WARHORSE

From William the Conqueror's battle-winning cavalry to Richard III's fatal final charge, Oliver H Creighton and Robert Liddiard explore five moments when horsepower changed the course of medieval history

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1 1066 and all that

Horses were involved in King Harold's defeat at Hastings - but also in the demise of his Norman conqueror

It’s one of the most famous of all medieval images. Harold II stands upon the battlefield at Hastings, desperately grasping at an arrow lodged in his eye. This incident - depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry - is credited with ending the English king’s life and extinguishing centuries of Anglo-Saxon rule. Yet look to the right of Harold and you'll find an image that arguably goes even further in explaining his defeat: it depicts a sword-wielding warrior mounted upon a horse.

The Norman conquest of England in 1066 was an era-defining event – and its centrepiece was the battle of Hastings. That clash is graphically represented on the Bayeux Tapestry, most memorably in the image of mounted Norman knights charging the line of Anglo-Saxon warriors on foot. It’s a powerful rendition of horses making history - and for William, Duke of Normandy, those animals proved critical in securing his victory.

William began the day of the pivotal action, 14 October, by ordering reconnaissance missions, receiving intelligence from returning mounted scouts on the whereabouts of Harold’s forces. When the two armies later closed in to do battle, the Bayeux Tapestry shows us, the duke mounted his warhorse and exhorted his knights to “prepare themselves manfully and wisely” as they cantered towards the forthcoming engagement. During the nine-hour struggle, William was in the thick of the fighting — and two, or possibly three, of his horses were killed beneath him.