Caesar at Hastings

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: Addendum: EP8 Caesar at Hastings

"There were people using clubs on both sides at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Is there any older weapon than clubs? Maybe stones. And the Anglo Saxons were throwing stones at the Normans...

The one thing you notice when you pick up a gladius of any kind is its weightedness. It's not a heavy sword. swords are generally lighter than most people think anyway, but its weight balance is such that it feels like a cleaver, you know, like you could swing it in about halfway down, your swinging motion, the sword itself helps pick up steam. But it's really the point that does the majority of the damage, it's got a point that just is meant for just puncturing through things like armor.

And the Roman training generally insisted that they run up to the enemy's battle line, shove the big old shield in their face, and stab upward with this sword into the guts of the opponent. Because as the manuals pointed out, a slashing cut rarely kills. But a stabbing wound even an inch into the enemy is often fatal. Weird as that may sound right, an era before medicine, you pierce the viscera and somebody is probably going to die. Good chance of it anyway, let's qualify that remark, especially if you're using Roman medicine...

Adrian Goldsworthy says it's a myth that they [pila] were deliberately built to be flimsy at one point so that it would bend because we all grew up thinking that you know, these had a long tip. And then when they were thrown, the weight of the handle would bend the pilum downwards. So if it was sticking in your body, or your shields, or wherever you had this thing that was impeding you...

The final appeal of the Viking Age being denied, when the results of Hastings were confirmed… What happened at the Battle of Dyrrachium is the Byzantines were using mercenaries and auxiliaries just as the Romans had. In this case, some of them were refugees from the Battle of Hastings. Much of the Varangian Guard in 1081 were Anglo Saxons and the ironic twist from the Battle of Hastings is not only are there Anglo Saxons who fought at the Battle of Hastings at the Battle of Dyrrachium, they’re once again fighting Normans. In fact Normans where it's very likely there were some people who fought the Battle of Hastings too. This is like getting a second crack...

Just like the first fight though, the Anglo Saxons in the Varangian Guard, and if you believe the sources pursuing what they thought was a defeated foe, once again, just like at Hastings blows themselves out like a bunch of horses who've run too far and too fast, loses their cohesion and gets their rear end handed to them again. Famously, they're supposed to have tried to take refuge in a nearby church which the Normans proceed to burn down, killing them all. Welcome to Norman history, by the way.

The ironic part about it is they were supposed to be pursuing a beaten foe, because the Byzantines had managed to blow away a whole flank of Normans and Norman Knights. So this should have been the beginning of the end, they should have been able to wrap around them in a half moon sort of fashion, and just begin to roll up the enemy army. But what saved them is the proverbial big punch. When the Norman Knights charge again, supposedly at a joint in the line. So if you think about the Byzantine front line, having a left wing and a right wing in the center, there are joints or hinges between, you know, a wing and the center. They're supposed to have charged at one of those wings. Maybe again, physics of battle thing, in small groups that just continually scared the hell out of the people they were running into. Remember the Byzantines considered the Norman charge irresistible"