Was 'William the Conquerer' lucky?

This isn't so much a WI but a question (though there's a small WI in it.)

My question is, was William of Normandy lucky? I ask this as it seems to me like the only reason he won the Battle of Hastings was because of the Battle of Stamford Bridge, or at least that was a large reason for him winning. If it hadn't been for the Vikings invading, weakening the Anglo-Saxons by 2000 men and also making the army exhausted, and the army then having to march for two weeks back to southern England to Hastings would William have won? I mean let's say that the Norman's invade first, though they had good tactics the Anglo-Saxons would've been stronger and more active. Could they have beaten the Norman's? Could it have in fact been almost a reverse leading to a Viking conquest of Northern/all of England? Or could the Anglo-Saxons have beaten them to?

Discuss.
 
I'm quite sure that William the Bastard was rather on the lucky side. As it was, the Battle of Hastings was a close-run thing. Here, they're fighting an army fresh from all that marching, and with their original numbers. Similarly, Hardraada's men are boosted, and not likely to be caught unawares this time.
 
I think William was smart enough to wait for the enemy to finish off the other competitor ('the Vikings' were more organised that simply raiders) before attacking him himself. Wasn't so much luck as much as strategic thinking.
 
le Bâtard did have a huge amount of luck, but I think it was mostly luck in the battle itself - the rallying of the Normans after the false report of William's death, the impetuosity of the Saxons, etc. Change a small detail and the battle could easily have been a rout for the Normans.

The double invasion was, IIRC, as Theo says, actually a deliberate calculation on William's part.
 
The 31 day period ending with the Battle of Hastings has an incredible series of events and in every single event if the key figure, be it Harald Hardrada, William of Normany or Harold Godwinson, had moved a bit faster or taken a bit more time all of English history would have been transformed.
 
Top