in return. They sat between the professional Huscarls and the levied Fyrð — better equipped and more experienced than the freemen of the select levy, but not the full-time household troops that the Huscarls represented. At Hastings they would have travelled on horseback on the march and dismounted to stand in the line, as was standard Saxon practice. Unlike the Huscarls and the Fyrð, the Thegns cannot be estimated from the Domesday population columns. Those columns record the people living on thegnly estates — the villagers, smallholders, freemen and burgesses who supplied the Fyrð — not the thegns themselves, who appear in Domesday as landholders in the tenant lists rather than as counted population. By 1086 most Saxon thegnly landholders had in any case been replaced by Norman sub-tenants, leaving no reliable basis for a pre-Conquest count. The figure most commonly cited in secondary literature is in the range of 1,000 to 2,000 Thegns available to Harold across the southern counties, of whom perhaps 500 to 700 could have reached Hastings within the time available. For the purposes of this analysis they are included in the mounted elite total alongside the Huscarls. The Thegns — mounted nobility The Thegns were the minor landed nobility of late Saxon England, mounted and moderately equipped. They travelled on horseback at approximately 30 miles per day. The table below shows when Thegns from each county could have reached the battlefield. County Route to Battle Arrive at Battle Thegns feasibility Wace Bedfordshire Via London 10 Oct 00:54 ✓ Could participate ✓ Berkshire Via London 10 Oct 19:46 ✓ Could participate ✓ Buckinghamshire Via London 10 Oct 08:41 ✓ Could participate ✓ Cambridgeshire Via London 10 Oct 04:41 ✓ Could participate Cheshire Via London impossible ✗ Too far Cornwall Via London impossible ✗ Too far Derbyshire Via London 10 Oct 16:13 ✓ Could participate Devon Via London impossible ✗ Too far Dorset Via London impossible ✗ Too far (arrives 15+ Oct) ✓ Essex Via London 11 Oct 03:12 ~ Borderline (arrives 11 Oct) ✓ Gloucestershire Via London 11 Oct 22:44 ~ Borderline (arrives 11 Oct) ✓ Hampshire Via London 11 Oct 09:56 ~ Borderline (arrives 11 Oct) ✓ Herefordshire Via London 13 Oct 22:30 ~ Borderline (arrives 13 Oct) Hertfordshire Via London 9 Oct 11:25 ✓ Could participate ✓ Huntingdonshire Via London 10 Oct 10:37 ✓ Could participate ✓ Kent Direct / via London 11 Oct 00:00 ~ Borderline (arrives 11 Oct) ✓ Leicestershire Via London 11 Oct 15:25 ~ Borderline (arrives 11 Oct) Lincolnshire Via London 12 Oct 03:18 ~ Borderline (arrives 12 Oct) ✓ Middlesex London muster 8 Oct 20:41 ✓ Could participate ✓ Norfolk Via London 12 Oct 08:00 ~ Borderline (arrives 12 Oct) ✓ Northamptonshire Via London 10 Oct 04:20 ✓ Could participate ✓ Nottinghamshire Via London 10 Oct 14:17 ✓ Could participate ✓ Oxfordshire Via London 10 Oct 12:00 ✓ Could participate Rutland Via London 11 Oct 04:41 ~ Borderline (arrives 11 Oct) Shropshire Via London 12 Oct 07:46 ~ Borderline (arrives 12 Oct) Somerset Via London 13 Oct 03:18 ~ Borderline (arrives 13 Oct) ✓ Staffordshire Via London 12 Oct 12:13 ~ Borderline (arrives 12 Oct) Suffolk Via London 11 Oct 06:03 ~ Borderline (arrives 11 Oct) ✓ Surrey Via London 10 Oct 02:37 ✓ Could participate ✓ Sussex Joins column at Lewes 12 Oct 05:56 ~ Borderline (arrives 12 Oct) ✓ Warwickshire Via London 11 Oct 00:34 ~ Borderline (arrives 11 Oct) Wiltshire Via London 12 Oct 16:00 ~ Borderline (arrives 12 Oct) Worcestershire Via London 13 Oct 06:24 ~ Borderline (arrives 13 Oct) ✓ Yorkshire Via London 12 Oct 21:08 ~ Borderline (arrives 12 Oct) ✓ Key: ✓ Could participate = Thegns arrived before 11 October with time to prepare ~ Borderline = Arrived 11–13 October, could participate but with limited preparation time ✗ Too far = Could not reach Battle in time Wace ✓ = county listed by Master Wace as contributing troops Travel assumptions: Thegns at 30 miles/day (single horse + armour); news reaches York 2 October; battle 14 October. Total estimated: approximately 500–700 Thegns. Unlike the Huscarls and the Fyrð, Thegns cannot be estimated from Domesday population columns. Thegns appear as landholders in Domesday, not as counted population, and by 1086 most Saxon thegnly estates had Norman tenants. The 500–700 figure is an overall estimate based on secondary literature, not a sum of county-specific data. What Wace's county list tells us: Several counties Wace records — Somerset, Yorkshire, Worcestershire, Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Dorset — are counties where the Fyrð could not have arrived in time. This is confirmation, not contradiction. Wace's list records counties that sent anyone — not counties that sent a full contingent of all troop types. The distant counties could send Huscarls and Thegns (mounted, fast), but not their Fyrð (on foot, slow). The shield wall at Hastings was built from the southern and midland counties; the north and far west contributed their mounted elite only.   