The Wace text covers the rise of William who is in Normandy when Harold leaves Bosham (Bodeham) in two ships. It states of Harold:

‘I know not how the mischief was occasioned; whether it was a storm arose, but this I know, that he missed the right course and touched the coast of Pontif, where he could neither get away, nor conceal himself. A fisherman of that country, who had been in England had often seen Harold, watched him; and knew him, both by his face and his speech; and went to Guy, the count of Pontif…..They seized and took him to Abbeville; but Harold contrived to send off a message to Duke William in Normandy, and told him of his journey.’

We are told:

‘Harold was on his fathers (Godwin’s) side he was English, and on his mother’s Danish; Gite (Githa) his mother being a Danish woman, born and brought up in great wealth, a very gentle lady, a sister of King Canut. She was wife to Godwin, mother of Harold and daughter of Edith (of Saxon Chronicles, who married in 1043 and died in 1075). When his father had died being choked at the feast. Harold pitying the hostages (who had been held in France) was desirous to cross over into Normandy, to bring them home.’

Hence we have the story admitted by a Norman scribe, who worked in the Norman court after William had died, that the honourable man in this fight was undoubtedly Harold, because the guilt is admitted in Wace who says:

‘When Harold placed his hand upon it, the hand trembled, and the flesh quivered ; but he swore, and promised upon his oath, to take Ele to wife, and to deliver up England to the duke……the duke led him up to the chest, and made him stand near it ; and took off the chest the pall that had covered it, and shewed Harold upon what holy relics he had sworn ; and he was sorely alarmed at the sight.’

William was known as the bastard and through guile he claimed the british throne and won it through good luck in battle. Harold would never accept that he had willingly given away his right. He was tricked and that is why the negotiations failed before the battle took place. It was the battle of will by two men, neither of whom would give up, because the oath could not be binding under English law. The Witan were the people who appointed Harold as King, because he had the right to be king, William did not.

The night before the battle Harold built a defence across the battlefield in three places as described in Wace. This resulting in claims that Harold was not honourable. Those ditches still exists on the Crowhurst Battlefield and can be seen on Google maps still today.

Chapter 10 tells us that the Pope sent a gonfanon (banner) to William in support of his claim at the time Haley’s comet is seen. Wace tells us the Norman fleet where moored in the Somme valley at St Valerie. It is explained that the Somme separates Ponthieu and Vimou. This is explained in the text stating that Vimou is separated from Normandy by the River Ou, and is a country under separate government. The detail is remarkable in all matters. It was originally accepted in the French court as wholly authentic, but denied in England, because Battle Abbey could not possibly be where Wace says the battle took place. This was due to muddled thinking due to missidentification of the battlefield by those who had a vested interest in maintaining the site where the Abbey had been built. The French did not have this and compared documents which tell the whole story.

At this stage the Normans arrive at one port, ‘all reaching the shore together; they cast anchor and discharged themselves on dry land’. There is no doubt where this happened close to Hastings because it says ‘They arrived near Hastings and there each ship ranged by the other’s side.’ Indicating a large section of shore required to take at least 500 boats. ‘They scoured the whole shore and found not an armed man there. They formed together on the shore, each armed upon his warhorse and passed into the plain with their lances raised.’

This, like Henry of Huntingdon, confirms the ground had a plain beside it when the battle begins and confirms that the old town of Hastings built later in the cliffs of the coast could not have been where the landing port was found. It was further down the coast at Bulverhythe - meaning ‘the landing place of the people’ in Old English, where an extensive coastal plain exists. The Duke calls the ships to shore and as he lands first he fell by chance in the mud, where he says ‘See, seignors, by the splendour of God I have seized England with my two hands, turning a bad omen into a posative one.’

Wace tells us that ‘the ships were then ordered to be dissmantled, drawn ashore and pierced, that the cowards might have no ships to flee to.’ In the Chronicle of Battle Abbey it tells us that some were also burnt indicating that some of the fleet may have also been used to build the fort, which took place at the same time. Chapter 13 details a knight who reports to ‘his Lord’ Harold that he has ‘seen the Normans build up and enclose a fort and dig a ditch (fosse) around it’. The Wace text says ‘and thus he journeyed on by night and day to seek Harold his lord,’ indicating a special relationship, because it would be expected that the knight would report to ‘his king.’ It is therefore of importance that the Wace document is telling us that the knight was based in Crowhurst, because Crowhurst was a manor that the King owned and was the only manor in the area of Hastings where he would be addressed as ‘his Lord’.

