Ursula's Alcove

Catalog : Books : History

Hastings
by Peter Poyntz Wright

Softcover $ 12.95
ISBN 0753819945

Phoenix (Orion Books)
2005 edition, 5" X 7 3/4"
164 pages.

Few dates in history are so etched upon our consciousness as '1066', the date of the Battle of Hastings. And with good reason, for the outcome was paramount in forming England's future fate. It was a battle fought on a knife edge throughout Saturday 14 October - and it is questionable whether the best man won.

The story has been told many times, but here Peter Poyntz Wright takes the reader through much inaccessible material to provide an insight into the character of Harold and his opponent William. During Harold's short reign he consolidated the defence of his realm only to be asked to defend it against two foreign invaders at opposire ends of the country in three weeks.

Peter Poyntz Wright analyzes the causes of the battle itself, the military strengths and weaknesses of both sides and completes it with a blow-by-blow graphic account of the fighting.