How did the English become so easily overran in the 1066 conquest?

>>3257925
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stamford_Bridge
The Anglos lost a ton of soldiers in previous battles and a ton of them left Harold's army to harvest crops

>>3257933
You do realize that the fyrd that fought at Stamford didn't march south to fight at Hastings, it was an entirely different force (except for Harald's personal housecarls), that fought that battle, right?

The bulk of the losses sustained at Stamford would not have impacted Harald's ability to fight at Hastings at all.

>>3257925
Still though, the above anon is right in the essentials; the feudal in fact if not in name system that the English were using in the Mid-11th century was horribly backwards and left England with little abiltiy to mobilize as a unit against external threats. In addition to the forces that left between Stamford and Hastings, Harald was more or less forced to make his decisive stand then and not later because of the requirements of his fyrd to end their services, and he couldn't oppose William's crossing the channel because his navy went "yep, our time's up, have fun with the invasion."

In contrast, the system you see William using of paid soldiers raised by financial levies to the overlord is much more flexible for this sort of thing. If the campaign runs a bit longer than expected, it might cost you more dosh, but unless you actually run out (and if you're plundering the countryside as you go, that's not likely to happen, at least for a little while), affords you much more in the way of options.

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>>3257925

how long until fuckboys start sporting the norman cut?

Harrying of the North, best day of my life

William the bastard was autistic, that's why

>>3257997
>was autistic

literally /ourguy/

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>>3257925
It is because cheeky Willy trolled them with his pretend retreats at Hastings.

almost harvesting season

>>3257925
>How did the English become so easily overran in the 1066 conquest?

Because, all memes aside, England was one of the most centralised countries in Europe. With the death of the king and destruction of his main army, the remaining nobles almost immediately sued for peace. In a less civilised country he would have to had to tame dozens of powerful landlords.

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>>3258040
>the remaining nobles almost immediately sued for peace.

How did that work out?

>>3258000
Shadilay!

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>>3258045

>>3257950
>Its backwards to have a complicated system of raising every able freeman to fight for free
>Its forward thinking to hire mercenaries lmao

U wot

>>3258273
Because you no longer have to plan entire campaigns and defense strategies around when your men's 40 (or whatever) days obligations are up, or what kind of service they signed on for. You also don't have to deal with the severe economic dislocation if you're trying to raise mass levies around some time when you need to get a lot of work done, such as planting or harvest time. You hire the mercenaries, you pay them, ideally with taxes that have replaced service obligations, and you're good to go.

>>3257950
What are you talking about? Anglo-Saxon England had the most developed tax system in western Europe and supported a core of professional housecarls with it. Normans were the ones with a feudal system.

William was the one who was forced to make a decisive stand and took a huge gamble by attacking the English in an ideal defensive position.

>>3258407
>What are you talking about? Anglo-Saxon England had the most developed tax system in western Europe and supported a core of professional housecarls with it.
A very small core, and supplemented it with a very traditional feudal levy and very traditional regional lords with private armies, like the ones that fought in Fulford.

>William was the one who was forced to make a decisive stand and took a huge gamble by attacking the English in an ideal defensive position.
Which is of course why he sat around for weeks dicking around in Pevensey, (even building fortifications!) and it was Harald who was the one rushing across the country to force a confrontation.

>>3257950
I would like to add that by not having a cavalry arm, Harold's army pretty much gave up mobility, decisive penetration, the ability to exploit such penetrations, and consequently the initiative to William.