<P> According to Snorri Sturluson, before the battle a single man rode up alone to Harald Hardrada and Tostig . He gave no name, but spoke to Tostig, offering the return of his earldom if he would turn against Hardrada . Tostig asked what his brother Harold would be willing to give Hardrada for his trouble . The rider replied "Seven feet of English ground, as he is taller than other men ." Then he rode back to the Saxon host . Hardrada was impressed by the rider's boldness, and asked Tostig who he was . Tostig replied that the rider was Harold Godwinson himself . According to Henry of Huntingdon, Harold said "Six feet of ground or as much more as he needs, as he is taller than most men ." </P> <P> On 12 September 1066 William's fleet sailed from Normandy . Several ships sank in storms, which forced the fleet to take shelter at Saint - Valery - sur - Somme and to wait for the wind to change . On 27 September the Norman fleet finally set sail for England, arriving, it is believed, the following day at Pevensey on the coast of East Sussex . Harold's army marched 241 miles (386 kilometres) to intercept William, who had landed perhaps 7,000 men in Sussex, southern England . Harold established his army in hastily built earthworks near Hastings . The two armies clashed at the Battle of Hastings, at Senlac Hill (near the present town of Battle) close by Hastings on 14 October, where after nine hours of hard fighting, Harold was killed and his forces defeated . His brothers Gyrth and Leofwine were also killed in the battle, according to the Anglo - Saxon Chronicle . </P> <P> The notion that Harold died by an arrow to the eye is a popular belief today, but this historical legend is subject to much scholarly debate . A Norman account of the battle, Carmen de Hastingae Proelio ("Song of the Battle of Hastings"), said to have been written shortly after the battle by Guy, Bishop of Amiens, says that Harold was killed by four knights, probably including Duke William, and his body dismembered . Twelfth - century Anglo - Norman histories, such as William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum and Henry of Huntingdon's Historia Anglorum recount that Harold died by an arrow wound to his head . An earlier source, Amatus of Montecassino's L'Ystoire de li Normant ("History of the Normans"), written only twenty years after the battle of Hastings, contains a report of Harold being shot in the eye with an arrow, but this may be an early fourteenth - century addition . Later accounts reflect one or both of these two versions . </P> <P> A figure in the panel of the Bayeux Tapestry with the inscription "Harold Rex Interfectus Est" ("Harold the King is killed") is depicted gripping an arrow that has struck his eye, but some historians have questioned whether this man is intended to be Harold or if Harold is intended as the next figure lying to the right almost supine, being mutilated beneath a horse's hooves . Etchings made of the Tapestry in the 1730s show the standing figure with differing objects . Benoît's 1729 sketch shows only a dotted line indicating stitch marks without any indication of fletching, whereas all other arrows in the Tapestry are fletched . Bernard de Montfaucon's 1730 engraving has a solid line resembling a spear being held overhand matching the manner of the figure to the left . Stothard's 1819 water - colour drawing has, for the first time, a fletched arrow in the figure's eye . Although not apparent in the earlier depictions, the Tapestry today has stitch marks indicating the fallen figure once had an arrow in its eye . It has been proposed that the second figure once had an arrow added by over-enthusiastic nineteenth - century restorers that was later unstitched . Many believe this, as the name "Harold" is above the figure with an arrow in his eye . This has been disputed by examining other examples from the Tapestry where the visual centre of a scene, not the location of the inscription, identifies named figures . Further evidence is that an arrow volley would be fired before the Norman cavalry charge . A further suggestion is that both accounts are accurate, and that Harold suffered first the eye wound, then the mutilation, and the Tapestry is depicting both in sequence . </P>

Who was killed by an arrow through the eye
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