Battle Abbey

William the Conqueror and his barons are generally thought of in terms of brutality. To Anglo-Saxon observers they were formidable and unforgiving warriors. In private though, Norman instincts were often towards sanctity, or at least calculated superstition. William's foundation of Battle Abbey illustrates this side of the invaders' personalities.

The Chronicle of Battel Abbey begins with two versions of William's decision to establish a monastery on the site of the Battle of Hastings (1066). 'The History of the Foundation of Battel Abbey' was written by a monk "having at hand certain records...concerning the site and establishment of our place". 

On the morning of the battle, "there was brought forth a coat of mail for the duke to put on". As the duke was dressed in his armour, he is supposed to have "uttered these memorable words...

       'Wherefore, now, secure of His [God's] aid, and in order to strengthen the hands and courage of you, who for my sake are about to engage in this conflict, I make a Vow, that upon this place of battle I will found a suitable free Monastery, for the salvation of you all, and especially of those who fall...'"

The second version is contained in 'The Book concerning the site of the Abbey of Battel':

       "When the duke was armed for the engagement he called together his barons and knights, and urged them, both by persuasions and promises, to acquit themselves faithfully in the conflict. And in order to animate their courage, in their presence and with their concurrence, he made a vow unto God, that if He would vouchsafe him to victory over his foes, he would as freely and entirely dedicate that place to God as he sought it for himself, and that he would build a monastery, in which the servants of God might dwell together for the salvation of them all, but especially for those who should fall in the approaching battle ― and that it should be a place of refuge and hope for all, that, by the continual efficacy of good works [the resident monks' daily prayers], atonement might be made for the deeds of bloodshed there committed."

The last words are the most pertinent to William's real purpose. 

ATONEMENT FOR DEEDS OF BLOODSHED

Leaving aside the obvious contradiction of planning a sin's forgiveness while still determined to commit it, the concept of atonement was an important one for medieval Christians. There was an ongoing mental contest between 'temporals', the the things of this world, and 'spirituals', those of the next. Morality, or behavioural Christianity, was viewed as a Divine set of scales, where 'bad' deeds could be offset by (completely unrelated) 'good' ones. 

In the words of a modern historian, "William and his supporters had imperilled the everlasting safety of their souls because of the violence of the conquest. Even by medieval standards the Battle of Hastings, and the subsequent suppression of English resistance, were exceptionally bloody". 

Fear of damnation, the anxious search for security in the afterlife, were an inerasable part of a soldier's psychology in Christendom. To this end, violence in war was carefully calculated in terms of the degree of harm inflicted and the amount of penance required to 'cancel out' those crimes. For example, a document known as the 'Penitential Ordinances' was issued by the bishops of Normandy in 1067, directed solely at William's troops at the Battle of Hastings. These ordinances set out the precise 'price to be paid' by each of the (Norman) combatants.

Another medievalist historian has written, "The ordinance itself is highly nuanced and contains thirteen clauses, including sections dealing with soldiers who killed the enemy in battle, with those who simply struck the enemy in battle without killing him, with those who did not know whether they had killed the enemy in battle [such as archers], and with those who did not kill the enemy but had wanted to do so."

Soldiers were required to carry out one-year penances for every man they killed and forty-day penance for each wounding. Of special relevance to the Norman nobility was the provision that, "whoever does not know the number of those he struck or killed shall, at the discretion of his bishop, do penance for one day a week for the rest of his life, or, if he is able, make amends either by building a church or by giving perpetual alms to one."

The Conqueror had already chosen to do both, by establishing Battel Abbey, and by endowing the monastery with sufficient land to provision an ongoing community of praying monks, His gifts were to fund "the erection of the Abbey", and to ensure that "the rule of religion might go on".

The idea of establishing monasteries in atonement for sins of violence took root among the Norman elite. The Battle Chronicle records that William himself "founded three abbacies  from his own estate, with competent lands attached to each...Two convents he built at Caen [in Normandy] ― one for monks, magnificent and wealthy, for himself, in which...he was buried [d. 1087]; and another for nuns, sufficiently notable, for the sake and at the instance of his queen Matilda, in which she lies honourably interred [d. 1083]. The third...he founded in England where God had favoured him with victory."

Powerful Norman barons followed his example. For instance, Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, built a Benedictine monastery in the Shropshire town about 1083. The recommendation to do so by one of his clerks, recorded by the clerk's son  Ordericus Vitalis in his Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy, contains the reasoning behind this sort of commitment:

       "Consider well how it is that the well-disciplined brethren are constantly employed in the monasteries under strict rule...Who can recount the watchings of the monks, their chants and psalmody, their prayers and alms-givings, their daily offerings of the mass with floods of tears?...I believe, therefore, that their prayers on behalf of those for whom they are offered ascend direct to the mercy-seat and obtain from the Lord of the Sabbath what the supplicate...