The Fyrð — select levy from the shires The select Fyrð was raised under a system tied to landholding. The standard rate was one fighting man for every five hides of land. The Fyrð travelled on foot at approximately 17 miles per day. The table below shows which counties could contribute Fyrð troops to the Battle of Hastings. County Route to Battle Pop (ex-slaves) Fyrð pool Fyrð feasibility Wace Bedfordshire Via London 2,969 178 ✓ Possible ✓ Berkshire Via London 5,866 352 ✓ Possible ✓ Buckinghamshire Via London 4,501 270 ✓ Possible ✓ Cambridgeshire Via London 4,466 268 ✓ Possible Cheshire Via London 1,167 70 ✗ Too far Cornwall Via London 3,973 238 ✗ Too far Derbyshire Via London 6,292 378 ✓ Possible Devon Via London 13,197 792 ✗ Too far Dorset Via London 6,002 360 ✗ Too far ✓ Essex Via London 13,152 789 ✓ Possible ✓ Gloucestershire Via London 18,940 1,136 ~ Borderline ✓ Hampshire Via London 7,944 477 ✓ Possible ✓ Herefordshire Via London 8,517 511 ✗ Too far Hertfordshire Via London 4,246 255 ✓ Possible ✓ Huntingdonshire Via London 2,799 168 ✓ Possible ✓ Kent (north) Via London / Watling St 4,967 298 ✓ Possible ✓ Kent (south) Direct: Canterbury→Benenden→Battle 6,052 363 ✓ Possible ✓ Leicestershire Via London 21,224 1,273 ~ Borderline Lincolnshire Via London 26,348 1,581 ~ Borderline ✓ Middlesex London muster 2,005 120 ✓ Possible ✓ Norfolk Via London (110 miles) 41,254 2,475 ✗ Fyrð impossible ✓ Northamptonshire Via London 8,145 489 ✓ Possible ✓ Nottinghamshire Via London 9,515 571 ✓ Possible ✓ Oxfordshire Via London 5,237 314 ✓ Possible Rutland Via London 1,040 62 ~ Borderline Shropshire Via London 3,296 198 ~ Borderline Somerset Via London 10,381 623 ✗ Too far ✓ Staffordshire Via London 6,070 364 ✗ Too far Suffolk Via London 18,250 1,095 ~ Borderline ✓ Surrey Via London 3,624 217 ✓ Possible ✓ Sussex (east) Local — Norman-occupied 3,744 225 ✗ Neutralised ✓ Sussex (west) Joins column at Lewes 5,600 337 ✓ Possible ✓ Warwickshire Via London 5,653 339 ✓ Possible Wiltshire Via London 6,849 411 ~ Borderline Worcestershire Via London 7,333 440 ✗ Too far ✓ Yorkshire Via London 27,282 1,637 ✗ Too far ✓ Absolute Maximum Available 327,900 19,673 Maximum Theoretically Possible(excl Borderline) 6,183 Key: ✓ Possible = Fyrð could reach Battle in time at 17 miles per day ~ Borderline = Fyrð would arrive on the day or shortly before, partial contribution likely ✗ Too far / Neutralised = Fyrð could not arrive in time Wace ✓ = county listed by Master Wace as contributing troops Travel assumptions: Fyrð at 17 miles/day (on foot); news reaches York 2 October; army leaves London 10 October; battle 14 October. The 6% formula: Fyrð pool estimated at 6% of non-slave population, based on the hide obligation system (one fighting man per five hides). This gives a theoretical maximum of 19,673 select Fyrð across all counties shown. Best estimate: approximately 5,000 Fyrð at Hastings. This figure accounts for: Only counties marked ✓ Possible contributing their full contingent Partial contributions from ~ Borderline counties Day-of-battle arrivals discounted East Sussex neutralised by Norman occupation Combined with approximately 1,000 Huscarls and 500–700 Thegns, Harold's total force at Hastings was in the region of 6,500–7,000 men. What Wace's county list tells us: Several counties Wace records — Somerset, Yorkshire, Worcestershire, Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Dorset — are counties where the Fyrð could not have arrived in time. This confirms that Wace's list records counties that sent anyone (mounted Huscarls and Thegns), not counties that sent a full contingent of all troop types. The shield wall at Hastings was built from the southern and midland counties; the north and far west contributed their mounted elite only.   