Senlac Hill (or Senlac Ridge) is the generally accepted location in which Harold Godwinson deployed his army for the

Battle of Hastings The Battle of Hastings nrf, Batâle dé Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman Conque ...

on 14 October 1066. It is located near what is now the town of

Battle, East Sussex Battle is a small town and civil parish in the local government district of Rother in East Sussex, England. It lies south-east of London, east of Brighton and east of Lewes. Hastings is to the south-east and Bexhill-on-Sea to the south. ...

. The name ''Senlac'' was popularised by the Victorian historian E. A. Freeman, based solely on a description of the battle by the Anglo-Norman chronicler Orderic Vitalis. Freeman went on to suggest that the Normans nicknamed the area ''Blood lake'' as a pun on the English ''Sand lake''. It is probable that Orderic would have known the English name for ''Senlac'', as he spent his early life in England since he had been born to an English mother. His education, towards the end of his time in England, was from an English monk. However, Freeman's hypothesis has been criticised by other historians since it relies purely on the evidence from Orderic Vitalis. Orderic was born nine years after the Battle of Hastings, and earlier chroniclers did not use the name ''Senlac''.

Origin

The name ''Senlac'' was introduced into English history by the Victorian historian E.A. Freeman, whose only source for it was the Anglo-Norman chronicler Orderic Vitalis.Vitalis. The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normand
Retrieved 20 November 2014
/ref>The Historical Gazetteer of England's Place-Name
Retrieved 20 November 2014
Freeman suggested that Senlac was the correct name of the Battle of Hastings site since the name of the hill was Senlac and was near a stream that was called Santlache.Freeman. The History Of The Norman Conquest Of England Its Causes And Its Result
Retrieved 20 November 2014
pp. 743-751 Orderic described Harold's forces as assembling for the battle ''ad locum, qui Senlac antiquitus vocabatur'' and the battle itself as being fought '' in campo Senlac''.Poole. The English Historical Review. pp. 292-293

Blood lake

Orderic was born in Atcham,

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, the eldest son of a French priest, Odeler of

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Abbey of SS Peter and Paul, at

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

. Although Orderic moved to a monastery in Normandy at the age of ten, he seems to have maintained his links with England. Freeman concluded that it was perfectly possible for Orderic to have known the English name of the ridge. The Chronicle of Battle Abbey described what it called ''Malfosse'', a large ditch that opened up during the course of the battle (some sources say after the battle) in which many soldiers of both sides fell and were trampled to death, the result being "rivulets of blood as far as one could see".Searle. The Chronicle of Battle Abbey. pp. 38-41 In fact, there was a local legend that was maintained for centuries after the battle that the soil in the area turned red after a heavy rainfall.Seward. Sussex. p. 6 Freeman suggested that ''Senlac'' meant ''Sand Lake'' in

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

, with the Norman conquerors calling it in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

''Sanguelac''. Freeman regarded that use as a pun because the English translation of ''Sanguelac'' is "Blood Lake".

The name "Senlac"

Several historians disagreed with the Freeman analysis.

John Horace Round (John) Horace Round (22 February 1854 – 24 June 1928) was an historian and genealogist of the English medieval period. He translated the portion of Domesday Book (1086) covering Essex into English. As an expert in the history of the British p ...

published his "Feudal England: Historical Studies on the XIth and XIIth Centuries" in 1895 in which he strongly criticised the Freeman view. He pointed out that ''Senlac'' was not an English word and was simply a ''fad'', if not an invention of Orderic Vitalis.Round. Feudal England: Historical Studies on the XIth and XIIth Centuries pp. 333-340 The Norman chroniclers

William of Jumièges William of Jumièges (born c. 1000 - died after 1070) (french: Guillaume de Jumièges) was a contemporary of the events of 1066, and one of the earliest writers on the subject of the Norman conquest of England. He is himself a shadowy figure, onl ...

and William of Poitiers, who were contemporary with the battle, did not record the site of the battle as ''Senlac'', and the ''Chronicle of Battle Abbey'' simply recorded the location in Latin as ''Bellum'' (

Battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and for ...

).Searle. The Chronicle of Battle Abbey. pp. 34-35 Later documents, however, indicate that the abbey had a tract of land known as ''Santlache'' (Sandlake) with the name Sandlake continuing for several centuries as a

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...

in Battle.Harris. Battle: Historic Character Assessment Report. pp. 15-17Lower. The Chronicle of Battel Abbey. pp. 23-24Searle. The Chronicle of Battle Abbey. pp. 62-65

Etymology

Freeman considered what Orderic Vitalis called the battlefield, ''Senlac'', may have been a corruption of the original Anglo-Saxon name. Other scholars have suggested that the Anglo-Saxon form would have been ''scen-leag'' meaning "beautiful meadow".Stephen Charnock. On certain Geographical Names in the County of Sussex ''in'' Report of the forty second meeting British Association for the Advancement of Science. p. 17
Retrieved 23 November 2014
/ref> A further possibility of ''Senlac'' comes from the iron rich sandstone deposits within the local area and the local Wealden iron industry that started before the Roman invasion and carried until the late 1700's.Hodgkinson. The Wealden Iron Industry. pp. 88-89 SomeSimon. Senlac Hill where is it and what does it mean have posited that the original Saxon name could also have been ''Isen-Lacu'', which means "iron pond". It is possible that the meaning was changed when translated into Latin. The argument goes that if the original name was Iron Pond, then the accepted location for Senlac Hill is wrong.

Notes

Citations

References

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External link

Time Team. 1066: The Lost Battlefield.
Programme on alternative location for battle site. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hastings 1066 Hills of East Sussex 1066 in England History of East Sussex Norman conquest of England Registered historic battlefields in England William the Conqueror History of Sussex