        I therefore offer to you, most noble earl, my faithful advice, that while it is in your power, you cause a stronghold for monks against Satan to be built for the service of God in the chief seat of your earldom, which is not yours by inheritance from your ancestors [but seized by force of arms], in order that these cowled combatants may withstand the devil in a continued conflict for the good of your soul."

UPON THIS VERY SPOT

A further sign of the personal importance of Battle Abbey to William was his insistence on its right location. The Vow he made was "that upon this place of battle I will found a a suitable free Monastery". The Battle Chronicle situates "this place" exactly.

       "Upon the hill where the Abbey now stands, the English supported their king in a compact body...being thus hemmed in on both sides, numbers were stricken down. Pressed upon they fall; they are slaughtered and killed; and their king being overthrown by a chance blow, they fly in all directions...The place being marked where the standard of this rash and hostile invasion [an egregious re-write of history, making the invaded the invaders] fell, the duke went forward with all haste to extend his authority."

The place marked by the duke before he left the battlefield was at the centre of the rise where the Anglo-Saxon forces were massed, the spot where Harold's standard flew. As such, it was the locus of the battle for William; where his enemy stood, surrounded by his loyal 'house-carls', who formed their traditional 'shield-wall' to protect him.

The monk William of Malmesbury provides confirmation of this understanding in his Deeds of the English Kings (1125):

       "[King] William built a monastery near Hastings dedicated to St Martin, which was also called Battle, because there the principal church stands on the very spot, where, as they report, Harold was found in the thickest heaps of the slain".

These two maps of the battlefield are drawn to show the influence of the landscape on the outcome. Numbers representing relative heights above sea-level are used on the lefthand map, shading to indicate contour-lines on the right. There can be little chance of mistaking the high ground where William intended the Abbey Church to be built.

The new king was soon busy with 'affairs of state' that prevented him from re-visiting Battle Hill; 

       "For the storming of towns, and the subjugation of stiff-necked rebels, occupied, for a long period, all his energies...At length, the demands of his conscience within and the constant suggestions of the monk William Faber [witness to his vow] from without, prevailed...the king...ordered him to fetch over certain brethren of his abbey [in Normandy], in order to found, on the field of battle, without further delay, an appropriate monastery".

Many months later, 

       "The king on making careful inquiries as to the progress of the work, was told by the monks that the place where he had determined to build the abbey was situated on a hill with a parched soil, dry and destitute of water; and they entreated him that a more convenient spot in the immediate vicinity might be chosen for so important a work. Upon this the king grew angry, and commanded them with all haste to lay the foundations of the temple on the very place where he had achieved the victory over his enemy...

       "Thus at length were laid the foundation of this most excellent work...and in accordance with the king's decree, they wisely erected the high altar upon the precise spot where the ensign of King Harold, which they called the Standard, was observed to fall."

THE FIELD OF CARNAGE

     

William of Malmesbury called it a "fatal day". 14th October 1066 was certainly a bloody one. 

Harold's army arrived the night before the battle and took up regular defensive positions along the line of the rise. William moved his forces up from Hastings and organised them into  attacking formation, with archers at the front, then infantry, and cavalry behind.

Current thinking is that the opposing armies were relatively well-matched, with numbers between 5,000 and 7,000 men each. Both had similar armour of helmets, chainmail tunics, shields and swords. The core of Harold's army was his house-carls, a professional infantry armed with two-handed battle axes. The backbone of William's troops were his horse-riding knights with double-edged swords and lances. One was a fixed force that fought on foot but occupied the high ground. The other was heavy-hitting and highly mobile but attacking uphill.

The English withstood charge after charge by the French but the conflict lasted all day and they were gradually worn down. When Harold was finally killed, daylight was fading and, effectively leaderless, they lost heart and began to run. Norman soldiers slaughtering the shattered English formations added to the horror. Casualty estimates vary but 2,000 Norman and 3,500 English dead might not be too far from the truth.

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REFERENCES:

Chronicle of Battel Abbey, trans. MA Lower, 1851, <http://www.archive.org/details/chronicleofbatte00batt>

William of Malmesbury, Deeds of the English Kings, trans. JA Giles, 1847

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, trans. JA Giles, 1914, 

<archive.org/25/items/anglosaxonchroni00gile>

Ordericus Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History of Normandy and England, trans. T Forester, 1854, <archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalh00fragoog>

Various articles on Battle Abbey and Battle of Hastings from <english-heritage.org.uk> (M Carter), and <https://www.worldhistory.org> (M Cartwright, 2019)