Who could reach Battle in time — the routing problem The timeline from William's landing to the battle gives very little room for the Fyrð to assemble. William landed at Pevensey on 28 September. News reached Harold on 2 October, while he was still on the road south from York. Harold arrived in London on 7 October. The army left London on 10 October. The battle was fought on 14 October. From the moment Harold received the news, the Fyrð had at most twelve days to respond — and most of those days were already consumed by Harold's own journey south. The routing of the march matters as much as the distance. All counties north and east of London had to march to the capital first, then south to Battle along the London to Lewes Roman road — a total journey of their county distance plus approximately 65 miles. Two counties were exceptions. South Kent could march directly to Battle via the old Roman road through Benenden, avoiding London entirely. West Sussex could join Harold's column as it passed through Crowborough, also without going through London. East Sussex was a special case entirely. William's army had been ravaging the Hastings area since its landing on 28 September — burning farms, destroying villages, and driving the population before it. The East Sussex Fyrð were not marching to the battle; they were already its first victims, scattered into the Andredsweald or dead. The great oak forest that bounded Hastings to the north, which gave Harold's approach route its natural corridor, swallowed the local population as refugees rather than yielding them as soldiers. East Sussex Domesday records show some of the heaviest post-Conquest damage of any county — the physical evidence of what William's army did in the fortnight before the battle. Using a marching rate of 17 miles per day for foot troops — consistent with the upper range for trained medieval infantry on good Roman roads — and allowing five marching days from the receipt of the summons to arrival in London, the geography divides England into three broad zones for the Fyrð. The three-tier estimate Combining the march feasibility analysis with realistic turnout rates produces three figures for the Fyrð at Hastings, depending on the assumptions used: Estimate Fyrð Basis Maximum theoretical 5,984 All who could possibly arrive including those reaching Battle on 14 Oct itself Best estimate ~5,000 Day-of-battle arrivals discounted; partial turnout from borderline counties Strict minimum 3,945 Only those arriving strictly before dawn on 14 October The best estimate of approximately 5,000 Fyrð is the figure used throughout this analysis. Combined with roughly 1,000 Huscarls and an estimated 500 to 700 Thegns, Harold's total force at Hastings was in the region of 6,500 to 7,000 men. This is considerably lower than the figures sometimes cited in popular histories, but is consistent with both the march feasibility analysis and the tactical picture the battle presents. What Wace`s county list tells us Master Wace, writing in the twelfth century, provides a list of English counties whose men he records as fighting at Hastings. Twenty-two counties appear in his account. Cross-referencing this list against the march feasibility analysis produces a revealing pattern. Several of the counties Wace records — Somerset, Yorkshire, Worcestershire, Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Dorset — are counties where the march analysis shows the Fyrð could not have arrived in time. Yorkshire is over 200 miles from London; Norfolk is 110 miles; Somerset and Dorset are over 130 miles via London. At 17 miles per day on foot, none of these counties could have contributed Fyrð to Harold's army. This is not a contradiction. It is confirmation. Wace's list records counties that sent anyone — not counties that sent a full contingent of all troop types. The distant counties could and did send Huscarls and Thegns, who travelled on horseback at 30 to 40 miles per day and had no difficulty covering the distance. What they could not send was their Fyrð, who would have been days or weeks behind. Wace's list is therefore a record of mounted participation, not foot participation. The shield wall at Hastings was built from the southern and midland counties. The north, the far west and the deep south-west contributed their mounted elite — and nothing else. This geographical divide in the composition of Harold's army has implications for how the battle was fought: the men at the fosse were overwhelmingly from a relatively compact area of southern and central England, while the huscarls standing behind them had ridden from across the whole country. The army size and the fosse — two independent checks The march feasibility analysis reaches its estimate of approximately 5,000 Fyrð from one direction — working