Where are the dead of the Battle of Hastings buried?

Anders · May 31, 2012

Hey there, first post here... this place seems pretty good and I hope I can have some fun here.

Okay, my first post is going to be a bit curious and a bit obscure, but if ANYONE has ANY information or places to point to me, I would love it.

Here's the thing: a few years back, I traced my family history back to a certain Anglo-Saxon gentleman named "Ethelwulf" who was born in 1030 and supposedly was killed at the Battle of Hastings at the age of 36. I think there are a few things about him that are apocryphal: supposedly he was called "Great Lord Ethelwulf" and "Ethelwulf, Lord of Kent" at a time when Leofwine Godwinson was the EARL of Kent. Also, it seems that there's no record of the Anglo-Saxon/English dead from the Battle of Hastings, just the Norman ones. Thus, it's hard to make out fact from legend in the story of my ancestor.

Still, he's made me curious about a few things... now, obviously no matter how hard I try, finding his exact burial location nowadays would be almost impossible, but for the purpose of just personal interest, here are some questions:

1) Where are most of the dead of the Battle of Hastings buried? My Google-fu turned of some info, saying that much of the English side were left to rot for a good amount of time, but how much of that is true? Were they buried there or were most able to be brought home eventually?

2) If my ancestor was, in fact, a noble- lord, eorl, whatever- and his family was eventually able to find his corpse on the battlefield, where and how would he have been buried? Would he have been brought back to Canterbury? Which church(es) in Canterbury would a lower noble have been buried in? Or was he most likely just dumped in a mass grave?

3) Are there any cemeteries in England from the medieval era whose markers or whatnot are still extant? I've seen medieval BYZANTINE cemeteries in Turkey and I know that the cemetery at Iona Abbey in Scotland still has a lot of preserved tombstones, but just wondering if there are in England proper...

I think that's all for now, I've been reading some about archaeological digs of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries online, but most examples are from the 5th-9th centuries, not the 11th century (the point in time I'm wondering about)... Thanks ahead of time!

DreamWeaver · May 31, 2012

somewhere near Battle Abbey?

bunyip · May 31, 2012

A lot of the common soldiers would not have been buried at all or buried in a common grave.

A good place to see old gravestones in England is inside old churches (floors) and in their crypts. Often, quite ordinary-looking churches will surprise you. Those in the open air tend to be too eroded to read.

Von Ranke · May 31, 2012

The only burial I am aware of for the Battle of Hastings is that of Harold. Apparently his wife Edith Swan Neck identified his corpse on the battlefield from marks on his body that only she was privvy to. The story goes that William refused her permission to look for her husband's corpse but she secretly found him and had his body removed to Waltham Abbey for internment. Whether this is documented in the primary sources of the period or is a part of legend I am not sure. Good luck with your research, you will need it.

Haesten · Jun 1, 2012

Norman sources say Harold was buried near the sea, possibly Bosham, a grave was found under the altar in the 50s, recently a request to disinter for DNA comparisons were turned down by the courts.

Bosham, Chichester, West Sussex

William Malet being one of the few Normans spared when the Danes burnt York in 1069 suggests this might be the correct account.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Malet_(Norman_conquest)

Another possibility at Bosham is Harold's cousin Beorn (brother of Sweyn Estrithson, king of Denmark) killed by Sweyn Godwinsson in 1049, although the ASC says Harold had him buried at Winchester with his uncle, King Cnut.

The Waltham Chronicle account is 12th century

The Waltham Chronicle: Leslie Watkiss - Oxford University Press

The only certain burial of a casualty from Hastings is Abbot Leofric of Peterborough, who died on his return from the campaign according to ASCe, presumably wounded in the battle.

Davidson14 · Jun 1, 2012

I went to Battle a few years back, but I can't really remember. The supposed point of Harold's death is marked, and I guess that the general soldiers were looted and then either left to rot, burned or put in a mass grave (probably the latter). However, there have been large excavations around Senlac Hill, and I doubt they would be allowed to do this if there was a known mass grave.

Haesten · Jun 4, 2012

"Nova Anglia was a colony allegedly founded in the mid-to-late 11th century by English refugees fleeing William the Conqueror."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_(medieval)

Haesten · Jun 4, 2012

A couple of resources.

http://eagle.cch.kcl.ac.uk:8080/pase/persons/index.html

Æthelwulf 32 (Male)
Minister, fl. 1026

Anglo-Saxon Charters

Brunel · Jun 14, 2012

King Harold II was buried in the market town of Waltham Abbey in Essex.

