Norman cavalry performed one or more feigned retreats during the Battle of Hastings, drawing sections of the English shieldwall off the ridge in pursuit. Whether deliberate or an improvised exploitation of genuine disorder is debated, but the tactic worked twice and was decisive in breaking the English line. William of Poitiers explicitly describes the manoeuvre as deliberate. It remains one of the most controversial tactical questions of medieval military history.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in Britain — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.
Research a location near this battlefield