The two sides that day were fairly evenly matched, so the battle could have gone either way. William had cavalry, but the English, of course, had the home advantage. What if a stray arrow had killed Harold sometime in the afternoon, and the English resistance eventually crumbled?
When news reached London, panic would certainly have set in. A faction of the nobles would probably had advocated surrender, though others would have proclaimed Edgar the Atheling as king. As the last surviving member of the House of Wessex he would have been the only possible candidate, but as an untried boy he was hardly suitable to lead the nation in a war for its survival so I imaganine his nominal "reign" would have lasted merely weeks, while William made his slow progress from the south coast to London, burning and pillaging all the way in an act of calculated frightfulness such as he had practiced in earlier campaigns in Normandy.
Inevitably, the English establishment would have caved in, and William would have been accepted as king by Christmas at the latest. At first, through lack of choice, he would have had to rule through the existing organs of government, and it may have seemed as if nothing would really change. But he had a big problem: thousands of followers who had joined his army, expecting land as a reward. First of all he parcelled out the lands of those English nobles who had stood against him at Hastings, but it was nowhere nearly enough, so, within a year or two, who would begin dispossessing the entire English landed classes. This would inevitably have led to revolts, and William, growing ever more cynical and ruthless, would doubtlessly have put these down with genocidal barbarity.
I imagine him ruling England with an iron fist for twenty years or so before dying a bloated, hated man. I also suspect that his patrimony would be divided, with his eldest son Robert getting Normandy, and the extremely unpleasant William, his second son, getting England. He would found a line of monarchs that would reign over England to this day.
The consequences for England would be catastrophic and profound. With all their aristocrats and middle ranking landowner expelled, replaced by Frenchmen, the English would become a nation of serfs in their own country. Their language itself would be altered beyond recognition, filled with French words and phrases, and their legal system denied to them. The new, militaristic ruling class would not be content with England, but would go on to conquer Wales, Ireland and Scotland, and eventually whole continents beyond, such as North America and Australia, setting up colonies everywhere. This "British Empire" would rule the globe for hundreds of years, spreading its language and culture everywhere, though I suspect it would eventually fragment, and the section of it that controlled the best resources, i.e. North America, would eventually come to dominate.
When news reached London, panic would certainly have set in. A faction of the nobles would probably had advocated surrender, though others would have proclaimed Edgar the Atheling as king. As the last surviving member of the House of Wessex he would have been the only possible candidate, but as an untried boy he was hardly suitable to lead the nation in a war for its survival so I imaganine his nominal "reign" would have lasted merely weeks, while William made his slow progress from the south coast to London, burning and pillaging all the way in an act of calculated frightfulness such as he had practiced in earlier campaigns in Normandy.
Inevitably, the English establishment would have caved in, and William would have been accepted as king by Christmas at the latest. At first, through lack of choice, he would have had to rule through the existing organs of government, and it may have seemed as if nothing would really change. But he had a big problem: thousands of followers who had joined his army, expecting land as a reward. First of all he parcelled out the lands of those English nobles who had stood against him at Hastings, but it was nowhere nearly enough, so, within a year or two, who would begin dispossessing the entire English landed classes. This would inevitably have led to revolts, and William, growing ever more cynical and ruthless, would doubtlessly have put these down with genocidal barbarity.
I imagine him ruling England with an iron fist for twenty years or so before dying a bloated, hated man. I also suspect that his patrimony would be divided, with his eldest son Robert getting Normandy, and the extremely unpleasant William, his second son, getting England. He would found a line of monarchs that would reign over England to this day.
The consequences for England would be catastrophic and profound. With all their aristocrats and middle ranking landowner expelled, replaced by Frenchmen, the English would become a nation of serfs in their own country. Their language itself would be altered beyond recognition, filled with French words and phrases, and their legal system denied to them. The new, militaristic ruling class would not be content with England, but would go on to conquer Wales, Ireland and Scotland, and eventually whole continents beyond, such as North America and Australia, setting up colonies everywhere. This "British Empire" would rule the globe for hundreds of years, spreading its language and culture everywhere, though I suspect it would eventually fragment, and the section of it that controlled the best resources, i.e. North America, would eventually come to dominate.