Some of the soldiers on both sides were buried throughout England in graveyards and some were buried on the battlefield.

King Harold II's grave in Waltham Abbey, Essex

From: http://www.battle-of-hastings-1066.org.uk/index.htm

The aftermath of the Battle meant that the Normans had to mourn and bury their dead...

"The morrow was Sunday; and those who had slept upon the field of battle, keeping watch around and suffering great fatigue, bestirred themselves at break of day and sought out and buried such of the bodies of their dead friends as they might find.

The noble ...... of the land also came, some to seek their husbands, and others their fathers, sons, or brothers.

They bore the bodies to their villages and interred them at the churches; and the clerks and priests of the country were ready, and at the request of their friends took the bodies that were found, and prepared graves and lay them therein."

Whilst the Normans were mourning and burying their dead the Saxons had to face the same terrible tasks, but added to this , was the weight of defeat and the death of their King...

"King Harold was carried and buried at Varham (Waltham); but I know not who it was that bore him thither, neither do I know who buried him. Many remained on the field, and many had fled in the night."

Many a pathetic legend was told respecting the discovery and the burial of the corpse of our last Saxon King. The main circumstances, though they seem to vary, are perhaps reconcilable. Two of the monks of Waltham Abbey, which Harold had founded a little time before his election to the throne, had accompanied him to the battle. On the morning after the slaughter they begged and gained permission of the Conqueror to search for the body of their benefactor.

The Norman soldiery and camp followers had stripped and gashed the slain, and the two monks vainly strove to recognize from among the mutilated and gory heaps around them the features of their former King. They sent for Harold's mistress, Edith, surnamed "the Fair," and "the Swan-necked," to aid them. The eye of love proved keener than the eye of gratitude, and the Saxon .... even in that Aceldama (A place with dreadful associations) knew her Harold.

The King's mother now sought the victorious Norman, and begged the dead body of her son. But William at first answered, in his wrath and the hardness of his heart, that a man who had been false to his word and his religion should have no other sepulchre than the sand of the shore. He added, with a sneer: "Harold mounted guard on the coast while he was alive; he may continue his guard now he is dead." The taunt was an unintentional eulogy; and a grave washed by the spray of the Sussex waves would have been the noblest burial-place for the martyr of Saxon freedom.

But Harold's mother was urgent in her lamentations and her prayers; the Conqueror relented: like Achilles, he gave up the dead body of his fallen foe to a parent's supplications, and the remains of King Harold were deposited with regal honors in Waltham Abbey.

Haesten · Jun 15, 2012

The stone marks the site of the high altar prior to the reformation where legend has it Harold was buried, the original monastery was torn down by Henry VIII.

Kings burial : Bosham, Chichester, West Sussex

When the Normans built the new Abbey at Winchester they had all the Anglo-Saxon kings plus Cnut and Earl Godwine disinterred and the remains placed in marked caskets in the Abbey. Unfortunately for DNA the Abbey was ransacked by Cromwell's troops in the Civil War and all the caskets scattered, they were gathered up and are still there but Cnut's casket contains six skulls I think.
Harold's sister Queen Edith was however buried alongside Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey, but Edward was moved to a shrine when he was cannonised in the 12th century.

Radar pinpoints tomb of King Edward the Confessor - Telegraph

Waltham Abbey was founded by Tovi the Proud a staller to Cnut and Harthacnut, he married a daughter of a Norse jarl, Osgod Clapa, an enemy of the Godwins who were not popular with Harthacnut over the death of his half brother Alfred. It was at this wedding that Harthacnut (24 years old) dropped dead while having a drink with Tovi and Osgod and presumably the Godwins.
The Godwins installed Edward as King, Osgod was exiled and Waltham and all its lands came into Harold's hands.

deBourden · Aug 12, 2014

I too have traced my family back to Ethelwulf, but have a few pieces missing. I can fully go back to Elfrida of Kent, which I believe to be Ethelwulf's granddaughter or great granddaughter. Are you also related to the Dunkins/Duncans?

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Where are the dead of the Battle of Hastings buried?

Anders

DreamWeaver

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Haesten

Davidson14

Haesten

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Haesten

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