battle of hastings recruiting :: essays research papers fc

October 14th of the year 1066 two armies faced each other near the town of Hastings. 10,000 Norman troops under the command of William of Normandy faced 8,000 Anglo-Saxon soldiers led by Harold the current king of England.Geoffrey Parker, Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare (Cambridge 1995), pp. 82-3. Harolds 8,000 men consisted of Housecarls, the local Fyrd, and local colony volunteers.David Howarth, 1066 The Year of the oppression (New York 1977),pp.170-1 The two armies clashed on that day and history tells us the outcome. But what forces go into creating an army of these sizes? The three main Anglo-Saxon troop types lead be defined and the forces that created them will be examined below. Three troop types would fight for the Anglo-Saxons the Housecarls, the Fyrd, and local peasantry. The Housecarls were professional soldiers under the service of the King and the Earls of the Kingdom. Harold used the Housecarls of the King and his Housecarls of his Earldom of Wessex. He al so used the Housecarls of his two brothers. The Fyrd was a volunteer citizen army countenanced by the Thanes of the kingdom. The local peasants fought to protect their homes.David Howarth, 1066 The Year of the Conquest (New York 1977), pp. 80-1. There were two divisions of fyrd in the eleventh century one consisting of a local peasant force and the other a select levy force.C. Warren Hollister, Anglo-Saxon Military Institutions On the even of the Norman Conquest (Oxford 1962), p. 26.The local peasant Fyrd that fought at Hastings came from Sussex.C. Warren Hollister, Anglo-Saxon Military Institutions On the Eve of the Norman Conquest (Oxford 1962), p.30. All freemen of the commonwealth were obligated to provide protection for the local area. This obligation was connected with financial and agricultural obligations.C. Warren Hollister, Anglo-Saxon Military Institutions On the Eve of the Norman Conquest (Oxford 1962), pp. 35-6. The peasant fighting force is a Germanic tradition in or igin. Based upon a freemans duty to defend the lands of the king, however the peasant force is a limited army. The king is required to pay the troops if needed for them to leave the area. The peasants have the right to return to there homes at the end of the day. However, they must provide their own equipment.C. Warren Hollister, Anglo-Saxon Military Institutions On the Eve of the Norman Conquest (Oxford 1962), pp. 27-8. The primary function of the peasant Fyrd was to provide defense against enemies attack from the sea, such(prenominal) as the events at Hastings.