A British academic has challenged a central assumption about the Battle of Hastings, arguing that King Harold did not force-march his army north to fight the Vikings in 1066. Tom Licence, a professor of medieval history at the University of East Anglia, claims a misreading of Old English records led historians to believe Harold had disbanded his navy, making a march to Yorkshire necessary.
Licence points to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which states the English fleet 'came home' in early September. Victorian historians interpreted this as the fleet being sent back to its home ports. But Licence argues that 'coming home' meant returning to London, the fleet's home base. He found multiple references to Harold having a fleet at that time, and two early Norman accounts describe the king sending ships to block William's fleet at Hastings.
Licence also found no contemporary evidence for the famous forced march of 300 miles from London to Stamford Bridge. 'Only a mad general would have attempted what seems like an impossible march, which isn't recorded in the sources anyway,' he said. Instead, he believes Harold sailed his armies to Yorkshire and back, portraying the king as a strategist using naval assets for a coordinated defence.
The research will be presented at a conference at the University of Oxford on 24 March. Rebecca Tyson, a doctoral researcher in 11th-century maritime history at the University of Bristol, said the new discovery that Harold maintained his fleet offers a fresh explanation for his swift journey from York to Hastings.
