What was the English Flag at the Battle of Hastings?

Question

I'm not very sure if English is the right word here or if there was such a thing as a national flag

Answer 1

fighting  man.

Answer 2

The Anglo Saxon flag would have beena  very battered one, having just been in a big battle i the north. No, it was not St George's Cross, that came centuries later.I would be surprised if there was one that early on.

Answer 3

The English flags at Hastings would have been The Fighting Man (Harold's personal standard), and a white dragon (England's national flag in the late Anglo-Saxon period).

I think that's correct anyway, lol

btw - the Anglo-Saxons would have been calling themselves "English" for at least two centuries before Hastings.

EDIT: The dragon flag was red and not white like I said earlier. It was the Dragon standard of Wessex - not to be confused with the dragon on today's Welsh flag.

Shock and Awe - I thought that the Norman flag was the Papal banner, given to Guillaume le Batard by the Pope to show his support for the conquest. The only viking war banner that comes to mind is "Land Waster" - the banner of the King of Norway at Stamford Bridge.

Clive H - The Normans and Bretons etc. that made up William's army would not have thought of themselves as French, but that IS how they were seen by the English.

The Anglo-Saxons would also have seen themselves as "English" by the time of the conquest. The Kingdom of England had existed for over a century by that time, after all.

You mention King Harold's Danish mother - this shouldn't really be that much of a surprise. Since the time of Cnut (r.1016 - 1035) England could best be described as an Anglo-Scandinavian country. His Danish ancestry would only have reflected the social realities of the time, and would not have been seen as out of place or extraordinary.

Lastly, you mention the feelings of kinship and support that the northern English felt for the Normans. I think you are confusing the Normans with the invading Norwegians here. Certainly William the B*stard did not show much affection to the north when he committed his genocide there in response to rebellions against his brutal and unwanted rule.

btw - Huns? In England?

Answer 4

No, they would've just flown Harold's coat of arms.

Answer 5

Just checking a book Loll - edit it in a moment!!

Edit - from what's on the Bayeux Tapestry it's a Dragon, like the 'trend' at the time.

Which fits very well with other evidence.

So no St Georges Cross as that only came about after Richard the 1st crusades.. He was not a good king for Britain, some say good for Aquitaine but he was just an ego merchant..

Answer 6

Let's just say that the opposing forces at the Battle of Hastings were not exactly what we now call French and English.

The best way to look at it is that on the invading side were the Normans, lead by Duke William of Normandy plus an army of ferocious Celts from Brittany numbering about 70,000 troops in all.

On the home-team, were the Anglo-Saxons, lead by their King, Harold.

Harold did not have the support of all of the 'English' at that time, who comprised a mixed bag of Celts, Saxons, Danes, assorted Huns and even Vikings.  Certainly the Vikings of the north of Engerland, did not support Harold.  Instead they supported their 'Viking' brother, William.

For Norman read Norse-man - that's their origins anyway.

Site of the Battle of Hastings, Senlac Hill outside the town of Battle.

http://www.britroyals.com/kings.asp?id=h...

Harold had a Danish mum - so he was English then?

There is one famous family who were with Harold at Hastings, their name is Pilkington - that same family now make glass.

This next site is a bit muddled but gives an approx picture of roughly who everyone is, more or less.

http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.c/qx/...

Answer 7

The Flag of Guernesy

Answer 8

Oh my goodness, i live in 1066 county and haven't a clue ,but in most shops you see a red dragon flag , will that help lol

Answer 9

I have studied this battle extensively and the battle standard if one main one for Harold was flown would have been his the house of Wessex, which came from his mother, Gytha, the Countess of Wessex, the sister in law to Canute (Cnut) and mother of Harold the last Anglo Saxon King.

This was the standard (or something similar) and can be seen in the Bayuex tapestry.

Harold is identified, not surprisingly, by the Red Dragon standard. These were common during the early medieval period and were basically a windsock, fashioned into the shape of a monstrous fish, dragon or similar animal, and often containing a device to whistle when the wind blew through them. Harold's flag is depicted as a red, winged dragon with a green and yellow tail.

In one panel, the Normans also seem to have Raven, Terror of the Land, the traditional war emblem of the Vikings.

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/fr_ba...

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb-we...

Answer 10

red cross on a white back ground