The Battle of Hastings

[Furious Mental]

"even if William's heavy infantry was markedly better armoured than the average fyrdman."

It is extremely presumptuous to state that with certainty. A large proportion of the fyrd consisted of men who owed military obligations under an oath of commendation to the king, or an earl, bishop, abbot etcetera. Part of the commendation ceremony was the receipt of a heriot by the commended man. Under the laws of Cnut this included a helmet, shield and byrnie. Since commended men were likely supported by the same amount of money as fyrdmen who owed military obligations in return for holding the land from the king, it would be very strange for them to have had markedly different equipment. Aside from that an unusually large proportion of the English army were housecarles, who were most definitely armoured. In other words, neither side had much of an advantage, if any at all, in terms of how well they were equipped for their respective tactical roles.

[Watchman]

Unless I'm getting it all wrong the fyrd was the catchall commoner levy, and those were invariably "bring your own toys" outfits even if minimum standards of equipement were enforced. Which means most of them would have had their weapons, a shield, probably a helmet, and beyond that a sturdy leather jerkin tops because your standard farmer-warriors tended not be the sort to own mail those days, because even a shirt cost around as much as a warhorse or in any case way too close for their purses.

They don't come across as terribly heavily equipped in the Tapestry either.

William's line infantry was AFAIK to a large degree mercenaries, who naturally tended to be feirly well equipped in order to both earn their pay and live to enjoy it, and because if I've understood the tendencies of the time correctly most western european armies were starting to get alarmingly low on decent "native" infantry and had to fill the need for competent footsloggers with hired troops.

Now, there were naturally less well equipped men a-plenty in William's ranks too, but the point is odds are his infantry was to a greater degree made up from well-equipped professionals than the Anglo-Saxon equivalent which despite the presence of assorted higher-end troops still drew heavily on part-time peasant-soldiers, most of whom would not have been able to afford good equipement.

Those levies do not seem to have had remarkable difficulties holding the ridge regardless of what was thrown against them though, which speaks both for their fighting qualities and the marked advantage holding the high ground always gave combatants.

[shifty157]

Well its a very difficult thing by any means to storm such a huge defensive formation as that the English had set up. In fact by all accounts for the majority of the day it seemed as if WIlliam was going to lose the battle because nothing he did could break the shieldwall. This changed of course once hit and run luring tactics were used.

It is true however that the English fyrd troops were better armed and armored than would normally be the case. Remember that not long before Hastings the English army successfully defeated another rival to the throne that had invaded England. It was by all accounts a crushing defeat and with so many dead enemy bodies lying about the English troops could pick and choose the best weapons and armor to loot for themselves.

Harold did indeed have quite an impressive force. His troops had all seen at least two battles now and were thus reasonably experienced. Having just fought and won two battles undoubtedly put them in very good spirits for the coming battle. With an armory of weapons and armor to choose from they were all reasonably well equipped for battle. Combined with their specialization in a solely defensive formation and their terrain advantage it is a wonder that William succeeded at all.

[Furious Mental]

"Unless I'm getting it all wrong the fyrd was the catchall commoner levy"

I'm afraid your view of the fyrd is not accurate although it's not surprising given that there continues to persist an idea that there existed some "great fyrd" which obliged all ceorls (i.e. free Englishmen) to answer a summons. Like I said above, there were two bases on which a person could owe fyrd service. The first was that they held land directly from the King. If a person held more than five hides of land, they had to send more than one person to the fyrd. Either they went themselves with an appropriate number of followers (one for every five hides above the first five) or they sent a contingent with a captain (e.g. an abbot would have done this). This brings me to the other way in which a person could owe fyrd service- by an oath of commendation. Oaths could be made directly to the King (e.g. in Shrewsbury it appear that at one stage the whole adult male population of 103 men had made such an oath, probably because it was in the border marches) or to someone who held land directly from the King (i.e. such a fyrdman would fight in the contingent which their lord was obliged to provide under their obligations of fyrd service to the King). The landholdings of the few fyrdmen we know by name seem puny nowadays- a fraction of a hide often. However one should bear in mind that these men were rich by the standards of their day and age. One reason is that a rich man could provide himself with good equipment; the fact that this was the intention of the fyrd is illustrated by the fact that fyrd service could only be commuted in return for a sum sufficient to pay a well equipped mercenary. In places where all or almost all of the free adult male population owed fyrd service, such as the exceptional case of Shrewsbury, their obligations were based on an oath of commendation in return for which, as I said above, they received a very impressive heriot; which meant that even those who were not rich would nonetheless be well equipped for war if their service was required.

[Watchman]

*snip*
One reason is that a rich man could provide himself with good equipment; the fact that this was the intention of the fyrd is illustrated by the fact that fyrd service could only be commuted in return for a sum sufficient to pay a well equipped mercenary. In places where all or almost all of the free adult male population owed fyrd service, such as the exceptional case of Shrewsbury, their obligations were based on an oath of commendation in return for which, as I said above, they received a very impressive heriot; which meant that even those who were not rich would nonetheless be well equipped for war if their service was required.

Fair enough, but the problem with this reasoning is that taken at face value this would seem to suggest the whole lot of 'em were kitted out in about huscarle-level protective gear. Which doesn't sound all that likely, especially when one keeps in mind that weapons, large shield plus maybe a helmet is pretty well equipped for war for most intents and purposes. Assuming the men so equipped are confident, have a decent idea of how to use their weapons, and are employed properly, they make quite a solid fighting force already. If they can be kitted with real armour, excellent, but the difference it makes (recall that this would be about a mail shirt) isn't all that great.

Besides...

If a person held more than five hides of land, they had to send more than one person to the fyrd. Either they went themselves with an appropriate number of followers (one for every five hides above the first five) or they sent a contingent with a captain (e.g. an abbot would have done this).

...what are the odds even a rich man could equip several men from such a contignent with metal armour ? Mail was fairly costly stuff those days, and Harold used what troops he could rush to the scene at the time. Granted, wherever possible the fellows with armour would be put into the front rank but that was universal practice.

William, scraping the very bottom of the barrell as he now also was, nonetheless wasn't rushing across half England after a major battle and it should be kept in mind the payment of his mercenaries was to a large degree in potentia, as plunder and land to be won across the Channel. He could afford to be a bit more picky if it came to that.