Battle of Hastings 1066
Outline: officially registered battlefield boundary. Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1066 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | England | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Norman conquest of England | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Duchy of Normandy, Kingdom of England | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 50.9144, 0.4878 | Wikidata P625 |
| Official record | Historic England list entry 1000013 | OGL v3 |
| Registered area | 77.2 ha | OGL v3 |
About the battle
The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman Conquest of England. It took place approximately 7 mi (11 km) northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, and was a decisive Norman victory.
The background to the battle was the death of the childless King Edward the Confessor in January 1066, which set up a succession struggle among several claimants to his throne. Harold was crowned king shortly after Edward's death, but faced invasions by William, his own brother Tostig, and the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada (Harold III of Norway). Hardrada and Tostig defeated a hastily gathered army of Englishmen at the Battle of Fulford on 20 September 1066. They were in turn defeated by Harold at the Battle of Stamford Bridge on 25 September. The deaths of Tostig and Hardrada at Stamford Bridge left William as Harold's only serious opponent. While Harold and his forces were recovering, William landed his invasion forces in the south of England at Pevensey on 28 September and established a beachhead for his conquest of the kingdom. Harold was forced to march south swiftly, gathering forces as he went.
The numbers present at the battle are unknown, as even modern estimates vary considerably.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Hastings (revision 1380225409), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Battlefield boundary © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See also this battlefield on Battlefields of Britain.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Mercredesburne 485 · 5 km
- Battle of Winchelsea 1350 · 23 km
- Battle of Beachy Head (1690) 1690 · 26 km
- Action of 2 May 1707 1707 · 26 km
- Battle of Lewes 1264 · 35 km
- Battle of Dungeness 1652 · 37 km
Other battles of the Norman conquest of England
Browse more: battles in England · Europe · Medieval battles