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Hi all. Only my second post on the forum and my first thread. This is a little what-if scenario I've been working on. What if the Saxons win the Battle of Hastings?

Oct. 14, 1066: William of Normandy was losing his patience. This initial archery volley had failed to break up the English shield wall which would have allowed his cavalry to break Harold's army. His initial cavalry charged had had little to no effect and now the battle seemed to have reached a stalemate.

For nearly an hour the two sides had been engaged in hand-to-hand fighting. The Normans pushing up the hill and the English, confident after their victory at Stamford Bridge, holding their lines. William knew one side would have to break.

Much to the Norman's horror it was the Breton division that finally broke. The left flank of William's line began to give, then finally broke in an all-out retreat. The rest of the Norman began to follow suit.

King Harold Godwinson watched as the Norman's fled. Now was the chance he had been waiting for. The English could win the day if they remained steadfast. He knew that many of English would want to charge down the hill after the Normans but he needed them to fight the urge to win individual glory and remain a single cohesive unit.

Harold watched as a few dozen fyrdmen broke ranks and charged down hill, axes in hand. I must act now, he thought.

"Hold my countrymen!" shouted Harold. "Hold and we shall win the day!"

Harold's brothers, Leofwyne and Gyrthe, who were each about to charge heard their brother's voice and ordered their men to remain in the shield wall.

William wheeled his horse around in circles, shouting at his fleeing troops. Many of the Flemish and Norman troops began to reform as their Duke and his retinue of knights reformed their ranks.

Just as it seemed that the Norman Duke had control of the situation a javelin struck his horse throwing William to the ground. His troops, seeing their commander's horse struck down began to retreat again.

"Someone bring me a horse!" shouted William. The fall from his now dead mount had merely steeled the Duke's resolve. "A horse!" he bellowed taking off his helmet. Seeing their leader standing on the field with his head bare, the Norman knights rallied. A horse was brought to the Duke and the cavalry reformed around their leader. If the battle was to be won, William would have to lead from the front.

Harold's troops had reformed just in time. The English king watched as the few fyrdmen who had charged were cut down by the advancing Norman cavalry. At their center, Harold recognized their leader.

The Normans charged the English shield wall, just as they had earlier in the day, and just as happened before the wall held. A group of Norman knights struck the line where Harold's brother Gyrthe and his housecarls stood. Gryrthe raised his axe but was trampled by the oncoming knights. His housecarls, however, held firm and repulsed the Norman attach.

William, at the center of the cavalry charge, pushed his horse forward. He was trying to coax the animal into a gallop but the terrain slowed his progress. In what seemed like an eternity, his horsemen finally met the English line. But, though the English line bent at the charge, it did not break. William's horse broke through the first rank but balked when it felt a spear puncture its rump. For the second and last time that day the Norman Duke was thrown from his mount.

Seeing the small breakthrough in his lines, Harold and his housecarls charged the breach. Vicious fighting ensued between the English King's housecarls and Williams knights. In the maelstrom it was William who died from a mace blow to the neck.

Seeing their leader dead the remaining knights fled, the rest of the Norman army following suit. They did not stop until they reached their ships at Pevensey.

At the end of the day it was Harold who held the field though not without a cost. Many of the English had been killed including his brother Gyrthe. Among the Norman corpses that lay strewn at the base of the shield wall was William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy.

The Kingdom of England would remain in Saxon hands.

So what do you all think? I'm going to speculate more from here but suggestions are welcome.
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