1066 in Perspective

by David Bates

On October 14, 1066, an English army led by the Anglo-Saxon king Harold Godwinson met the Norman-French army of William, Duke of Normandy, northwest of Hastings. The battle they fought there was a decisive Norman victory, in which Harold was killed. Two months later, William was crowned King of England, the first of an incalculable number of consequences of the battle which over time transformed the very identity of England and the English.        

​In 2016, a conference was held at the Tower of London in honor of the 950th anniversary of Hastings. 1066 in Perspective brings together papers presented at that conference in which contributors from a number of disciplines examine 1066 and the Battle of Hastings from a wide range of perspectives, including military, social, political, architectural, ecclesiastical, and more.

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2018

About the author

David Bates is a historian of Britain and France during the period from the tenth century to the thirteenth century. He has written many books and articles during his career The most important among his books are Normandy before 1066 (1982); Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum: The Acta of William I, 1066-1087 (1998); The Normans and Empire (2013); and a biography of William the Conqueror (2016). The two most recent of these are an argument that seeks to create an analytical framework for the expansion of the Normans in Western Europe and a radical revision of the life of William the Conqueror published in the Yale University Press English Monarchs series.

He was Director of the IHR from 2003 until 2008, a period he regards as an important phase in a relationship with the IHR which goes back to the summer of 1968 when his time there made a major contribution to his subsequent career.

In addition to the University of London, he has held posts in the Universities of Cardiff, Glasgow, East Anglia, and Caen Normandie. He is now a Professorial Fellow of the University of East Anglia.