forward from Domesday population data and travel distances. The battlefield geometry of the fosse model reaches a consistent conclusion from a completely different direction. If Harold's defensive position was a wattle fence and soil embankment across the front of the Saxon position, as argued on the Malfosse page, then the men defending it were not standing in a compact shield wall absorbing cavalry charges through sheer body mass. They were defending a linear fortification, spaced to use their weapons effectively over or through the fence — perhaps 1.2 to 1.5 metres per man rather than the 0.8 metres of a packed shield wall. Behind them stood a reserve force, held back from the fence line, ready to plug gaps. In this model, the garrison defending a 570 metre front requires only 1,500 to 2,000 men. Harold's total of approximately 6,500 men gives him that garrison plus a substantial reserve of 4,000 to 5,000 standing in the open behind the wattle fence — precisely the men who became the primary target of William's overhead archery and who eventually broke through the fence to pursue the feigned retreat. The fosse model does not require a large army. It requires an adequately sized garrison plus a reserve large enough to sustain attrition. An army of 6,500 to 7,000 is close to the minimum viable force for this model — which is why Harold needed the fosse in the first place. His numbers alone, without the earthwork, would not have held the Norman cavalry for seven hours. Two independent methods — march feasibility from Domesday data, and tactical geometry from the fosse model — converge on the same army size. That convergence is the strongest argument this analysis can offer. For the Domesday population data underlying the county estimates see the Domesday county pages. For the fosse and its tactical implications see The Malfosse — did it exist and what was it? For the travel times and messenger network see The Warning to Harold and its implications. Conclusion — Harold`s forces at Hastings The analysis across this page produces a coherent picture of Harold's army. The Huscarls numbered approximately 1,000 — a professional core that had suffered no losses at Stamford Bridge but could not be quickly replaced or reinforced. The mounted Thegns contributed perhaps 500 to 700 men from the southern and midland counties, with the distant counties sending their mounted elite but nothing on foot. The Fyrð, estimated from Domesday population data and march feasibility, contributed approximately 5,000 men drawn overwhelmingly from a band of counties within roughly 70 miles of London, supplemented by the direct Kent and West Sussex contingents. The total Saxon force at Hastings was in the region of 6,500 to 7,000 men. This is a smaller figure than the 10,000 to 15,000 sometimes cited in older accounts, but it is consistent with three independent lines of evidence: the Domesday population data, the march distances and timescales, and the tactical geometry of the fosse position. An army of this size was adequate to hold a well-designed defensive line for a day — which is precisely what it did. Methodology and disclaimer The Fyrð estimates on this page are derived from Domesday Book, compiled in 1086, twenty years after the battle and in the aftermath of a conquest that substantially disrupted English landholding and population. The 6% formula applied to non-slave population as a proxy for the select Fyrð levy is a working assumption based on the hide obligation system, not a figure recorded in any contemporary source. The march speed of 17 miles per day for foot troops represents the upper end of the defensible range for trained infantry on Roman roads; a more conservative figure of 14 to 15 miles per day would reduce the feasible catchment area and lower the Fyrð estimate accordingly. County populations in Domesday reflect 1086 conditions, not 1066 conditions; the true 1066 figures were higher, particularly in the north where post-Conquest harrying had substantially reduced recorded population by the time of the survey. The estimates here should therefore be read as indicative rather than precise, and the ranges given are more meaningful than the central figures. No chronicle source gives a reliable total for any component of Harold's army, and any specific figure for the army as a whole is necessarily a modern reconstruction. Copyright saxonhistory.co.uk 2013 - 2026 Contact Simon Author Simon M - Last updated - 2026-03-11 15:02:08 All pages on our site (Sitemap)