Wace tells us that the day AFTER the invasion (a saturday) the Normans came to the castle called Pevensey. The correct translation of the name is used (‘Penevesel’). No other document makes this claim, which is justfied by the fact that the Bayeux Tapestry shows the party landed and consumed chicken on the sea shore on the Frday night. The Bishop is shown to be eating fish on the friday , which is confirmed as mandatory eating for the clergy at this time in history. This is a custom that has lasted from then until today in Ireland, a country where the Christian religion is practiced still.

Due to time and tide it would not have been possible to sail the sixteen miles down the coast and back whilst still conducting the arrangements seen in the Bayeux Tapestry, Wace and the Carmen. In consequence we know that this evidence is correct, explaining how Pevensey was included in the invasion story, destroying the later claim that Pevensey could be the landing site.

In Wace we have the evidence of the knight who gave an account to his lord of the landing. He says upon reaching Harold he cried;

‘the Normans are come! they have landed at Hastings.. they have enclosed a fort, and strenghtened it around about with palisades and a fosse.’

This fosse and palisade at the Norman camp have been found at Hastings port in the manor of Wilting, where Alfred’s Burh can be found. No other fort existed in the Hastings area with a palisade and fosse, adapted by the Normans.

We are told that the battle took place on ‘Saturday 14th October ‘1066 and that William stood upon a hill to address his troops. The format of the ground appears exactly the same as in the Bayeux Tapestry as shown along the London Road between Wilting and Crowhurst. They travelled:

‘Along the hill and across a valley.’

Tosteins is put in charge of William’s gonfanon and it states:

‘Harold knew that the Normans would come and attack him hand to hand; so he had early enclosed the field in which he placed his men.’

The text continues in Chapter 19:

‘Meanwhile the Normans appeared, advancing over the ridge of a rising ground; and the first division of troops moved along the hill and across a valley.’

Indicating that Harold was well prepared having brought with him the means to enclose the field. It continues by telling us.

‘They had built up a fence before them and their shields, and with ash and other wood; and had well joined and wattled in the whole work as not to leave a crevice; and thus had a barricade in their front, through which any Norman who attacked them must pass…. the English stood in close ranks, eady and eager to fight; and they had moreover made a fosse (ditch), which went across the field, guarding one side of their army.’

This field where the armies started the battle is called the Great Field of Crowhurst, which runs along the then London Road from the bottom in the plain by the sea inlet, to the top at Telham Hill. Three defenses have been found. The ditch at the bottom of the hill guarded one side of the defending army and can be examined upon Google maps, as can the other two further up the field. No defence has been found at any other site.

Red marker (with dot) marks the center of the ditch in front of the plain.

The plain is mentioned again in regards to;

‘A fresh company came in sight, covering all the plain; and in the midst of them was raised the gonfanon that came from Rome.’

and

‘The youths and common herd of the camp, whose business was not to join in the battle, but to take care of harness and stores, moved off towards a rising ground. The priests and clerks also ascended a hill, there to offer up prayers toGod, and watch the events of the battle.’

At this stage the Battle of Hastings starts, when Taillefer the juggler is described as marking the first death.

This document was written by Master Wace from Jersey and is claimed to have been written soon after 1100. However, there is reference in the text that confirms it contains eye witness accounts of Haleys comet (arriving 1066), stating he was very young at the time his father first told him the story. It confirms the value of spoken history in the early period, since it provides an almost exact version of what was portrayed in the Bayeux Tapestry and should carry the date 1066 as a first hand witness account through his father.

It consists of 10,000 lines learnt by Rote, in the days when spoken versions of important events were passed from father to son. Much detail is added and although Christian names where often lost in the process it is without doubt an authentic document that is confirmed as correct in almost all detail by the other documents listed here. Each carries detail that can be cross checked with others to confirm their veracity.

Supposition has no place in the history of England and we are told exactly what happened and you would be well advised to read it in full, because it endorses entirely the site at Hastings by defining the landscape, which is wholly different from that of the now deceased fake site in Battle or Pevensey. Wace is wholly endorsed by the Bayeux Tapestry in all the detail. Those who died did not die in vain. Honour them by acknowledging the battlefield and demand it is acknowledged through these authentic and thorough original documents.